Beogram 4002 (5513): A New Arrival from California - First Assessment

I recently received a Beogram 4002 (5513) from a customer in California for a full restoration. The unit arrived safely in a Beolover shipping container and no shipping damage occurred. This post gives a first assessment of the condition of the unit.

I extracted the unit from the packaging and put it on my bench:

The aluminum surfaces are in pretty decent condition with only minor dings and small scratches.

The hood has the usual 'ice rink pattern':

It could be polished back to a decent condition, but these days it is much better to replace these original dust covers with a reproduction hood from DKsoundparts. These hoods are exact copies of the original designs and also made by injection moulding, i.e. there are no glue seams etc...

This unit has a great condition original rosewood plinth with still sharp front corners:

The keypad has the usual smudges from using it. The coating is already starting to wear through in some small spots:

This can easily be fixed by exchanging the pad with a Beolover reproduction keypad. These reproductions are newly made lookalikes that feature a state-of-the-art hard coating, which should last longer than the original surface. We offer keypad restoration services via the DKaudiolover store.

I removed the platter and the aluminum panels and had a look 'below deck':

The unit seems mostly original. It has the usual degraded transport lock bushings, which is evident from the many orangish fragments strewn around inside the enclosure:

I plugged the unit in and pressed start. The carriage sluggishly started moving and the platter motor came on with a shriek. If found the LP setdown point but was not able to engage the arm lowering mechanism. This could be caused by hardened lubricants in the mechanical setup or an electronics issue. The motor noise points towards dry shaft bearings, which need to be re-infused with oil under vacuum.

In summary, this unit is a very good starting point for a restoration. The cosmetic issues can be fixed and this means that a like-new end result can be achieved. Stay tuned!