Beogram 4000: A New Arrival From the UK

I recently received a Beogram 4000 from the UK for restoration. It arrived well packaged in a plastic shipping box padded with high density foam. An excellent way to send a Beogram 4000 across 'the big pond'! It arrived in very good condition:

The hood was wrapped in cling wrap and seems to be in very nice condition. The aluminum surfaces are also pretty good:

The plinth came unglued on the right side, but otherwise is in excellent condition with perfect corners:

I removed the panels and platter and had a look:

No 'human interaction' on first glance. Units that were not modified are an excellent starting point for an 'uneventful' functional restoration. There is a bit of corrosion on the leaf springs that hold up the floating chassis:

The fuse box cover has a missing tab:

I will need to think about something to rectify this since it is a safety hazard. The open fuse terminals carry the grid voltage...

Time to fire the unit up for a quick test. First I installed an aluminum pulley to be able to drive the carriage. This unit came without pulley (I may find it later somewhere in the enclosure...they often come off during shipping...;-):

The next step was to exchange the awesome fused UK power plug

with a boring US plug:

Then I switched the unit to 110V and plugged it in. I pressed 'ON' and it came alive. The carriage moved about 10 mm and then stopped, and I was not able to elicit any response from the keypad. Probably corroded switches or a dead 6V rail. On the positive side there is a working strobe light!

And the AC platter motor was running. All the bulbs except 33 RPM (very weak, though) in the keypad seem to be dead, though.

Summarizing, this is a promising unit for restoration to a 'near-new' condition! Usually, functional issues can be repaired in the 4000. It is a pretty sturdy mechanical design and the electronics function without modern microcontrollers. Perfect for an 'extended lifespan'. The next post will be about the restoration of this beauty! Stay tuned.