Beogram 8002 (Type 5633): First Impressions

I recently received a Beogram 8002 from a customer in California for a full restoration. It arrived safely packaged in a Beolover shipping container, and no shipping damage occurred.

This shows the unit on my bench:

As usual, the aluminum panels had come off due to degraded double-sided tape. After I opened the hood, I was not able to close it again since the plastic back part had lost one or more of its attachment tabs:

As in most cases, the hood was fairly badly scratched:

I carefully removed it to not damage the plastic back even more, and then I had a look at the aluminum surfaces. The platter is still pretty nice aside from a few minor issues:

Sadly, the small aluminum cover has a deep scratch

Unfortunately, there is no other way to fix this other than obtaining a nice-looking replacement.

The rosewood trim is still in pretty good condition. Aside from a few minor scratches in the veneer, the left corner is still pristine

and the right has only minor damage:

The keypad cover has some splotches on it:

It seems that a wet sponge may be able to remove them. After this visual inspection, I extracted all the functional parts and set them up on my Lazy Susan work platform:

A rotating platform makes it much easier to work on this fragile setup with its many wire connections, etc...

I plugged the unit in. The red LED dot in the display showed power made it to the circuit. I pressed Start, and the platter and the carriage motor started running. Due to a very loose carriage belt and hardened lubricants, the carriage stayed put, however. 

In summary, all pretty good signs. I expect that I can restore this unit to like-new performance. If the dust cover and the small aluminum plate are replaced, it will also look nearly new. Stay tuned for my restoration report that I will publish about this project once I am done.

Beogram 8002 (5633): A New Arrival From Massachusetts

I recently received a Beogram 8002 from an old customer in Massachusetts. I guess one cannot have too many Beograms!...;-). It came safely packaged in a Beolover box, and so no shipping damage occurred. This shows the unit on my bench:

It has the usual scratches on the dust cover:

Luckily, this can be fixed with a new reproduction hood and transfer of the original 8002 trim. The small aluminum panel is a bit at an angle:

This is usually an indicator of broken-off tabs on the plastic back that provides the hinge for both the dust cover and the small aluminum panel. And indeed the back is loose due to at least one broken off plastic tab:

On the positive, this Beogram still has a pretty decent platter. No one tried to clean it with Windex, yet!...;-). Only use warm water with a splash of mild hand dishwashing detergent and a soft cloth for cleaning these fragile beauties!

The surrounding aluminum panel is loose, but also without major flaws. The veneer corners up front are also in good condition:

Many Beogram 8000 and 8002 that I see have damaged corners.

I removed the small black metal plate under the arms, and as usual, the attached metal plate had come off.

One of the leaf springs that float the chassis had been modified, and a non-spec screw now holds it in place:

Strangely, the slot for the screw had been widened a bit at some point:

I extracted the functional parts and set them up on my Lazy Susan work platform:

Being able to rotate the setup for working on it is very useful!

Sadly, the transformer block is cracked. I guess someone dropped it on a hard floor at some point:

I also noticed the carriage was not properly installed, with the back rod missing one of the sliding bearings on the carriage:

Also, the tonearm sits at an upward-pointing angle:

This is caused by a small missing metal plate that was glued to the bottom of the counterweight with decayed double-sided tape.

After this visual inspection, I plugged in another transformer block that is in good condition. Coincidentally, I had it left over from a recent project, where I sent a restored 8002 to a customer in the UK. This required replacing the US 120V transformer with a 240V type that a co-Beolover in the UK had available.

When I pressed START, the carriage came alive and started moving. Also, the platter turned in the right direction. All good signs!

In summary, I think this unit is a good starting point for a successful restoration project! Stay tuned!

Beogram 8002 (5633): Initial Assessment

I recently received a Beogram 8002 (Type 5633) from a customer in Missouri. It arrived safely packaged in a Beolover shipping container, and no shipping damage occurred. I put it on the bench:

As usual, the aluminum panels had come loose. The hood has some moderate scratching. Also very common. Luckily, this can be fixed. Co-Beolover Beomazed has figured out how to transfer the original trim to a new replacement hood. This is a significant step towards a pristine, like-new look!

