Beomaster 8000: Evaluating the Audio Performance

This Beomaster 8000 receiver has been playing music in my lab since I finished the recap and output amplifier adjustments. The sound is great as it always is with these receivers but human ears are subjective and we like to measure some key values with test equipment to have some actual numbers to compare with. For amplifiers we typically use a sine wave test input voltage and measure the output of a preamplifier or power amplifier to check the total harmonic distortion (THD) and sound to noise ratio (SNR).

For this Beomaster I set my test up to check some input voltages at some key frequencies and measure the output amplifier at the speaker outputs.

For the speaker output measurement I connected a pair of fixed 8Ω loads. Obviously the fixed resistive load isn't exactly like a real speaker system load but by using the fixed 8Ω load I should always have a good measurement value I can compare other amplifier results to.

Here are my dummy speaker loads. They are power resistors connected to a very large heat sink. When I drive the output amplifier up to its rated power output (100 Watts into and 8Ω load in the case of the Beomaster 8000) the load resistors will get quite warm.

I am going to measure the THD and SNR values with my QuantAsylum QA400 audio analyzer. Since the high speaker output voltages would damage the analyzer inputs I use a low noise differential probe to lower the signal to a level the analyzer will accept.

This picture shows the Beomaster 8000 left and right speaker outputs connect to the dummy 8Ω resistor loads where the differential probe is attached and the signal connected to the QA400 inputs.

For the test inputs I want to use a constant sine wave of 1Vrms at frequencies from 20Hz to 20KHz.
I use the signal generator of an HP8903 audio analyzer for the test input signal and check it with an oscilloscope as I route the test signal to the Beomaster 8000 Tape 1 (TP1) inputs.

I started with a 1KHz signal as that is a common frequency for a lot of the audio specs manufacturers publish. It is also in the middle of the frequency range on the log scale.

It should be noted that before starting the measurements I adjusted the Beomaster 8000 source input levels to set the left and right channel levels as close as possible to each other. Those input level adjustments are on the left side of the Beomaster cabinet.

Using the Beomaster volume control I increased the volume of TP1 while monitoring the output with the QA400 analyzer and the Beomaster clipping lamp.

With the 1Vrms input signal I got to the clipping point when the Beomaster reached 5.9 on the volume indicator. I backed off that volume to 5.8 and measured between 28Vrms and 29Vrms at the speaker load. That corresponds to about 100 Watts of output.

Here is what the QA400 analyzer measured.

The THD levels are very good. Both channels are comfortably less that 0.05%.
For the SNR value I notice that B&O specifies their Beomaster 8000 SNR value as "A Weighted" and should be >77dB for the Tape input. The frequency and output level isn't specified but I am doing my measurements at the maximum rated output level so I turned the A-Weighting on in the QA400 and got these measurements (at 1KHz).

The SNR values are below the expected 77dB for the Beomaster and the left channel THD went up some. It is still below 0.05% but I thought it was odd that it moved and the right channel didn't move much.

Checking other frequencies (400Hz, 10KHz and 15KHz) resulted in the left channel being within THD specs but not as good as the right channel.

These results are not bad but I would like to see closer values for the left and right channels during this testing as I am using the same input signal and the load resistors are identical. A common culprit in the amplifier performance for the Beomaster 8000 are the OpAmps used in the preamplifier board and tone control board. Those are the LF353N, TL072CP and uAF772TC OpAmps. The audio source signals go through these OpAmps so their performance directly affects the Beomaster amplifier performance.

In the case of changing out the OpAmps it is best to change them all (left and right channel). That way all of the signal paths are using new OpAmps that should be pretty much identical.

When replacing the OpAmps I am also going to install 8-pin sockets for the integrated circuits. Here is the preamplifier board with its original OpAmps (seven total)

 Here are the sockets for the new OpAmps.

Here are the new TI LF353N OpAmps installed.

Next is the Tone Control & Filter board. This Beomaster 8000 unit has five OpAmps to be replaced on this board. Note that some Beomaster 8000 units have a six.  This picture shows the five OpAmps replaced.

The OpAmp identified as 4IC6 is for the Beomaster volume control circuit. Whenever that OpAmp is changed it is very likely that the volume control circuit offset adjustment will be necessary to be performed.

Here is the circuit schematic.

The section outlined in red shows the left channel trimmer for the volume control offset adjustment.
You immediately know if the adjustment is necessary because you will hear audible clicks in the related channel's speaker as you turn the volume up or down. Adjusting out the offset removes those click sounds.

Now that the OpAmps are changed out and the volume control offset is readjusted I remeasured the amplifier outputs.

The THD and SNR (A-Weighted) both improved plus the left and right channels are close to the same.

I have done a couple Beomaster 8000 restorations where I replaced the OpAmps with a higher performance TI OPA2134A (SoundPlus) device. However, in measuring the performance with that OpAmp versus a new TI LF343N OpAmp I could not see any measurable differences with the analyzer. Since the OPA2134A costs four times that of a new LF343N I recommend using the latter.

As a final check I used the QA400 impulse stimulus and measurement system to make a frequency response measurement of the Beomaster. This test also uses the same test setup. The difference is the Tape 1 stimulus is from the QA400. I have to admit I am not 100% comfortable with this test yet but it is worth looking at and recording for future reference with other Beomaster unts. The results look pretty good from 20Hz to 15KHz. However, I was hoping the 20KHz level would be a little higher. As it is it measures around -0.8 dB instead of the -0.5dB.

I will finish closing the Beomaster 8000 cabinet back up then do some actual audio component tests using the Beogram 8000 and a Beocord 9000. That will make sure all of the playback and recording features work as well as the Beomaster 8000 remote control.