Trying to FIX: Bang & Olufsen Beocord 5500 Cassette Deck
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- Опубликовано: 2 фев 2020
- Hi, this 'trying to fix' video shows me attempting to fix a Bang & Olufsen cassette player that I purchased on eBay for spares or repair.
Sorry for the typo in the video title.
Remember that this is just for entertainment and I am not an expert in these repairs. The processes in the video may not be the best way, the correct way or the safest way to fix these things.
I do love fault finding and trying to fix broken things so I hope that comes across in this 'Trying to FIX' series.
Many thanks, Vince. 
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"I learn something new every time I come here" - quite an apt quote from The Archers when you fixed the LED problem - well done Vince!
That celebratory shout when the display starts working again! Moments like these are priceless!
The build quality looks incredible. Nothing is made that well now.
@@groundzero6662 There are many other manufacturers as well that make good stuff like that nowadays.
Good Lord, no wonder these B&O stuff were so expensive. Quality build & over-engineered, to the point where these still work and sound great after 30 years. Top job, mate. That is a right result.
Jonathan Lau and is still is! 😆
Vince, putting that low grade cassette into a B&O deck is like putting a Reliant engine in a Rolls Royce!
Just what i thought. It's like space saver wheels on a Ferrari.
a "Type 0" cassette, glad I wasn't the only one that noticed, although he acknowledges that it isn't a good tape around the 1 hour mark, and then it turns out to only have The Archers on it not music anyway
@@spaggtrait1608 exactly that. you are paying for the name and the design. there were far better quality decks available much cheaper. a lot of their TV's were based on Philips and Thomson chassis and components, usually in a very slim stylish cabinet, and usually with a quality speaker and enclosure. but performance wise, not high end at all. some people swear by them, a bit like bose today, all style, no substance
@@spaggtrait1608 B&O has always been more of a lifestyle brand than an audiophile one. They don't sound bad, but you end up paying for the eyecandy rather than the earcandy.
@@spaggtrait1608 Agreed!
i know very little about electronics and when i watch you testing i havnt a clue either however watching your videos is very calming and when you fix something i feel elated to see youve done it ...i am working my way through all your vids....i think its great entertainment
Thank you Barry👍
Apart from the great technical advice I get from these videos, it's a joy hearing your reactions, whether your fix works or not!
I love seeing you work on the B&O stuff. These were the items of my dreams when they were new, but outside my budget then. What is so reassuring is how well made these items are. Proper quality engineering that lasts the test of time.
Wow. Emotional rollercoaster with that display. Absolutely awesome video. Love the detail and honesty of the dismantle and repair.
I had to smile when you fixed the light display and then turned on the cassette player. At the 1:11:45 mark, The lady says " I think you're amazing. I've never come across such patience. I learn something new every time I come here!"...😁😄😊
If it isn't broke vince will fix it till it is... then he'll fix it again. Well done vince👍
4 motors for the cassette mechanism alone, and a fifth separate for the open/close.
Nice.
No corners cut.
Really enjoyed this one. Couldn’t see how the scratch happened? Great fault finding 👍 its an emotional rollercoaster with you, the emotion in your voice.
I cheered out loud with him when he fixed the front panel lights! Great job troubleshooting!
Definitely get more B&O products - how about making a complete seperates hi-fi from broken units?
he's done this cassette deck and now a B&O tuner amplifier so far :)
Thank you for posting this! I just picked up most of a Beosystem 5500. The Beocord was in good condition, until I failed to realize how the sliding mechanism works and let the door slam shut while transporting it. I watched your video to figure out how to reseat the belt drive. Your deconstruction and process was great. Another 1985 system being enjoyed in 2024 :)
Brilliant design by B&O-I've had many through the years and listen to my Beocenter 9000 each and every day.
I was given a complete B&O 5500 System with Penta 2 Speakers. I reconed the mids on the speakers and have them working perfectly. The CD player works great and I will start working on replacing the belts in the Cassette deck today and hopefully that will fix the issues with it. This video will be essential in helping me and I love the detail you go into. Your ability to Resolve the LED issue was impressive. If I can get the cassette deck working my next obstacle is the "No Contact" with the Master control unit. Thankfully the remote control works fine. Thank you for the time and effort to make this video.
