Vintage B&O Bang and Olufsen Turntable/Record Player Beogram 3400

	A$		160
	$		106

For sale is my beloved Bang and Olufsen BeoGram 3400 Record Deck.

This beautiful deck is a design masterpiece with a sound to match. It is in very good to excellent cosmetic condition considering it is going on 40 years old, there are a few small marks on the laminate and some scuffs on the dust cover. Mechanically it is currently in working condition with all speeds playing correctly.

The tone arm deploys and returns automatically. I have had grounding issues in the past whereby I have had to jiggle some internal wires and spray with WD-40 to stop a hum, but the deck currently isn't doing this and is functioning perfectly.

The drive belt is relatively new, but the whole deck could probably do with a professional lubrication and service. As above, there are some slight marks and scratches on the dust cover, and the hinges have broken as invariably happens with these models. I have removed the plastic back piece, and blu tacked it to the dust cover so that both can be be removed as one piece for playback (it gives it a cleaner look with a lower profile, however the original screws will be provided so this can be reversed if needed).

The deck will come with the original MC 5000 cartridge which still has a slightly functional but damaged stylus and I'm also throwing in a MC 6000 top of the line cartridge, that has a broken stylus. Both of these cartridges can be repaired by a guy named Axel in Germany (google him), or a new cartridge can be purchased from Sound Smith in the U.S. More specific details below. Includes and RCA adaptor for use with any phono pre-amplifier.

The turntable is located in Ashgrove, Brisbane, QLD. Pick up is preferred, but postage is available for $35 at buyers risk.

Any questions or to arrange inspections call Hugo on 0407 148 581

Happy Bidding!

Manfactured: 1975 - 1977
Designer: Jacob Jensen
Colours: Rosewood, Teak, White, Oak

Beogram 3400 was designed to play back quadraphonic-encoded records and incorporated an MMC 5000 with a Shibita diamond stylus. An optional CD4 decoder could be specified to allow play back of that type of LP as well SQ discs which could be played by any record player.

Quadraphonic sound

Bang & Olufsen produced two quadraphonic systems in the 1970s. The top model was Beosystem 6000 which comprised Beomaster 6000 and Beogram 6000. Beogram 6000 was a development of Beogram 4000 in that it was a tangential tracking turntable. It had an inbuilt CD4 decoder which was switchable. When 'on' it would detect the presence of the carrier frequencies and a display would illuminate on the record deck's display as '4ch'.

The output of the Beogram was at line-level whether in 2- or 4-channel mode. The deck was attached to Beomaster 6000 via a 5-pin DIN lead with all the pins being wired. In Beomaster 6000 there was a replaceable board with a SQ decoder as standard. This was manually switchable. The operator therefore still needed to know the type of quad recording that was to be played. The purpose of the removable board was to allow upgrading should the record industry ever get its act together and find a common standard!

The second system was based on Beomaster 3400 and Beogram 3400 which had a radial deck and a smaller and simpler receiver. This again had similar functions. Beomaster 4000 and a few others had a facility called Ambiophonics which used a system of simulated four track sound from stereo records. Two Bang & Olufsen cartridges were made for playing CD4 records:

MMC5000 used a fairly standard Shibata profile

The top of the range MMC6000 used a profile designed by one of their own engineers - Subir Pramanik - and which bore his name

BeoGram 3400 Record Deck Product Specifications

5703 (1975 - June 1977)

Sound system CD - 4, stereo, matrix
Speeds: 33 - 45 rpm
Tonearm: radial
Pick-up cartridge: MMC 5000
Recommended stylus pressure: 1g
Stylus Shibita Diamond
Radius of curvature CD-4 quadro
Frequency range 20 - 15,000 Hz +/- 2 d
20 - 45,000 Hz (CD-4)
Automatic pickup movement Yes
Automatic speed selection Yes

Wow and flutter DIN: < +/- 0.07 %
Rumble DIN unweighted > 42 dB
Rumble DIN weighted > 62 dB

Speed deviation < 0.1 %
Speed control range > 3 %
Dial for speed Stroboscope 120mm
Output: 2 x 0.6 mV
Stylus pressure range: 0 - 2.5 g
Tracking error < 0.126 / cm°
Lift system: mechanical
Antiskating Inclined channelling inside bearing
Motor: asynchronous
Drive system: Idler wheel and belt
Turntable 30cm / 1 kg

Power supply: 110 - 220 V
Power consumption: 10 W
Dimensions W x H x D: 44 x 9 x 33cm
Weight 6 kg