“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” – taken from the 1967 – 1968 Bang & Olufsen product catalogue
The plain exterior of the Beovox 1600 concealed an interesting design. Designed for wall mounting, either vertically or horizontally, the Beovox 1600 was the ideal for the mid range B&O models of the period such as the Beomaster 1200 or Beocord 2400.
The Beovox 1600 was a three-way design. The units comprised a 12cm woofer, a 2.5cm dome midrange and a 4cm cone tweeter. These units were supplied by Wharfdale (England), Philips (Holland) and SEAS (Norway) respectively. An odd mix, though they were all of good quality and were well made, the woofer had a rot-resistant soft rubber roll edge and a pressure die-cast basket for example. Using a cone driver as the tweeter and a dome for the midrange was odd practice, though it has to be remembered that these were early days for dome loudspeakers in general.
The crossover network was of a fairly standard three-stage parallel design complete with a band pass section for the midrange. Unusually for B&O, a film capacitor was used as the pass element for the tweeter, normally a cheaper electrolytic capacitor would be found here.
The slim cabinets also had an unusual feature, they were braced from front to back to make the large front and rear panels more rigid. This may have been done to stiffen the rear panel in particular, to reduce the amount of acoustic energy that was transmitted into the wall. The cabinets were constructed on the pressure chamber principle and were fronted by a cloth grille that was supported on a pressed steel sheet.
B&O had clearly put a lot of work into the Beovox 1600. It was later replaced by the Beovox 1800.
The Beovox 1001 was a very similar loudspeaker to the Beovox 1200 (Beosystem 1200 version), but to match the new black finish of the Beomaster 1001 the metal grille was made black.
Sadly, the designers did not take the opportunity to fit a dome tweeter (as fitted to every other Beovox loudspeaker of the period), so the original (and outmoded) 2.5” cone type remained. As the Beomaster 1001 offered the facility of Ambiophonic stereo, 4 Beovox 1001s could be connected, and the model was also suggested for use with the Beogram 1500-1 record player.
Beovox 5700 high fidelity loudspeaker was of studio monitor quality with minimum distortion and maximum power handling capacity.
The loudspeaker was designed to handle 60 watts RMS or 100 watts music power with a distortion of less than 1% over the entire frequency range of 25-20,000 Hz. In order to produce these qualities, Beovox 5700 was fitted with a 25cm ABR (Auxiliary Bass Radiator) unit and a 25cm bass unit which together produced a clear powerful bass reproduction. Its mid-range dome was 5,5cm in diameter and its dome tweeter was 2cm. Dispersion was 160 degrees.
Trumpet stand
Owing to its size, Beovox 5700 could be preferably used as floor-standing speakers. For this reason Bang & Olufsen designed the trumpet stand, type 8906007. This stand had a top on which the loudspeaker could be placed, not only elegantly, but also practically so that a good sound dispersion could be achieved.
Beovox 5700 could be used with Beosystem 4000, an uncompromising stereo system, top of its range in the mid-1970s.
Beovox 5700 high fidelity loudspeaker was of studio monitor quality with minimum distortion and maximum power handling capacity.
The loudspeaker was designed to handle 60 watts RMS or 100 watts music power with a distortion of less than 1% over the entire frequency range of 25-20,000 Hz. In order to produce these qualities, Beovox 5700 was fitted with a 25cm ABR (Auxiliary Bass Radiator) unit and a 25cm bass unit which together produced a clear powerful bass reproduction. Its mid-range dome was 5,5cm in diameter and its dome tweeter was 2cm. Dispersion was 160 degrees.
Trumpet stand
Owing to its size, Beovox 5700 could be preferably used as floor-standing speakers. For this reason Bang & Olufsen designed the trumpet stand, type 8906007. This stand had a top on which the loudspeaker could be placed, not only elegantly, but also practically so that a good sound dispersion could be achieved.
Beovox 5700 could be used with Beosystem 4000, an uncompromising stereo system, top of its range in the mid-1970s.
This portable radio has a specification superior to those of most mains table models and is elegantly styled, with all the controls placed on the top panel.
The Beolit 1000 offers outstandingly fine reception: on all its five bands, distant stations tune in without noise and interference even when located on adjacent frequencies. The FM section features a separate dial drive and additional push-button selection of up to three pre-tunable FM stations. The extended Long Wave band includes the navigation bands, and on the SWII band (the ‘Europe’ band) you can find all the popular European entertainment stations. The built-in Short Wave expander permits you to spread stations for supreme ease of tuning. There are sockets for connection of an external aerial, extension speaker and external power supply.
The Beolit 1000 brings you external tonal quality. Audio output is 2.5 watts on the internal dry cells. Via a suitable mains converter the Beolit 1000 will deliver no less than 7.5 watts of audio output, making it ideally suited to use as a home radio set. It has individual bass and treble controls and gramophone and tape-recorder jacks.
You can use the Beolit 1000 in a car, with the specially designed lockable car-mounting bracket which operates on 6 or 12 volts and negative and positive earthing, and incorporates filters to suppress ignition interference. The bracket automatically cuts out the built-in power supply of the Beolit 1000 and cuts in the car battery, the car aerial and an extension speaker. When powered from the car battery the set will deliver 7.5 watts of audio output.
