Beosound Century / 2000 CD laser repair and review / thoughts B&O Ep.04 

Absolutely true, I imagine they could be a pain to fix ! Hopefully not speaking from experience. Glad it’s working well! Thanks for the comment :)

Good luck! Hopefully the new laser will sort it :) !

Thankyou for your comments :) hope you get yours working well!

Thanks Lee hope you got yours sorted!

Get one, they’re a great little system!

I do have it yes! I’ll have a try with that sounds like a good idea. Is it turning up the laser power?

@@chrisbaker121924 Basically your lowering the resistance and accommodating the gradual changing of the capacitors as they age over several years so things go out of spec then you have a “failed OPU unit”its not one hundred % successful but its worth a try, one word of caution use a 2mm slot screwdriver VERY CAREFULLY just a slight bit at a time i turned mine clockwise as i looked at the pot. Easy does it and try it out each time you make an adjustment. BTW just raise the mech at the lower edge once you’ve swapped the opu over to do the adjustments and cover the mains transformer with some insulation it stings like hell it you plug yourself in LOL and fingers crossed for you ….

@@Marie579 Good advice that with the transformer! They scare me a bit and try to avoid going in them when they’re on as much as possible. They’re tight in there. Tbf since this is currently working I might just leave it alone 🤣… But I’ll keep the original so if it does stop in the future I can swap it back in or try the pot trick on the new one. 😄

@@Marie579 where is the potentiometer located on the Beosound Century?

@@tylerevans2261 Hi Tyler the potentiometer is on the flex PCB on the CD Mech itself, its about 3mm big so be VERY delicate and gradual in how you turn it.

Let us know how you get on. It’s a bit fiddly removing the old laser so just take loads of pics of what goes where. I bet it will get it working! :) I wonder how many of these ended up in rubbish tips for such a cheap part. The small torx bit screwdrivers are available on Amazon and eBay etc. useful thing to have for fixing vacuum cleaners these days too! And thanks :) if I’m in the states I’ll have a beer 🍺 😁. I’ve fixed loads of stuff on my cars by watching someone’s video, RU-vid is such a great resource.

​@@chrisbaker121924 I got the part in about 2 weeks from ali express, replaced the part in about 30 minutes, watching your video on pause and repeat, and its works! My mind is blown! Grateful for your help with this. Cheers.

@@jeffsmith5140 that’s great news! Glad it’s working for you, another one saved!

Ah there must be another fault then somewhere, or you were sold a second faulty laser :/

Ace I’m really glad I’ve helped you out :) gives me a warm feeling knowing of all these Century’s playing again :D

Yeah it’s in lovely shape! Yeah really overlooked and generally really impressed with its sound for its size. Such an easy fix I really do wonder generally how much stuff ends up in landfill that’s a cheap part away from another 10 years of service. Find it really sad that people probably throw away quality items and replace it with junk half the time 😅. Hear stories on the group of people finding B&O stuff in skips although now with eBay and Facebook think most people give them a chance on there now.

@@chrisbaker121924 I’m guessing it’s more suited for the kitchen or conservatory than main room use. Maybe add a Bluetooth or airport express device to the aux in for streaming? I often find myself just browsing local adds , eBay etc for B&O bargains . I don’t actually need anything at all but I’m always just curious.

Really depends on someone’s expectations. These days it seems a lot of folk are very happy with little Bluetooth speaker things. I personally would say it’s no substitute for a proper set up but perfect as you say as anywhere with a bit of background music might be nice. If I had one in shoddy condition I’d use one in the garage but this one is too nice! Might hang it in the study and bring it downstairs/out into the garden occasionally. Might just sell it on 🤔. I just get too attached to these things 😅

Yeah and of course you can stick anything you like into the aux. I tend to just plug my phone in rather than the airport WiFi Bluetooth things.

@@chrisbaker121924 Far too nice to sell on😄. Just keep it and enjoy it. I’m always loathe to sell any of my B&O, so I don’t 😂. I use Airport Express into my BC9300 with BL8000, and an old iPad for Spotify over AirPlay. This works a dream every time . Sort of a poor mans Beosound Moment, but arguably more reliable.

Yeah it’s portable in a “maybe move it room to room somewhat occasionally” kind of way. Rather than take it to a picnic kind of way.

Thankyou :) glad it is now working! Could be or a connector that wasn’t quite seated or something?

Great video BTW, very comprehensive 👍

Probably not, but on the plus side the entire mech is available cheaply too! Motor and all.

@@chrisbaker121924 thanks! I assume it is the cdm 12.4 mechanism (not a B&O specific part)?

In most cases, if the laser is bad, the CD won't even spin up.

