Release Date: 1983

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BeoCenter 2200

Bang & Olufsen BeoCenter 2200

Beocenter 2200 was a distinctive high fidelity system offering 3-waveband radio, record player and cassette facilities in a very compact, slim-line format. Maximum power output was 2 x 25 watts RMS.

The radio section covered long, medium and FM bands. Four favourite FM stations could be pre-set for instant recall. A horizontal thumbwheel on the front of the unit controlled manual tuning: the large graph-grid tuning scale was very easy to see and use.

The record deck featured the (then) latest Bang & Olufsen tone arm carrying the ultra-light MMC 5 pickup. Operation was entirely automatic and needed just a single touch on the PHONO button. Built-in logic circuits identified the size and speed of any record placed on the lightweight turn-table and would cue the pickup arm onto the run-in groove with absolute accuracy and safety.

The cassette recorder had electronic control so you could switch directly between, say, fast rewind and PLAY without danger of straining the mechanism or damaging the tape. Dolby B noise reduction and automatic selection between ferric and chrome tapes was included. Metal tapes could also be used, so you were assured of top class sound quality for those really special recordings.

Listening to tapes was also quick and easy: the NEXT button allowed you to scan the tape track by track until you found the one you wanted to hear.

The recommended speakers for use with this system were the Beovox X25.

Connections: Mono microphone; 2 pairs speakers; headphones; external tape recorder with two-way copying; AM and FM aerials

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BeoGram 6002

Bang & Olufsen BeoGram 6002

This tangential-tracking record deck offered superb sound quality from records plus the assurance that its playing precision minimised groove wear and kept your albums ‘like new’ for a very long time.

Operation was totally automatic. Record size and speed were identified by a ‘magic eye’ (photodiode) carried on a detector arm which travelled ahead of the tone arm. Fast and slow scan (both inward and outward) facilities allowed you to locate and play inner tracks without touching the delicate arm or pick-up.

The pick-up was the MMC3 with an unframed elliptical diamond carried on a tapered tubular cantilever of aluminium. The total effective tip mass of this arm/pick-up combination was a mere 0,35mg – no wonder Beogram 6002 was so kind to your records!

The motor was a DC tacho-motor controlled by an electronic servo-circuit. Turntable drive was via flat belt. The turntable and its bearings were mounted on the same inner chassis as the tone arm, and this was totally isolated from the motor, deck plate and outer chassis by a sophisticated pendulum suspension system.

When connected to Beomaster 6000, Beogram 6002 had a one-way data-link which makes it controllable via the Beomaster’s main controls or optional remote Terminal. Beogram 6002 could be used as part of a full stereo system – the Beosystem 6000 or 8000.

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BeoGram 6006

Bang & Olufsen BeoGram 6006

This deck was the Beogram designed for use with the Beomaster 6000.
To all intents the same deck as the Beogram 8000, it had a MMC20EN cartridge and black keys to differentiate it from its more expensive brother. Not replaced directly when the newer cartridges were released as the Beogram 6002 was belt drive rather than tangential drive.

This was a confusing product as it offered the same performance as the Beogram 8000 but was cheaper due to the lesser cartridge. It was not a big seller and it was not surprising that the range was rationalised by keeping a top performing Beogram in the Beogram 8002 and a substantially simpler deck in the Beogram 6002.

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BeoGram 8000

Bang & Olufsen BeoGram 8000

In 1973, Bang & Olufsen launched the world’s first record player with an electronically controlled tangential arm. It was dubbed a state-of-the-art product by the industry, and revered and appreciated by music lovers all over the world.

Beogram 8000 was Bang & Olufsen’s third generation of tangential arm decks.

The special benefit of the tangential arm is that it helped to secure the most authentic reproduction of sound from records because it tracked records in the same way they were cut. But the tangential arm was only one of the features that contributed to the achievement of the company’s goal. For Beogram 8000 also benefited from B&O’s unique approach to turntable design: integration, in which all components of the gramophone were carefully matched from the product’s earliest design stage.

To secure constantly accurate rotary speed a Tangential Drive system was developed. It incorporated a quartz-controlled electronic flywheel, similar to the system used in electricity meters. Like your domestic meter, the system is highly reliable and extremely accurate. It works all day, everyday, and never needs repair. You never needed to make corrections in the Beogram’s rotary speed. A digital display kept you informed of speed during play. Because the conventional motor has been discarded, there were no motor vibrations to distort the sound. A unique pendulum suspension system prevented external shocks and vibrations from affecting sound reproduction.

Beogram 8000 was fitted with the widely acclaimed MMC 20 CL pickup cartridge, which guaranteed excellent tracking and minimum record wear, thanks to its low effective tip mass and optimum groove contact. A stylus brush, mounted inside the tangential arm compartment, kept the diamond free from dust and micro-particles, thereby enhancing the gentle treatment of records.

