Colour / Finish: Green

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BeoVision MX 7000

BeoVision MX 7000

The MX range was the first to bring the TV out into the open and it continues to show alternative ways of living with television. Beovision MX7000 was Bang & Olufsen’s first television set designed with active speakers.

Beovision MX 7000 comes with the same Active loudspeakers technology that’s found in the BeoLab range of loudspeakers. By building the amplifiers directly into the speaker cabinet we’re able to ensure a sound performance that’s second to none. With the MX 7000 you have a full range of 6 colours and 5 placement options. Whether you prefer blue to red or a motorised stand to a non-motorised stand, the MX 7000 will give you a number of possibilities: 66cm screen with VisionClear, active loudspeakers, improved Teletext, Beo4 remote control, connections for Beolink®, VCR and headphones, optional module for satellite, BeoStands and motorised stands and available in pearlescent shades of: blue, green, red, grey, black or glossy white.

The Beovision MX series has become a classic. Designed by the famous David Lewis in the ’80s, this television set has gradually developed through the years to become the most known TV in the world today. Much has happened, however, since the first version. Today the MX7000 is equipped with the latest in picture and sound technology. This is the first, and probably only, TV with an built-in active speaker system. By using the same technology as used in all their stand alone active speakers, Bang & Olufsen have managed to provide sound quality that is hard to believe. The MX6000 is really the same machine as the MX7000 but without the active speakers. It features a passive system instead. When it comes to the picture, the current version features a 28 inch Backline S CRT along with the contrast screen and the other VisionClear components.

The MX series can, of course, be equipped with built in satellite receiver/Positioner and a Picture-In-Picture (PIP) module. For those wishing to use the Teletext subtitles when a program is using them the MX sets automatically turns them on and, in conjunction with a Beocord VX7000, it can also record a program with subtitles. All versions can be connected to the motor stands giving the possibility to adjust the viewing angle remotely. The MX7000 is available in the same colours as the Avant, namely pearly red, blue, black, green and grey.

With the MX range, the TV finally becomes a discreet part of your interior decoration. Choose between a 51cm or 66cm screen, 6 different colours and a versatile range of stands and brackets – with or without motorised turning. What comes as standard, however, is an uncompromising sound and picture quality that has set the reference for modern television.

Design
Filling a television with every conceivable gadget that technology offers is easy enough. What’s more difficult is identifying what really improves the overall experience of watching TV and eliminating the things that don’t. That’s the philosophy behind the MX range. In both form and function, it’s a clear-cut case of less being more. Beovision MX 7000 is controlled by the Beo4 remote control.

Beovision MX 7000
With the MX 7000 you have a full range of 6 colours and 5 placement options. Whether you prefer blue to red or a motorised stand to a non-motorised stand, the MX 7000 will give you a number of possibilities.

Bang & Olufsen have a long lasting commitment to the principle of Active Loudspeakers, i.e. the idea that each loudspeaker unit is powered by an individual amplifier with a specific crossover network, to ensure perfectly natural sound reproduction. The principle has definite advantages in the field of television sound.

Despite critical operating conditions, Beovision products succeed in providing sonic performances which surpass those of many hi-fi systems. The active loudspeakers in Beovision Avant, for instance, reproduce a sound quality equal to a pair of BeoLab 2500s.

And if your demands exceed those of the average viewer, the speakers’ modularity allows you to enhance the sound performance with any choice of loudspeakers in the BeoLab range.

In October 2002, Beovision MX7000 was replaced with Beovision MX8000.

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BeoCenter AV5

Bang & Olufsen BeoCenter AV5

” Picture this. The perfect picture “

BeoCenter AV5 was, at first glance, merely a television set. However, what you saw was just half the picture. The AV5 was in fact a fully integrated, compact digital home entertainment system, comprising a CD player, FM radio and powerful loudspeakers… as well as a television!

On top of the AV5 a CD player elegantly lifted open to allow you to drop in your CD and listen.

BeoCenter AV5 therefore offered the best of both worlds and allowed you decide. At the touch of a button, two motor-drive loudspeakers stretched silently out to each side of the TV set. It was a simple, welcoming gesture but one that also ensures a special performance every time you switch on. The extra width allowed the loudspeakers to combine with the ear-shattering centre bass to produce optimal stereo sound in its full perspective. It was something you could hear – and feel – every time you watched a movie or listened to the in-built radio or played a CD. Indeed, BeoCenter AV5 was so versatile that at the time of its introduction, it could also play CD-i discs.

