Beogram 8000: Feel Like Listening to a Record?

The light at the end of the tunnel for a vintage Beogram restoration project is the red glow of light at the end of the fixed arm while the tonearm tracks a favorite vinyl track.

Today is the day for that event with this latest Beogram 8000 from Detroit.

To get to this point I had to reassemble the Beogram parts into the cabinet. I did a little touch up of the inside of the Beogram cabinet with flat black paint. There were some spots where original paint was scraped off and I didn't want any rust to form.

I also had to reinstall the aluminum deck panel on this Beogram as is always the case with these units. I have reverted to using 3M double-sided tape for this as it is the most reliable.

Before suspending the floating chassis with the turntable components to the cabinet I still had to fix the speed sensor bracket mount. I had a spare locking ring to replace the worn, original ring.

Before heading towards the listening room with the Beogram I did a quick check of the platter to arm height. The service manual calls for 23mm and that is what this Beogram measures.

The last thing I did was change out the phono muting relay from the original National relay to a sealed Omron miniature relay.  I used the Beolover adapter board for the National HB2 type relays that he created for the Beogram 4002/4004 turntables. The Omron G6K relay for the Beogram 4002/4004 turntables is a 24 VDC relay. This one on the Beogram 8000 is a 12 VDC relay.

I mounted the replacement relay board assembly where the original relay was installed.

The relay didn't work. It turns out the polarity of the relay coil voltage is different on the Beogram 8000 circuit than the 4002/4004 turntables. So I needed to flip the relay. That turned out to be no problem and solved the relay problem.

I rechecked the phono muting functionality with this new Omron relay and it works great. There is audio with the tonearm is lowered on the record grooves and both channels mute the same when the tonearm lifts.

The Beogram is now to the point I can do some serious record listening. I haven't re-attached the cabinet dust cover or any of the compartment lids. I usually do that as the very last step before shipping the turntable home. That way I can easily open the Beogram back into service position should I find anything that needs adjustment during record play.

Now there is that red glow of the Beogram playing some Marvin Gaye. A nice assist from an MMC-20CL cartridge produces a wonderful listening experience.