Sixteen Years Old and Not Your Average Teenager

Britney and her father Ralph (I like that name Ralph!) called me at home about a month ago concerning a possible repair on a Beomaster 1900. Britney picked up that machine for $15 at a Disabled American Veterans Thrift Store in Wyoming. (Hey, don’t knock it! I picked up an ADS C2 cassette machine at a DAV for $38 just to compare it to my Beocord 5000. The 5000 won.) She said that Bang and Olufsen was a name she was not familiar with and dug through the internet looking for information about how to get the 1900 fixed since no one in her area was willing to take it in for repair. Even if it couldn’t be fixed she told me that it was a beautiful stereo and would look great “just sitting somewhere”.

In a cautious manner I attempted to qualify a 16 year old as a B&O owner. “After all,” I told her. “A 1900 can only produce about 25 watts of power on a good day.” This didn’t ring in her head but Ralph interjected by mentioning that Britney is a calm, cool and collected kid. She’s just not the sort of teenager to run 25 watts for all its worth. Charlotte Church, YoYo Ma, Enya and Enya’s sister Moire Brennan were just a few of the artists she enjoys listening to. Well, maybe this 16 year old WAS a good candidate for a teeny-tiny and beautiful 1900.

I quoted a price of $200 for a complete refurbishment and test of the machine. Ralph said that he would pick up any amount that Britney was short on. They sent it in to Beomuse.

Wow. Not bad on the outside. Veneer in excellent shape and the aluminum panels were almost pristine. The protective film on the lighting fascia was about to come apart but that was of no concern. A strip of clear shipping tape was pressed against the fascia and a fast pull removed most of the film. Denatured alcohol removed the remnants of film and a smooth polishing finished the fascia to a near perfect finish.

And how lucky this young woman is! The 1900 was of a later model with the 128 step volume board! Can’t get much luckier! Bringing the 1900 up on a Variac transformer didn’t show a sign of any direct shorts in standby mode but when P5 was selected the unit went directly into standby. Hmmmm. Problems here.

An hour of troubleshooting ascertained that one of the output Darlingtons was slightly resistive allowing a tiny amount of DC current to trigger the protection circuit. Less than $10 in Darlingtons cured that problem. Now to replace all of the front panel light bulbs. The Bass, Treble and Balance controls were of a later design which rarely show any sort of failure and they sounded very clean with no trace of “scratchiness”. Beomuse included a pair of DIN plugs with 10 feet of speaker wire just to make the transition to B&O easier for Britney and Ralph.

Forty-Eight hours later and Beomuse certified Britney’s 1900 as “Ready for Music”. Ralph told me that Britney worked her tail off at her part-time job in a women’s clothing store. He didn’t have to shell out a single cent to help pay for the refurbishment but he wanted to invest in return-shipping regardless.

Britney has a very nice 1900 with a Two-Year Warranty somewhere in her parents’ home. I know because Ralph says he likes that machine as much as his daughter does. The wife also thinks its kinda neat, too. Right now he’s thinking about a pair of small B&O speakers to go with the 1900. I recommended that he keep his eye out for a pair of S 45s and when the time came a Beomaster 8000 might be in his den’s future.

One last thing. I sent Britney a Christmas Gift yesterday… a custom cable to connect her CD player to the 1900. That was one minor concern she had. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone had a daughter like Britney? And then again, I wonder what the CD player won’t be connected to any more?

© Copyright Anthony Garza, used with permission.