Devoting efforts in creating the perfect sound didn’t mean that Bang & Olufsen had forgotten what they knew about creating the perfect picture. On the contrary. The AV5’s 63cm super flat picture tube, combined with the contrast screen’s anti-reflective coating, delivered a sharper picture, with more depth and perspective, than you had ever seen before. So when the AV5’s electronic curtains glided open you could be sure that what lay behind them was pure entertainment.

Another original Bang & Olufsen feature added to daylight viewing comfort. It was a small electronic sensor that registered the prevailing light conditions in the room and adjusted the picture, so that it was always sharp, no matter whether a reading lamp was lit or sunlight suddenly poured through the window.

Touch CD on the Beo4 remote control and the AV5 moved on its motorised stand to face the viewer’s favourite viewing position. And active speaker stretched out from each side. On top, a CD player elegantly lifted open to allow you to drop in your CD and listen. The superior sound of the AV5 was made possible by the creation of a ‘soundscape’ that widened the perspective of the sound to make each individual instrument clear and distinct. Combined with an inbuilt, ear-shattering centre bass, the AV5 delivered a sound so rich and true that the effect was remarkably similar to a dedicated surround system.

Like every other Bang & Olufsen product, Beovision AV5 was designed and crafted with the greatest care. To ensure that the powerful centre bass unit didn’t interfere with the steadiness of the picture, it was mounted on an intricate suspension system, which in turn was anchored to a special aluminium chassis. The CD unit was perhaps the most robust then, on the market, to allow it to cope with the demanding environment – electronic noise, hot air and interference – in which it had to perform. And on top of all that, the entire unit was ‘torture tested’ hundreds of thousands of times to make sure that it could cope with the rigours of daily use!

Beovision AV5 construction

The rear of the AV5 is removed by undoing four screws. It may have taken some 150 tools and six construction engineers to make the parts and components, but as far as possible, one size of screw was used to assemble the AV5. The result was, up to 1999, the most advanced piece of electronic design ever to leave the Struer assembly line. Yet everything follows a strictly modular pattern, making maintenance and servicing logical and straightforward.

How can 15 centimetres make a world of difference if you’re already sitting in front of the television, ideally positioned between the stereo loudspeakers?

If you want the full perspective of, say a symphony and you want to be able to identify each instrument in the orchestra, a distance of 80 centimetres is the absolute minimum. You must also make sure that the loudspeakers deliver exactly the same performance and have the same harmonic balance. This can only be obtained by the painstaking measurement, trimming, and pairing of every single tweeter and baffle that goes into the AV5 (or into any other Bang & Olufsen loudspeaker for that matter). Some manufacturers obtain “spatial effect” by reversing the signal phase on one side. This creates a broader perspective, but makes it impossible to locate voices or single instruments.

Flat as a pancake

The picture tube was a new 25″ ‘super-flat state-of-the-art’ tube. It delivered excellent focus, which, combined with the anti-reflective coating of the contrast screen, was experienced as a sharper picture with more depth and better resolution.

The antlers

The fact the loudspeakers disappeared into the front wall, calls for a special bearing structure. In the AV5, the heaviest component was the picture tube, which was fixed to a set of aluminium “antlers”, a moulded aluminium space-frame which also carried the loudspeakers and most of the wiring. Cast in two pieces, it was custom-designed to hold wiring and fixtures that traditionally, would have been mounted with additional clamps and screws. Aluminium has the advantage of being light, but rigid and non-vibrating. It will not conduct sound or allow oscillations that could affect sound or picture reproduction.

‘Dance steady’ is a term that B&O takes dead seriously. It refers to a product’s ability to perform effortlessly, no matter how animated the surroundings. The company’s secret remedy is rubber suspension. Inside the AV5, almost every vital unit was isolated from the bearing structure by little rubber sleeves. The transformer, the CD print card, the CD drive and last but not least, the centre bass, since it was the source of a sizeable proportion of the vibration pattern. Dance steadiness is measured on a vibrating table to determine the design of each individual rubber sleeve.

On and on and on…

Imagine that you’d turn the AV5 on and off maybe 10 times a day over the next ten years and multiply that by 5 for safety. That’s equivalent to turning it on and off 180,000 times over 10 years. In B&O’s torture chambers in the dungeons in Struer, the loudspeakers on the guinea pig AV5 were stretched well beyond the first 500,000 times!

