BeoGram Record Decks
Production: 1972 - 12/1974
Documents: Service Manual, Owners Manual
Beogram 4000 stands out well about the others. Not just a matter here of style over technology, this innovative turntable embraced both stunning design quality with state-of-the-art materials and technology. A heavy platter driven by an electronically regulated servo motor linked together with two arms read the grooves of the record being played via tangential tracking. This method of playing discs was carried out in reverse of how the original master disc was cut in the first instance. The technology went back to basics and then improved upon it. The second arm ‘read’ the tracks of the record, ’seeing’ the gaps in between. In this fashion, it ‘knew’ just where one track ended and another one began. It also automatically sensed the size of the record being played and set the speed accordingly. Smart stuff indeed, especially for 1972, when the technology was designed and developed!
An ideal system (funds permitting) would have led a purchaser to buy the ultimate system: perhaps a Beomaster 3000 receiver, a pair of Beovox 5000 loudspeakers and focal point of the system, the Beogram 4000. Completing the system would have been the SP15 cartridge which was specially developed for the new turntable.
Many audio purists who would have usually ignored Bang & Olufsen as a company was made to sit up and take note about this new record deck. It has indeed gone down in the annals of history as a defining moment for Bang & Olufsen, and many audio and style magazines and journals wrote about the many aspects of this audio wunderkind…
Type: 5215 (1972 - Dec 1974)
Speeds: 33 - 45 rpm. electronic section
Pickup-arm System Tangential
Automatic Record-size Scanning Yes
Automatic Pickup movement Control Yes
Automatic Speed Selection Yes
Cueing Control Electronic air pressure damped
Drive system: Belt
Motor Synchronous electronically controlled
Stroboscopic Scale Light indicator 33 and 45 rpm: 50 and 60 Hz
Wow and flutter: < +/- 0.05 %
Rumble A: > 46 dB, B: > 65 dB
Speed Control Range: > 6 %
Pick-up: SP 15
Stylus 'Pramanik' elliptical naked diamond: 5 x 17µ
Recommended, Stylus Pressure: 1 g
Stylus Pressure Range: 0 - 1.5 g
Power supply: 110 - 130 - 220 - 240 V / 50 - 60 Hz / 40 W
Dimensions H x W x D 10 x 49 x 38cm
Weight 12 kg
The brand names Bang & Olufsen, B&O, trade mark and many of the product names and details together with on-site photographs are the property and copyright of Bang & Olufsen. The information on this website is provided only as a guide to Bang & Olufsen collectors and enthusiasts of the marque.