Available in teak, Brazilian rosewood and black goatskin finish. Dimensions: 201 mm high, 359 mm wide and 70 mm deep
In 1972 the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) chose seven Bang & Olufsen products designed by Jacob Jensen to be included in their Design Collection as representing excellent examples of the Museum’s criteria for quality and historical importance; design, in fact, which had influenced the twentieth century. Beolit 1000 was one of those seven products.
In 1968 Beolit 1000 won the prestigious iF Design award.
“What Advantages does your Beocord 2400 give you in the Form of Facilities, Performance and Reliability? Pressure diecast chassis for the mechanical section – provides a high degree of mechanical stability, assuring you that your Beocord 2400 is transport-proof. Silicon transistors in the fully transistorized amplifiers – a guarantee of highly stable operation, good signal-to-noise ratio, minimum distortion, and low power consumption.
Separate tape heads for record and playback – permit you to monitor the tape while a recording is in progress. 4-track record and playback – permits maximum playing time for your tapes, both mono and stereo. Two-hand operating of record function – protects you against accidental erasure of tapes.
High degree of channel separation – in mono recordings, too, you will have good separation between the two channels. Twin-faders – make it easy for you to adjust for stereo balance on both record and playback.
Besides, the dual amplifier of your Beocord 2400 gives you the following interesting facilities: Sound on sound (part-song) recordings; adding echo to recordings; synchronous recordings such as pilot signals for slide projectors synchronized with sound reproduction; language laboratory: recording a foreign-language text on one track and conversation exercises synchronously on the other track.
Photo-stop feature – permits you to stop tape during programme scanning, if tape breaks, and at end of tape. Line jack – facilitates tape-copying from or to another Beocord; also permits connection to a large hi-fi system such as the BEOLAB 5000.
Your Beocord 2400 will operate as a hi-fi amplifier – the amplifier may be used without the motor running. It has separate inputs for microphone, gramophone, radio or FM/AM tuner and provision for connection of two pairs of stereo speakers. And your Beocord 2400 meets the minimum specifications for the DIN 45 500 Standards”
Beocord 1200 Type 4207 was a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Among its features it had sound-on-sound, automatic recording level control and mixing. The in-built PA amplifier could be operated without the motor running.
Beosystem 1200 – made up of Beomaster 1200, Beocord 1200 and Beogram 1200 was Bang & Olufsen’s B&O’s first designed system. The design ‘kinship’, which emphasised the interdependence between B&O’s various products, became a characteristic of B&O for many years. Beosystem 1200 was one of the first products selected by New York’s Museum of Modern Art for the museum’s permanent collection (not exhibition) in 1972.
In 1969 the Danish Society of Industrial Design awarded Bang & Olufsen and Jacob Jensen the ID prize for the Beomaster 1200 radio/amplifier, Beogram 1200 turntable and Beocord 1200 tape recorder for unusually beautiful and user friendly design. The jury emphasised in particular the Beomaster 1200 receiver which pointed in a new direction for the design of radios.
The 1200 series represented the logical continuation of the line of development and design which put B&O at the forefront of manufacturers of entertainment electronics.
A new range of transportable radios – the Beolit – was launched in 1970. The sound reproduction was unusually good – so good that many of the Beolits are still in use. In principle, the units were battery-powered, but the 600 version could also be connected to the mains. An amusing detail was the indication, of the selected station. This was shown by a small metal ball which moved behind a glass cover in parallel with a magnet on the exterior control slide and was thus encased and protected. Despite its sophisticated exterior, the Beolit was extremely robust.
Beolit 400 was a basic FM-only portable radio, in much the same way as its replacement, Beolit 505. The case was partly aluminium, partly coloured plastic, which formed the front and rear panels. Bright colours such as red, yellow, green and purple were offered, along with black. As the panels were only clipped on and did not form part of the chassis, they could be replaced with different coloured ones at a later date.
The design allowed the set to be used vertically or horizontally, supported by its handle. Even though there was only one loudspeaker, there were grilles on both sides of the radio, so that sound was distributed evenly from both directions. The sliding dial on the top of the radio was similar to that offered on Beomaster 901. A transparent plastic pointer, like that of a slide rule, was slid across the top in order to adjust the tuning, little wheels fitted to the side could be used for accurate setting. Little markers could be set, whose projecting tops slightly blocked the pointer on its way past, providing a reference to frequently-used stations.
A powerful AFC system, which could be turned off during tuning, was also included. The amplifier could provide 3 watts of output, unusually high for such a small set. Sockets for an external 7.5V power supply (via Beopower 600) and a tape recorder were fitted.
The Bang & Olufsen Beolit 400 transistor radio, designed by Jacob Jensen was presented with the IF Award in 1971 and the ID AWARD the year before. In 1972 the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) chose seven Bang & Olufsen products designed by Jacob Jensen to be included in their Design Collection as representing excellent examples of the Museum’s criteria for quality and historical importance; design, in fact, which had influenced the twentieth century. Beolit 400 was were one of those seven products.
