Beogram CD 5500, tray and cd 'jumping' problems.

12 replies

BMXband1t77

Bronze

33 posts

Posted November 3, 2023 at 06:40 GMT ? Edited June 22, 2024 at 11:25 GMT

Hi, I have a random problem with my Beogram CD 5500 where it loads a disk then it sounds like the disk is jumping around the tray mechanism like a Mexican jumping bean! Then the CD player either becomes unresponsive, resorting to yanking the power on it and waiting for it to spin down, or it sends itself into standby mode. The first time it happened i dreaded what i was going to find but it doesn't seem to be damaging the cd's at all? Initially i found that the thicker cd's with full label printing on it worked better. My Bladerunner cd got loads of plays that day! Then other CD's with just simple track screen print on didn't perform so well. Also i find that some disks refuse to even load, for instance CD 1 of the Concert for Bangladesh refuses to even be recognised, then CD2 played just fine? Weird. Also, some burnt CD's refuse to play when others do?!?! I just don't get it. I suspected something wrong with the cd clamping magnets, so i checked their magnetism (well these are 30 plus years old now!) but they seem to clamp when the tray and disk line up correctly. I have gingerly taken the puck off the top and placed some strong old hard drive magnets on it to 're-energise' its magnetism, maybe i didn't put them on for long enough but i didn't want to make it so strong that the loader couldn't cope. I also had a play with the little green things on the back left near the power supply, that do something to the armature at the front that holds the clamping puck and lowers it into place, to no avail. (see piccy from another cd 5500 poster). Then i had a brainwave and AHA! I found an old 2 part CD single card inlay and put that on top of the cd and lined up with the centre hole, this pretty much worked all day with that. So i bought a CD stabiliser made from carbon fibre, it worked faultlessly for a day THEN next day back to the Mexican Jumping bean CD's again! Another thing that happens is sometimes the tray shoots out almost flinging the cd onto the floor, or it gets stuck half way in or out, or moves in or out VERY slowly. Then it sometimes sulks and goes into standby. I have looked at the tray mechanism belt and i'm sure i read somewhere that it does have a little 'slack' on it to give the tray that 'velocity' effect when the slack bites in. I cleaned the belt rollers very carefully with cotton buds. I also plopped some synthetic grease on the tray mech rollers to help its journey back and forth, again to no avail....I just don't get it! Bizarrely some days it works faultlessly all day! I love its sound and its great with the huge master control star trek flight deck remote. And other days i have to give up completely and stream what i want to play. But i have almost 1000's of cd's i want to play again now i have finally got them out of long term storage. HELP B&O EXPERTS PLEASE! thanks Jon

Location: Essex

Die_Bogener

Bronze

1477 posts

Posted November 4, 2023 at 10:14 GMT ? Edited November 4, 2023 at 10:18 GMT

#705008

How do pick up your CD? Finger in the center and pull? Finger grease is no good idea. And grease on the spindle motor is also no good idea. There is a special rubber/paint which can get lost. The other idea is: the complete CD Deck became lower out of adjustment/focus. There are 4 rubber arm carrying the deck. Then the CD clamp becomes contact to the steel frame during play. Dissassemble the center clamp and put it manually on the CD for testing.

AdamS

Bronze

642 posts

Posted November 5, 2023 at 13:01 GMT

#705045

I’ve owned two Beogram CD5500s and both of them had so much slack in the clamping mechanism that both regularly were able to clamp the disc off-centre and thus be unable to read it. I’ve talked to Tim Jarman about it and even he just shrugged and confirmed that they pretty much all do it to a certain extent. Lovely sounding player but it feels like a poor piece of design to me.

BMXband1t77

Bronze

33 posts

Posted November 6, 2023 at 09:40 GMT

#705067

OH!?!? Really!!! Erm so can you reccomend another player that might work with my current Beomaster 5500 system using the B&O format din input and will work alonside the amp, remotes and the huge Master Control Panel remote? With what you're saying i don't know, is it worth further servicing this unit ie replace the tray mechanism belt, or any other 'tweaks' that might resolve this really wierd and random issue? thanks for any help. Jon

Location: Essex

Die_Bogener

Bronze

1477 posts

Posted November 6, 2023 at 13:20 GMT

#705074

Clean the CD and the spindle axle with isopropanol. Clamping the CD out of center is a complete different problem. Check wether the CD tray lines up exactly (!!!) with the front panel. If not, and the tray is 2mm inside... there is a rubber part in the tray adjustment missing oder defect. Near the trafo is a stopunit for the tray loading. And there should be a rubber ring... and this ring gets lost.

