I finally set up the Beogram 8002 turntable in a listening room to test its functionality.

While reassembly took a bit longer than expected due to a slight detour to repair chipped rosewood trim on the front panel.

Although fixing the trim wasn’t part of the initial restoration plan, I decided against leaving the front panel chipped.

Repairs involving glue, like this one, often take longer than expected due to the curing time.

Multiple repair attempts also contributed to the delay.

My first attempt involved patching the two chipped areas, one large and one small.

The larger chip was patched with a piece of rosewood veneer, achieving a good fit and pattern match.

After gluing and trimming the patch, I sanded and applied boiled linseed oil as a finish.

However, the smaller patch became too dark, and the remaining chip was too small for a successful repair, even with wood filler.

While an improvement over the chips, the result wasn’t satisfactory.

The larger patch, though well-fitted, darkened considerably, and the remaining chip remained noticeable.

For the second attempt, I removed the previous repair and opted for a single rectangular patch to cover both original chips.

Using a lighter shade of rosewood veneer resulted in a better outcome, although not perfect.

The patch darkened slightly, but the overall result was an improvement over the original chips.

I explored using rosewood trim from a spare Beogram 800x cabinet and other spare cabinets but found them to be darker than the project’s trim. Therefore, the veneer remained the best match.

Next, I focused on the tonearm compartment, installing a clean replacement hinge piece for the lid.

Kilopoise grease was applied for damping, and the hinge was temporarily held with the original hinge bar.

With that, the Beogram 8002 cabinet was ready for component reassembly.

The initial step involved reinstalling the main turntable components, including the circuit board, transformer, control panel, and floating chassis.

I prefer this order because it allows me to close the cabinet halves, providing stability when handling the dust cover and tonearm compartment lid.

I didn’t photograph the reinstallation process this time. However, you can refer to this link for a detailed guide from a previous Beogram 8002 project.

Here’s the Beogram 8002 with its internal components reinstalled, prepped for the dust cover and tonearm compartment lid.

For the dust cover, I secured the dust cover and tonearm compartment hinge assembly using the Beogram 8002 bar hinge.

Removing the bar hinge earlier eliminated the need to remove the cabinet’s backplate, which often results in a loose fit due to fragile plastic clips.

After securing the dust cover and tonearm compartment, I attached the dust cover damping spring assembly.

The dust cover was then installed and adjusted to lower slowly using the damping spring.

The dust cover’s rubber bumper pads, located on the front part of the lid, were deteriorated.

After cleaning the residue, I installed 3D-printed replacements.

With the dust cover in place, I used it as a guide to install the tonearm compartment lid using 3M VHB double-sided tape, similar to the Beogram 8002 metal deck.

The Beogram 8002 was now assembled and ready for record play testing in my office.

To celebrate, I chose to listen to Quincy Jones’ “Walking In Space” and Lonnie Liston Smith’s “Live!” jazz records.

These listening tests tend to last a while.