Beomaster 8000 & Beocord 9000: Completing the Restoration

The final step in this Beomaster 8000 and Beocord 9000 project is a system test. To do that I needed plenty of space as these units take up a lot of room. Especially when you add in a Beogram turntable to complete the system. It is also time to clean up and put parts away. My soldering bench is my largest desk so I used it to set up the system test.

Here is a picture of everything layed out for testing.  Quite lengthy! With all of the system connected together the dependent functions can be exercised. A really nice feature of this system is that turning on one component will notify and turn on any related component. For example, placing a record on the Beogram and pressing the Beogram play button will turn on the Beomaster and switch it to phono mode. Same thing for the Beocord. Conversely, selecting PH (phono) on the Beomaster will cause the Beogram to operate. Turning the Beomaster off turns all of the other components off. To make things even nicer, all of these features also operate from the wireless remote control. The well thought out design is what makes this Bang & Olufsen system my favorite. Of course B&O continued some very cool integrated systems after this one but this system was a few years before the digital age and is analog audio at its best.

I continued testing by doing some recording on the Beocord 9000 with the Beogram 8002 as the source. I used a new TDK MA90 cassette (metal type IV) and ran the Beocord tape calibration procedure. This is when you start really appreciating the complexity of the Beocord 9000. After calibration I selected Tape End so the Beocord would run through the tape once and figure out exactly how much recording time is available on the tape. The Beocord tape counter of course displays the amount of time used and remaining. Really handy if you want to fill up as much music you can on a side.

For the recording test I like to use music with some distinct instruments and some that really get up there in range. That usually means some brass. So this time I selected an old Maynard Ferguson album from 1973, "M.F. Horn 3". It has that early 70's sound and of course Maynard screams on the trumpet. Quite fun if you like that era like I do. The recording testing all worked perfectly. I also tested pausing and restarting recording. The Beocord fast forward and reverse functions all work great (remember the belts and pulleys are all new). This is the payoff for the time and effort it took to get these beautiful machines fully restored.

With all of the Beosystem 8000 functionality working beautifully it is time for their owner to enjoy them so Beomaster 8000 and Beocord 9000 are ready to be packed up and shipped home.

For me it is time to prepare for the next project.

Beomaster 8000: Project Start - Initial Check

The Beomaster 8000 is now on the workbench and work begins with an initial check of what works and what doesn't. This Beomaster is in very good shape and when I connected up a couple of music sources (iPod Nano into TP2 and the BM8000 P1 FM station) I was a surprised the Beomaster played beautifully. I started to wonder if any work should be done on this receiver.

The happiness was short lived as the Beomaster stopped producing sound after ten minutes. Here is the Beomaster playing the local classical music FM station.

The first time the Beomaster stopped producing sound the display still showed 2.9 on the volume level, P1 as the tuner selection and 101.1 as the station. I put the Beomaster back into Standby mode then reselected P1. The music started playing again but after a few minutes, no sound. The second time the Beomaster display changed to tuner P and channel 87.5.

The Beomaster is definitely malfunctioning. It is time to open it up into service position and assess the work. Like the other Beosystem 8000 (and 6000) components from this early eighties period, Bang & Olufsen provided nice service access to work on these units.

Here is the Beomaster with the rear cover off, the front panel in service position and the display cover removed.

Here is the rear panel of the Beomaster.

When I unlatched the Beomaster locking bar for accessing the service position I noticed that one of the leaf springs that keeps the locking bar in place is missing. I will have to see if I have a spare in a parts unit.

This picture shows a better look at the Beomaster 8000 display board. The restoration plan is to convert the original LEDs with the SMD LEDs like those that were used in the Beocord 9000 display repair. So quite a bit of soldering is ahead.

Diving further into the insides of the Beomaster I discovered another missing piece. Like the Beocord 9000 unit, this Beomaster has a missing lid dampener. I am guessing this one was also leaking damping fluid. I also noticed that the Beomaster is missing the far left leaf spring for the locking bar. I will look for a spare dampener as well as the two missing leaf springs.

The previous picture was the left side of the Beomaster. Here is the right side (as viewed from the end looking in).

Most of the electrolytic capacitors look like they are original so that puts them in the mid-thirty year old range. The big black axial on the Power Supply PCB looks like it might be a replacement. This unit has been serviced in its past apparently.
Here is a better look at the left and right channel output amplifier boards.

It is time to take inventory of the capacitors and trimmers I need to replace in this Beomaster.