BANG & OLUFSEN BEOVISION MX1500 YEAR 1987.

BANG & OLUFSEN BEOVISION MX1500 is the only small screen colour television B&O have ever offered. At a glance it appears to be a miniaturised version of the full sized MX models, but closer inspection shows that it is in fact a special version of the Philips CP90, built in Italy.

This was the only television in the B&O range for a long time not to be fitted with a 110 degree tube, the deflection angle in this case being 90 degrees, so the set is surprisingly deep. A larger than normal loudspeaker with foam damping raises the sound quality, though unlike all other MX televisions, it is only mono. A re-programmed microprocessor means that remote operation is possible via the Beolink 1000 Terminal, and Datalink is available through the Scart socket. Another curious addition is that pressing the power on button slightly causes the tuner to enter search mode, though stations cannot be stored without the Beolink 1000.
The cabinet shell was available in the same choice of colours as the rest of the MX range and Beocord VHS 82.2 video recorder, which also being of Philips origin, matched it very well.


Beovision MX1500 was a portable, remote controlled colour TV. It used a newly-developed 39cm flat-square picture tube and the special contrast screen ensured superior picture quality lifelike colours and the sharpest contrast - even in broad daylight. The MX1500 was ideal as a personal TV which could be used anywhere or as a TV set for a family which didn't watch much television. It was great for use as a second set or as a TV which was moved from room to room. You could just take hold of the built-in recessed handle and move the 12,5 kg set around with you. Even the viewing angle could be adjusted to suit your own personal preferences; Beovision 1500 was designed so that it could be tilted when placed low down on the floor for example.

It came in four colours: bright red for the colourful, high-contrast home; elegant white as either a neutral or a highlight; distinguished silver-grey to radiate calm; and black to fit in almost anywhere.

Because of its more modest size, this great little performer didn't have all the features of its big brother, Beovision MX3000.
Features:

Flat square picture tube - produced pictures in studio quality

Contrast screen - reduced effects of surrounding light and ensured clear conditions, even in broad daylight

Built-in support offered a perfect angle of viewing when Beovision 1500 was placed low... on the floor, for instance

35 channels for preset stations - the built-in memory guaranteed you favourite channel was always there on demand

Remote controlled channel tuning - one touch of the Beolink 1000 button and you could delegate search and tuning functions to the world of electronics

Full tone mono loudspeakers based on Bang & Olufsen's many years of experience with small, compact loudspeakers. 2 watts sine power output

Optional built-in Teletext decoder (available as a separate option)


Clear and stable picture from PCs and TV games

Ready for cable TV

Front panel display made it easy to adjust sound and picture and clearly indicated which channel had been selected

Emergency operation - if Beolink 1000 had been misplaced, there was an on/off button on the set itself. The same button could be used to programme the channels if the terminal was not at hand

Connections for video and tape recorder, earphones, PC, TV games and decoder.


BeoVision MX 1500 Product Specifications

Types:
7800 (1988 - May 1990)
EDT 7802 (1988 - May 1990)
ESD 7808 (1988 - Jan 1990)
ETI 7805 (1988 - Jan 1990)
ETS 7801 (1988 - May 1990
GB 7803 (1988 - May 1990)
GTG 7804 (1988 - May 1990)
MS 7806 (1988 - Jan 1990)
TXT, Multi 7807 (1988 - Jan 1990)
CTV system B/G PAL S-tuner + UHF, 7800 7801, 7802, 7805
I PAL 7803, 7804; B/G/L PAL SECAM 7806, 7807
Picture tube size: 39cm; Visual picture size 36cm
Picture tube: flat square, 90 degrees
Features: Beolink 1000 Infrared cordless remote control, contrast screen
Display: Programme number VHF-UHF bands; picture and sound adjustments
Teletext: (optional):
Prepared, 3 languages 7800, 7803, 7806
Teletext, 3 languages S-D-GB 7801, 7804
Teletext, 3 languages D-F-I 7802, 7805, 7807
Number of programmes 35
AV programmes: 35, all automatic
Satellite programmes: BeoSat RX, AV 21-pin connection

Digital tuning system: VHF-S-UHF, prepared for Hyper band
Tuner range: VHF 46 - 300 MHz
UHF: 470 - 855 MHz
Sound system: mono
Speaker system: open baffle
Speaker: 8 x 13cm oval
Sound power output: 2 W RMS
Sound power output music: 2 W
Frequency range: 35 - 18,000 Hz
Signal-to-noise ratio: < 50 dB

Power supply: 220 (240) V
Power consumption: 75 (70 - 100) W
Power consumption: stand-by 8 W
Dimensions W x H x D: 37 x 44 x 37 cm
Weight: 12.5 kg

A/V, audio/video/IN/OUT: 21-pin SCART
Headphones: jack socket at front of screeN.

