Beogram 1700 combined ease of operation and advanced technology in a simple, matter-of-fact way. To play a record, all you had to do was press ’33’ or ’45’ and let the Beogram do the rest. At the end of play the pickup arm returned to its resting position and the motor switched off.

The anti-skating device worked automatically. Another advantage of the simple, integrated design was immunity to external shock and vibrations. The electronic servo drive system ensured correct rotary speed at all time.

The low mass, low inertia pick-up arm with its plug-in MMC 20S cartridge made it virtually impossible to scratch records.

Beogram 1700 could be made up as part of the Beosystem 1700 or Beosystem 2600, when linked together with other compatible Bang & Olufsen products.

This is quite possibly the best value Beogram made. It has excellent sound and vibration isolation, a very simple and lightweight arm, easy to use and understand controls and is elegant both in looks and operation.

Blindfold, the sound quality is quite frankly indistinguishable from the higher models and it is far more likely to work. Weak spots are few but record support would probably be the main issue. A felt mat suitably cut could well improve record support qualities.