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.
Design is a language which is understood by everyone…” as designer Jacob Jensen expressed it and demonstrated it in practice.”
A silicon-transistor high-fidelity amplifier with less than 0.6% distortion at all frequencies and at all volume levels up to 2 x 60 watts of power output. Its signal-to-noise ratio is better than 90dB (linear measurement). It has calibrated graphic controls and is extremely versatile, due to an unusual number of input and output facilities.
The Beolab 5000 is an amplifier that introduces no hiss or hum and reproduces all frequencies of the tonal range exactly as received. It has enormous power, permitting reproduction of even the loudest passages without distortion. Moreover, operation is logical and straightforward; varying or poor record quality can be compensated by means of efficient filters which remove the particular tonal range in which flaws are present; there is provision for connecting several speakers, including centre speaker, as well as provision for channelwise control of programme material. A special feature is a test control to facilitate adjustment of balance between channels. The use of silicon transistors ensures very low noise level, high temperature stability, and a very wide tonal range.” – taken from the 1967
Bang & Olufsen’s Beomaster 5000 FM tuner, BeoLab 5000 amplifier and Beovox 2500 Cube loudspeakers were the first product series designed by Jacob Jensen in 1967.
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. On this basis, Jacob Jensen was asked to design B&O´s audio programme. 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 BeoLab 5000 was Beomaster 5000, an amplifier with the same slide rule interface.
The TV boom of the 1950’s hit the cinemas badly, which meant that the pressure on Bang & Olufsen’s sound engineers became less. The engineers’ love of high class sound reproduction, however, remained undiminished.
As early as the 1950s, they had developed stereo systems for the installation of Cinema-Scope systems in cinemas. In 1958, they were also responsible for the development of equipment for the first stereophonic radio transmissions from Denmark’s very first commercial radio station, Radio Mercur. When stereo started gaining ground, the engineers found new opportunities for a comeback.
The development of High Fidelity had already begun in the US and a number of small companies, headed by Scott and Fischer, had gained a dedicated following. By 1964, Bang & Olufsen was planning to conquer the new upcoming European Hi-fi market, a niche which ideally matched Bang & Olufsen’s survival strategy. Now engineers with more than 30 years’ experience behind them, under the leadership of chief engineer Nikolaj Krebs Sørensen, embarked on the development of the world’s most perfect hi-fi system, the BeoLab 5000 series.
With its ultra selective tuner and a powerful, distortion-free amplifier of no less than 2 x 60 watts, it offered qualities never seen before. The design was equally sensational. In the US, where the production of Hi-fi components had already started, they had found their form in the 19” rack format which was used by the first customers, the radio stations. When Hi-fi enthusiasts wanted quality tuners and amplifiers, they had to accept a design which belonged in the professional world.
Bang & Olufsen’s brief for the designers was: “Create a European Hi-fi format, which communicates power, precision and identity.”
This became designer Jacob Jensen and his assistant, David Lewis’ first assignment together for Bang & Olufsen. They solved it by designing the new linear controls like a slide rule bar in order to communicate the greatest possible precision. Thus began the era of the slide rule bar, a motif which was used and varied in the years to come.
The Hi-fi modules’ handles became countersunk Allen screws and the faceted and framed gold panels, which were the industry’s standard, were, in Bang & Olufsen’s design, transformed into extruded natural anodised aluminium.
BeoLab 5000 became a success, not only as Bang & Olufsen’s flagship, but also in more affordable versions, e.g.. Beomaster 1200 and 3000 and competitors were forced to follow suit. Elsewhere too, knobs were replaced by the linear slides – a development which continued until the mechanical grips were replaced by the electronic ‘easy touch’ controls of the Beomaster 1900.
At the 1967 spring fair in Hanover, B&O received the IF award for BeoLab 5000, Beomaster 5000 and Beovox 2500 Cube for outstanding and user friendly design.
In 1972 and with Beogram 4000, Bang & Olufsen developed the world’s first electronically controlled tangential gramophone. The innovative and extremely stylish record deck was designed with usual flair by Jacob Jensen.