The MX1500 stretches the definition of a B&O television is some ways! It was actually a Philips set, made in Italy, and fitted with a small board so that the Beolink 1000 could operate it. It was also unique in the MX range by being mono. It is now extremely popular though!


Bang & Olufsen Holding A/S (B&O) is a leading consumer electronics firm, manufacturing a complete line of technologically sophisticated, sleekly-designed hi-fis, speakers, televisions and telephones. The company sells its products in 40 countries through a network of more than 2.000 stores that are partly owned by the company. Renowned for its attention to design and leading-edge technology, the company represents a singular force in the multibillion-dollar consumer electronics industry.

Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen grew up in era of swift technological innovation. Both were born around the time Guglielmo Marconi made his 1901 transmission of long-wave radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean in a historic achievement that set the stage both youths’ experiments with radios. At the age of ten Peter Bang read about the world’s first live radio transmission and Enrico Caruso’s performance at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1910. Soon after, he began his first experiments with radio, eventually leading him to pursue an engineering degree at the Electrotechnical School in Århus, Denmark. After earning his degree in 1924, Peter Bang moved to the United States, where the flourishing radio industry had 600 commercial broadcasting stations and so presented fertile ground for exploring his interests. In the USA Peter Bang worked at a service station and at a radio manufacturing plant, but he soon felt entrepreneurial urges again. After six months he returned to Denmark, intent on starting his own business.

Back in Denmark, Svend Olufsen was busy building his own radio. Olufsen also liked to experiment with electricity and chemistry and had attended the Electrotechnical School at the same time as Bang, also earning an engineering degree. Olufsen began his radio experiments at his family’s Quistrup estate, occupying a room in the attic where he started building a mains receiver, a radio that required neither accumulators nor the batteries needed to recharge them. While he was away at boarding school and later at the Electrotechnical School, Bang had written frequently to his father asking for money to pay for more batteries. Bang’s mains receiver would be the prototype upon which Olufsen’s experiments would be based.

At Quistrup, Olufsen’s mains receiver was half finished when Bang returned from the United States. Olufsen needed help, and his former classmate was uniquely qualified to provide it. Bang left Copenhagen and traveled to the countryside in the west to the Olufsens’ Quistrup. There, in the attic that would serve as B&O’s first laboratory, Bang and Olufsen worked together on the mains receiver, a nest of thick copper wire and insulated cables that stretched from one side of the room to the other. The pair used the money Olufsen’s mother received for selling the farm’s eggs to finance their endeavor. Before long, Bang achieved his entrepreneurial dreams. In 1925, Bang and Olufsen, with the backing of their fathers, formed a limited company funded with DKK 10,000.


After traveling to Copenhagen, where the necessary papers were drawn up, naming Bang’s father, Camillo Cavour Bang, as B&O’s first chairman of the board, the two radio aficionados returned to Quistrup. Bang moved into the attic, putting his bed in the same room as the mains receiver. Bang and Olufsen hired the cowman’s daughter as the company’s sole employee, whose first task each morning was to wake up Bang 15 minutes before the company’s day officially began. The company’s first product was the B&O Eliminator, a device–an aggregate–that connected a battery receiver to the mains to produce noise-free current.

B&O grew quickly. By 1927, the activities in the attic had spread throughout the estate and spilled onto the lawns, where B&O Eliminators were assembled by a staff of 30. Quistrup could no longer accommodate the growth of the company’s payroll and the sprawl of the manufacturing operations, forcing Bang and Olufsen to establish a new site for the company’s headquarters. Their fathers, who together owned 20 percent of the company, remained unconvinced that radio would last, so they stipulated that the new factory be designed as a school building in case radio proved a fleeting fancy. In 1927, B&O moved into its new factory, and the company soon began development of a new radio.