“It can’t be done”

Buffers, shielded cables and a couple of brave hearts went into one of the most challenging technical solutions in the AV5. To make room for the CD player in the upper corner, it was necessary to separate the drive from the control unit. In an environment as compact and loaded with “electronic noise” as the AV5, a lot of sources could create interference and laser is a fragile technology. Servo signals have to travel a longer distance and streams of hot air will not make working conditions any more stable. As a result, the AV5’s CD player was one of the most robust on the market at the time of the AV5’s production.

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BeoCom 1600

Bang & Olufsen BeoCom 1600

BeoCom 1600 was a tabletop telephone which combined a modern design with ease of use and was the same telephone as the BeoCom 2400 but without the alpha numeric memory functions. It however, did have the normal numeric memory functions. Using this phone was easy.

As with all other Bang & Olufsen telephones, BeoCom 1600 was equipped with a bass reflex speaker giving clear and easy recognisable voices. An infra-red module was available as an optional extra, giving the user the ability to control the volume on other Bang & Olufsen audio and video products. It was designed by the Swiss industrial designer Martin Iseli.

The vertical placement of the BeoCom 1600 handset made it easy to answer a call. Making a call was equally simple due to the position and curved surface of the keypad. The ultra light handset ensured that even long telephone conversations never seemed tiring.

Design

Reach out to towards BeoCom 1600 and enjoy a telephone that was simple to understand and easy to use. The ultra light handset weighed only 115g – which made it comfortable to hold even during the longest of conversations. The intelligent layout of the sloping keypad also ensured that your fingers moved intuitively and easily from button to button and from function to function.

Features

With BeoCom 1600’s built-in memory you could store the 10 telephone numbers you used the most and enjoy quick one-button access to them. As well as a volume control that allowed you to adjust the sound level during a call, BeoCom 1600 also offered a built-in loudspeaker function and the possibility to mute the microphone in the handset.

Colours

There was a choice between black, blue, red, yellow, green, terracotta, and grey.

A/V Control

With an optional A/V volume control incorporated into BeoCom 1600, you could adjust the sound on your Bang & Olufsen audio-video products directly from the telephone.

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BeoCom 1500

Bang & Olufsen BeoCom 1500

BeoCom 1400 and BeoCom 1500 were the first in the ‘new’ series of Bang & Olufsen telephones after the classic BeoCom 2000. The 1400 and 1500 series had a keypad integrated into the handset and not within the base like BeoCom 1600 and 2400.

This made the phone very compact. However, the sound quality was just as high as the more expensive phones because the two phones featured the same type of bass reflex speaker. Since everything is integrated in the handset, Bang & Olufsen offered no less than five different holders. Three different holders for wall mounting, one simple, and one with a built-in notebook.

There was also a version with an infra-red module to control the volume on main Bang & Olufsen equipment. Two table bases were also available, with and without the above-mentioned infra-red module. The main difference between BeoCom 1400 and 1500 is that the 1400 didn’t have memory capabilities or volume control.

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BeoCom 1401

Bang & Olufsen BeoCom 1401

BeoCom 1401 is an easy-to-use telephone with simple functionality. Choose between a wall-mounted version and a table top model offering optional volume control for recent B&O products and from a wide array of strong colours. It’s also a no-nonsense telephone. The range is simple, straightforward and functional and at the same time offering incredible flexibility. It’s possible to combine different colours with both a wall and table holder and to incorporate a volume control for Bang & Olufsen’s audio-video products.

Features

Memory for 10 numbers, redial function for the last number, adjustable volume control, microphone mute and optional AV volume control

Flexible

With its wide range of colours and unlimited placement options, BeoCom 1401 offers a level of flexibility that makes it just as easy to live with as it is to use

Colours

Do you want your telephone to match with the surroundings or to stand out from the crowd? Take a look at the different colours you can choose for your BeoCom telephone and decide for yourself. Choose between black, blue, yellow, red, terracotta, green and grey

A/V Control

Have you ever tried to hold a telephone conversation while the television or loud music is blaring away in the background? With the optional AV volume control in the tabletop version of BeoCom 1401 you can adjust the volume on your Bang & Olufsen audio-video products directly from your telephone

General keypad

The keypad is built directly into the handset of BeoCom 1401 offering easy access to all functions.

