Beogram 6002

At a glance this machine appeared to be an updated Beogram 6006, fitted with the new platter with flush ribs, and new design arm. The arm was differentiated, as on the Beogram 8002, by its wider sensor arm and miniature MMC pickup, the MMC 3 being the standard fitment. Appearances were deceptive. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

On closer inspection, Beogram 6002 turned out to have far more in common with Beogram 4002 than 8002. Most significantly, the superbly engineered tangential drive had been replaced by a simple DC servo motor with a built in speed governor. This of course meant that Beogram 6002 was belt drive, and this change resulted in a speed deviation figure 10 times greater than the original Beogram 8000 (though at 0.2% it was still respectable). The characteristics of the motor meant that the speed could no longer be quartz locked and regulated by the system control. As a result, the LED speed readout was changed to 2 illuminated indicators, though at a glance it looked pretty similar. The user could no longer vary the speed either, though given the speed stability of modern drive systems, this would only be an issue for the most serious of listeners, who would probably buy the Beogram 8002 anyway. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

Despite a very similar control panel, Beogram 6002 used a simple control system based around transistors and a few logic ICs, again very much like Beogram 4002. This was at odds with the microprocessor control used in the previous Beogram 6006 and the 8000 series. The microprocessor would have been fairly redundant anyway, because as well as no longer having to control the motor, the arm positioning had been simplified too, and now used a simple arrangement based around a strip attached to the traverse with sensing holes provided for popular record sizes. Because of this, only standard size records could be played automatically, in contrast to the more sophisticated microprocessor controlled models which could play records of any size. Finally, the Datalink interface (which was a plug-in module and not fitted to all versions) was only one-way, that is, commands from a suitable Beomaster (probably a Beomaster 6000) would make the turntable play and stop, but pressing play on the Beogram 6002 would not turn the Beomaster on or select the PH input. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

As with the previous Beogram 6006, the Beogram 6002 had black control keys to identify it as part of the Beolab 6000 system. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

It is easy to think of the Beogram 6002 as a bit of a disappointment, but in reality it broadened the range of what was available and helped to make the Beolab 6000 system more distinct (and cheaper) than Beolab 8000. It was not to prove especially popular though, and for the last few years of Beomaster 6000 availability, Beogram 8002 was the turntable that was offered. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.