By 1929, the company had completed the design of its breakthrough radio, the Five Lamper and its peripheral “Type D” loudspeaker. Powered from the mains, the Five Lamper only required connection to an electrical outlet for operation. It was the company’s first signal success, embodying the two characteristics that would define B&O’s success in the decades to follow: style and technology. The Five Lamper was a technological marvel, displaying what would become a signature trait of B&O’s products. The Five Lamper was also the first radio encased in a walnut cabinet, exuding elegance in design that drew its inspiration from the Danish furniture industry. For B&O, the combination of style and technology would prove to be a potent formula for success, becoming the foundation upon which all of its subsequent products were based.

The Five Lamper established B&O in the Danish market, securing a leading and lasting position for the West Jutland company, far removed from the hub of activity in Copenhagen. Strong sales and a sleek design at a time when radios were clunky and cumbersome set B&O apart, establishing a reputation that the company would solidify during the 1930s. During that decade, B&O introduced new products, including a radio gramophone in 1930 and several new radio models (Radio 5 RGF, Hyperbo 5 RGF, and Beolit 39). These products notwithstanding, the years preceding World War II were most notable for less tangible results. The 1930s saw B&O strengthen its image as a design-oriented, technology-driven company. It was a company that proclaimed itself as “The Danish Hallmark of Quality” registered as the company’s slogan in 1931, and a company that bore a “pregnant B” inspired by the Bauhaus school of design as part of its corporate logo, trademarked in 1932.

The outbreak of World War II cast a pall over the future of B&O just as the company had taken a firm hold on the Danish market. Denmark was largely defenseless against the onrush of the German Blitzkrieg, and within seven months of the war’s start, the country was occupied by German troops. Not surprisingly, raw materials became hard to come by, particularly radio tubes, but Bang and Olufsen had anticipated the war’s arrival and had begun increasing their stock of essential parts as far back as 1935. Consequently, B&O was able to retain its full workforce during the first few years of the war, a rare feat for Danish manufacturing companies. Ultimately, however, B&O paid a price for its resilience and, specifically, for its resistance. In January 1945, the Germans bombed B&O’s factory, targeting the building because the company had refused to collaborate and because a number of B&O employees were suspected Danish Resistance members. Construction of a new factory began the day after the bombing and was completed in early 1946, but it took another year before full production was resumed.

As B&O recovered from the turmoil of the 1940s, it enjoyed a brief respite before another portentous event clouded the company’s future. After introducing electric shavers into the market in 1946 - a diversification spawned from the scarcity of raw materials during World War II - B&O started manufacturing televisions and tape recorders, fleshing out its product line as it honed its skills in design. Beginning in the 1950s, the company began soliciting the help of Denmark’s renowned architects and designers, drawing from the pool of talent that had made the Danish furniture industry an influential force in design. The effect of the company’s collaboration with the country’s leading designers became evident during the latter half of the 1950s, as B&O radios, televisions and tape recorders earned high praise for their aesthetic appeal. At the same time, by the end of the 1950s, the company’s prospects for survival appeared grim. A little more than a decade after rebuilding its factory, the company again faced the considerable might of the Germans, a face-off that few industry observers believed B&O could withstand.

B&O’s concerns stemmed from the 1957 Treaty of Rome, which spawned the European Economic Community. Tariffs, duties, and customs were relaxed between member countries, leading to the consensus that the Danish radio industry, comprising approximately 20 small companies, would be subsumed by the superior strength of the much larger German manufacturers. The looming threat of much stiffer competition forced B&O to rethink its strategy, prompting the company to leverage its esteemed design expertise and its experience selling semiprofessional, high-fidelity equipment to the United States as the basis for its new approach. The company decided to sacrifice its leading market position in Denmark in order to concentrate on the much larger European market, forsaking dominance in a small market for a small share of a bigger market. In accordance with the new business focus, the company began to develop an entirely new line of stereo products that catered to the high end of the market, an approach evident in the slogan adopted during the 1960s: “B&O - for those who discuss taste and quality before price”.