A Bang & Olufsen tape deck for that price was a steal. That thing when new in 1989 was £545 that is equivalent in purchasing power to about £1,364.89 in 2020, a difference of £819.89 over 31 years.
Yeah but on the other hand, for most people who don't have tapes any more, it's practical value is something approaching £0. Tapes are dead, they were great at the time, but a definite compromise in sound quality, for the sake of size. Now we have MP3 and FLAC in cards the size of your fingernail. A Beo setup now could be not much bigger than a box of tissues, if you include the power amp.
Still it is very nice as an object to play with, I suppose you could copy some stuff to a really nice tape (can you still get chrome and metal tapes?) just for the sake of using it. Vince has got a nice Beo setup since this video was made, an amp with touch controls, a CD player, and a Bluetooth box, so he's got something practical and beautiful to keep in his house. I'd love to have the amp and Bluetooth at least. Haven't bought a CD in 20 years.
Well done sir, a joy to watch your methodical work. Such fun to see you succeed.
So glad i found this channel,don't know why i find all these repair jobs fascinating but i so bloody do.
Amazing machine and I’m so happy you managed to repair it all. Would be nice to see the whole B&O products together.
Watching this inspired me to find a dead B&O Beocord 5500 on Ebay, and give it a go. After lots of issues (both belts replaced, lubricating the tracks, replacing the line out cable) it works perfectly!! Thanks for this and your other videos!!! Persistence and some logical thinking pays off!!! Just ordered a dead Beogram CD 50 which you also fixed, from Ebay again - can't wait to get my hands on it!! :-) Cheers, Vince!!
This is like a roadtrip of surprises and finding solutions. Great Vince, that you take your viewers along with your thinking and doing process.
I am working on a BeoCord 6500 (almost similar) on which the sliding door and play controls don’t work.
Still work to be done. 🤓
Did you get it running?
@@alext8828 Unfortunately, not yet. Though I have not given up.
@@KolfMAKER Good man.
I confirm this beocord 5500 is a pure joy to listen. I rediscovered all my tape I bought in the end of seventies and eighties and they all sound incredible. I rather like now to listen à K7 than a cd. Thank you to let us discover the inside of this very particular and unique tape player made by the danish. I owned cameras made by the danish ´hasselblad’ and they are pure quality and last forever.
So I just bought one of these on Ebay with a sluggish opening and show cassette movement. I’m confident after watching this video. I’m watching all your videos. There are the absolute best of the repair vids on You Tube
Another roller coaster of emotions that keeps me coming back.
Vince, amazed you didn't destroy anything else. That's definetely some rough handling of a really lovely vintage tape-deck. Boiling the belts for 10mins will shrink them and make them last a few months more, till you can get some proper replacements. Well done & cheers.
How you do things with love is just so so satisfying to watch, even such an old item you pamper it like a baby:) :) Love your videos much Vince. Be Blessed!!!
Glad you never gave up with the lights, everything can be fixed! Good find
Oh that tape decks design is GORGEOUS
I've never seen this cassette deck before. I'm amazed at the crazy items that Bang & Olufsen came up with.
27:09 I literally screamed “Vince!” Because the board flexed like 5 times
i used to muck around with 70s stereo gear when i was young, 5 pin dins were pretty common in that stuff, trust b&o to be different, making those connectors is what taught me to solder, that really is a quality bit of stereo gear.
Every time I hear the Hallelujah Chorus I think of the Christmas Vacation movie when the Christmas lights finally come on. Fun fact: When Clark is hanging from the gutter just before it, he falls and the ice breaks the neighbor's window, then breaks their stereo, it's a Bang & Olufsen system, probably worth 20 thousand dollars in today's money. When I was a kid I couldn't figure out why they were crying so much!
I'm a gluten for these older systems. This cassette deck is legendary and is part of the Beosystem 5500, all the parts were matching in size and appearance and stacked on top of each other. I have the main amplifier unit and sounds amazing to this day (60 watts/channel RMS in vintage watts, very athletic sound.) One of my favorites to listen to on almost any set of speakers. The CD player is also beautiful and great sounding but prone to failure probably due to its fragility of tiny mechanisms and complexity; no one wants to work on them. Thanks to watching this video I think I'm going to look for one myself just to add to the collection. Seems "easy enough" to work on now that I've seen you do it. Thanks!
