Beogram 4004 From Canada: Starting the Restoration

The owner of a nice Beomaster 2400 I restored a while back has a Beogram 4004 turntable to go with it. Now it is time to do the turntable restoration so the set will be complete.

The Beogram 4004 was packed properly. The top platter had been removed along with the phono cartridge and even the cover for the tonearm. Those items were are wrapped and packed separately.

Here is a look at the turntable as it arrived.

The wood trim on this Beogram 4004 is in fantastic shape.

The keypad has the usual deterioration on the buttons.  The original button clearcoat finish is starting to get removed from years of oil off human finger tips.  We have a process to strip off the old coating and apply a new one.

Here is a look inside the cabinet.  I already removed the two main boards (PCB1 & PCB8) for recapping.  The platter motor was also removed earlier and sent to Beolover for restoration.  That restoration is shown on this blog post.

Interestingly, some restoration had been started at one point on this turntable.  It arrived with some Beolover replacement parts already installed.

The Beogram 4004 power supply filter capacitor is one that already has a Beolover replacement.

The tonearm related parts are all present and look good. Operating them manually I could see they were a little sluggish and tight. That will be remedied when I clean and lubricate the mechanical parts.

I like that Bang & Olufsen switched to metal eccentric cabinet washers on the Beogram 4004 turntables. The models with the plastic washers always come with cracked or broken washers. We have replacement washers of course but I like to see the metal ones.

The transport lock bushings for the floating suspension are still in place. They are often broken apart by now.  These bushings do look dried out though.  When I disassemble the floating chassis for the mechanical restoration tasks we'll see if these are brittle and starting to crumble.  I have a set of Beolover replacement bushings for this Beogram so no worries there.

The main board (PCB 1) and output board (PCB 8) also had some initial restoration work performed.
The output board also has one of the Beolover replacement parts installed, the phono muting relay.

I decided that I wanted to install my own replacement capacitors since I am going to be guaranteeing the restoration work.  So I removed the electrolytic and tantalum capacitors that were installed and replaced them with my own replacement parts.

On the main board I also set in place the 2MΩ trimmer we use in adjusting the signal for the record detection circuit.  I also installed a Beolover replacement relay for the speed selection and new multi-turn trimmers for the 33 1/3 and 45 RPM speed adjustments.

After the record detection signal is calibrated the 2MΩ trimmer will be moved to component side of the board.  

Here is the output board (PCB 8) after it has been recapped.

That is it for now on the circuit boards.

Next, I will move to working on the floating chassis components. That will be the checking and adjusting of the tonearm mechanics.  Including the tangential arm movement components.