General Forum

Re: Beosystem 10

beocool — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:17:31 GMT

Back in the late eighties, early nineties, the Beosystem 10 was the only Bang & Olufsen product I could afford. I didn't buy one and went for a Japanese sound system instead and another one after that. If I had bought one when new I'm pretty sure I would still have it today, and I can't say the same for the Japanese systems. I've had several opportunities to buy a Beosystem 10 in the last few years, but nowadays I don't have the need for it anymore. I hardly can find the time to enjoy my Beolab 5's...

Re: Beosystem 10

Cleviebaby — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:35:10 GMT

Peter :

No of course it is relatively rere and much admired. Tim's piece on How rare is it sums things up nicely. If no-one wanted it when it was new, does it become better when it is old and rare!

I understand its failings, but I remember at the time (the late eighties) just how stunningly different and clean-lined it looked in comparison to the competition, all of which, with the exception of the classically British-looking Hacker, could have swapped maker's badges and no-one would have known the difference.

In the way Tim mentions the BS 10 in his book, I actually remember being one of those who contacted a dealer asking what the thing was shown in a photograph of an outside setting in a B&O catalogue - it wasn't mentioned in the catalogue text at all. I thought it was a portable CD player/radio!

Now that would have been very interesting.

Cleve

Re: Beosystem 10

Peter — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 02:20:06 GMT

It rather depends on the context. When the BS10 was released, it was ridiculously expensive and massively under specified compared the competition. Not to have Dolby at that time was the preserve of the worst boom boxes selling for next to nothing. The Beolit range was expensive but were at the top of radio performance - indeed their tone and sound quality make them a good choice even now. The BS10 could have been fantastic - imagine if the speakers were essentially C30s and the deck could have had dolby and proper tone controls. My dealer showed it to me and said I shouldn't buy it as it was out shone by every other radio cassette he had in store.

No of course it is relatively rere and much admired. Tim's piece on How rare is it sums things up nicely. If no-one wanted it when it was new, does it become better when it is old and rare!

Re: Beosystem 10

Cleviebaby — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 00:56:07 GMT

I know the Beosystem 10 is viewed poorly by a number of members, and these views are echoed by Tim Jarman in his book and on 'Beocentral'. I feel I should defend the much maligned piece.

I've owned mine since buying it new in the very early 90s and it has performed as a portable radio and occasionally as a sort of tuner/amplifier in a small room with a BG 1700, a CDX and a pair of CX100s. It is very solid, still looks good after 20 years (mine is still mint, with its original box, handbook etc!) and has been used daily with absolutely no problems.

However, after seeing the optimistic listing on ebay recently, and referred to in another thread on this site, should someone want to offer me 995 GBP, I could be tempted!

Cleve

Re: Beosystem 10

Milton78 — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:52:55 GMT

Hi,
I would agree that the placement of the comment is a bit odd, but in all fairness, the comment most likely refers to the fact that the Beosystem 10 was a disappointing product and compared to the competing products at the time it was an expensive (albeit nicely designed) piece of equipment that did not outsmart the Japanese products. It followed the Beolit range in design (although not in product name) but the criticism you could apply against it would be:

- No Dolby
- No Autoreverse function (standard since 1976 for B&O-products)
- No aluminium controls as on the previous Beolit
- No separate control for treble and bass

In addition, this was made by a Japanese company.

Brgds,

Carl-Henrik

Re: Beosystem 10

Jonathan — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:33:54 GMT

huh???

Re: Beosystem 10

Step1 — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:03:44 GMT

I can't really say. I would think neutral / black would be the better choice as red will show from the surface I would think, with it being such a large area.

Beosystem 10

brunogeuth — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:43:50 GMT

Hi all,

Why is it that under product infrormation a comment sais: Very poor Japanese quality...etc.Disappointing follow of Beolit line...

Compared to my Beolit 707 (1Watt) my Beosystem 10 has 2X2.5Watts and Stereo sound...not so disappointing...

Thanks,

Bruno