In the mid 1980s, Bang & Olufsen entered the field of telecommunications. This was partly because of the merging of the applied technologies and partly because the company needed to acquire experience in digital communication. This led to the formation of a separate company, DIAX, for the development of digital telephone exchanges. Later followed the formation of TELECOM for the purpose of developing telephones for consumers.
‘Bang & Olufsen Telecom’ began production of telephones in 1986 following an approach from the then Jydsk Telefon. Inspired by B&O’s proven competence within the audio-video segment, the Danish telecommunications company was eager to exploit this expertise within the field of telephones, especially in terms of design and sound. Seeing telephony and telecommunications as future areas of interest – and anticipating steadily increasing convergence between telecommunications and the A/V systems of the future – the Group formed a partnership with Jydsk Telefon.
In addition, B&O had experience with transmitting sound to the ear – via earphones. The result – Beocom 750 – broke with all conventional telephones in terms of design, sound and functionality. Launched in Jydsk Telefon’s teleshops in December 1986, Beocom 750 was adopted by other telecommunications companies after only a few months in the market. In April 1987, the first Beocom 750 was exported.
BeoCom 600, the classic telephone from Bang & Olufsen… what else is there to say?
A well-equipped telephone with superb sound quality. The design is truly timeless. BeoCom 600 is a simplified version of the BeoCom 2000 and lacks the extensive display and memory facilities but has the same sound quality. In addition to high sound quality and ergonomic design, it has a display, short number memory, call waiting loudspeakers, listening-in function and volume control.
The ergonomically arranged keypad with large easy touch buttons makes using BeoCom 600 a delight from the very start. With a bass reflex speaker in the handset, 10 numbers in memory, 3 quick call keys, last number redial, volume control, microphone mute (for secrecy), tone ringer with 2 settings plus off.
Good business is also about good communication. The telephone and the computer are important work tools for any business. As they sit side-by-side on your desk anyway, it makes sense to connect them and extend the capabilities of both. With BeoCom 2100, when a customer calls your business, his file on your computer’s database is automatically displayed. (The phone was not available in the UK).
BeoCom 2100 has a capacity for up to 250 individual entries, dependent upon the length of the telephone number and name. These can also be accessed and edited directly via the computer screen. The Caller ID function requires connection to a direct line
A matter of choice
BeoCom 2100 is a telephone for the home office, the small business or anything in between. It’s the first telephone to be built specifically around the services offered by the telephone companies and gives you one-button access to the services and functions you use the most
Functions and options
But it’s not only the improved access to external services that makes BeoCom 2100 a special telephone; it contains its own 250 name and number electronic telephone book and includes a headset connection and the opportunity for hands free operation
ISDN enhanced by Beoline 1200
The role of BeoCom 2100 in an office setting is further enhanced when it’s combined with a Beoline 1200 adapter. This makes it possible for traditional analogue equipment to communicate digitally via an ISDN connection Available in: Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden (2001) – Not available in the UK
Beocom 2000, the classic telephone from Bang & Olufsen… what else is there to say?
Beocom 2000 was unlike anything which had been introduced by Bang & Olufsen before.
All the parts of the phone were made by the company itself and not imported from other manufacturers. A well-equipped telephone with extraordinary sound quality, a tradition carried on with all of the Beocom range of telephones.
The design is truly timeless. The display gave information on which number your were calling and the time connected. All standard functions were of course, also available, like volume control and numeric memories, and for the more advanced user there was a special headset available!
This phone was also available in a more simple version, Beocom 600, which didn’t have the display but had the same sound quality.
The memory bank of the Beocom 2000 enabled you to store your personal top twenty, and at the touch of just a few buttons you were connected. With display, bass reflex speaker in handset, 20 numbers of memory, quick call key for an often-use or ’emergency’ number, redial of last 3 numbers called, pause function, adjustable volume control, microphone mute (for secrecy), built-in speaker for listening, adjustable tone ringer with 8 settings plus off. There was even a hidden note pad which could be used by raising the lid on the right-hand side of the unit!
Up to 1993 Beocom 2000 was produced with different coloured keys. However, from this time a more mellow design was offered with all the keys complementing each other. On its bright display with large characters the Beocom 2000 could offer you the last three numbers for redialling
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.
They may not have looked like high-specification loudspeakers – more like works of art – but their sound immediately gave them away. Even at full volume, they kept the total sound picture in perfect balance.
Bang & Olufsen’s BeoLab and Beovox 5000 / 3000 speakers had both the voice and the looks for a leading, acoustic role. And because of their looks, they were known as Bang & Olufsen’s range of panel loudspeakers. Panel loudspeakers were one of the most exciting and interesting examples of how Bang & Olufsen united advanced technology and stunning design to achieve totally new effects.
Design as a work of art
The elegant, flat panel loudspeakers were created to hang on the wall. And with their calm surfaces of blue or grey fabric coupled with polished steel, they could be taken for works of art. But the design was only partly for visual effect. The form of the panel speakers was founded on an advanced, acoustic principle that uses the wall as an active part of the sound reproduction process – without causing the wall itself to vibrate.
