Which B & O TT for Dad??

[walpurgis]

Not necessarily, not all opinions are valid

My opinion is always valid...............In my opinion!

[Barry]

For a long time people would dismiss Bang & Olufsen gear a being "just 'Habitat' hi-fi", that is all style over substance. Well they were wrong. B&O designed some world leading equipment that was recognised by reviewers at the time. Even in the '80, Absolute Sound magazine rated the B&O 4000 turntable ahead of the over-feted Linn Sondek.

In my collection I have a B&O 1700 tuner (sister to the 3000 tuner; regarded by some as being one of the best tuners ever designed) as well a several B&O cartridges, the latter I regard as some of the best cartridge designs ever made. Of course all of this is in my opinion.

I will concede that some of B&O's styling was a bit too futuristic and not to my taste, but to dismiss the entire brand because of it is wrong.

[spendorman]

For a long time people would dismiss Bang & Olufsen gear a being "just 'Habitat' hi-fi", that is all style over substance. Well they were wrong. B&O designed some world leading equipment that was recognised by reviewers at the time. Even in the '80, Absolute Sound magazine rated the B&O 4000 turntable ahead of the over-feted Linn Sondek.

In my collection I have a B&O 1700 tuner (sister to the 3000 tuner; regarded by some as being one of the best tuners ever designed) as well a several B&O cartridges, the latter I regard as some of the best cartridge designs ever made. Of course all of this is in my opinion.

I will concede that some of B&O's styling was a bit too futuristic and not to my taste, but to dismiss the entire brand because of it is wrong.

I too have a Beomaster 1700 tuner, and a Beolab 1700 amplifier, not their top range, but very good sound.

Beolab 1700 by A60man, on Flickr

[Spectral Morn]

For a long time people would dismiss Bang & Olufsen gear a being "just 'Habitat' hi-fi", that is all style over substance. Well they were wrong. B&O designed some world leading equipment that was recognised by reviewers at the time. Even in the '80, Absolute Sound magazine rated the B&O 4000 turntable ahead of the over-feted Linn Sondek.

In my collection I have a B&O 1700 tuner (sister to the 3000 tuner; regarded by some as being one of the best tuners ever designed) as well a several B&O cartridges, the latter I regard as some of the best cartridge designs ever made. Of course all of this is in my opinion.

I will concede that some of B&O's styling was a bit too futuristic and not to my taste, but to dismiss the entire brand because of it is wrong.

Really! By those who have not heard the top Japanese tuners, Magnum Dynalabs, Revox or even the AudioLab 8000T.

[oldius]

What a contentious thread this has become without need. As far as I can tell, those with some experience of B&O are just saying not to dismiss all their products as without substance.

[mik_rik]

There is also the nostalgia involved in having something we used to have from years ago (or similar).How many of us would like to replace the kit we started out with ,even though it is likely to be inferior to what we now have.Jus' sayin' _ Mick

[Barry]

Really! By those who have not heard the top Japanese tuners, Magnum Dynalabs, Revox or even the AudioLab 8000T.

In the case of the B&O 3000 - Yes! I did say one of the best.

[Beobloke]

In the case of the B&O 3000 - Yes! I did say one of the best.

It’s actually the Beomaster 5000

I know of two people who prefer theirs to the Yamaha CT-7000 and mine came from a little company called the BBC who bought it new and used it, along with a load of others, for 40 years in Broadcasting House to monitor transmitter output quality. Mine was used for LBC, according to the label on the plug!

[Barry]

Thanks - I thought I had made a mistake with the designation. Anyway you understood which B&O model I meant: the one with the sliding tuning cursor.

Yes, I knew of the BBC connection. They also used the Quad FM4 as a representative of a typical high quality tuner with which to monitor broadcast quality.

[Spectral Morn]

It’s actually the Beomaster 5000

I know of two people who prefer theirs to the Yamaha CT-7000 and mine came from a little company called the BBC who bought it new and used it, along with a load of others, for 40 years in Broadcasting House to monitor transmitter output quality. Mine was used for LBC, according to the label on the plug!

The Yamaha CT 7000 is over rated. The position it occupies on the Tuner Info Network ratings listings is about right, which is number 55. So many more are better than it, and available for much less money.

I am not saying by the way that a B&O tuner isn't a good one, but up with the top Kenwoods, Sansui, Revox, Accuphase etc, nope, not a chance.