Colour / Finish: Rosewood

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BeoMaster 5000 (1967)

Bang & Olufsen BeoMaster 5000 1967

Highly selective and sensitive FM stereo tuner with low-distortion multiplex adaptor featuring a high degree of channel separation. It has a 4-section gang-tuned radio-frequency amplifier with separate oscillator, five-stage intermediate-frequency amplifier, automatic frequency control, and automatic stereo/mono switching.

Large tuning meter facilitates pin-point tuning and provides relative signal-strength indication. An automatic data-processing centre switches from mono to stereo when the signal-to-noise ratio permits stereo reception (and if the set is tuned to a stereo broadcast). Moreover, it automatically cuts out the signal if the field strength drops below the critical level – and between channels, during tuning. The automatic frequency control circuit also ensures that the set stays accurately tuned at all times. The remarkable sensitivity of the Beomaster 5000 is due to the use of multi-stage radio-frequency and intermediate-frequency amplifiers, and the large number of intermediate-frequency circuits provide knife-edge selectivity. An amply-dimensioned true slide-rule dial with station markers ensures easy and rapid tuning.” – taken from the 1967 – 1968 Bang & Olufsen product catalogue

Bang & Olufsen’s Beomaster 5000 FM tuner, Beolab 5000 amplifier and Beovox 2500 Cube loudspeakers were among the first product series designed by Jacob Jensen in 1967. The first was Beomaster 1000 in 1964.

The traditional style for tuning knobs was replaced by an exact measuring instrument akin to the slide rule which was considered an innovation in changing the future of radios and amplifiers. The interface, in its precision and simplicity, proved to give the user optimal functionality. This solution had never been seen before and laid the foundation for the future form language of B&O. Beomaster 5000 was an FM tuner, with elimination of static between stations and a built in ‘data base’ which automatically tuned in on stereo broadcasts.

Partner to Beomaster 5000 was Beolab 5000, an amplifier with a similarly-designed slide rule interface.

At the 1967 spring fair in Hanover, B&O received the IF award for Beomaster 5000, BeoLab 5000 and Beovox 2500 Cube for outstanding and user-friendly design.

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BeoMaster 8000

Bang & Olufsen BeoMaster 8000

Beomaster 8000 was an advanced FM receiver with a rated output of 2 x 150 watts IHF A-202. It had the power, precision and overall performance to reproduce all types of music with the utmost fidelity.

The radio section united the principle of the modern digital frequency synthesizer tuner with a precise, automatic fine-tuning system to give unparalleled accuracy and long-term stability of reception. The set’s control panel gave instant access to all sound sources – an associated record deck and two tape decks and any of 9 user-programmable FM stations. The visual feedback indicated which sources were playing and their volume settings. Controls for secondary functions were protected beneath a hinged lid.

The infra-red BeoLab Terminal was for its time, complex technology tamed. It gave easy, direct access to music and allowed the control of a musical experience from anywhere in your room and operate Beogram 8002 and Beocord 8004 if these were part of your system. A single touch is all there was between what you wanted and the fulfilment of your wish. Radio programmes, cassettes and records were all available at the touch of a button.

In the early 1980s the technical quality of records, tapes and FM transmissions was vastly improved. Improvement meant increased dynamic range.

Increased dynamic range in sound sources makes great demands on hi-fi components. They must accommodate a greater range of tones: from the very faintest tinkle of a triangle to the loudest roll of the bass drum; and reproduce each tone accurately. This requires powerful, serious hi-fi components. Power to accommodate the dynamics, and accuracy to ensure that the fundamentals and harmonics of each tone are reproduced faithfully, i.e. with the intervals and relative intensity that gives each instrument its characteristic quality.

The 2 x 150 watts RMS Beomaster 8000 high fidelity FM receiver had the power, precision and overall performance level to help you achieve this goal. Up to the time of its introduction, it was Bang & Olufsen’s most accomplished receiver to date. During its construction phase, the company focused on one major goal: that none of its circuits or components should be able to limit or distort the sound signals it received before the amplifier’s power output level was exhausted.

In accordance with this, a special circuit registered, and the “clipping” function indicated when you should regulate volume level, if you wanted to ensure continued undistorted sound. Volume was controlled by a 60-step electronic attenuator. This regulated both channels together, in balance, and allowed precise adjustments.

