Beomaster 8000 (1903): Updating the LED Displays with a Roslinde Beomaster 8000 Display Kit

I am in the process of selling a Beomaster 8000 (Type 1903) that I restored a while ago. When I set it up for testing I realized that I did not replace the original LED displays back then. The reason was that this Beomaster did not have any missing display segments. Since I used it in my house I thought why not wait until the first segment would go out. But now I need to ship this unit and so I thought it prudent to replace the displays with modern LEDs. The original ones are pretty fragile at this point in time and frequently fail. I used to do this process manually by scratching off the original LEDs from the circuit boards and hand-soldering 0603 LEDs into their place (see here for an example of this approach). This process usually kept me busy for a few hours.

Annoyed by the thought of having to do all this microsurgery I got ready to get professionally manufactured display PCBs with surface mounted LEDs made. But then I was made aware that Roslinde Electronics in Denmark already had beat me to the task! They even designed similar PCBs fitting the Beomaster 6000 and the Beocord 8000-9000 displays! Very Beoawesome!

I ordered a set of the Beomaster 8000 PCBs. This is what I received:

In the kit were the four PCBs matching the four original LED displays of the Beomaster 8000. There were also board headers that needed to be soldered in place and bent to match the headers on the original boards. Since modern LEDs are a bit brighter than the 1980s types mounted on the original boards, there are also cut-to-size filter foils that reduce the intensity of the new LEDs to a level matching the output of the original ones. 

Let's see what needed to be done to install them:

The first step was extracting the display PCB from the Beomaster. If this is a mystery, have a look at the service manual that is widely available on line.

This shows the extracted board:

I unsoldered the top right display that shows the FM frequency:

This shows it from the side. Note the bent pin header that enables the display to be mounted at an angle relative to the board:

This shows the backside of the assembly:

The red and white 'thermo-squashed' plastic bumps hold the red display cover and the underlying light aperture in place:

For the removal of the red cover the squashed part of the bumps needed to be removed. I did that with a razor blade. This shows the red bumps liberated:

After removing the red cover the aperture piece that shapes the segment appearance is revealed:

After cutting off the white plastic bumps the aperture could be removed, too, which revealed the PCB with its non-encapsulated LEDs:

Installation of aperture piece and red cover on the new boards is straight forward. I elected using white wood glue for fastening the pieces into the mounting holes since I am a believer in 'reversible' modifications, i.e. modifications that can be again restored at a later point in time (think about this Beomaster being unearthed a second time in another 40-50 years with a new generation of Beolovers rebuilding it once again!...;-). I just put a bit of the glue into the mounting holes with a toothpick and then I pressed the aperture and cover into place. Then I secured everything with carpenter clamps on my bench top until the glue had hardened:

This shows the reassembled display:

After soldering in the headers and bending them with pliers to the approximate angle of the original boards I implanted the newly rebuilt frequency display in the Beomaster and fired it up: 

Way to bright, as expected! I just wanted to see the difference relative to the original displays before applying the provided filter foils. This shows the display after I put the filter on: 

An excellent result! The new display looks very similar to the original ones! Beoperfect! This encouraged me doing the remaining three display assemblies. Here you can see them clamped while the glue was drying:

This time I soldered and bent the headers before re-assembling the display units. Note that the balance display header has a different angle than the other three. Details, details!...;-). This shows all four rebuilt displays in place and illuminated:

Very nice! In summary, I can only recommend using Roslinde Display Kits for Beomaster and Beocord restorations!