In this pioneering concept, the pick-up moved in a straight line towards the centre of the record parallel with – or tangentially in relation to – the groove. By doing so, the small angular error which would otherwise occur when the pick-up arm moved in an arch on a conventional gramophone was removed. This was possible because the pick-up arm was electronically controlled by a light spot reflected off the record.
This method also ensured that the gramophone started automatically, selected the desired speed – and that the pick-up actually touched the grooves of the record. The combined cartridge/stylus used on Beogram 4000 was the ultra-lightweight SP15 which was engineered by Subir Pramanik especially for this deck.
Yet another sophisticated mechanical design, the double tone arm, demonstrated the break with the past. By using two arms, it was immediately clear that this was a gramophone which worked in a new and different way.
Beogram 4000 was the first of the many tangentially-tracking record players that followed, finished in wood veneer, aluminium and plastic. Designed by Jacob Jensen, Beogram 4000 and seven other B&O products were selected by the Museum of Modern Art in 1972 for its permanent collection of modern design. Jensen aimed at creating a record player which in its simplicity and panache was both timeless and up-to-date in its technical construction. The record player made use of the most advanced techniques; for instance, the electronic tangential pick-up arm, which by moving in a straight angle from the end of the record player always played the record at the correct angle – that which it was created with in the factory. The delicateness of the pick-up arm was also a part of making the design simple and attractive to look at. The same year, Beogram 4000 won the ID Award.
The design and development process of the Bang & Olufsen Beogram 4000 turntable was carried out somewhat different to the normal procedure. Jacob and K G Zeuthen, a civil engineer – who had been one of Denmark’s pioneers in aviation design – developed and constructed a full size working model ready for presentation to B&O. The design incorporated a parallel twin-armed pick-up, one arm for the pick-up and the other arm with an optical device which read the size of the record. Beogram 4000 was put into production without alteration and became a tremendous success. It gained many international design awards and contributed in maintaining B&O’s sharp design profile. In 1972 Beogram 4000 won the iF Design Award and in 1973 it received the Danish ID Award; that same year it was included in the New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Design collection. It also received the English Blue Ribbon award that year for outstanding design who labelled the deck as “the most awarded product within the Radio trade”
With his design work, Jacob Jensen helped shape Bang & Olufsen’s product design with its characteristic use of discrete, clear lines and high functionality. It is a design which has helped manifest B&O’s easily-recognisable product identity. Through the assistance of Jacob Jensen, B&O was awarded the Danish Design Centre’s ID Classic Prize in 1990 for its product design through 25 years.
While the CD player has now replaced the gramophone, Beogram 4000 was regularly updated for many years, bearing different names and Type numbers – for the continued pleasure of music lovers who refused to give up their beloved LP collection.
Beogram 3000 was an automatic high-fidelity stereo record-player with specifications which easily complemented those of Beomaster 3000-2.
It was fitted with an SP 12A pick-up cartridge which had an elliptical naked diamond stylus, with a stylus pressure of 1,2g. Frequency range was 20 – 25000 Hz ±3 dB and distortion was lower than 1%. Wow and flutter was less than ±0.09% and rumble was better than 62dB. Beogram 3000 was easy to operate: you simply selected the size of record you intend to play – 7″, 10″ or 12″ – and press a button. The record-player automatically selected the record speed, 33 or 45 rpm, and lowered the pick-up into the first groove.
When the record ended, the pick-up arm lifted up, returned to its resting position and the turntable switched off. The turntable and pickup arm had a pendulum suspension which made the record-player insensitive to vibrations. The deep furrows in the turntable made it easy to pick up records. A hinged dust lid was fitted; it could be set at any angle up to around 60 degrees or completely removed by a simple sliding action.
Beogram 1500 is the acclaimed Beogram 1000 3-speed stereo record player equipped with a built-in stereo output amplifier delivering 2 x 8 watts of audio output. The Beogram 1500 has no built-in loudspeakers but may be se with external speakers e.g. the Beovox 800 or the Beovox 1000.
