Bang & Olufsen Beogram 4004 // Vintage / Linear Tracking Turntable / Mmc 20CL Cartridge

The Bang & Olufsen Beogram 4004 is the kind of turntable that makes you rethink what a record player is supposed to be. Designed by Jacob Jensen and built in Denmark at the tail end of the 1970s, it dispenses with the pivoted tonearm entirely — a linear-tracking tangential arm glides across the groove in a dead-straight line, just as the cutting lathe did, leaving virtually no tracking error and no skating force. The sonic result is an uncanny ease and precision: bass lines land with authority, stereo imaging opens up wide, and there's a naturalness to sibilants that makes you reach for the next record before the last one finishes. The sculpted aluminum lid, teak or rosewood plinth, and that distinctive floating platter — this thing is as much furniture as it is a piece of hi-fi. Nearly five decades on, it still turns heads and still sounds like a machine that was embarrassingly ahead of its time.

Production

1978-1980

Condition

9/10

Serial No.

be130183

Orig. MSRP

$1100

Factory Specs

Speeds 33 and 45 RPM

Speed Deviation < 0.02%

Speed Control Range > ±3%

Speed Adjustment 2-pointer dial

Platter Diameter / Mass 30 cm / 1.3 kg

Motor Servo-controlled DC

Drive System Belt

Type Tangential (linear tracking)

Tangential Tracking Error < 0.04°

Lift System Electronic

Anti-Skating Parallel tracking; error angle compensated

Model MMC 20EN (MMC 4000)

Stylus Elliptical naked diamond

Recommended Tracking Force Range 0–1.5 g

Recommended Tracking Force 12 mN / 1.2 g

Wow and Flutter (peak) < ±0.05%

Wow and Flutter (WRMS) < ±0.025%

Rumble (weighted) > 65 dB

Rumble (unweighted) > 45 dB

Power Supply 110–130 V / 220–240 V (switchable)

Power Consumption 20 W

Dimensions (W × H × D) 19.3" × 3.9" × 15.0" (49 × 10 × 38 cm)

Weight 24.3 lbs (11 kg)

Available Finishes Oak, Rosewood, Teak, White

Type Numbers 5525 (1978–July 1980), 5526 (USA, 1978–June 1980), 5527 (GB, 1978–July 1980)

Designer Jacob Jensen

Documentation

Bang & Olufsen Beogram 4004 Owner's Manual
Bang & Olufsen Beogram 4004 Service Manual
Bang & Olufsen Beogram 4004 Schematics

Liner Notes

Beogram 4004/4002 were two integrated record players with identical technical specifications and performance, but Beogram 4004 had additional convenience in that it could be operated by remote control when coupled to the Beomaster 2400 receiver. It could also be linked to the Beosystem 6000 as part of a quadraphonic system.

In terms of concept, performance and technical design, these record players were very much ahead of their time. All functions were governed by computer-like logic circuits. You just pressed START, that was all. Through the unique detector arm (parallel to the pickup arm) these circuits could judge the size of the record, determine its normal playing speed and instruct the pick-up arm to lower the stylus into the lead-in groove. Within a few seconds you would hear the music. If there was no record on the platter the stylus could not be lowered, so the system was safe as well as simple.

Records could be tracked more accurately because the tangential arm traced a straight line from the record's edge to its centre, instead of tracing an arc as radial arms do. This method entirely eliminated inward bias (skating effect) and tracking angle error was almost non-existent. The naked elliptical diamond stylus in the MMC 20EN (former MMC 4000) pickup cartridge helped ensure that Beogram 4004/4002 got all of the information out of your record grooves while handling them in the gentlest possible way.

Stock No.

9679575613661