Welcome to my blog about vintage Bang & Olufsen Hi-Fi equipment. I have a number of items that I plan to restore and/or update in the coming years, so I will not be posting to this blog too often, but I will attempt to document the various projects.
Ever since I first saw the Bang & Olufsen products at our local HiFi dealer in around 1972, I have thought they were some of the most beautiful HiFI components ever created. Their design influenced many other manufacturers and furniture designers for years to come. They were bad news for tropical rainforests, with all that Teak and Rosewood, not just used in their own construction, but in all the accessories and furniture they inspired.
These products were quite pricey at the time, and well beyond the budget of this seventeen year old with his nose pressed against the shop window. About ten years ago I found a B&O 1100 cassette deck at the Tonbridge audio jumble, and this started a minor addiction to buying B&O HiFi from the early 1970’s era on eBay.
It is interesting to examine the construction of these nearly nearly fifty old items. The cabinets are low, sleek and beautiful, finished in black or silver anodised aluminium, with Teak or Rosewood veneered case components and end panels. The lettering used is Helvetica, but with the spacing slightly reduced.
Generally, the units I have purchased are barely working, and I know they are going to need some restoration. My main concern is that the case has not suffered major physical damage, scratches, or gouging that would be difficult to repair, and that there are no missing knobs or sliders.
Usually, the Teak veneer will no longer have the beautiful grain it had when it was new but changed to a darker reddish brown. Rosewood finished items will also have darkened, and be shiny with the applications of furniture polish over the years.
The main faults encountered with these old units are described below:
1. The electrolytic capacitors will have leaked. There was a particular brand of electrolytic capacitors used in stereo equipment of this era that had either an orange or dark reddish brown plastic can, that often split and leaked electrolyte.
2. The rubber feet on the bottom of the unit will have worn out, started to rot and become sticky. The screws fixing them to the base are often rusty.
3. Switches have become very noisy and stiff, and may have difficulty latching properly.
4. Most B&O equipment of this era used slider potentiometers rather than rotary ones. These do not wear well and become stiff and noisy over time and it is also difficult to find replacement parts.
5. The mains cable is only two core with no earth, so not acceptable by today’s standards.
When deciding to resurrect a item of old audio equipment, one needs to make a choice between either restoring the item to its original condition, or updating it so that it can fit in with the updated computer and phone based music systems of today. I struggle with this choice all the time.
B&O audio equipment of this era had a generally warm, bassy sound, but with some noise and distortion. It is quite pleasant to listen to.