If the CD is scratched then it might be the actual CD as you say… other than that my first guess would be try gently cleaning the laser with a cotton bud. Very gently. Maybe there is a fleck of dust on there. If that doesn’t work the laser is probably starting to show signs of failure.

Not that I’m aware of, I assume you’ve checked the cable is good and the source is loud enough. Just one thought… I know a lot of aux items were louder in the 90s 00s than they are today. So maybe the century is balanced for that. I think some legislation came in place to prevent hearing damage. My old 2005 iPod is way louder than my phone. Something you could try is an anker Bluetooth receiver. I use one on my stereos and again as an input device bluetoothed from my phone it’s almost twice as loud. Sound quality is decent enough for non analytical listening. Might be worth a go!

Are you sure it’s the sensor, it’s probably a problem with the mechanism. Try if you can carefully moving the door all the way to the fully open position and make sure it operates smoothly. If it gets jammed it deliberately detaches to avoid damage to the mech. I believe the sensor is behind the display. Not 100% sure however!

Sorry I’m not 100% sure as my tape just worked, and if it isn’t broke etc! but…. I’d be 99% sure it needs a belt kit. Pretty straight forward to do. Google the service manuals and you’ll be able to see where the belts go. It’s likely they’ll have turned into gooey mush that is horrendous to remove. I found nail varnish remove (acetone) to be the most effective. The black rubber goop gets everywhere so do it over a hard surface and not a cream carpet! You may need to remove one or two parts on the tape mech to access all the belts but take careful pictures along the way and you’ll be fine. Maybe make a RU-vid video with it 😃. Great find in a bin btw! It’s nuts what some people throw out. Good save. I should add Martin at beoparts will likely have a belt kit and any spares you need for that.

@@chrisbaker121924 Thanks for the tips and advice, you've definitely gained another subscriber in me. I opened up the Beosound up this afternoon (on my brown carpet) and one of the motors was stuck so I oiled it and the tape deck is now working! I'll just have to start fixing the CD next... Glad someone else has an interest in old hifi and classic cars. I too have a Triumph (in fact I've got two). My channel is called Rust In Time if you're interested. Search RU-vid for Triumph Roadster Restoration. Thanks again.

Wow always had a love for the triumph roadster. Must be a challenge to restore something like that. I’ll check them out. Just subbed! Guessing you’re in the USA if you have possum problems 🤣 If it’s briefly spinning but not playing and then rejecting it will be that laser part.

@@chrisbaker121924 I'm in Australia actually and yes - if only replacing the belts on a Roadster would fix it's problems! My CD player does have the same fault as yours so I'll give your fix a try as soon as the replacement laser turns up. All the best.

usually the idler wheel and the rubber that is the issue if the tape is not rolling on play. The pinch roller works irrespective. to get to the idler you will have to get into the mechanism.

Deffo worth doing the repair. :) what have you tried with the CD so far? Amazing find, saddens me how many of these amazing items end up in landfill for something so minor.

@@chrisbaker121924 that's exactly why I saved it. Never attempted anything like this before. I've done the obvious and cleaned it up and used a CD cleaning disk. That said it's the same issue as you had so I guess the same solution. Just not brave enough to try it. B&O want £50 just to look at it!

@@NatGriffiths-ct7nf never heard of a CD cleaning disc! Truth be told I wouldn’t even bother taking it to B&O, of course it varies dealer to dealer but in my experience they aren’t particularly interested in fixing older gear, perhaps this is just about new enough that they would fix it but it’s doubtful. I could certainly try swapping the laser, that’s usually the fault. If you’re anywhere near derbyshire I’d be happy to try!

@@chrisbaker121924 That's v kind of you. Sadly I'm way down South in Bristol 🙄

Sounds like a good idea for a video that :) For now, here’s a brief summary of what I’d do with your deck. The hum may be a dirty tape head or could be the tapes as the most likely culprit. Use a Q-tip with rubbing alcohol on the head and gently clean. These are especially bad for it as the head sticks upwards and isn’t particularly well shielded from dirt. The squeak will be the capstan or pinch roller. Again clean with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip, just ensure you dry the rubber parts off as you clean them as the alcohol can damage the rubber. You can buy special rubber cleaner which is more gentle on the rubber parts. You can get liquid bearing synthetic oil and that should be good to use in most applications in the tape deck, a small amount… although I wouldn’t recommend using it on the motor itself. Any larger plastic gears for any door mechanisms etc use white lithium grease.

It’s probably a bad cap or poorly lubricated, they gather dust in these mechs.

With the Beosound Century at standby (red light showing, but turned off), point the BL1000 at the Beosound and press STANDY (Red Dot) then SOUND then 1 then STORE. The digit ‘1’ should briefly be displayed on the Century’s screen. It should then respond to remote commands. Hopefully this should work!