Its late I need to wake up early tomorrow but this is the most relaxing part of my day.
I love B & O gear.... A friend's dad had a cassette / CD with sliding doors that moved and uncovered the cassette or CD.
They were the gear of choice back in the day but you needed to re-morgage your house to buy one.
Good result Vince..... 👍
A great video showing how the beast comes apart. thankfully mine is fully operational, but at least i now know how to get to and change the belts.
Vince I can see you slowly progressing into an electronics engineer. My advice to you if you're gonna get into audio and radio repairs etc is to start downloading service manuals. you can sometimes find them free online. this will greatly help you as the schematics usually have voltage measurements and waveform patterns to help in diagnostics
hifiengine. free- you just need to register. but ffs, vince- don't do stuff like this without the manual. you might think it's fun & educational, but for those of us who do a lot with cassette decks & hifi, this was painful.
@@duncan-rmi What's the logic here? We enjoy watching it. If it's painful, why are you watching?
They are watching because it's a cool Bang and Olufson cassette deck. This is why I watched it. There is nothing wrong with expressing an opinion, and the suggestion that Vince should download service manuals is a good one. It will help him become more proficient, give him greater satisfaction, and his videos will be even better. Wattching this was painful, it reminded me of when I started in electronics, I felt for him. However, I like his enthusiasm, and I don't think there is anything wrong with constructive criticism.
Vince, One tech to another, I do not have much of an issue with esd. If you want to ground yourself out properly normally on the circuit board there is a ground spot that can be found need a mounting hole for the circuit board, or near the power supply. You can attach your grounding clip to ether location.
ONE NOTE, however. Any time your jogging a motor like you are at timestamp:36:30, BE sure to place a jumper across the terminals of the motor. A 10-ohm resistor is better, but if nothing else just a jumper wire is better than nothing. Some motors when jogged generate electricity and can fry chips, and or burn out unnecessary parts for no reason. [learned the hard way] Just a heads up keep up the great work and content. Looking forward to your next vid.
Those 7-pin B&O are standard DIN plugs with the additional pins carrying their proprietary "Data Link" to attach to other B&O equipment. You can unscrew those two pins and use a regular 5-pin DIN to RCA adapter lead to connect it to other equipment.
Thanks for the Info. I bought a Beogram 4500 CD a few days and the plug didn't fit into my Beomaster ... until I took a closer look and realised two of the pins were very tiny screws. I removed them with some wristwatch tool - no problems any more.
I have the same machine. Bought it more than 20 years ago second hand. Sound is really amazing.
This might be one of the most interesting products youve ever had on here! That megaphone from a while back comes close though
Hi Vince, what a great video this is! I used to do alot of cassette stuff in the old days; never as an expert or a person who knows what he is doing (so excuse me for the wrong terminology and the loose ends in the explanation below :-) ). But, as far as I know, a tape deck like this is suposed to put out the audio signal as line level; which means that it amplifies the signal coming from the tape head to a certain volume (don't know which volume :-)) which is standardized so that other equipment which for example takes that output signal as an input "knows" what to expect. For example, cd players also put out their signal as line level. That line level is not enough to drive a powerful speaker like the one in a stereo system; you still need some more amplification to be able to drive that kind of speakers. So that's why you are suposed to connect a tape deck like this to an amplifier which then drives the speakers after amplifying the signal some more. So, even though your bluetooth speaker (that you used to get something out of the tape deck) is not able to produce the great sound of the deck, you did a great job connecting it to that speaker because also that speaker typically takes line level signal as input and then amplifies it so that is can drive its speaker. Had you worked on a record player, then the situation would possibly be differen, because there are alot of record players with no amplification what so ever in them that put out only a very week signal that needs to be amplified by a phono preamp before you can connect it to an amplifier or bluetooth speaker. (Some amplifiers have a phono preamp built in so that you can plug in your record player straight into the amplifier.) If you were to plug in a cassette deck into such a phono preamp, the input signal would be too strong and sound very distorted.
