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My BeoCenter 9000 cuts back on the volume level when the level is set at 12. This is very déjà vu of the Beomaster 4500 long before it bit the dust.
The 9000 cuts the power back to 10 or 11 and I noticed that the back of the 9000 was rather hot.
I know both these amps have self-protection circuitry and wonder is this “normal” or indicative of an upcoming problem?
I don’t normally play the 9000 at this level (family and neighbors would probably object like Søren’s FS) however I was a tad concerned/surprised that the 9000 was unable to play at a level that I found loud, but not really all THAT loud.
Jeff
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Hi,
When does it happen? Does it happen during the normal operation or only when you switch on your BC9000?
I know that the BC9000 reduce automatically level to 11 on the start up... (see attached pic from Usermanual) but I think it should not happen during the normal run of BC9000...
Vintage Bang & Olufsen
The reduction in power occurs during play. The family was out and I was playing a disco-style record (from the nineties) and noticed the reduction in volume on the LED display. I increased the volume again, and within 15 seconds, the volume was reduced by the BeoCenter.
The reason for this question is my Beomaster 4500 did exactly the same thing 6 months before it suffered (essential) failure.
As mentioned in my posting, I felt the back of the BeoCenter and it was remarkably hot. Not so hot as to burn the hand, but hotter than I expected.
Needless to say I am adult enough not to over-drive this handsome 9000, however if this is not normally what is to be expected, I can make a conscious effort to play it at only moderate volume levels.
Too much heat is allways a sing that there is something going wrong. Carefully now!
Are speakers ok, not too much load from them?
blah-blah and photographs as needed
I agree with Orava, my BM8000 burned (litterally), yesterday. It was overheating for some days and yesterday... big smoke and nothing...
Need to see my tech this evening to see if it is repairable...
As far as the heat goes, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that a hot amp is never a good thing. The problem here is few of us are in the habit of checking the temperature of our amps when in general use. As such I am not entirely sure of how warm or hot this 9000 “normally” gets, or should get.
That said, I was (note the word was) having a problem with my Beomaster 2400 in that it began regularly losing the right channel while at the same time getting extremely hot. This situation continued for several months and as I was concerned about this 2400 I checked it for temperature with every use.
If the 2400 and its “problem” can be used as a guide, then by comparison the BeoCenter 9000 does not get anywhere near the temperature of the 2400. It might have been instructive for me to have placed a thermometer on the back of the 9000, but that strikes me as a bit too OCD.
Well, if there was power cut-down involwed....
And if compared to 2400, sutuation might be different in a way that BC will quiet down completly as it has hydrib, not discrete transistors. (not rocket sciense either)
Orava: Well, if there was power cut-down involwed.... And if compared to 2400, sutuation might be different in a way that BC will quiet down completly as it has hydrib, not discrete transistors. (not rocket sciense either)
Orava,
Perhaps the comparison was ill-advised on my part. The two problems having only the heat in common, not a power cut-down.
In the case of the Beomaster 2400 whatever the source of the over-heating/channel loss, either transistor or resistor has failed and somehow by-passed as the right channel has stopped dropping off and the temperature is a very acceptable warm. Yes though the “problem” has vanished, I still check to see if there is any over-heating present and there hasn’t for about a month.
So, you have "worried amount" heat? Or just might have?
Anyway, if I remember right in BC9000 does not have μP related power reduce protection (not in amp anyway). It do have NTC based protection, but I think it is rather shut power down type....? And in this light volume down is not normal.
So you are saying that the reduction in volume level is “not normal” and therefore by definition, something must be actually wrong with the amplifier. OK, I get that.
Look, this BeoCenter 9000 was found in a trash dumpster, so it owes me nothing. I find it a stunning beauty and I enjoy all the remote features as well as the over-all sound. So I believe the key here is not to press this BC 9000 into unnecessary and/or premature failure. Easy enough.
Plus right now, having nothing to do with this tread, my childlike attention has been diverted to my newly resurrected Tandberg 9000X reel-to-reel tape recorder along with the mysteriously back from the dead McIntosh MI-3 Maximum Performance Indicator. This means the BC 9000 is getting a break and very little use as I really have been enjoying what this Tandberg deck can do, especially with all lamps restored. (And changing those bulbs wasn’t easy!)
As a group we are all playing with and enjoying older electronic gear, and with this enjoyment there is also the ever present danger of electronic failure, like the gentleman in this thread whose Beomaster 8000 “bit the dust” with a dramatic burst of smoke.
Even a rebuilt amplifier could suffer this sort of fate, but as someone suggested to me in another BW forum, “If we don’t use our equipment, what is the point of having it?” So I use my equipment.
As the volume adjustment on my BC 9000 is not normal I have been alerted to go easy on this amplifier and so I will. Thank you for the heads-up.
Piaf: “If we don’t use our equipment, what is the point of having it?” So I use my equipment.
“If we don’t use our equipment, what is the point of having it?” So I use my equipment.
You are absolutely right!
fully agree !!! (even if it is sometimes frustrating) ;). I have to find the time to write a post about my "never ending story" with this amp...
There are no real guarantees in life, certainly not with 25 to 40 year old electronics. It is one thing for the electronic maven with a spec sheet in one hand and the appropriate tester in the other. It is quite another for the enthusiast.
Provided we treat our aging equipment with respect usage should not be viewed with suspect.
As an example my 42 year old McIntosh MI-3 Maximum Performance Indicator developed a “dead” spot in the center of the CRT, so I replaced it. Then the picture stability became a problem so I sourced and replaced all the remaining tubes.
Initially the tube replacement had the desired effect, but soon caused something to go amiss in the dealer installed aftermarket cylinder containing most probably capacitors and resistors. At one point the video picture was so peculiar that the image was essentially useless. So I contacted the factory to see what could be done.
While waiting for an answer the MI-3 began producing a “normal” image of the sound and I am using it as if nothing had happened. And why not, it works?
I also have three amplifiers with various “issues” (Beomaster 2400, 4400, and BeoCenter 9000) so I let them warm up a bit before asking more from them….. I pay attention to them and honestly enjoy them as opposed to being the curator of a B&O museum of handsome but unused equipment. No, that would be a waste.