Bang & Olufsen's Beogram 4000c is a 50-year-old refurbished turntable that'll set you...

[Shawn Knight]

Bottom line: Bang & Olufsen has introduced the first product under its new Classics initiative, a limited edition turntable that it originally produced nearly five decades ago. Fewer than 100 examples are going to be offered and it's crazy expensive, but if you want a fully restored model with a five-year warranty, well... here's your opportunity.

“Born out of Bang & Olufsen’s commitment to longevity,” the Classics initiative seeks to bring new life to legacy products. For the inaugural inductee, the company located 95 units of its Beogram 4000 series turntable and “brought them back home” to Denmark for restoration.

B&O disassembled and inspected each unit, cleaning every part and made repairs where needed. Engineers also polished and anodized the aluminum on each turntable and hand-crafted a solid oak frame to bring out the visual warmth of the product. A dust lid was also added to protect the equipment when it is not in use.

The Beogram 4000 was first introduced in the early 70s. Designers at the time intentionally left space inside the machine for future upgrades, which B&O has taken advantage of today to add an RIAA phono pre-amplifier so the device can connect to modern speakers.

B&O refurbished 95 units, in celebration of the company’s 95th anniversary. Each has been numbered, is backed by a five-year warranty and will be available to purchase starting October 19, 2020. Pricing is set at 10,000 euros, or around $11,800.

Out of curiosity, I found a Beogram 4002 turntable over on eBay in decent shape for $1,200.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87056-bang-olufsen-beogram-4000c-50-year-old-refurbished.html

 

[trgz]

Lol - they were overpriced back then!

 

[Uncle Al]

Crazy ... but there are enough foolish people with too much money that will spend it ......

 

[netman]

Still using their RL-150 speakers...!

 

[captaincranky]

<p>B&amp;O disassembled and inspected each unit, cleaning every part and made repairs where needed. Engineers also polished and anodized the aluminum on each turntable and hand-crafted a solid oak frame to bring out the visual warmth of the product. A dust lid was also added to protect the equipment when it is not in use.

That's truly big of them, considering a lowly Technics SL-23 (rubber brand drive), Came with a "dust cover" at about the $100.00 price point.

Considering modern AV receivers don't have a mag phono input, I guess they'll expect you to buy a $20,000 restored receiver to go with it.`

 

[wiyosaya]

Typical of B & O to price it so high. Just another mystique brand.

That's truly big of them, considering a lowly Technics SL-23 (rubber brand drive), Came with a "dust cover" at about the $100.00 price point.

Considering modern AV receivers don't have a mag phono input, I guess they'll expect you to buy a $20,000 restored receiver to go with it.`

Or just a Yamaha Aventage receiver as they have phono inputs - https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/av_receivers_amps/index.html#d145652

EDIT: It looks like a linear tracking tone arm which was supposed to reduce disk wear at the time. IIRC, but certainly not worth the price.

 

[captaincranky]

Typical of B & O to price it so high. Just another mystique brand.

My typical snarky response, is that, "B & O is nothing but, the Apple of the audio world, except possibly even more avaricious, and styling centric", Their poop doesn't really spec out that well. (But then, they're probably not lying, so that's something

Or just a Yamaha Aventage receiver as they have phono inputs - https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/av_receivers_amps/index.html#d145652

My "most recent",rcvr, (at least 10 Yrs old) certainly doesn't. Perhaps they're including a mag phono input due to recent uptick in vinyl record sales.

EDIT: It looks like a linear tracking tone arm which was supposed to reduce disk wear at the time. IIRC, but certainly not worth the price.

Actually the "primary" purpose (**) was allegedly to maintain the absolute perpendicularity of needle to groove relationship throughout the entire record. (And what you said).

With a swinging tone arm, the outer edge of the needle, (sorry "stylus"), leads the inner edge, particularly on the section at the inner part of the groove. The closer to the spindle the tone arm gets, the more the error manifests itself.

Can anybody hear this? Only very, very, special individuals.

(**) In reality, the "actual purpose", was to take more of your money

 

[Underdog]

My typical snarky response, is that, "B & O is nothing but, the Apple of the audio world, except possibly even more avaricious, and styling centric", Their poop doesn't really spec out that well. (But then, they're probably not lying, so that's something

My "most recent",rcvr, (at least 10 Yrs old) certainly doesn't. Perhaps they're including a mag phono input due to recent uptick in vinyl record sales.

Actually the "primary" purpose (**) was allegedly to maintain the absolute perpendicularity of needle to groove relationship throughout the entire record. (And what you said).

With a swinging tone arm, the outer edge of the needle, (sorry "stylus"), leads the inner edge, particularly on the section at the inner part of the groove. The closer to the spindle the tone arm gets, the more the error manifests itself.

Can anybody hear this? Only very, very, special individuals.

(**) In reality, the "actual purpose", was to take more of your money

Linear tracking makes a lot of sense when you learn that the record stamper is lathe cut with a linear arm, not a swinging one. The trouble is any commercially available playback turntable with a linear tracking arm must be manufactured to very precise specifications to track the groove correctly and stay perfectly aligned. This high spec makes the unit mega expensive, and it would only perform its best if very carefully kept adjusted and maintained.

 

[trgz]

My typical snarky response, is that, "B & O is nothing but, the Apple of the audio world, except possibly even more avaricious, and styling centric", Their poop doesn't really spec out that well. (But then, they're probably not lying, so that's something

My "most recent",rcvr, (at least 10 Yrs old) certainly doesn't. Perhaps they're including a mag phono input due to recent uptick in vinyl record sales.

Actually the "primary" purpose (**) was allegedly to maintain the absolute perpendicularity of needle to groove relationship throughout the entire record. (And what you said).

With a swinging tone arm, the outer edge of the needle, (sorry "stylus"), leads the inner edge, particularly on the section at the inner part of the groove. The closer to the spindle the tone arm gets, the more the error manifests itself.

Can anybody hear this? Only very, very, special individuals.

(**) In reality, the "actual purpose", was to take more of your money

Inner groove distortion was the bane of my vinyl experience - one very good resason to ditch the medium IMHO - dead easy to hear even on a moderately decent turntable/pivoting arm however well setup your angles were.