That enginering is outstanding! They used one motor for the capstain rollers and a separate one for winding up the tape... So unnecessary but well engineered! Hats off! My father bought an high-end cassetdeck with 100 watts amplifier and CD-Player by Technics at around the same time. It serves me well till today! I think old devices like these were built to last and not to get quickly replaced by something newer or better. Good old times...
before made in china throwaways
Great work on getting this classic beauty up and running. I purchased a Beomaster 6500 receiver, tape and CD player second hand and they all seem to need some repairing. Hopefully I can find an engineer in Thailand who will able to fix it.
you can clip a grounding strap to your watch or a metal bracket on the casing it takes the static out of your body so it does not enter the board i think you scratched the traces when you pulled the front panel forward to get the board out good problem solving vince never doubt yourself and a nice well built unit
Nice, Great find on that scratch break. Very satisfying.
Well done found it very interesting and the quality of the mechanism looked impressive
having been an BO engineer when that deck was released,you are making me cry.
fidelity60 Me too.
Did you work for Lynx or Brut33?
@@Danechip No got the joke,,should have wrote Bang and Olufsen. as engineers we knew them as B&O.
@@fidelity60 Naa, B&O was fine, I just giggled over the BO. ;)
You mention the turning/rotating play head. Reminds me of a Teac tape player I had just after electricity had been discovered. It actually mechanically turned the cassette over. B&O covered that feature much better it seems to me. Another great video dude. I'm not into vintage gear but your videos are well worth watching...
watching your vids is like a rollercoaster ride from the hyped up yes! fist pumps to your heartbreaking reactions when you realise you done something wrong, your reaction when the display lit up was awesome, such a beautiful bit of old tech, love your vids m8 learn alot about how stuff works ^^ keep it up (you need to get a good quality tape, I could see the poor player trying to recoil away from it :P )
Nice job, it helped me to change the belt set on my new beocord 7000. It is a bit simplier ; I dont have to remove the front panel just unscrew 2 screws and pull it backward a little bit to free the main board and lift it to get access to the tape. I unscrewed the 3 screws unplug it and changes the 3 belts. It took me 35’ . This belt changing opération would have cost easily 250$ done by a pro serviceman if we can find one these days. Tale Care of you Vince
I've really been enjoying your videos - and the music you play - so I've just subscribed! Yes, that break in the track feeding the clock was certainly unexpected and it looked like quite a big gap too. Well done in finding it.
Loved this, that scratched trace is definitely a big mystery
Beautiful piece of kit, well done on the repair
Might take mine apart now as it has similar issues. Thanks, this is a great find!
To answer the question Vince i enjoy every video you make!
Whaaaat? I just fixed one of these two months ago.
Found it at a local Savers store for $8.99. Needed a new drive reel table and all new rubber parts for about $60. Sounds amazing.
Mine was a 5000 (1980’s US model). It’s not auto-reverse and the transport appears quite different. Nonetheless, getting the proper belts is critical as bad belts (like off of eBay) can burn out the motors which are hard to find.
The PCB is notroiously fragile and is meant to be held vertically in those metal tabs on the side of the drawer while being serviced.
Vince love your content, I must check at least a few times a day to see if you have uploaded ... your Trying To Fix content is getting better and better. Whatever you do please dont stop uploading. Any news on My Mate Vince T-Shirts & Hoodies yet ? ??? 4 Friends who watch you too are waiting to buy them ..
Great bit of fault finding in the end 👍🏼
Hello, thanks for the video. A good practice may be to press the power button 1 minute with the cord unplug. It will discarge every capacitors and prevent you shorting stuff :). Also, it does a hard reset which solve many problems, even with computers.
Back in the day, when DJ'ing, we used to recover some more life from older drive belts by soaking them in a mug of freshly boiled water. Not a long term solution but would restore some elasticity and tension for a few months. Might have a been a good idea for the belt you didn't replace.
Hello Vince, lovely job ! Thanks for this movie. I have just bough absolutely blind 5500 the same like your one. In my case nothing is working at all - some liquid penetrated power supply unit and the main problem is over there - still today I will fix it and than I will proceed forward to check the rest. My one is just taken apart. Now I am waiting for all new bands. In a meantime I will clean all parts and elements because my one is a bit more dirty as your one. I love B&O from 70' and 80' till 1990. That time it was RR between audio in case of quality and icon of typical Danish excellent and top modern design of Jacob Jensen. That is why I am collecting this stuff and definitively prefer as a new one. I am buying them especially not working, very cheap and than as you I am repairing them. But there is one thing what I am doing on the top as you - I am replacing all electrolytic capacitors. It is easy when you have everything dismantled for a parts. Generally there is no chance that after 30 or even 40 years they are OK. Quite often I am finding some of them with lack of resistance or with lack or even minimum capacity. So my basic rule is to replace them all. Of course I am using the best spare parts. After such a maintenance as you done you have this equipment as a new one with a style not to be repeated by nothing else. Next to me I have next blind Beocord 8000. It will be next one after 5500 to be restored. Cheers from Poland Rafal
Bravo Vince in stripping everything down and fixing. You have nerves of steel.
