Bang & Olufsen Beogram 2000 Review

Good Points
Build, looks, sound, brand name

Bad Points
Annoying DIN connector, a bit of motor rumble (well it is over 30 years old)

General Comments
This Bang and Olufsen Beogram 2000 turntable is ancient, it is approximately 30 years old now. But mine is in perfect working order (apart from a bit of motor noise). It is a fully automatic belt drive system, with hardly any adjustable parts, save for pitch and tone arm balance. The platter is simply a solid disc of machined metal with rubber spikes on which the record rests, the rest of the top of the deck is made of the same material, giving it an extremely sleek, hi tech, look. The smoked plastic dust cover and the decks wooden plinth are its only concessions to early 70's design, the rest is timeless. Where it really counts though, is in the sound, this machine is quite astonishing. It can comfortably outclass my Sony CDP-XB930 cd player and my Project Debut turntable by several orders of magnitude at every turn. The bass, the treble, everything, is simply wonderful, it pounds out the latest dance 12"s and whispers the most delicate string concertos with equal skill and passion. It is very much a case of iron fist and velvet glove. The only annoyance is the antiquated DIN plug connector, which means i have to use an amplifier of similar vintage (Rotel RX-202) as a pre-amp. Getting hold of one of these turntables could prove to be somewhat of a challenge though (found mine in a car boot sale). They dont make them like this anymore...