advertisement


Bang & Olufsen Beocenter 9300 - CD/Tape/Tuner

As to the speakers, I’ll let someone else be the voice of reason on that. I thought all the Red Line models were crap, personally!
I have RL2000s and RL60.2s (I think). The earlier models, e.g. RL60 (not V2) had a passive radiator that is an oblong plate held by foam suspension. These often rot and replacement surrounds weren’t available for the odd shape. So a lot of them had leaky cabinets a as a result. The RLX0.2 and RLX000 models changed the radiator for a port and sounded better and had a longer lifespan as a result. I know they won’t be sufficient for an audiophile’s primary speaker but they sound great for casual listening (IMO) and the flexibility of placement is great. On the floor with the kickstands out looks great in some environments. A lot less imposing that something like a pair of Pentas.
 
Not convinced personally. The best thing about the RLs in my view was the cool curly red and black speaker cable that B&O did for them - I’d love some of that but, sadly, it’s silly money now!
 
Even today B&O has breathtaking designs imho.

The demise of TT, Cassette and CD means nifty motorised parts are mostly limited the their more upmarket speakers and TV stands but no one does modern design like Scandinavians and more classical ones like the Italians imho.
 
The only problem my mum had with her first series 1987 vintage 9000 was the adhesive tape holding the top cover lost it's stick over time! The rest of the system ran happily for years into a pair of MkI Kans that I still have.
 
OP seems to me that your friend has inherited a classic that is likely to be easy to use and perform well. As a non audiophile that sounds just about perfect, unless she doesn't like the aesthetics (personally, I love the B&O style from the 1970s to the 1990s).
 
The only problem my mum had with her first series 1987 vintage 9000 was the adhesive tape holding the top cover lost it's stick over time! The rest of the system ran happily for years into a pair of MkI Kans that I still have.

Admittedly it was a bit of a shock even to me to discover that some 1980s B&O gear actually left the factory with double-sided sticky tape holding the trim panels on!
 
Admittedly it was a bit of a shock even to me to discover that some 1980s B&O gear actually left the factory with double-sided sticky tape holding the trim panels on!

Not necessarily a problem until the adhesive dries out and fails! This is exactly what happened...
 
If it's in good condition and all working then it's actually a rather cool bit of kit. I had the 9500 which I bought from a chap down the road who had the entire house full of B&O kit, and only issue I found was that the foam gasket running around the edge of the touch sensitive glass panel that runs along the bottom of the unit can weaken, tear or even fail, with inevitable consequences, so be careful!
 
If the glass comes out you can use some hard plastic (like part of an old credit card) to scrape the adhesive from the part of the chassis that it bonds to. Cleaning the glass is a little more delicate but doable. If any of the black paint comes off the back side of the glass you can repair it with black model paint and it will be undetectable from the front. 3M makes some thin, clear double sided tape that works well for reinstalling the glass. It’s about 1cm wide and 1mm or less thick. If any of the touch sensitive buttons stop working afterwards it probably means the tape is too thick.
 
Thank you all for all the additional responses.

OP seems to me that your friend has inherited a classic that is likely to be easy to use and perform well. As a non audiophile that sounds just about perfect, unless she doesn't like the aesthetics (personally, I love the B&O style from the 1970s to the 1990s).

It's not the aesthetics; she is an interior designer and her father was an architect, so good design is important to her, and she likes B&O. The problem, in her words, is that she's "not very good with this sort of thing" plus her father lived in France and the B&O kit "has French plugs on it". Any how, I'm going to have a look at it all to get a better idea of what's what, and see if we can get it going and identify any problems. I will report back and seek further advice as necessary!
 
Thank you all for all the additional responses.



It's not the aesthetics; she is an interior designer and her father was an architect, so good design is important to her, and she likes B&O. The problem, in her words, is that she's "not very good with this sort of thing" plus her father lived in France and the B&O kit "has French plugs on it". Any how, I'm going to have a look at it all to get a better idea of what's what, and see if we can get it going and identify any problems. I will report back and seek further advice as necessary!
Changing the plugs should be simple, and you can confirm first with an adapter... If it works and she doesn't want it I'll pay to have it shipped to me in Seattle... :)
 
Most B&O kit came with 2-pin continental mains plugs fitted as standard. You can simply chop them off and fit a UK plug, or use an adaptor.
 
B&O is for peeps who love music, and appreciate iconic design and quality.

Audiophile kit is for peeps who love kit and use music as a means to an end to listen to said kit.

As Greta said: "How dare you" when an audiophile tries to part a music lover from their B&O equipment, thinking (wrongly) that they know better. :)

Not saying that one approach is better than the other... just different and equally valid.
 
Most B&O kit came with 2-pin continental mains plugs fitted as standard. You can simply chop them off and fit a UK plug, or use an adaptor.

That's exactly what we did, change the plugs. I've just spent the morning round at my friends house having a first look at the kit. I'm pleased to say it all looks in much better shape cosmetically than I was expecting from her photos and description.

We hooked up the Beogram 7000 and RL 6000 speakers to the Beocenter 9300, changed the batteries in the remote control, plugged in the Beocenter, propped up the speakers on the back of the sofa, and switched the power on. There was no smoke or strange noises, and all the right lights seemed to come on. Using the touch controls we managed to play a CD, a cassette tape and listen to BBC Radio 2,3 and 4 with no aerial. The sound wasn't bad at all, quite good in fact, given that we only had the speakers propped up on a sofa and made no attempt to adjust any of the sound settings apart from volume.