The worm wheel is, I believe, not actually a motor, but the encoder for the tape counter. The capstans' job is to unspool the tape from the reels, they are responsible for play. The other motor inbetween the reel spindles is for FF and REW. There is also a motor on the play head which physically flips the head for the auto reverse function.
Hi,
congratulations on purchasing the Beocord in such beautiful condition, job well done with this tape recorder.
Regards,
Slawek
A joy to watch Vince. 😊
Again well done mate, In the trade we used to always say B&O stood for Bloody Orrible LOL, Good gear but a nightmare to work on.
I had to rebuild a toy train car for a Christmas toy train ( O- guage) that runs under the Christmas tree. The 18 volt transformer was junk and the car that has a candy cane that spins around had a broken frame . It was delicate and brittle plastic. I spent the day super gluing the frame back together. There were some smaller pieces that I had to find where they went. There were frame parts missing that I had to fill using the baking soda and super glue method. I used a string soaked in super glue to build up the broken out support stud that holds the frame to the rail car. When I finished, the candy came now rotates round and round when the train goes. My Grand kids will love it.
Hi well done from start to finish 👏 the only thing I could pull it on is the noisy fast forward and rewind . Not sure if it was just the chappy tape that you were using . Once again we'll done ✔
Holy shit, I literally just fixed my Beocord 7000 today and this video came up in my recommended!
It have the HX-pro bias control system, a B&O invention that controls the bias with respect to the amount of audio high frequency in the audio signal, it improve recording quality a lot, at some point in time B&O sold the patent to Dolby labs.
The tape mechanism is more or less the same used in most other B&O cassette players of that time, you can use almost any as donor for parts, the mechanism can be slightly different in mounting points but the core is the same. The same goes for B&O CD mechanism (it is a Philips) you can use any from around the same time period as donor.
A lot of people wrap the ESD strap around their ankle to keep it out of the way. And yes, it's best to plug it into the ground from a wall outlet.
Antistatic straps around the ankle are generally used when you have a conductive ESD floor. But you would only work on mains live equipment wearing an antistatic strap if you have a mains isolating transformer, between the equipment and the mains supply.
I have a Bang & Olufsen Beocenter 2200 from the 1980s Mine cost me an original Xbox and I had to replace the belts very nice top job on getting it sorted
Vince how are you still doing this stuff on the floor? That can't be good for your back. For the love of God get a desk/workbench!
The floor is absolutely the best place to be doing these types of projects, give you that childhood feeling of playing with your toys whilst doing something you enjoy as adult
@@standingmonkey2695 Tell it to your back and the strain on the eyes.
Ohh for me was a relief too. I feel quite scary when repairing things hoping dont get things worst. Nicely it was not esd issue. Thank for your video
Holy shit that thing is beautiful. Great find and so glad you fixed it! I'd love to have that in my Hi-Fi setup!
Well done Vince! I reckon that scratch was done by a previous owner and all you did was knock out the little piece of copper that was keeping the connection when you tipped the panel forward.
Always interesting to watch. And thanks for playing mainly classical music which makes a change from almost all other youtube channels. Not sure how you manage to do it without getting copyright strikes.
Stoped at 0:01 to said that this B&O era was the finest IMHO as design matters. Jacob Jensen was hell of a designer I fell in love with the beogram 4002 .... thing of beauty, tecnology and minimalism. If I were you I would start thinking on building the COMPLETE system, not sure if this one come with the gigantic bidirectional remote which offers display and indicators
Why do I think it would have been funny if you had bought another chip? Great video Vince and nice service. Quality product that isnt disposable
My friend: Seen any good movies lately?
Me: Yes. Trying to FIX.
