Wednesday 1 January 2014

Bang & Olufsen Beocord 5000




Bang & Olufsen Beocord 5000 Cassette Deck

Designed by Jacob Jensen and released 1984 - 1987 to accompany the 5000 series, which all share the same amazing styling.

This was in fact a very serious piece of kit in its day. It offered a very high standard of sound reproduction and featured an HXPro head. Dolby B and Dolby C noise reduction, digital counter and meter levels. 

 

The front panel slides toward you, motor driven, and reveals the transport and control buttons. To open the unit you push the bottom left corner of the face-plate. You feel a satisfying click, then she opens up, smooth and rigid.

 

When she arrived she wasn't well, no rewind and the draw couldn't fully close. The faulty draw was due to a piece of metal trim on the underside of the top cover. A metal bar running across the lid had fallen down one end, jamming the draw and preventing it closing. I was able to glue the metal bar back in place but if something heavy were place on top or if you lent on it, getting to the back. It would probably break again and I suspect this is what happened in the first place. So keep a look out on ebay for 5000s with draws not closing fully, could be an easy fix

 

The rewind issue was fixed by winding the mechanism by hand and a little blob of oil on any sliding parts. There is one other fault I later found which is a little annoying. The cap-spin teeth can slide up and down but it looks like the springs have lost their bounce because the cap spin teeth get stuck down and fail to engage with the cassette. You have to take out the cassette , pull up the cap-spins and replace your tape.

 

I haven't heard this playing because it has a 7 pin connector for audio and remote control. I haven't bothered putting phono sockets on the back yet but thats the way to go. Retain the original connection and add the phono sockets. Two holes, two connectors, four little wires, job done.

Untill the next time zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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