We didn't have quite the same luck with the Beogram 7000 record deck. It all seemed to be working ok insofar as the turntable went round, the stylus dropped onto the record, and the arm moved tangentially across the record, but the sound was very fuzzy and distorted. My first thought was that there was something wrong with the cartridge/stylus. However, based on a purely visual inspection with the naked eye there was nothing obviously wrong with it, i.e no dirt clogging the stylus or bent cantilever, and my friend says that she played some records when she was clearing out her Dad's house and it was ok prior to being boxed up and brought back to the UK. Assuming it's not the cartridge - and that's by no means certain at this stage- I'm wondering what else it could be? Unlike a conventional turntable there does seem to be much the end user can do except adjust tracking weight. One thing that bothers me slightly is that the turntable was brought back without the transport screws being tightened, though the suspension seems to be o.k. Anyone who knows these decks got any ideas?

Also does anyone know how to store tuner station settings? We can get it to search, but when we try to store the setting , it tells us it's stored but it's not not there when we try to re-select it. The manual we've downloaded isn't very helpful as it doesn't seem to cover tuner setting at all. We must be doing something wrong?
 
That's exactly what we did, change the plugs. I've just spent the morning round at my friends house having a first look at the kit. I'm pleased to say it all looks in much better shape cosmetically than I was expecting from her photos and description.

We hooked up the Beogram 7000 and RL 6000 speakers to the Beocenter 9300, changed the batteries in the remote control, plugged in the Beocenter, propped up the speakers on the back of the sofa, and switched the power on. There was no smoke or strange noises, and all the right lights seemed to come on. Using the touch controls we managed to play a CD, a cassette tape and listen to BBC Radio 2,3 and 4 with no aerial. The sound wasn't bad at all, quite good in fact, given that we only had the speakers propped up on a sofa and made no attempt to adjust any of the sound settings apart from volume.

We didn't have quite the same luck with the Beogram 7000 record deck. It all seemed to be working ok insofar as the turntable went round, the stylus dropped onto the record, and the arm moved tangentially across the record, but the sound was very fuzzy and distorted. My first thought was that there was something wrong with the cartridge/stylus. However, based on a purely visual inspection with the naked eye there was nothing obviously wrong with it, i.e no dirt clogging the stylus or bent cantilever, and my friend says that she played some records when she was clearing out her Dad's house and it was ok prior to being boxed up and brought back to the UK. Assuming it's not the cartridge - and that's by no means certain at this stage- I'm wondering what else it could be? Unlike a conventional turntable there does seem to be much the end user can do except adjust tracking weight. One thing that bothers me slightly is that the turntable was brought back without the transport screws being tightened, though the suspension seems to be o.k. Anyone who knows these decks got any ideas?

Also does anyone know how to store tuner station settings? We can get it to search, but when we try to store the setting , it tells us it's stored but it's not not there when we try to re-select it. The manual we've downloaded isn't very helpful as it doesn't seem to cover tuner setting at all. We must be doing something wrong?
That’s great the 9300 is working. It’s still beautiful and fascinating to me, even 30+ years after it was made.

My guess about the station presets is that there is a dead battery inside somewhere that would be used for any memory functions. That would probably be an easy fix for someone with experience. But having worked on my 4500 system I can imagine the disassembly could be tricky. In the case of the 4500 you start by poking a small object (e.g. paper clip) through a hole in the bottom and that lets you slide the glass control panel out. Then you have access to screws inside, etc. for further disassembly.

I’m guessing there is a service manual or at least a forum where someone can give guidance, but it is great that it is mostly working, and will hopefully be useful in the mean time as is.

I haven't watched this yet, but it says the same basic method for opening is the same for the 9000, 9300 and 9500:

 
Last edited:
If you need the service manual for the 9300, send me a PM with your email address and I’ll send it across to you at the weekend if I have it (which I think I do!).

As to the Beogram, it could be a number of things. If the stylus is OK, then a journey without the suspension locked could have thrown the arm balance out of whack. Worst case the cartridge suspension could have failed, which is rare but not unknown.
 
Their portable and differently coloured radios in the early/mid seventies were quite superb (had a few, sold a few). I 'auditioned' my first house (1975) by walking upstairs with my B & O radio to ascertain reception strength. Had a couple of 3000 receivers as well; all excellent until they went wrong eventually. Think they also made TVs way back when.
 
Last edited:
Their portable and differently coloured radios in the early/mid seventies were quite super(had a few, sold a few) I 'auditioned' my first house (1975) by walking upstairs with my B & O radio to ascertain reception strength. Had a couple of 3000 receivers as well; all excellent until they went wrong eventually. Think they also made TVs way back when.
They still make TVs, but to me they're a lot less striking now that everyone can offer flat panels. But the 90's models were probably the most unique because they made CRTs look a lot less clumsy.

mx3000a.jpg


The later ones had flat glass over the CRT and interesting things like mechanical 'curtains' behind the glass, electrically rotating pedestals, etc. They really looked like flat panels before flat TVs were commercially available!

avant_aa.jpg


I've only ever been in Iceland during a layover in 2015, but we stayed at a mid-range hotel that had 90's B&O TVs in every room. Each one had the heavy aluminum remote with the transparent LCD at the top.
 
Another Beocenter discovered! I went to collect a widow friend from the bowls club to take her to a funeral and discovered she has a Beocenter 9500 with wall mounted B&O speakers. The CD deck cover won't retract but the CD trapped in it plays. In addition the double sided tape on the top front panel has dried out and it is floating free with touch buttons not working. Today I added a DIN to phono lead and connected her TV DVD player to the aux socket so she has working CD again. I would like to get the unit working properly for her, can anyone advise on fixing the CD unit and suggest a source for suitable double sided tape. Or suggest someone I can send it to for fixing?

Many Thanks
Dave
 


advertisement


Back
Top