Think of one-make high-end hi-fi systems, and Nairn, Linn and Meridian might be the first to come to mind. Today we associate Bang & Olufsen mainly with lifestyle AV, but the Danish company put together its landmark 'professional' audio system long before any of those British brands even had one product out. It was called the Beolab 5000 system, and, in 1967, was state-of-the-art. What's more amazing, though, is how good it sounds today, as we discovered by visiting Mark. He's the happy owner of what is probably the only complete, fully-restored Beolab 5000 system in the UK. Back in 2004, Mark was using a tube-based set-up with a Thorens TD124 deck, Cary single-ended triodes and Veritas horn speakers. But he'd just acquired what would become the first piece of the solid-state B&O system. This was a fully-restored Beomaster 5000 tuner. 'In about late 2003 I was doing a search on the Internet and I found Frede Kristensen of Denmark. I was amazed to find that he had set up a business called Classic Audio to focus on the supply and restoration of B&O kit from the "classic period", the 1960s and 1970s, and especially the original Beolab 5000 system.
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