Optional display and amplifier
The panel loudspeakers were available in two sizes – each with or without amplifier and a display showing which source was playing and at what volume. Also it told you which track number on a CD or tape you were listening to. With display and amplifier the loudspeakers were called BeoLab. Without, they were called Beovox. The option depended upon which Bang & Olufsen sound system was connected. BeoLab speakers were designed to match Beosystem 6500, 4500, 3500 and Beocenter 9500 and 8500.
Mounting Options
Wall mounting brackets were supplied with this model. No other mounting solution wall offered.
For rooms where you didn’t need so much power, Beovox Penta was the little brother which suited you down to the ground. It didn’t have the built-in amplifier or the light display, but it was identical to BeoLab in all other respects.
These tall and elegant speakers were developed according to a totally new acoustic principle. They sounded just as magnificent as they looked. Because there were no parallel surfaces in the pentagonal cabinet, the design reduced the internal standing waves and reflection; it was a simple and beautifully effective way of eliminating distortion. The cabinet provided the ideal conditions for the loudspeakers. It was an acoustically ‘dead’ construction, with a moulded inner cabinet surrounded by a stainless steel exterior. Whatever the dimensions of your room, and regardless of the furnishings, BeoLab Penta always sounded wonderful. It also needed very little floor space; head room was all that’s required!
BeoLab Penta was the top-of-the-line speaker from Bang & Olufsen. It was around from the late ‘eighties to the mid-1990s and was upgraded several times. The last version of the active Penta was the Penta 3. In the late 1980’s – when the Penta range was introduced – there was also a passive version, Beovox Penta. But since Bang & Olufsen decided in the 1990s just to concentrate on active speakers, these and some other models, such as the Beovox 4500 and most of the RedLine speakers, were discontinued.
Did you know that the display in Penta I and Penta II was orange and and on Penta III it turned green?
Why build amplifiers into the loudspeakers instead of keeping them separate?
Because you can reduce the size of the cabinet volume to one-third of the size of a conventional loudspeaker with the same sound capacity.
The principle is called Active Loudspeakers, and what you get is a compact loudspeaker that can play at high volume without distortion or damage to its drive units. Furthermore, when amplifier, treble and bass units are paired for the same task, they can be tailored to compensate for each other’s shortcomings. What you hear is music that sounds exactly like the instrument it originally came from.
BeoLab Penta had nine individual loudspeaker units that were accurately positioned in a vertical line to produce a sound dispersion which was so precise that reflections from the floor and ceiling were eliminated. Consequently, Penta speakers could be placed almost anywhere in a room, irrespective of its size or furnishings. The operating panel at the base of BeoLab Penta allowed for the fine tuning of the bass reproduction at three levels.
The speaker’s cross section was a pentagon. The benefit of this design was that it cannot house standing waves which normally are a problem in speakers. The choice of using polished stainless steel was made to help the speaker blend into its surroundings by reflecting them. This gave the speaker the same colour as the surroundings which helped to make the speaker more of a subtle fixture,
Sound with as many facets as a diamond
The location of the speakers within the column was carefully planned to control the sound waves so that they weren’t reflected by the floor and ceiling. The resulting sound quality simply beggared description.
BeoLab 150: Controlled overdrive
At the base of BeoLab Penta was the BeoLab 150 amplifier with a power output of 175 watts DIN/IEC. This could give your music a tremendous boost, both to the quality and the actual power output. It was ideal if you love partying but had a relatively small music system. Big power needs careful control – so the amplifier was equipped with Dynamic Soft Clipping system. When there was any overloading, the system softly rounded off the sound; distortion becoming a thing of the past.
Speakers that more than measure up
Top quality music systems need the best speakers available – or you’re missing out. BeoLab Penta was the natural partner for Bang & Olufsen’s Beosystem 5000 and Beocenter 9000, with their built in CD players. The laser-pure quality of compact disc makes heavy demands on speakers, and both these systems had extremely fine amplifiers. Using BeoLab Penta with these systems and you’d enjoy some of the best sounds in the world. You’d also appreciate handy features such as the light display at the base of the column, which indicated which music source was being used. Of course this was even more useful if you installed Beolink® to give you music all over the house.
BeoLab 4500 was a wall speaker which was no more than 8cm deep. It had a built-in (active) amplifier and extended bass reproduction, which used the wall as a reflector. The display told you which source that BeoLab 4500 was reproducing at any one time.
There were two versions of this panel loudspeaker. The pure Beovox 4500 loudspeaker (shown here) and BeoLab 4500 with built-in amplifier and Dynamic Bass Equaliser (shown in main picture above), which automatically compensated for the inability of the human ear to perceive deep bass tones at low volume
The design of BeoLab 4500 and Beovox 4500 was based an acoustic principle that allowed the loudspeaker to use the wall to enhance the bass level. The cabinet let the sound waves reflect off the wall and out into the room without delay. This made it possible to reduce the depth of the cabinet to just 8cm, so the loudspeaker becomes a natural part of the wall décor.
BeoLab 4500 had a display which indicated sound source, volume and which track on CD or tape that you were listening to. In looks, it was similar to the BeoLab 5000 active speaker, but smaller. The display too was in a green-coloured LED as opposed to BeoLab 5000’s orange. Both loudspeakers were available with blue or grey fabric.
