Bang & Olufsen, a luxury Danish audio firm, has revolutionized the face of industrial design for more than half a century with gadgets, loudspeakers, televisions, and even telephones that have made their way into homes and galleries all around the world.
Bang & Olufsen’s initial cutting-edge creations were the brainchild of one man, designer Jacob Jenson (1926–2015), whose Beolab 5000 system debuted in 1968 and paved the way for 234 following items over his 27-year tenure with the company.
Earlier this month, Bang & Olufsen announced a new edition of the Beoplay Portal headphones, retailing for $499. The firm has been back to its business with the Beosystem 72-22, a unique device honoring the Beogram 4000’s on its 50th anniversary. Bang & Olufsen chose the moniker ’72-22′ as a homage to the device’s re-release in 2022, which it first released in 1972.
A restored Beogram 4000c turntable, a Beoremote Halo remote control, two Beolab 18 speakers, and a custom cabinet to hold LPs and connecting components are included in each hand-built setup.
Jensen’s Beogram 4000 Series turntable from 1972 is the most recognizable innovation. It was recently released as the first product in Bang & Olufsen’s Recreated Classics Initiative, a scheme to revive past designs in a miniseries. It’s a unique product that attains true classic status, preserving its design integrity over time while surprising new generations of observers.
A limited-edition tribute to the Beogram 4000
Torsten Valeur, who has collaborated with Bang & Olufsen since 1995, developed the Beosystem 72-22, which comes in a solid walnut gift box that serves as a turntable stand, storage cabinet, and Halo remote charging station all in one.
The 72-22 designation alludes to the year the turntable was first released in 1972 and the year it was recreated at the same plant in Struer, Denmark, where the first turntable was made.
The valuer has chosen natural walnut and anodized aluminum for the turntable and cabinet in a pearl-blasted Titanium Tone finish, a modest update to Jensen’s original oak and polished silver-aluminum finish.
The Beosystem 72-22 could be all the hi-fi you’ll ever need, with its walnut finish and new pearl-blasted Titanium Tone aluminum finish. It’s unquestionably a wealthy collector’s product for the highly ardent Bang & Olufsen volunteers.
The original engineers’ devotion to non-obsolescence is demonstrated in the Beolab 4000 Series turntables, which leave unused space in the turntable’s chassis to support technology enhancements that hadn’t even been conceived yet.
Current Bang & Olufsen engineers were able to integrate a special phono preamp—typically an outboard component or circuitry enclosed within a larger control preamplifier—invisibly hidden away within the turntable, which attaches to a Beosound Core broadcasting hub encased within the LP cabinet via a line signal cable.
A digital signal is wirelessly transmitted from the Beosound Core to a Beolab 18 stereo speaker through the Beolab Transmitter, likewise incorporated within the cabinet. Music can also be broadcasted from several different digital music services.
Music can even be relished in multiple living spaces thanks to the Bang & Olufsen App’s Beolink Multiroom feature, which allows you to connect to other Bang & Olufsen speakers on the same network. The Beosystem 72-22 costs $45,000 and is only available in North America through Bang & Olufsen retailers.