The Beogram 1500 has jacks for radio and for tape-recorder – the Beocord 1500 de Luxe would be particularly suitable. If you use the Beogram 1500 in connection with an FM tuner e.g. the Beomaster 5000, you have a small but complete hi-fi system.
The Beogram 1500 has separate adjustment knobs for volume (with built-in balance adjustment), bass and treble. Pushbutton panel for control of on/off, tape recorder, radio, and gramophone. All these functions are conventionally placed on the top of the instrument. Built-in voltage selector for switching between 110, 130, 220 and 240 volts AC. The Beogram 1500 is very elegantly designed and has a transparent dust cover
In the real world, this is a Beogram 1000 with a rather nice 8W per channel amplifier attached. There are two types with the later ones using the same amplifier as the very upmarket Beocord 2400 reel to reel deck. Surprisingly good though the isolation of the deck was no better.
The Beogram 1202, although looking very similar to the earlier Beogram 1200, was an entirely new record deck and was far more sophisticated than the earlier model. It continued with the multi-peg system of record support – possibly the decks greatest weakness – and also lacked the hinged lid of the Beogram 3000 to which it was otherwise practically identical. This is the 1200 type deck to own!
The operating system was simplified from the 1200 though the same arm and motor were used. The suspension was however far better – imagine this deck as a Beogram 3000 with a silly platter and a less useful lid and you will not be far wrong. It is however the best of the ‘peg platter’ decks. Very collectible.
Beogram 1200 – Types 5213, 5214, 5216, 5217 – was Bang & Olufsen’s first ‘designer’ 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 the Museum of Modern Art for the museum’s permanent collection (not exhibition) in 1972. The system components were designed by Jacob Jensen.
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 cassette 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.
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. Beogram 1200 was one of those seven products.
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.
From an audio point of view, this was an advance in some ways – isolation from vibration was slightly better though still not up to the later decks. The peg support for the records was however not so clever as the excellent mat of the 1000 and 1800 offered far better cushioning. It did however look wonderful. Close inspection of the studs reveal that the inner studs are slightly shorter than the outer ones. They do remove for cleaning so do make sure you put them in the right places!!
The turntable and overall design was by Jacob Jensen; the tonearm and MMC cartridge principle was by Erik Rørbæk Madsen. Beogram 1000 was the recommended turntable for Beomaster 1000.
The First Beogram?
Beogram 1000 was the very first Bang & Olufsen turntable to be designated with the suffix ‘Beogram’. Before its introduction, earlier decks did not, strictly speaking, hold this product name.
This player has extremely low vibration and rumble – a decisive feature for playback of stereo gramophone records, due to the fact that the stylus must be sensitive to vibrations in all directions.
The Beogram 1000 has antimicrophonic suspension that takes up acoustic and mechanical vibrations from the support and prevents the stylus from leaving the groove. In practice, this means that mechanical vibrations from the support or from persons walking or dancing in front of the Beogram 1000 cannot make the stylus jump in the groove. Such vibrations will be absorbed in the antimicrophonic suspension and will not reach the turntable or the pickup.
Equipped with the world-famous B&O ST/L-15 pickup unit; heavy turntable designed as a stroboscope disc; built-in hydraulically damped pickup lift operating y means of a rocker button. Specially engineered speed selector (78, 45 and 33.3 rpm); built-in special centre insert for 45 rpm records. The Beogram 1000 is available in two versions: Beogram 1000V (for 240/110 volts AC) and Beogram 1000VF (for 240/110 volts AC with built-in preamplifier.
Choice of teak or Brazilian rosewood finish and with a practical transparent acrylic dust cover.
And so ends the brochure speak! The Beogram 1000 was heavily based on earlier decks and, despite what B&O said, was not that resistant to external forces. It also was not able to be played with the lid on and indeed the lid had a cut out at the back to allow the pick arm to protrude. It allowed reasonable play back and was reliable but performance led to B&O looking elsewhere for a turntable for the Beolab 5000 system.
Mounting Options
Wall Bracket / Shelf for BeoGram
A universal shelf that will support all Bang & Olufsen turntables from the past 30 years. Including three cable entry points to allow you to bring cables from below the shelf or through the wall.