A digital frequency synthesizer tuner was incorporated. It was a further development of other constructions since this tuner locked stations onto their actual transmission frequencies, rather than using a mere internally-generated frequency reference.

Beomaster 8000 had the most comprehensive user-programmable facilities imaginable. They were placed out of view in the programming compartment because you didn’t need to use them every day. The primary controls were external. To keep you informed, whenever the music system was in use, the status of the primary settings was displayed on the Beomaster’s large communication panel. Beomaster 8000 formed the heart of the Beosystem 8000.

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BeoMaster 900M

Bang & Olufsen BeoMaster 900

The inspiration for the Beomaster 900 came from the brains of Henning Moldenhawer.

The first product of the new era was launched in 1964.
Beomaster 900 was a fully transistorised radio with FM stereo radio. It was even launched in a version with two built-in speakers – Beomaster 900K – making it clear to everyone that it contained two independent stereo loudspeakers. Bang & Olufsen wanted to design a product so unique that it would open the doors to distribution throughout Europe, in the same way as the “Five Lamper” had done in Denmark 30 years earlier .
Beomaster 900M
This version of the Beomaster 900 was developed specially for those who require a set for use with external speakers. Otherwise, the Beomaster 900M is identical with the Beomaster 900K. Dimensions: 146mm high, 404mm wide, 230mm deep. Choice of teak or Brazilian rosewood finish.” – taken form the Bang & Olufsen product catalogue 1967 – 68

The most remarkable aspect, however, was not in the technology, but in the design. Transistors, which are small compared to radio tubes, generate less heat. As they require less space to release heat, transistors allow for radically different cabinet designs. The architect and designer, Henning Moldenhawer, knew how to exploit this. He designed the world’s first low, flat radio cabinet, creating a radical innovation in the process. From practically one day to the next, the good old tube equipped radio had become obsolete. Now it was transistors, not tubes, which for the first time would be powered from the mains. While the sound was improved, the loudspeakers also underwent significant changes, becoming more compact. After all, in those days, loudspeakers were foreign elements in the living-room. This was achieved with the pressure chamber loud speaker which reproduced sound of a quality which had, until then, only been possible with far bigger boxes. A long, low and fully transistorised mains radio, which played immediately – with no warm-up necessary, as was the case with the radio tubes – was an achievement in itself. In addition, the design concept challenged all established ideas for radio design. The new Beomaster 900 marked a revolution. It was the architect Henning Moldenhawer who, for the first time in the history of radio, extended the front all the way out to the sides of the unit, breaking with the traditional framing of the front which all radios, TVs and loudspeakers had been using until then. This motif was retraced in Bang & Olufsen’s future design language. It was even repeated graphically in the company’s advertisements. Beomaster 900 became a European-wide success. At the same time – and much to the company’s surprise – its share of the Danish market did not fall. On the contrary, it rose significantly – at a time when the last of the remaining Danish manufacturers went to the wall. Proof indeed that design is not only for connoisseurs, but is a universal language, at least when applied with talent and as an expression of the product’s conceptual content, i.e. making the product itself a communicator. When, some years later, Bang & Olufsen explained its identity, this visually self-communicating aspect was dubbed ‘Autovisuality’. Concept communication in terms of what the unit is and can do, communication between the unit and the user, but also identity communication between those who create the products and those who select and acquire them as well as between those who own the products. ” Beomaster 900K: This all-transistor mains-powered stereo radio will revolutionise your ideas about radio and was awarded the iF prize at the International Hanover Fair. The Beomaster 900K is an all-transistor mains-powered stereo radio featuring a specially engineered highly-efficient dual-channel audio amplifier for reproduction of stereo gramophone records (delivers 2 x 5 watts of undistorted power output). It is prepared for single transmitter stereo broadcasts, having a B&O multiplex adaptor (stereo decoder). A Beo-Beacon pilot lamp lights up when the receiver is tuned to a station transmitting an FM stereo programme or when the receiver is switched to play stereo gramophone records or stereo tapes. The Beomaster 900K has two B&O pressure-chamber speakers. Dimensions: 146mm high, 744mm wide, 230mm deep)

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BeoMaster 900K

Bang & Olufsen BeoMaster 900K

The inspiration for the Beomaster 900 came from the brains of Henning Moldenhawer.

The first product of the new era was launched in 1964.