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BeoCom 1400

Bang & Olufsen BeoCom 1400

BeoCom 1400 and BeoCom 1500 were the first in the ‘new’ series of Bang & Olufsen telephones after the classic BeoCom 2000. The 1400 and 1500 series had a keypad integrated into the handset and not within the base like BeoCom 1600 and 2400.

This made the phone very compact. However, the sound quality was just as high as the more expensive phones because the two phones featured the same type of bass reflex speaker. Since everything is integrated in the handset, Bang & Olufsen offered no less than five different holders. Three different holders for wall mounting, one simple, and one with a built-in notebook.

There was also a version with an infra-red module to control the volume on main Bang & Olufsen equipment. Two table bases were also available, with and without the above-mentioned infra-red module. The main difference between BeoCom 1400 and 1500 is that the 1400 didn’t have memory capabilities or volume control.

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BeoCom 1000

Bang & Olufsen BeoCom 1000

BeoCom 1000 was similar to BeoCom 2000 but it was not fitted with a loudspeaker or an LCD display. This lowered the cost while at the same time offering the usual high quality sound There was a choice of four colours: black, blue, green or red.

Bang & Olufsen did not invent the telephone. They just developed it a little further Bang & Olufsen’s Telecom Vision is to “constantly question the ordinary in search of surprising, long-lasting experiences”

Loudspeaker quality

Earphone coupling loss factor, receiver loudness rating value and acoustic leakage are technical terms that mean little to most telephone users. They are just some of the things that Bang & Olufsen test for to determine the sound quality of a BeoCom telephone.

The enhanced sound of the BeoCom telephone range is the result of Bang & Olufsen’s long-standing specialisation in the miniaturisation of high-performance loudspeakers. Every BeoCom handset contains a built-in pressure chamber loudspeaker that ensures optimal natural sound reproduction while minimising distortion and sound leakage.

But Bang & Olufsen telephones are not only the result of theoretical calculations and complicated acoustical analyses, the final test is the human ear itself. A listening panel made up of people with an extraordinary sense of hearing provides the most crucial evaluation of BeoCom telephones.

Telephone competence: even good telephones have bad days

Telephones are used a lot more than other electronic equipment and sometimes under tougher and more hazardous conditions. Design and technological features mean little if your telephone lets you down when you need it most, so the anticipation of what can happen to a telephone has been turned into a fine art at Bang & Olufsen.

Our telephones are exposed to extremes of heat and cold, we spill coffee over them, blow dust at them, step on them and subject them to a whole series of bumps, vibrations and falls.

And it’s not only the unexpected that’s tested for, a robot assesses daily wear and tear by methodically lifting and replacing the handset of a telephone 100,000 times, while a mechanical finger dials telephone numbers over and over again. In a space of days, we simulate the life of a telephone and everything the modern world may throw at it.

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BeoCord V8000

Bang & Olufsen BeoCord V8000

BeoCord V8000 video tape recorder matched the Beovision MX range of Bang & Olufsen televisions in looks as well as performance.

You could store a channel on the Beovision MX TV and it was automatically communicated to the V8000. Recording was a simple matter of selecting the programme directly from Teletext using the Beo4 remote control. It could be positioned by using one of the stands as part of a Beovision TV.

BeoCord V8000 rewound a three-hour tape in 95 seconds and it shifted from fast forward to play in a split second.

Other features included NTSC stereo playback. Looks-wise it embodied a black fascia with a choice of cabinets in pearlescent shades of blue, green, red, grey and black, plus glossy grey and glossy white.

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BeoCenter 1

Bang & Olufsen BeoCenter 1

BeoCenter 1 combines a state-of-the-art TV, a superior-quality DVD player and an intelligent FM radio in one product, and lets you control everything with a single, easy-to-use remote control – the Beo1.

With its impressive picture quality and powerful active speaker system, Beocenter 1 provides total entertainment in a minimum of space. And the integration doesn’t end with the technology. With six strong colours and five diverse stands – all with motorised turning – to choose from, Beocenter 1 can easily be assimilated into any setting.

In a world full of choices, Bang & Olufsen has already made the best ones for the consumer – and put it all at the command of a four-buttoned Beo1 remote control – the remote control unit dedicated to both Beovision 1 and Beocenter 1.

