Beogram 8002 Hood Replacement

 The Beolover recently received a Beogram 8002 from a customer in California. As part of the restoration, the customer elected to have the hood replaced with a new one. Luckily, these hoods are now available from the Beoparts store.

The main issue with the reproduction hoods is that you don't get the original trim strip that has the model designation. Beoparts does offer a replacement trim, but it's not an exact match for the original (the original varied over time also, some are brown, some are black), so the best solution is to try to preserve the original.

This is the condition of the original hood, it shows the typical wear and tear:

A lot of that damage could be avoided in the future by using softer cleaning solutions such as a damp microfiber cloth. Windex and paper towels are abrasive to plexiglass.

Believe it or not, the photo below depicts the first step in the process I use to extract the original trim. It took several attempts to get this process perfected, I wouldn't recommend it unless you have spare hoods!

The reason for cutting the hood like this is that it's too difficult to work with the large hood and its structural rigidity causes more stress on the trim piece. When cut down to this size, the hood is more flexible and can flex away from the trim, without bending the trim. I apply heat for an extended period of time to loosen the glue and I am then able to pull them apart:

The back side has a layer of glue which must be removed, the X-acto #17 is perfect for this:

Back is pristine, ready to be glued down to the new hood:

The front looks great, has a minor scratch:

I then use masking tape and paper to protect the surfaces while spraying high bonding strength adhesive on the back side of the trim and top of the new hood:

Here's a peek at the final product, which the Beolover will be completing very soon:

Beogram 8000: Returning Home

Today is the big day. It is time to pack up the Beogram 8000 and ship it home to its owner. The turntable has been playing beautifully the last few days with very heavy use and no signs of any intermittent behavior. It was definitely a good thing to install a brand new phono muting relay.

After all of that work it is important to properly pack units up for shipping. Especially turntables. A loose item here or there can cause extreme damage. Everything must be locked down and secure.

Bang & Olufsen has long been using a floating chassis for their turntables and provide a chassis lock down mechanism for transporting them. On the Beogram 8000 (and 8002) there are three lock down bolts under the main platter. The bolts are screwed down out of the way when the turntable is ready to be used. For transport the bolts are backed out and through a mounting plate. When through a hole in the mounting plate, the plate is slid over and the bolt is tightened against it so the floating chassis cannot move.

This lock down should be performed even if transporting the turntable in your vehicle to deliver it yourself.

The phono cartridge should also be removed from the tonearm at this point. To secure the tangential arm assembly and the top platter, B&O provided a special molded styro-foam piece. It holds the top platter securely and slides onto the deck of the Beogram with a tab to block the tangential arm assembly from moving.

The dust cover lowers on top of the platter packing to protect the dust cover and to hold the platter down so the sub-platter cannot move.

The outside of the Beogram is then protected with a soft, foam sleeve.

Finally, two molded styro-foam blocks slide over the front and back of the Beogram to lock all of the packing in place.

The Beogram and shipping material is placed into its original box which is inside an outer box that has thick foam protection on all sides.

It costs more of course but please don't ever skimp and not use an outer box. That is just asking for trouble. The only time to use just the original box by itself is if you are hand delivering the unit.

The final step is sealing the shipment and applying the shipping label. Then off it goes.