Beogram 8000 could be used as part of a full stereo system – the Beosystem 6000 or 8000

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BeoGram 8002

Bang & Olufsen BeoGram 8500

Beogram 8002 was a ‘state-of-the-art- product with a performance capability as near ideal as anyone had up till then devised. The platter was driven not by a conventional motor, but by a unique tangential-drive system that had no moving parts and no physical contact with the turntable.

Tangential drive works on the same principle as the ordinary domestic electricity meter (a form of electric ‘motor’ which you have probably always lived with yet been totally unaware of, since its disc continues rotating, silently and accurately, year after year without any maintenance whatever). It is based upon a law of physics by which any current-carrying body placed within a magnetic field experiences a force which will cause it to move.

Bang & Olufsen took full advantage of this simple law by placing the edge of the Beogram’s under-platter between two fixed coils. When current was applied to these coils a magnetic field was created in the gap between them, thus moving the under-platter without physical contact of any sort. The speed of rotation was dependant on the amount of current passing through the coils and B&O’s use of a quartz-controlled electronic servo-circuit to govern current flow keeping the turntable speed constant and highly accurate.

The tangential-tracking arm was made of hard-drawn brass. It carried the pickup in a straight line from the edge of the record to its centre – the same geometry used in cutting the original master-disc – so skating effect did not occur and vertical tracking error was barely measurable. The tone arm was preceded by a detector arm carrying a photodiode which could ‘see’ the surface below it. If the PLAY button was pressed when there was no record on the turntable, this magic eye ‘saw’ the broken pattern of the platter’s black ribs rotating and a safety circuit blocked any user command to lower the pickup. So Beogram 8002 was safe as well as extremely sophisticated.

The pickup arm used the latest type of cartridge – MMC2 – weighing a mere 1,6 grams. Its unframed diamond stylus had a multi-faceted (contact line) profile which could follow every last detail of the groove modulations.

Beogram 8002 had a computerised control system that made operation so easy that you didn’t even have to think about it. Just press PLAY. Machine intelligence identified the size and playing speed of the record. If you wanted to hear the same disc more than once, it was necessary to just press PLAY for each time you want to listen – up to 9 times. The number of repeats you ordered would appear as the last digit on the speed read-out panel.

You could scan the arm – inwards or outwards – to any track on the record in fast or slow motion. Manual override buttons were provided for playing non-standard discs and the pause control made it easy to resume play after an interruption.

Beogram 8002 could be used as part of the Beosystem 6000 or Beosystem 8000

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BeoGram RX

Bang & Olufsen Beogram RX

A basic radial armed turntable which replaced the Beogram 1800 in the range.

It was designed for use with other makes of amplifier and hence was fitted with phono plugs instead of the more usual, for B&O, Din plug. It came without a MMC pick up though most would be fitted with a MMC5.

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BeoGram 5000

Bang & Olufsen BeoGram 5000

Beogram 5000’s radial-tracking record deck was the perfect match for Beomaster 5000. Operation was entirely automatic. One touch on the PLAY control started the motor and activated the deck’s logic circuits which assessed the size and correct speed of the record and instructed the arm to lower the stylus into the run-in groove.

This was a very fast-acting yet highly accurate control system which gave you music within about 8 seconds – far more quickly and gently than the human hand could guarantee. This system was also error-proof; for example, it was impossible to lower the stylus unless there was a record on the turntable, so expensive mistakes and accidents just couldn’t happen.

At the end of the record the motor automatically switched itself off and the arm returned to its rest position. If you wished, you could hear the same record over and over again automatically; it was necessary to just press PLAY once for each repeat required. Up to 7 consecutive performances could be pre-programmed in this way.

Beogram 5000’s sound quality was everything you would expect from so sophisticated a unit. The ultra-lightweight arm had built-in anti-skating and tracking weight adjustment. It carried the MMC 4 pickup with a framed elliptical diamond stylus that tracked the record groove accurately and with minimum wear.

As a final grace note there was also an interior light that switched itself on automatically when the lid was opened and stayed alight while the unit was in play.

When connected to Beomaster 5000, Beogram 5000 offered the added convenience of full infra-red remote control. The record deck could also be used as part of the Beosystem 5000.

Finish: brushed aluminium, dark grey translucent dust cover

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BeoGram 2404

Bang & Olufsen BeoGram 2404

An updated 2402 but with the revised lightweight arm designed to take the MMC5 cartridge.

Rather an afterthought, the 2404 was designed to work with the Beomaster 2400-2 and was fitted with the 7 pin DIN plug to allow control by remote. This was not compatible with Datalink. The last UK model of this design and interesting simply because it had the new cartridge but the old remote control software unlike the Beogram 6000 which boasted the new software and old cartridge.

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BeoGram 1700

Bang & Olufsen BeoGram 1700

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.