B&O’s efforts to penetrate the European market bore fruit with the introduction of the Beomaster 900. The Beomaster 900 did to Europe what the Five Lamper had done to Denmark 30 years earlier: the transistorised radio became a success throughout Europe, and despite the company’s fears, its share of the Danish market did not diminish. The Treaty of Rome had forced many of the Danish manufacturers out of business, leaving B&O in a position to strengthen its domestic lead. By the time Beomaster 900 was introduced, B&O was ready to secure a presence in the then-developing market for high-fidelity systems. The company wanted to establish the standard by which all stereo systems would measured, an ideal that was realised with the Beolab 5000 series. Featuring a sensitive tuner, a powerful amplifier, and linear controls instead of knobs, the Beolab 5000 became B&O’s second European success, spawning more affordable versions, Beomaster 1200 and Beomaster 3000.

Having established itself as a genuine contender in the vast European market, B&O spent the late 1960s restructuring its operations to conform to its new market orientation. The company established subsidiaries that replaced a network of agents that had previously carried out the international distribution. The reorganization included the formation of Bomark in 1970, which created an international marketing department responsible for coordinating all of the company’s marketing activities. Previously, the company had taken whatever advertising it had created for the Danish market and used it to support its foreign marketing efforts, changing it only slightly to reflect cultural and market differences. The new system regarded the Danish market as only one of many markets, driving the company’s evolution toward becoming a multinational concern. B&O marketing adopted the company’s new perspective, as advertising campaigns became specifically tailored for the nuances of individual markets amid divergent cultures.

After the success of Beolab 5000, B&O next prodded its engineers and designers to develop a complete array of stereo components. The first product to make its debut was Beogram 4000, a turntable introduced in 1972 featuring a tangential arm that reproduced a recording in the same way in which it had been made. The record player was designed to target a different, much larger market segment, music lovers rather than the more exclusive retinue of technology-focused customers. Advanced technology, always an integral aspect of B&O’s products, was not forsaken, but hidden beneath the surface, as the company’s products earned a new distinction of exterior simplicity. This quality was first evident in Beomaster 1900, a system introduced in 1975 that market a turning point in the evolution of the B&O product line. For the next 20 years, Beomaster 1900 would be the company’s best-selling product.


Problems in the 1980s resolved in the 1990s

This success notwithstanding, the 1980s proved to be a difficult decade for B&O, as the company struggled to beat back fierce competition from its Asian rivals. Although external pressures played their part, the company also fell victim to internal problems, problems of its own making that B&O’s management was slow to acknowledge. The company’s distributors lost faith in the B&O product line, and revenues began to slip. Initially, B&O tried to arrest its slide by narrowing its market focus on its wealthiest customers, but in the process the company’s products lost some of their integrity, as substance was sacrificed for style. The company also tried to restore loyalty within its distributor ranks by staging seasonal product launches in exotic locations, but the effort failed. B&O’s fundamental problem had to do with the decentralization that followed the company’s full-fledged foray into international markets. The subsidiaries, by the 1980s, had become separate fiefdoms, which led to overspending, high costs, and superfluous bureaucratization. At the same time, the company had lost the ability to react nimbly to changing market conditions.

Before the end of the decade, B&O became a cash-strapped enterprise. The need for capital led to a strategic alliance with Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., the Dutch consumer electronics conglomerate, but the capital gained from the investment was soon drained. Rudderless and ailing financially, B&O entered the 1990s in crisis mode.

Salvation arrived in May 1991, when B&O’s board of directors installed a new management team, led by Anders Knutsen. Knutsen’s first task was to cut costs, an objective fulfilled by laying off employees, streamlining operations, and paring away excess layers of management. Knutsen also implemented a new strategic plan known as “Break Point 1993″ which addressed the problems born of the company’s earlier decentralization. Knutsen reintroduced centralized management and made the company more responsive to the demands of its customers. Stocks of finished products and parts were removed from many of B&O’s subsidiaries, as Knutsen transformed B&O from a company geared for mass production into an enterprise organized to fulfill customers’ orders. The changes sparked a turnaround, refreshing the spirit and resharpening the focus that had predicated B&O’s success.

At the end of the 1990s, B&O approached its 75th anniversary as a unique competitor in the consumer electronics industry. The company’s attention to design and its long record of technological advancements remained the qualities that set the B&O name apart. With sales nearing the half-billion-dollar mark by the century’s end, B&O promised to figure as a prominent force in the years ahead, as a new generation of high-technology stereos, speakers, and televisions and telephones continued the legacy established by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen.


