“A splendid example of engineering and up-to-the-minute design, this all-transistor high-fidelity mains radio was developed by B&O for the ever-increasing number of listeners who want a radio which “has everything”
Its excellent FM section has five push-buttons. One is the usual FM bandswitch button; each of the other four can be individually tuned and locked to any station in the FM band, permitting you to tune in your favourite programmes at the touch of a button.
The Beomaster 1400K meets the wishes of the many listeners who insist on superb tonal quality and interference-free low-noise reception of stations outside the FM band. The razor-sharp selectivity of the Beomaster 1400K is a product of its numerous intermediate-frequency circuits. A further feature is a built-in short-wave expander for the SWII band, permitting you to ‘spread’ stations for maximum ease of tuning. There is a built-in decoder for reception of stereo broadcasts.
The amplifier of the Beomaster 1400K has very low distortion (less than 1%) at all frequencies and at all power output levels up to 2 x 15 watts. Its volume control circuit is physiologically compensated in the bass and treble ranges at low volume levels. A highly efficient balance control permits complete suppression of either channel at will.
The Beomaster 1400K has two built-in pressure chamber speakers and jacks for two pairs of external speakers, switchable from the front panel. The gramophone input circuit incorporates a pre-amplifier which is easily replaceable to permit use of stereo record players both with and without pre-amplifiers. A tape recorder jack is also provided. Despite the vast amount of circuitry, cabinet dimensions are relatively small.
Dimensions: 112mm high, 744mm wide, 252mm deep. Choice of teak or Brazilian rosewood finish.
The set is identical with the Beomaster 1400K and has no built-in speakers.
Dimensions: 12mm high, 414 wide, 252mm deep. Choice of teak or Brazilian rosewood finish.”
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.
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)
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)
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.
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.
“B&O loudspeakers will meet very exacting conditions as their specifications exceed international hi-fi standards. All B&O speakers are of the pressure-chamber type with an impedance of 4 ohms. They are available in matched pairs only in a choice of teak or Brazilian rosewood finish”
Speaker units: Low-frequency unit and high-frequency unit. Crossover frequency: 5000Hz. Frequency response (DIN 45570): 60 – 18000 Hz. Power rating: 10W (RMS), 15W (Music). Volume: 8 litres
Beovox 5000 was the ideal loudspeaker for the Beolab system.
It had a special bass unit with an extended bass reproduction range, two mid-range units and four high-frequency units. There was provision for individual of mid-range and high-frequency levels and a socket for a high-frequency diffuser (Beovox 2500).
There were three differing incarnations during its life: the first had seven drivers incorporated within its 66 litre cabinet. Available in three different finishes, the B&O logo was gold-plated. Beovox 5700 was the replacement for these high-quality units when their lifespan came to an end.
“B&O loudspeakers will meet very exacting conditions as their specifications exceed international hi-fi standards. All B&O speakers are of the pressure-chamber type with an impedance of 4 ohms. They are available in matched pairs only in a choice of teak or Brazilian rosewood finish”
