Beogram 6000 (5505): A New Arrival from the UK

A while ago I received a Beogram 6000 (5505 Type with AC platter motor) from a customer in the UK for a complete functional restoration. This post reviews the initial condition of the unit. 

The unit was packaged very well, and no shipping damage was apparent. This shows it after extracting it from the box:

Unfortunately, the plinth had not been protected from the blue tape, and one of the strips took a minor amount of the veneer along when I removed it:

On the positive side, the unit has an almost pristine original hood. It must have seen very little use as is also evident from the keypad that shows hardly any traces of use (see below):

The hood seems to have a small manufacturing defect, it almost looks like some air bubbles did not get extracted during the casting process:

This shows the unit's metal surfaces. Quite nice!:

The almost pristine keypad has only a small scratch in the top left quadrant:

The plinth corners are also very good. Right side:

and left side. The small bright area on the top end of the plinth on the right side of the picture was caused by the blue tape lift-off:

Since it is a Beogram 6000, this unit has a installed CD4 switch on the right side:

The unit has seen at least one modification: A line switch was added at some point to the unit on the back panel of the enclosure:

On the inside quality installation work is revealed:

Maybe I'll leave this switch in place. Otherwise there would be a hole in the back of the enclosure. It is difficult to find a proper Beogram 6000 AC model replacement since these models were not sold in large numbers.

Other than this the interior seems original:

Since it is a Beogram 6000, the output board under the keypad is pretty busy in comparison with the standard 4002 units since it contains the CD4 preamp. You can see part of this board sticking out from under the keypad in this picture:

After this visual inspection I wanted to give it a quick test of its electrical functions. The first step was to replace the awesome UK style fused plug with a more understated US style plug that I could connect the unit to my power strip:

After switching it over to 110V I plugged it in, and the power LED on the front came on.

While there are some later Beogram models that can come with a factory installed power LED, I think this one is also an 'after market' installation like the switch. It looks fairly well-done, but not really 'manufacturing grade'. The solder points on the inside are not insulated and the shroud is a bit mangled.

I pressed START and the carriage started to move. At the LP setdown point the solenoid was properly energized, but it did not actuate. As in most Beograms the lubricants are hardened, preventing the mechanical parts from moving. In these 550x Type Beograms this is actually a bit dangerous for the health of the solenoid. Since the solenoid switch is mechanical it does not get actuated when the mechanism is stuck, and this means the solenoid will heat up quickly and after a short while it would get damaged by burning off its wire insulation. So I quickly pressed STOP and the carriage returned to its home position and the deck turned itself off. The AC motor was also running properly during this exercise, i.e. this seems to be a straight forward restoration, at least for the '4002 section' of the deck. We will see what the CD4 board has in store when I get there.