Beomaster 900 was a fully transistorised radio with FM stereo radio. It was even launched in a version with two built-in speakers – Beomaster 900K – making it clear to everyone that it contained two independent stereo loudspeakers. Bang & Olufsen wanted to design a product so unique that it would open the doors to distribution throughout Europe, in the same way as the “Five Lamper” had done in Denmark 30 years earlier .

Beomaster 900M
This version of the Beomaster 900 was developed specially for those who require a set for use with external speakers. Otherwise, the Beomaster 900M is identical with the Beomaster 900K. Dimensions: 146mm high, 404mm wide, 230mm deep. Choice of teak or Brazilian rosewood finish.” – taken form the Bang & Olufsen product catalogue 1967 – 68

The most remarkable aspect, however, was not in the technology, but in the design. Transistors, which are small compared to radio tubes, generate less heat. As they require less space to release heat, transistors allow for radically different cabinet designs. The architect and designer, Henning Moldenhawer, knew how to exploit this. He designed the world’s first low, flat radio cabinet, creating a radical innovation in the process. From practically one day to the next, the good old tube equipped radio had become obsolete.

Now it was transistors, not tubes, which for the first time would be powered from the mains. While the sound was improved, the loudspeakers also underwent significant changes, becoming more compact. After all, in those days, loudspeakers were foreign elements in the living-room. This was achieved with the pressure chamber loud speaker which reproduced sound of a quality which had, until then, only been possible with far bigger boxes. A long, low and fully transistorised mains radio, which played immediately – with no warm-up necessary, as was the case with the radio tubes – was an achievement in itself. In addition, the design concept challenged all established ideas for radio design. The new Beomaster 900 marked a revolution.

It was the architect Henning Moldenhawer who, for the first time in the history of radio, extended the front all the way out to the sides of the unit, breaking with the traditional framing of the front which all radios, TVs and loudspeakers had been using until then. This motif was retraced in Bang & Olufsen’s future design language. It was even repeated graphically in the company’s advertisements.

Beomaster 900 became a European-wide success. At the same time – and much to the company’s surprise – its share of the Danish market did not fall. On the contrary, it rose significantly – at a time when the last of the remaining Danish manufacturers went to the wall. Proof indeed that design is not only for connoisseurs, but is a universal language, at least when applied with talent and as an expression of the product’s conceptual content, i.e. making the product itself a communicator.

When, some years later, Bang & Olufsen explained its identity, this visually self-communicating aspect was dubbed ‘Autovisuality’.

Concept communication in terms of what the unit is and can do, communication between the unit and the user, but also identity communication between those who create the products and those who select and acquire them as well as between those who own the products.

” Beomaster 900K: This all-transistor mains-powered stereo radio will revolutionise your ideas about radio and was awarded the iF prize at the International Hanover Fair.

The Beomaster 900K is an all-transistor mains-powered stereo radio featuring a specially engineered highly-efficient dual-channel audio amplifier for reproduction of stereo gramophone records (delivers 2 x 5 watts of undistorted power output). It is prepared for single transmitter stereo broadcasts, having a B&O multiplex adaptor (stereo decoder). A Beo-Beacon pilot lamp lights up when the receiver is tuned to a station transmitting an FM stereo programme or when the receiver is switched to play stereo gramophone records or stereo tapes.

The Beomaster 900K has two B&O pressure-chamber speakers. Dimensions: 146mm high, 744mm wide, 230mm deep)

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BeoMaster 900 RG

Bang & Olufsen BeoMaster 900 RG

No other stereo radio gramophone with low, modern, yet reasonable dimensions is so beautifully styled as this. It incorporates a Beomaster 900 all-transistor stereo radio and the semi-professional Beogram 1000 stereo record player. There is space for installation of of tape recorder and a record and tape storage compartment. Pneumatically damped twin lids. Two B&O pressure-chamber speakers. 2 x 5 watts output. Dimensions: 585mm high, 1293mm wide, 510mm deep. Choice of teak or Brazilian rosewood finish. – taken from the 1967 – 1968 Bang & Olufsen product catalogue.

Radiogram Beomaster 900 RG Compact included a record player – either a B&O or Garrard auto-changer – within the combined unit.

Beomaster 900RG Compact was a high-quality radiogram and included the company’s first transistorised mains receiver – Beomaster 900. It was finished in either a natural teak or a rosewood veneer. It had two built-in stereo pressure chamber speakers rated at 85 Watts output. The transistorised circuitry included 26 transistors and four diodes. The radio section within the Beomaster 900 receiver had an internal FM antenna (an optional FM stereo decoder could be fitted). The receiver included an FM, MW, LW and SW radio, together with the Beogram 1000 record player. The space next to the turntable was for the storage of records, but if you had a Beocord 1500 or Beocord 2000 reel-to-reel tape recorder then the space was designed to allow this to be slotted in.