Dillen

BronzeModerator

12821 posts

Posted November 6, 2023 at 13:24 GMT ? Edited November 6, 2023 at 13:32 GMT

#705075

They are excellent decks, great performers and a fantastic design. Absolutely worth restoring. Not sure why anybody would say otherwise. Clean the laser lens. Check if the drive suspension rubber parts have deformed, allowing the drive to sag down. This typically causes the disc to rub on the tray when rotating, and it can cause many strange symptoms. Replacing the tray belt is a two-minute job when the cover is off. Check for cracked solder joints at connectors and other large components, and particularly the center pins of the large filter capacitors. And replace capacitors on the servo board (grab a kit containing the correct type of caps). They can also cause many strange problems. Keep in mind, that CDRs are not following standards. The same goes for many types of copy-protected discs ("Copy-Control" etc.). Most Beogram CD5500 will play CDRs without any problems, but it cannot be guaranteed that all decks will play all CDR discs. And not all CDRs age well. Over time they may lose information making them more or less unreadable. Martin

BMXband1t77

Bronze

33 posts

Posted November 14, 2023 at 17:03 GMT

#705253

Yes i pickup cd's via the central hole only. no grease went near the cd clamping or motor system. i havent put grease anywhere near the actual drive / motor mechanism, just lubed up the rollers for the tray loader mechanism and was very careful not to get it anywhere else especially not onto the belt or pulleys. your idea about the deck may be out of alignment for some reason might be worth investigating. As far as i understand the laser unit is mounted into a 'caddy' and that caddy also has heigh adjustment (see photo) BUT this isn't affecting the laser focussing array, it just lowers or lifts up the entire 'caddy' into position. if im right in thinking it might be that the caddy is too low thus the magnet clamping has the potential to not clamp down efficiently and thus when the cd spins up the clamp effect is broken making this weird random error happen every now and then. How do i measure raising or lowering this, shall i just count the turns in 90 degree turn increments on each screw? Until yesterday the cd deck has performed well, behaving itself and playing a range of cd's. it seems to be this way, behaves for days on end THEN just when i start to relax, the horrible sound of a disk running wild inside the drive is heard. As i said before, thankfully none have been damaged or radially scratched yet...just sounds worse than it is! I plan to investigate what you say about the caddy being too low or high, and i also will revisit my idea of putting strong magnets onto the little clamping ring and leave them on for a day or two to 're-charge' the magnetic properties, after 30 plus years of contsantly being engaged and disengaged, surely this little magnetic ring must be losing its magentic properties? would a little tiny bit of synthetic grease gently wiped with a cotton bud on the top 'puck' white plastic locator collar ( the bit that engages with the clamp lifting arm at loading / ejecting) be an idea? just a thin coating mind, not globs of it!! please refer to picture here where i have indicated the areas of interest and adjustments. one last thing, this deck sits underneath the rather heavy and solid beocord 5500 cassette deck, is it possible that this might be adversely affecting the cd player? I did try yhem the other way round with cd deck ontop BUT that stopped the cassette decks tray opening at all!?!? thanks for any help and adjustment tips, in laymans terms please thought! haha. jon

Location: Essex

BMXband1t77

Bronze

33 posts

Posted November 14, 2023 at 17:10 GMT

#705254

ok, yes i will clean the clamping 'pucks' with iso alcohol. Yes the tray, when behaving 'normally' it does line up flush with the front fascia if thats what you mean. just it has these odd 'fits' of the tray flying out, then half way back in, sits there for a bit, then either goes into sleep mode or the tray snaps shut. sometimes ponderously opening like waking up a teenager, or refuses and goes straight into sleep mode. not an extensive list of its hissy fits but thes tray oddities are nearly always accompanied by the cd clamp system problem witht the cd spinning around out of control unclamped. just plain weird, despite this, unitl today the deck has played a range of cd's faultlessly, then 'whammo!' starts its hissy fit again. totally perplexed i am yes? thanks jon

Location: Essex

BMXband1t77

Bronze

33 posts

Posted November 14, 2023 at 17:26 GMT ? Edited November 14, 2023 at 17:40 GMT

#705255

Well indeed, i have had a few cd players and this one sounds superb to me to be honest! The internal circutry, much like the amp and cassette deck seem 'over engineered' with huge circuit boards and massive power supply coils and caps BUT the sound from my 5500 system has made my jaw drop a fair few times, hearing details and nuances on recordings i 'thought' i knew inside out! I am not really aufait to start mucking around with caps and risking electrocution. I can solder but i am not really an electrician wizz. Can you recommend a decent UK B&O service who might service my cd deck for a 'reasonable figure'? Are there vendors of these kits on ebay or the internet? About the CDR, you are right! Some CDR are fine and others refuse to play at all. Bizarrley one commercial cd for a 2 cd pack refuses to play, when the second cd plays fine? bizarre. please see an earlier reply for a few other things i want to try out, caddy (NOT laser array) height adjustment, ie bringing it nearer 'up' perhaps to the clamping puck, and remagnetising the top 'puck' so it clamps more firmly after 30 plus years of use. see piccy for areas i plan to work on. And 2 pics of looking almost directly front on to the tray, is the tray height set right? thanks for the advice jon

Location: Essex

BMXband1t77

Bronze

33 posts

Posted November 21, 2023 at 18:27 GMT

#705439

Hiya all, I have found the CD 5500 service manual and found a couple of interesting pages that possibly might relate to part of my disk tray/ loader/ magnet/ cd jumping problem. (see attached .pdf pages) I wonder if it's possible some or all of these are out and creating the problem loading the cd disks up just out of alignment enough to make them break with the clamping and cause my problems. when there is enough daylight i might give tweaking these a try. if anyone has experience to share regarding these adjustments i would appreciate your input. regards jon

Location: Essex

Join BeoWorld

Become a Member

December 2026 Prize Draw

Gold Members Only

As a Gold member you're automatically entered into our exclusive prize draw — your chance to win iconic Bang & Olufsen products. A unique benefit of BeoWorld Gold membership, every draw brings a new opportunity to win something special.

View Prize Go For Gold