BeoMic BM1000
Designed by Jacob Jensen, Beomic 1000 won the iF Award in 1969 for “outstanding industrial design”.
Designer: Jacob Jensen
BeoMic 2000
Designed by Jacob Jensen. In 1979 three more of Jacob Jensen’s designs were included in the Design Collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York including Beomic 2000.
In 1970, three Bang & Olufsen products designed by Jacob Jensen received the IF award, including Beomic 2000. “Congratulations! Well, we have done this before”, said Prince Henrik – The Queen of Denmark’s husband when he presented the Danish ID award of the Society of Industrial Design to Bang & Olufsen, represented by Jacob Jensen, the designer.
The remark made reference to the fact that B&O had also received the award the year before!
BeoMaster 4500
The Beomaster 4500 radio/amplifier received both FM and AM radio and was your communication link to the other sound sources in the system. Its operation was simplicity itself with an illuminated menu presenting all the options available. 20 radio stations could be pre-set providing you with instant access together with automatic fine tuning.
The 2 x 55 watt/8 ohm amplifier had a newly-developed, well-balanced interplay with the power supply which gave the output extra strength. The power reserve encompassed the entire frequency range and gave stable sound quality no matter what the volume. Beomaster 4500 also had automatic power handling control that prevented overloading, no matter how many loudspeakers were connected, as well as a special loudspeaker socket which ensured optimal utilisation of BeoLab active loudspeakers.
Beomaster 4500 could be used as part of the Beosystem 4500 hi-fi system and could be controlled via a Beolink 1000 remote control terminal. Later models of Beomaster 4500 could be controlled by the two-way Beolink 5000 and had the extra benefit of programmable timer functions (note that only Beomaster 4500 models with a software version of 2.1 and higher were able to handle two-way communication as well as the timer function.)
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
BeoCenter 1500
Beocenter 1500 was a combined FM/AM tuner, hi-fi stereo amplifier and cassette recorder with a specification level that was unique for combination units in that price bracket. In the AM section, which covered long and medium waves, Bang & Olufsen placed an emphasis on the set’s ability to separate stations from each other. The FM section had outstanding channel separation and stereo reception. The amplifier’s technical specifications were way above the average and fulfilled accepted hi-fi norms by a wide margin.
The built-in cassette recorder had its own operation panel but was otherwise fully integrated with the rest of Beocenter 1500. There was a switch for normal and chrome tapes; recording level was monitored on an illuminated indicator: red signified overload and green meant that all was well. The tape heads were of a super Permalloy and had a higher performance level and longer useful lifetime than ordinary heads.
Beocenter 1500 had connections for record player, two sets of stereo speakers, headphones and an extra tape deck.
Beocenter 1500 and Beocenter 1600 were, at the time of their production, two of the market’s most compact audio systems, but despite their small external dimensions they could fill a large room with sound. All the push buttons of Beocenter 1500 were of solid aluminium, and the solid aluminium front panel on the Beocenter 1600 was anodised – a process which was more expensive and more demanding but which also made the set more robust and resistant to marks and scratches.
BeoGram CD 3500
The sound reproduction achieved by Bang & Olufsen’s CD 3500 CD player was truly outstanding. It played both 12cm and 8cm compact discs and had an ingenious ‘step’ function which allowed you to go straight to a chose track selected from anywhere on the disc. The CD player was one of the most technologically-advanced pieces of hi-fi on the market at the time and yet was one of the easiest to operate. The explicit display always indicated what the CD player was doing all the time – for example, which track was being played, and how many tracks there were on the played compact disc.
Beogram CD 3500 could be used as part of the Beosystem 3500 hi-fi system.
BeoGram 3500
Another incarnation of the lightweight B&O tangential turntable, this one was designed to match the Beomaster 3500 with it’s ‘battleship grey’ trim on the dust cover and was supplied with an MMC4 cartridge. A RIAA was built into this model.
BeoGram 3300
It’s better both for your records and for sound quality to play a record the way the master was made – in a straight line from the edge to the centre. This tangential arm record player did just that, giving a far more precise reading of the signals in the groove. The MMC4 cartridge made a vital contribution too; it was feather-weight, with a stylus pressure of only 1,2 grams, giving outstanding sound quality but minimising wear and tear on your records.
There’s more protection too – invaluable for all-night parties. The electronically controlled tangential arm was suspended so that it isolated mechanical vibrations from the cartridge. The suspension chassis was also thoroughly engineered to neutralise vibrations. So keep on dancing – the record player can take it! Beogram 3300 was part of Beosystem 3300 although may be used as a stand-alone item.
One of many tangential decks all utilising the same basic design, the 3300 was noticeable mainly for its grey finish and slightly lurid graphics. Very much a child of the 80s, it was replaced by the 3500 and 4500.
BeoGram 6000 (1981)
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
BeoGram 2000 (1983)
This radial-tracking record deck had a lightweight turntable (only 400g) to minimise torque at starting. The automatic cueing system was also very fast-acting, so it was only a matter of a few seconds between touching the PLAY control and hearing the music.
The tone arm had built-in anti-skating and carried the MMC 4 pickup, ensuring accurate tracking and excellent sound quality. Normal PLAY and STOP functions were entirely automatic and could be operated with the lid closed; manual buttons for playing non-standard discs were located on the deck plate. In addition to automating the setting of correct speed and cueing position for each record, the Beogram’s built-in microcomputer allowed a REPEAT function, which could be programmed for up to 7 plays of the same record.
Drive was provided by a tacho-controlled DC motor via a flat rubber belt, so turntable speed was always accurate and could not be affected by fluctuations in the mains supply.
When used with Beomaster 2000, an electronic data-link allowed Beogram 2000 to be operated by the Beomaster’s controls. Beogram 2000 could also be made up as part of the Beosystem 2000, when linked together with other compatible Bang & Olufsen products.