Controls: volume, bass, treble and tuning. Push button controls for on/off, gramophone, tape recorder, AFC circuitry, SW, LW, MW and FM wavebands. It had a ‘stereo’ indicator (optional module) and a tuner indicator.

Dimensions: (WxHxD):156.0cm x 68.5cm x 52.0cm

Weight: 54kg

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BeoMaster 901

Bang & Olufsen BeoMaster 901

Beomaster 901, by 1977/78 was Bang & Olufsen’s simplest receiver. However, no compromises were made on quality. The tuner section covered Long, Medium and FM wavebands with a very high standard of reception quality.

Tuning was by ways of a slider which moved smoothly along a clearly marked scale. An illuminated indicator and AFC (Automatic Frequency Control) circuit helped to make tuning easy and accurate. The MONO control button disconnected the built-in stereo decoder when correct stereo reception was impaired by bad weather conditions or other interference.

Beomaster 901’s large tuning scale had tuning facilities for FM, Long and Medium wave stations. The tuning slider had small thumbwheels to aid fine tuning. AFC locked the receiver to the desired station

The stereo amplifier had a powerful output of 2 x 20 watts RMS and special Darlington-coupled transistors in the output stages kept distortion to a minimum – less than 0,3% at full power. There were connections for two pairs of loudspeakers and a pair of headphones. Sockets were also provided for the connection of a tape recorder, a record-player and AM and FM aerials. Easy-to-use sliders controlled volume, balance, bass and treble and there were slim push-buttons for selecting waveband or tape or record input.

FM room aerial
In order to receive FM programmes, an FM aerial must be connected to the Beomaster 1001. Within a certain radius of the transmitter you could use the Bang & Olufsen FM room aerial, type 8902010. This aerial was easily fitted and the telescopic elements could be pulled out and positioned favourably.

Beomaster 901 could be made up as part of the Beosystem 901 including the the Beogram 1102 record player, Beocord 1101 cassette deck and 2 Beovox Uni-Phase S25 or P30 loudspeakers.

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BeoMaster 6000 (1981)

Bang & Olufsen BeoMaster 6000 1981

This extremely distinctive and beautiful FM stereo receiver from Bang & Olufsen used the very latest technology, both in its complex audio circuitry and in the microcomputer-based control systems which made it such an effortless and pleasurable product to use – whether or not you decided to include the optional remote control facility. The specialist radio section concentrated on the superb sound quality available from FM transmissions.
It covered the entire FM band from 87,5 to 108 MHz and incorporated the most advanced techniques for accurate, drift-free stereo reception.

The amplifier gave 2 x 75 watts RMS with an extremely low level (0,8%) of harmonic distortion. Clean, clear sound – always. Two 24-hour timers allowed you to play or record any sound source automatically. You didn’t even have to be at home. Or, if you wanted to be sure of hearing the same news programme every evening you could set the Repeat function to remember for you – day after day.

Connections included sockets for a record deck and two tape decks (DIN or RCA phono plugs) plus graphic equaliser, headphones and two pairs of loudspeakers.

Beomaster 6000 formed the heart of Beosystem 6000 and was designed by Jacob Jensen.

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BeoCenter 2800

Bang & Olufsen BeoCenter 2800

Beocenter 2800 was a unique combination of FM/AM tuner, a 2 x 25 watts RMS hi-fi power amplifier and record player. The tuner section offered Long and Medium wave reception as well as FM. There were facilities for pre-setting the four FM stations you listen to most frequently. Ceramic filters, AFC, split-supply output and a phase-locked loop decoder were some of the features that ensured outstanding reception and reproduction of even distant stations.

The record player was fully automatic – one master switch controlled all operations. The anti-skating device was built into the arms suspension and worked automatically. Electronic Servo Drive (ESD) ensured constantly correct speed. There were sockets for tape deck, two sets of stereo speakers and headphones.

This was a compact, space-saving unit which was easy to use thanks to automatic circuits and logical controls. Beocenter 2800 could be made up as part of the Beosystem 2800, when linked together with other compatible Bang & Olufsen products