Behold the Blaupunkt 40400 lives
I cannot believe I forgot about this thread. It has been 2 and 1/2 years.
how time flys...
Thanks for all the reply s
I was such a beginner then but I have educated myself through a couple dozen projects now can recap with the best of them. Vintage stereo gear is my uhh ya know hobby
Anyway, This Blaupunkt 40400 has been completely restored and works great. All features including the 3D and the concert hall echo and "studio" setting work. It pulls in FM stations nice and clear and the indicator is "spot on" in the dial glass. Magic eye is bright. The AM and the Ferrite antenna work for AM reception. I hear the radio tuning in the shortwave bands. The Perpetuum Ebner Rex changer has been rebuilt and now works as it should and sounds as a ceramic cartridge would. I love to use the stereo AUX input 5 PIN DIN to RCA connector I made up that plugs in the back and lets me connect any stereo RCA device to it. I like my internet radio plugged in to the AUX but I also use a phono pre-amp and play a nicer turntable thru the sweet Gold Lion EL84 Push pull amp with Telefunken 12AX7's.
I went through hell and blew wads of money on this project, but I persevered and completed it. It taught me a lot and was worth it.
It is one of my audio treasures
...on roller skates, all my consoles are on roller skates for ease of movement
Where do I start...
I cannot believe I forgot about this thread. It has been 2 and 1/2 years.
how time flys...
Thanks for all the reply s
I was such a beginner then but I have educated myself through a couple dozen projects now can recap with the best of them. Vintage stereo gear is my uhh ya know hobby
Anyway, This Blaupunkt 40400 has been completely restored and works great. All features including the 3D and the concert hall echo and "studio" setting work. It pulls in FM stations nice and clear and the indicator is "spot on" in the dial glass. Magic eye is bright. The AM and the Ferrite antenna work for AM reception. I hear the radio tuning in the shortwave bands. The Perpetuum Ebner Rex changer has been rebuilt and now works as it should and sounds as a ceramic cartridge would. I love to use the stereo AUX input 5 PIN DIN to RCA connector I made up that plugs in the back and lets me connect any stereo RCA device to it. I like my internet radio plugged in to the AUX but I also use a phono pre-amp and play a nicer turntable thru the sweet Gold Lion EL84 Push pull amp with Telefunken 12AX7's.
I went through hell and blew wads of money on this project, but I persevered and completed it. It taught me a lot and was worth it.
It is one of my audio treasures
...on roller skates, all my consoles are on roller skates for ease of movement
Where do I start...
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To work on the unit, I clamped picture frame rails, that fit into slots on the chassis and used some speakers to elevate it upside down. It worked great and held very secure
The original German chassis had a replacement output transformer and had really been mucked with, but I did not even recognize that because I was such a beginner. It worked and I was happy
The original German chassis had a replacement output transformer and had really been mucked with, but I did not even recognize that because I was such a beginner. It worked and I was happy
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I decided to check out the record changer A Perpetuum Ebner Rex Deluxe with turret drive and a ceramic cartridge. It looked perfect, cycled very smooth, but it ran too fast because it was a German 50Hz motor running on USA 60Hz electricity. I went round and round with people that thought I could get a 60Hz to 50Hz converter or a 60Hz spindle or 60Hz turret drive wheels and that would solve it but my experience was that the spindle is the actual drive shaft of this particular motor so I decided to get a complete USA PE Rex deluxe on the bay. Got it and it had a cracked mounting plate, sooooo... between the two I rebuilt one good turntable with a 60Hz USA motor.
Not the greatest of tables but it works and sounds pretty good. Its got a new stylus
Not the greatest of tables but it works and sounds pretty good. Its got a new stylus
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So then while I was looking for a PE Rex deluxe, I found a guy with an AMERICAN version 40400 in San Jose. He couldn't hardly give his unit away on CL so I offered him a price if he would ship it to me. I paid $400 shipping because he did a superb job of crating the electronics minus the cabinet and once I committed I was pretty much at his mercy, but he did a great job and I just paid the man. His did not have a changer so I did not get that.
I thought I would buy his for spare parts for mine but once "Ricks" Blaupunkt arrived it was clear that his chassis was in much better condition to restore than mine.
So I recapped the new Blaupunkt 40400 and saved the original. The second chassis recap entailed a much more extensive recap than the original including new filter caps and a new bridge rectifier and anything I could replace
I thought I would buy his for spare parts for mine but once "Ricks" Blaupunkt arrived it was clear that his chassis was in much better condition to restore than mine.
So I recapped the new Blaupunkt 40400 and saved the original. The second chassis recap entailed a much more extensive recap than the original including new filter caps and a new bridge rectifier and anything I could replace
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Sounds like quite the restoration project, with lots of twists and challenges along the way. Hard work and obviously a lot of detective work went into the project.
Sounds like you really lucked out on the second chassis, one of the reasons I have never done something like this (and I have friends who have) is often all of the switches are completely worn out after decades of hard use.
The TT obviously was a bit of fortune too, blend of two tables and all the parts interchanged - not sure you could have counted on that from a lesser brand.
What a cool project and thanks for sharing the end result with everyone.
Sounds like you really lucked out on the second chassis, one of the reasons I have never done something like this (and I have friends who have) is often all of the switches are completely worn out after decades of hard use.
The TT obviously was a bit of fortune too, blend of two tables and all the parts interchanged - not sure you could have counted on that from a lesser brand.
What a cool project and thanks for sharing the end result with everyone.
What an outstanding piece of audio equipmant, and also of restoration! Nice job! -GREAT job! esp. the TT. Truly a labor of love...
The thing just looks so COOL... Really High-End. And it's a Blaupunkt.
I just love these German consoles. Innovative engineering, great looks... Wish the original electrolytics were a little better, but it's STILL easily worth recapping the whole thing.
Nice result! Thanks for posting this!
The thing just looks so COOL... Really High-End. And it's a Blaupunkt.
I just love these German consoles. Innovative engineering, great looks... Wish the original electrolytics were a little better, but it's STILL easily worth recapping the whole thing.
Nice result! Thanks for posting this!
If there is a spring reverb the fifth one could be used as its driver - probably economically expedient as that kind of power was not required. It could also be something else altogether. Some early Tandberg (tube) stereo receivers had spring reverbs for "enhanced" stereo sound. (Fisher sold an external one as well for use with their gear.)
I'm assuming that since it predates the FM stereo broadcast standard it might have provisions for connecting an external decoder like a lot of FM tuners of the era did?
I'm assuming that since it predates the FM stereo broadcast standard it might have provisions for connecting an external decoder like a lot of FM tuners of the era did?
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