However, as from October 2002, both Beovision 1 and BeoCenter 1 were delivered with Beo4 remote control instead of Beo1 which was discontinued. In January 2003 a Dolby Digital Surround Sound kit will be available for both these TV models.

BeoCenter 1 is able to read and play DVD-R and DVD-RW discs.

BeoCenter 1 – Press Release 2000

” Bang & Olufsen announces the newest addition to it’s product portfolio. In combining an FM radio, a DVD player, a 25″ TV and a pair of active loudspeakers, BeoCenter 1 offers experiences as yet unmatched on the marketplace. Featuring appealing design and simple operation, the product also has the flexibility to fit in anywhere.

In continuance of the Beovision 1 concept, launched in November of 1999, the key features of BeoCenter 1 remain focused on versatility, simplicity and uncompromising picture and sound quality.

With the new BeoCenter 1, Bang & Olufsen is taking account of the varying needs of consumers when it comes to usage of audio and video equipment in the home. “

Different uses

Bang & Olufsen’s second compact A/V product (the first was BeoCenter AV5, launched in 1997), BeoCenter 1 features an elegant and unmistakably B&O design that makes its presence known, while astonishingly remaining discreet. And a wealth of the company’s long-standing values and innovative finesses lie packed in beneath the surface.

A combined A/V solution like this represents a whole new way of living with these different media – at least in modern times. But look back a few decades and radiograms and combined TV/gramophone units were de rigueur. Back then the TV was the altar at which the family congregated. But as the TV came to play a less dominant role in the home, so consumers rejected large combined systems in favour of smaller, individual audio and video products – thanks in part to new technology requiring less space.

Goes anywhere

Now the combined solution is back with a vengeance – but in minimalist guise, expressed through a design with an emphasis on flexibility rather than dominance.

BeoCenter 1’s flexibility stems primarily from a choice of five unique placement possibilities: from floating almost magically out from the wall, to sitting on a more traditional floor stand, to standing tall on a 160 cm column. Utilising the built-in motor, BeoCenter 1 can also be turned to face in different directions, simply and intuitively operated with the Beo1 remote control.

Externally, BeoCenter 1 offers a truly colourful experience. It is available in six different colours: green, black, yellow, blue, red and grey. This finishing touch helps ensure that BeoCenter 1 blends into any home interior.

But for a A/V centre to blend in absolutely anywhere, it needs to look good from every angle – not just head-on. So a lot of time was spent on making BeoCenter 1 look good from the back too – wave goodbye to gaping sockets and ungainly cable holders.

Furthermore, an A/V centre that goes anywhere also needs to produce a picture that looks good anywhere. BeoCenter 1’s automatic contrast, brightness and colour control means superb picture quality in more or less any light. Add the standard anti-reflection coated contrast glass to the 25″, 4:3 format screen, and the amount of incoming light is reduced by almost 99%, when compared with ordinary front glass.

To top it all off, the sound is rather special too. Two powerful active loudspeakers once again make Bang & Olufsen’s acoustic competencies heard loud and clear. Topping out at 96 dB stereo, the sonic experience remains true to the Bang & Olufsen goal of natural reproduction of sound.

Integrated DVD player

Surprising, intelligent, magical and discreet are some of the words of praise attracted by the DVD player. The DVD tray glides out like a tongue beneath the TV screen and naturally you get all the functions you would expect from a DVD player: Instant access to any particular film episode, pictures in studio quality and a thrilling sound experience.

Built-in FM radio

Seamlessly integrated into the compact cabinet of BeoCenter 1, the FM radio features 59 programme presets and a standard Radio Data System (RDS) module. The RDS module allows the user to see the name of the radio station in the display, provided the broadcaster transmits the proper identification signal.

Personalised Channel Groups

Another major innovation is that each user can create his or her own personal group of up to 18 TV channels (terrestrial, satellite and cable) and radio stations. Again this is in the name of simplicity – it can be hard to keep track of the rapidly increasing number of TV channels available. Another option is to have subject groups rather than personal groups – like sports channels or movie channels. Up to eight different channel groups can be created.

Simplicity even extends to remote control

The Beo1 remote control is a miniature sculpture completely unlike its traditional counterparts, in that it features a built-in base so that it can stand upright on the table. And with only a few buttons, it is also striking in its simplicity – one of the themes in BeoCenter 1. All system components are operated by using the Beo1. Simply navigate through the simple options on the display beneath the TV screen.”