A classic record player is getting a new lease of life for some, as Bang & Olufsen finds a way to bring something back to use.
The record player has been having quite the revival over the past decade, as has the record, which has seen improvements in quality and distribution, but tepending on how old you are, you may not have a very old record player.
These days, record players can come with Bluetooth or may go without, and you might just look for ways to send that warm sound of vinyl around your home by plugging it into a multiroom speaker system.
However some record players can’t really even do just that, often simply because they’re old.
While there’s a good chance you don’t have a record player from the 70s still rocking a space in your home, if you do, there’s a chance it was made by Bang & Olufsen. The Danish audio specialists have been making devices for the better side of nearly 100 years, and so it’s possible one of the company’s premium audio gadgets is still in an ownership rather than merely being tossed out.
As it is, one of its 1970s record players can be found in MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. Granted, it may not be as widely used as a piece of art, but if it’s sitting in a home, it could well be like it, gathering dust unless you dust it off lightly somewhat regularly.
Fortunately, Bang & Olufsen has announced that the Beogram 6000 record player in MoMA, as well as others like it from the Beogram 4000 series may actually be upgraded, as B&O makes it possible to revive a classic for use today.
It’s a very specific upgrade, mind you, and one you cannot do yourself, but it’s one that will cost 5,000 Euros and see you ship your vintage B&O Beogram to Denmark where skilled service engineers will fit it with new components to upgrade the technology, making it possible to restore the record player, but also connect it to modern speakers.
The Beogram upgrade includes a new dust cover with an aluminium strip, new wood panels from the same company that provides wood in the original record players, a new pre-amp to connect the Beogram to modern speakers, a refurbishment and repainting of the steel body, new cables, and a service check to make sure every component is cleaned or replaced to give it another element of future-proofing, so to speak.
For Australians with one of these classic record players, B&O says that the demand isn’t as high as it is overseas, and is available upon enquiry, with the company noting that “customers can contact Bang & Olufsen who then ship the turntables to Denmark to be restored and upgraded”.
Just don’t expect the upgrade to be free, because this classic has a 5000 EUR price overseas, which translates to just under $8000 here in Australia.