Otherwise, this unit is in pretty nice cosmetic condition. The veneer corners are in an unusually good condition:

It also has a platter that looks very good:

Unfortunately, these platters are easily damaged when people try to clean them with alcohol or harsh detergents. It is usually best not to use alcohol on this particular Beogram vintage. The black paint of the enclosure is also easily damaged that way. Water and a mild hand dishwashing detergent, plus a soft cloth or sponge, are usually the best approach.

After this visual inspection, I removed all the technical parts and set them up on my lazy Susan work platform for easy access to all components:

Then I plugged it in and pressed START. It reluctantly moved the carriage over to the LP setdown point and arm lowering was triggered properly. The typical signs of hardened lubricants and/or a worn carriage belt. But after the arm was down, it immediately returned the carriage to the home position. This usually means that the <</>> adjustments are out of whack. 

In summary, I would say this unit is a promising starting point for a full restoration to a like-new condition. Stay tuned for my post about the work that will be done on this unit!

Beogram 8000 (5613): A New Arrival from Virginia - First Impressions

I recently received a Beogram 8000 (Type 5613) from a customer in Virginia for a full restoration. The unit arrived safely packaged in a Beolover shipping container. No shipping damage occurred. I removed the unit from its packaging and put it on my bench:

The unit looks pretty good cosmetically. But the dust cover has the usual damages:

This could be fixed with a new cover from the DKsoundparts store in Denmark. The aluminum surfaces of this unit are all pretty good. The platter is almost flawless:

Of course the aluminum panels had come loose due to the usual deteriorated double sided tape:

The shield under the black plate that sits beneath the arms also fell off:

I put the unit into service position:

Then I removed all functional components and set them up on my rotating Lazy Susan work platform:

I removed the sub-platter and had a look at the platter speed encoder ("tacho") disc. Many Beogram 8000 still carry their original plastic disc, which are often delaminating causing severe fluctuations of the platter speed. This unit already had its plastic disc exchanged with a laser cut stainless steel replacement (also available at the DKsoundparts store):

After this visual inspection I plugged the unit in. The LED dot in the display became visible indicating standby. Usually a good sign, but in this case pressing start only elicited a brief movement of the carriage, followed by a total power blackout. After a couple seconds power came back and the carriage returned to its home position.

My guess is that this phenomenon has to do with the power supply of the deck, which probably has out of spec reservoir capacitors. This may explain why the power went out after moving the carriage for a few mm. We will see what happens when I am done with rebuilding the PCB. Stay tuned!

 

Beogram 8002: A New Arrival from Missouri - First Impressions

I recently received a Beogram 8002 from a customer in Missouri for restoration. The unit arrived safely packaged in a Beolover double boxed shipping container. I extracted it from the packaging and put it on the bench:

The unit is in decent condition except for a very scratched hood. This could be fixed by installing a new reproduction hood and transferring the original aluminum trim.

The aluminum surfaces are pretty good:

The otherwise nice platter has some damage in the center:

The veneered side panels have the usual chipped corner areas:

I removed the black panel under the arms and found a detached metal shield due to degraded double sided tape:

Like in most Beogram 8002, the main aluminum panel was also loose and came off after removing the tape that held it in place for shipping:

I opened it up to extract the functional parts:

This shows them on my Lazy Susan on the bench:

After making sure everything was put together again correctly, I plugged it in. After pressing start it came alive and moved the carriage a few mm. After the brief motion, the carriage immediately returned home and the deck shut off. Most likely this points to an issue in the << >> keys setup in the keypad.

Let the fun begin!..;-).

Beogram 8002: A New Arrival From Massachusetts - First Impressions

A customer from Massachusetts sent me his Beogram 8002 for a full functional restoration. It came well packaged in a Beolover shipping container and there was no shipping damage. This shows the unit on my bench after I unpacked it:

It is in pretty nice cosmetic condition. The hood has only minor scuffs. The aluminum surfaces are also pretty good:

The platter is nearly pristine. The veneer is very nice, too. The front corners are sharp:

I opened it up:

It is good leaning the top part against a wall or shelf since it can easily tip over to unhappy effect. I extracted all the functional parts from the enclosure and put them on my bench, a 'service position' of sorts:

As promised by my customer, after plugging it in nothing happened. No red dot in the display and no response to pressing any of the buttons. Based on previous experiences, it might just be a bad capacitor in the power supply or a cracked solder joint on the header that hooks up the transformer brick. Stay tuned for a full report on this restoration project.