Bang & Olufsen’s second television in the North American market was a minor upgrade of the previous MX 5000 NTSC. The major difference was a different CRT tube and a software upgrade to allow bidirectional Infrared communication with the BeoLink 7000 and BeoLink 5000 remote controls.
There were no fussy buttons to spoil the clean looks of Beovision L2802. You controlled it entirely with the Beolink 1000 remote control terminal. Only a discreet red light told you that the TV was ready and awaiting your commands. The flat-square 66cm picture tube gave you a clear, undistorted view, even if you were not sitting right in front of the screen. Bang & Olufsen’s own VisionClear system regulated the colour balance 50 times a second, and in variable light conditions the picture always looked good, with automatic contrast regulation and the contrast screen.
As specialists in good sound, Bang & Olufsen are always very particular about loudspeakers. That is why both Beovision LX and L models incorporated a special bass-reflex speaker system, giving you genuine hi-fi quality to enhance your stereo video tapes. You could also have a NICAM decoder fitted, ready to receive stereo broadcasts of TV programmes.
Beovision LX models had Bang & Olufsen’s powerful Teletext module fitted as standard. However, for the Beovision L2802 and L2502 models, this was left out. This was the only difference between the LX2802 and L2802 models.
Beovision L2502 had a 63cm screen; the specifications were the same as the 66cm model.
There were no fussy buttons to spoil the clean looks of Beovision L2802. You controlled it entirely with the Beolink 1000 remote control terminal. Only a discreet red light told you that the TV was ready and awaiting your commands. The flat-square 66cm picture tube gave you a clear, undistorted view, even if you were not sitting right in front of the screen. Bang & Olufsen’s own VisionClear system regulated the colour balance 50 times a second, and in variable light conditions the picture always looked good, with automatic contrast regulation and the contrast screen.
As specialists in good sound, Bang & Olufsen are always very particular about loudspeakers. That is why both Beovision LX and L models incorporated a special bass-reflex speaker system, giving you genuine hi-fi quality to enhance your stereo video tapes. You could also have a NICAM decoder fitted, ready to receive stereo broadcasts of TV programmes.
Beovision LX models had Bang & Olufsen’s powerful Teletext module fitted as standard. However, for the Beovision L2802 and L2502 models, this was left out. This was the only difference between the LX2802 and L2802 models.
L2502 had a 63cm screen; the specifications were the same as the 66cm model.
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
The B&O 4-speed record player is an important step on the road to full musical enjoyment, being designed specially with a view to vibrationless and rumbleless operation. This feature is of great importance when playing stereo records as the pickup stylus must be sensitive to vibrations in all directions in order to be capable of “scanning” the record properly.
Understanding the numbering of these Beograms is really quite easy: the ‘V’ in ‘608V’ means that it is powered with AC voltage and ‘F’ means that it has a built-in preamplifier. The designation 608, 609 and so on, indicates the year the product was marketed. There was also a ‘U’ version for both AC and DC voltages. Beogram 608 for example, was a turntable without a built-in RIAA preamplifier and was produced for the 1962 season (internally many were date-stamped e.g. September 1961 would indicate the year it left the factory).
The difference between the models 41xx and 42xx was that the 41xx had a small turntable and the 42xx model had a larger turntable.
The B&O 4-speed record player is an important step on the road to full musical enjoyment, being designed specially with a view to vibrationless and rumbleless operation. This feature is of great importance when playing stereo records as the pickup stylus must be sensitive to vibrations in all directions in order to be capable of “scanning” the record properly.
Understanding the numbering of these Beograms is really quite easy: the ‘V’ in ‘608V’ means that it is powered with AC voltage and ‘F’ means that it has a built-in preamplifier. The designation 608, 609 and so on, indicates the year the product was marketed. There was also a ‘U’ version for both AC and DC voltages. Beogram 608 for example, was a turntable without a built-in RIAA preamplifier and was produced for the 1962 season (internally many were date-stamped e.g. September 1961 would indicate the year it left the factory).
The difference between the models 41xx and 42xx was that the 41xx had a small turntable and the 42xx model had a larger turntable.
Beogram 6000 – Type 5751 – was a fully automatic record player with one-touch operation.
Put a record on the turntable, touch START and let Bang & Olufsen technology do the rest. The lightweight, low inertia tone arm was fitted with the MMC 20EN pick-up cartridge. This had a naked elliptical diamond and a low Effective Tip Mass which, together with the lightweight arm, secured excellent tracking performance and minimum record wear.
The patented spring suspension system effectively prevented external knocks and vibration from affecting tracking and sound quality. This later radial 6000 model was fitted with Datalink and was really a Beogram 2402 with new electronics in the same design. It really did not match the Beomaster 6000 and was a short lived and frankly unpopular model but was offered as a cheaper alternative to the tangential tracking and tangential drive Beogram 6006. These decks were both replaced by the Beogram 6002. This deck had the newer MMC3 cartridge and was a strange amalgam of the two earlier decks in that it had a simplified tangential arm but belt drive for the platter
This was a rare and interesting model. It boasted a new arm and motor compared to the Beogram 1000 but retained quite a lot of the design and the uninspired rubber mat.
It also had a most unusual dust cover with a metal surround with only the top panel being transparent. This design was to be seen also in the prototype Beogram 6000 but not in any production model.
Beogram 1500 combined ease of operation and advanced technology in a simple, straightforward way. All its operations were controlled via a single button.
Another advantage of this totally integrated design was its immunity to external shock and vibrations. The electronic servo drive system ensured correct turntable speed at all times. The low-mass arm had built-in bias compensation, and the MMC 20S pickup tracked at only 1,5 grams.
The unique pendulum spring suspension helped make the Beogram range of record players immune to the external shock and vibrations which would cause most other record decks to mistrack and damage the record groove.
Beogram 1500 could be made up as part of the Beosystem 1500, when linked together with other compatible Bang & Olufsen products.
This deck was the basic model of its time but the inherent design of this deck meant that the performance was extremely similar to the top of the range radial decks. Very easy to set up and simple to use, a true bargain buy in later years.
A mildly updated VHS82 designed to work with the new range of MX televisions.