My friend: Never heard of it.
Me: Shame.
My favorite anime
Bang & Olufson was considered the very tip of the tree, super high quality stuff, if you ever listen to Pink Floyd on vinyl then it sounds just about the best on a B&O with the quadrophonic setup and I had some serious Pioneer gear which sounded poor compared to my Beosound when I got it. Some Who albums also sound super amazing utilising the quadro recording medium. The thing too with the older school B&O is it was designed to be the centre of things, you had your TV wired into it, your laserdisc too and you could set it up to provide music in every room you wanted it in and it sounded just as good anywhere in your place too. The Beocord was part of a larger system called the BeoSystem 5500, the record player is still hugely regarded as about as good as it gets for vinyl and now going to amuse myself by watching the prices on ebay go through the roof hehe
indeed quadrophonic the forgotten precursor to surround sound. B&O were the only ones I remember ever comitting to it, but surely many more producers made units.
The quality of the boards components, motors , etc doesn't scream high end quality at all. Bog standard internals for the time. More marketing and design of the exterior and the name to charge what they did. Look inside an late 70's high end Pioneer tape deck if you want to see real quality audio gear. I have a CTF-700 which was made in 1978 and the build quality is way superior.
it sounded soooooo much cleaner after cleaning the head very surprised the belt wasnt tarred up great find great price fair condition
A really well made Cassette Deck it looks great a lot better than today's devices even though this is old it's high quality and worth every penny.
The hardware is a delight to see/touch/use because B&O are masters of design perfection. The sad truth, hoever, is that the electronics are pure Phillips design and manufacture.
So really you're paying a HUUUUUGE premium for aesthetics.
Hi Vince, another great video. I always find your videos very entertaining. I would love to see you do a repair on an analogue portastudio 4 track cassette recorder. There's loads of spares or repair ones going cheap on ebay. Kind regards. Paul.
Yes! This video release just made my night! Thanks Vince.
Fantastic fix keep up the good work
Excellent, you now need to get all the units you have fixed and set them up as a complete system, and show is all running, you will then have High end system, anyone would proud to own, nice video
7 pin DIN female to 3.5mm adapter cables already exist. Unless you want the satisfaction of making your own. Great video!
45:48 wow, what a cute drawing of a seal pup lying on the arctic snow!
I have the last version of these that B&O made: the Beocord 7000, in tandem with the rest of the Beomaster 7000 system: turntable, master control amp/tuner, and CD plater. They all way heavy and are built to last, even the behemoth Beolink 7000 remote control handset.
Through the MasterLink I can control the LX6000 TV and motorised stand as well as all the speakers - passive and active. I also bought the MasterLink modules so I can play and control whole system in rooms throughout the house, as well as lighting. Years ahead of its time. Most functions will work with the basic Beolink 1000, but of course, you can't see the RDS data.
I have an ESD mat that has a snap connector where you can plug in two banana plugs (most ESD straps have them), and the connector that snaps onto the mat has a LONG cable that you run to an earth ground. You stay grounded and the electronics stay safe on the mat.
The next time you have a supposedly faulty chip for which you have a datasheet, you can use your oscilloscope. Probe its inputs and see if the chip has incoming signals, probe its outputs and you know if it reacts on the inputs or not.
Very nice one Vince !
B&O have always had very futuristic sleek designs, back in the late 70's, someone I knew had a B&O AV receiver, which would still look modern today, it had feather touch buttons for everything, something way ahead of its time back then.
My ampli/tuner Beomaster 1600 has straps for tuning stations and volume/balance :)
Really intresting can't say I have ever seen a design where the front opens kinda cool
Hi Vince, just a few tips: at one point you considered ESD load to have fried a chip, because the displays weren‘t working. Luckily you found out, that this wasn’t the case, but it surely could’ve happened.
What I saw earlier on was you dragging and pushing the sliding mechanism in an out, thus spinning the attached motor, that was plugged into the board. A motor is a teo way street, as you can imagine: putting movement to it (especially with the gear ratio) induces voltage into the board. If you manage to spin it up over your system voltage you can surely fry everything connected to the same supply rail (and more, dependant on the speed ^^). Trust me, I did that once with compressed air and a fan - I fried everything.
This would damage the electronics like ESD or even worse.