B&O 4004 is in the house

[W9TR]

After a regrettable stint with BSR, my first decent turntable was a B&O 1200. That turned into a B&O 2400, and after I got a full time job, a used B&O 4002. I kept the 4002 for 20 years, and used it so much I finally wore it out.

So when I saw a CL listing for a good condition B&O 4004, I went to take a look.

What I found was an unmolested B&O 4004 in good overall cosmetic condition.


The dust cover had been replaced somewhere along the line with a factory replacement. The overall condition of the aluminum was very good, one or two small scratches.



Even better, everything worked as it should. After I got it home, I took the MMC 20EN cartridge into to work and inspected the stylus under a microscope. No visible wear whatsoever, so I was good to go playing records.



I checked the tracking force, and it was 0.5 gm, way too light. I had to rebalance the arm dynamically with the downforce spring and counterweight, and got the 1.2 gm tracking force dialed in. That alone was a four hour methodical exercise in patience.



I adjusted the platter speed with a strobe disc and tested the cartridge with some test records. Looks like the treble is attenuated a bit and the channel balance is off - pretty much what you'd expect for a cartridge that is over 30 years old.

But it tracks well and sounds very good. Just using it is making it sound better, so I'm burning it in with a test record. This seems to be helping. It is nowhere near the quality of my main vinyl rig, but it holds it's own.

I got a new belt installed earlier today, and that tightened up the sound. I sounds very good as is, so I've decided it is worth restoring. I'll probably be getting a new SoundSmith replacement cartridge after the re-build.

I'm making a list of all the components that need to be replaced, and will get those on order shortly. This will be a good winter project.

So that's my B&O 4004 journey - wish me luck!

Tom

[Masterlu]

Tom... Good Luck!

[Jerome W]

Good Luck Tom !
Really love the design of it.

[W9TR]

Jerome, Ivan;
Thank you, I'll need it! I love Jacob Jensen designs. They are timeless.

But these are very difficult to work on. They are so simple and beautiful on the outside. On the inside they are very well built, but very complicated and finicky. Fortunately, after owning one for 20 years, I know how to work on them. The good news with this one is it has been stored for a long time, so it is in 10 year old condition instead of 40 year old condition. I gave up on the last one when I had to have gears made by a local machine shop! Now with 3D printing I'll be able to keep this one going a long time.