Beogram 4000: A New Arrival and a First Look

A Beogram 4000 arrived recently for a restoration from Norway. I just took it out of the box and had a first look. Everything went well on the shipping end due to an excellent packing job using the original styrofoam inserts but a new box. The only thing that happened was that two of the control pads came loose, but the tape and foam inside the hood kept them from going anywhere and so no further damage occurred. Another demonstration how crucial it is to directly tape them down with non-residue tape to the aluminum panel above them.

Luckily this is an easy fix. Overall this Beogram is in great cosmetic condition:

A deep clean of the aluminum panels will make them shine again like new. The hood has the usual deep scratches:

This can be fixed with a nice 3 hr polishing workout in my garage...;-).

The plinth is in exceptional condition. It has very nice corners:

and only a few small dents.

Under the hood everything is pretty original:

No obvious signs of 'human creativity' albeit the carriage spindle bearing is bent preventing the spindle from turning:

Also the pulley is gone. I hope I'll find it lodged under the control pad or somewhere else, but for now cannot find it. But usually they are cracked anyway and one of Nick's nice aluminum pulleys will look great in there for sure.

There are another two key items that are in nice condition in this 4000: The lovely red position indicator appears to be intact

and the strobe light is working:

When I started it the AC motor came on without making noises, a testament to its quality Swiss design. However the tracking system did not work and also the OFF button is ineffective. But these are small issues that can be fixed for sure.

More critical is the damaged MMC20 mount in the original tonearm. In fact this 4000 came with a 4002 arm installed that also has a damaged mount:

One of the contact terminals is pushed back a bit...the original arm came taped to the aluminum panel and it has the unfortunately all too often observed broken off plastic tab and the flex PCB is dangling freely:

Luckly, it appears that my recently developed MMC20 mount replacement part is performing well in Sonavor's Beogram 4000 that he recently rebuilt, and I am getting more confident that this part may be indeed ready for prime time. This Beogram may be the second one to receive it!

Another issue is the right hood hinge, where a screw is currently replacing the steel pin that belongs in there:

I really wonder why people do such things to their 4000s!

In summary, however, I think this Beogram 4000 is a great starting point for a full restoration. At this point I do not see any show stoppers to get this beauty back to a near-new condition and functionality.