@@chrisbaker121924 Hi thanks for your reply I've tried both my remotes on the Beosound and had know responses from either, funny because they work fine with both my Beocenters. Regards Lee.

@@leeBoB4257 must be a problem with the beosound then. It’s possible to turn remote control functions on and off with that above procedure. Perhaps in situations where you may have two systems in one room. Did the procedure above not work? If so must be a failed IR receiver on the century

@@chrisbaker121924 Hi both my Beocenters are in my living room and both Beolink remotes work with either one my Beosound is in my bedroom I've tried both remotes and nothing happens so it must be the Beosound.

@@leeBoB4257 have you tried that procedure above with the remote pointing at the beosound in the bedroom. It’s not the remote that’s turning off when doing that procedure rather teling the beosound to ignore/(or start paying attention again) to remote commands.

No worries :):)

Are you sure the remote function isn’t turned off? forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/bo-beosound-century-remote-control-troubleshooting/ The other thing to consider is are you sure the remote is working okay?

Both of mine had the remote sensor die. The fix was quite easy, it involves replacing 3 capacitors on the sensor board. Beoparts sells the kit for a few bucks. BUT.... you need to know how to solder.

Not sure what you mean?

After I changed the cd laser, I couldn’t know how to get back the case that hold the cd into its place .

@@khalidm510 do you mean the springs?

@@khalidm510 or the door that flips upwards perhaps that clamps the CD

@@chrisbaker121924 finished the springs and it’s very hard to put the door back to it’s place, and I’m afraid to break something, in your video it doesn’t show clearly.

They’re beovox MS150 you can see :), 10 inch sub 8 inch main 3 and 1 inch tweeters. Beasts! To be fair on the tape decks it’s most likely a belt. It’s certainly where I’d start and making sure all the mech moves smoothly. No rollers stuck etc. Moving on from there the next thing I’d check was any caps… On my beocord 8004 my tape would click in and out and it was a capacitor that had failed.. I’d imagine it will be a belt though that’s possibly slipped off or failed.

@@chrisbaker121924 thanks! I opened it up and I noticed something shifted maybe something was out of alignment. Anyway I couldn’t notice any physical damage so I put it all back together and it’s working great!

@@stevenwendt7927 that’s awesome! Maybe it got slightly knocked in transit. Tapes mechs are fiddly delicate things

Actually just from eBay. It’s a really common part across a lot of players from this era. Phillips CDM12.4/VAM1205. You only really need the laser assembly not the entire transport but it looks like the entire transport is available for and it would probably drop straight in if you wanted a less fiddly job. Just make sure your laser is the linear 12.4 and (tracks up and down) rather than the arch/radial type CDM4 that was available in some of these units. They’re a bit harder to find good replacements for. They’re probably also available on Amazon. Good luck!

Appreciated for help and in such details. Thanks.

That is very symptoms mine had. Spins for a moment and rejects the CD. The laser (or part on the laser board) is most likely your issue. Looking on that eBay link the part SHOULD work. B&O didn’t have their own CD lasers and used generic parts from Phillips mostly, with the exception of the CD50. The beosound century has what I call the linear laser which is a Phillips CDM12. There were several variations of this but I believe they all used the CDM12.4/VAM1204… I believe all CDM12 variations are compatible but haven’t tested myself. To me it looks like the correct type and with these things it’s certainly worth a go. I think it would most likely fix your problem. I certainly have had a lot more success with fixing these than Phillips CDM1-4 which seem a lot tricker to set up. It’s easy enough but a little fiddly so go slowly and take pictures where everything goes a long the way. You’ll need a mini torx bit screwdriver if you haven’t got one. Mine was a straight plug in and it works with no setting up required.

@@chrisbaker121924 Thanks so much..! This is a wealth of information. Since you think this Ebay part will work I'll buy it today. I'll definitely let you know either way how it works out. Many thanks again. Larry

Last question please. I was just about to order the part and I see it comes two different ways. One is just the optical laser and the other is with the motor mechanism. It is necessary to the mechanism as well? It's about twice the price. Thank you

@@larrysue1 you should only need the laser rather than the whole assembly with the motor etc. That block in the link you sent me is what I replaced on mine. Fingers crossed I’d be hopeful it works :)!

@@larrysue1 let us know how you get on :)

7 pin din socket round the back :)! Need a 7 pin to mini jack.

@@chrisbaker121924 Thank you! 😊

Of course, just use an 5 pin din aux to mini jack cable and put in a Bluetooth receiver of your choice.

@chrisbaker121924 thanks brother 👍

Guitar finger picking player. 🤣.

@@chrisbaker121924 🐔🐔🐔