Principal Subsidiaries

Bang & Olufsen Medicom A/S; Bang & Olufsen Telecom A/S; Bang & Olufsen Technology A/S; Bang & Olufsen PowerHouse A/S; Bang & Olufsen America, Inc

Principal Competitors

Bose Corporation; Harman International Industries, Inc.; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd

Further Reading

Baeb, Eddie, “Bang & Olufsen Marching to Its Own Drummer,” Crain’s Chicago Business, October 30, 2000, p. 9

“Bang & Olufsen Divest Shareholding in Baan NV,” M2 Communications Ltd., January 4, 2000

Bang, Jens, From Vision to Legend, Denmark: Bang & Olufsen, 1999

“Business Diary: Agreements: Visteon Automotive,” Crain’s Detroit Business, June 21, 1999

Carnoy, David, “Bang for the Buck,” Fortune, May 1, 2000, p. 362

“Harvey Electronics, Inc. Announces Opening of Bang & Olufsen Showroom in Greenwich, Connecticut,” Business Wire, October 18, 2000

“Toys for the Ear,” Boston Herald, December 5, 1999, Sunday Magazine Section

Company Perspectives:

At the threshold of a new century, Bang & Olufsen’s reputation remains second-to-none in the global market for leading-edge audio & video products. Little wonder that New York’s Museum of Modern Art arranged a 39-piece special exhibition of Bang & Olufsen products in 1978 - an honor only given to three other companies during the 20th century.

Key Dates:

1925: Bang & Olufsen is formed as a limited company

1929: Introduction of the Five Lamper secures the new company

1962: Concerted push into European markets begins

1975: Beomaster 1900 becomes best-selling product for next 20 years

1980: Company revenues drop due to Asian competition and worldwide recession

1991: New management team spearheads recovery.

 

  

Products of B&O:

 

B&O products often have a unique appearance and user-interface.Early models are collectible decades later.

 B&O uses a Beo prefix for the names of its product lines.

• Beocord refers to tape recorders, both open-reel types and cassette decks. B&O was a pioneer in cassette technology, having had design involvement with Dolby HX Pro.
• Beomaster refers to receivers. B&O's more recent receivers feature the ability to receive complex programming. The 5000 series through the 7000 series features two-way communication with the remote controller, called the "Master Control Panel". The most famous Beomaster is the Beomaster 1900 from 1976. It was the first consumer electronics product with touch controls. Similar models were made until the end of the 1980s
• Beogram refers to turntables and, later, CD players. Jacob Jensen's first Beogram design was unlike prior B&O designs; the company committed to only making 50 but went on to make thousands.
•  B&O developed electronically controlled tangential turntables in the 1970s, starting with the Beogram 4000 of 1972. The last tangential tracking turntable was the Beogram 7000, which were taken off the production lines in 1995. B&O has also produced radial tracking turntables. The Beogram 6000 is on display in the Museum of Modern Art for its unique appearance and use of a tangential tracking tonearm.
• Beolab refers to amplifiers and powered speakers (loudspeakers with built-in amplifiers), and as of 2011, all new powered speakers use ICEpower.
• Beovox refers to passive loudspeakers (i.e., without internal amplification)
• Beolit refers to the range of portable radios
• Beosystem early refers to a line of components—e.g., Beomaster, Beogram, and Beocord—which matched one another in both appearance and operation. The first Beosystem were the Beosystem 1200 of 1969–1973, and the last were the Beosystem 7000 of 1992–1994. And now refer to the Audio/Video central processing unit (BeoSystem 2; Beosystem 3).
• Beocenter refers to one-piece audio systems. B&O, at one time, made elaborate products that incorporated receivers, turntables, and cassette decks into a single components called "Beocentres"
• Beomic refers to performance or recording microphones, such as the dynamic microphone DM-1, or ribbon microphones, such as the BM-2, BM-3, etc.
• BeoCom & BeoTalk refers to the company's line of telephones and telephone accessories, such as answering machines
• Beovision refers to a line of televisions.
• Beosound refers to the current range of music systems and audio products. Since November 2010 the range has included an iPod/iPhone/iPad-Dock.
• Beotime refers to the company's advanced alarm clock
• Beoplayer refers to the company's media player for free download
• Beoplay is a consumer-oriented brand marketing headphones, compact wired speakers and wireless speakers.
• Beosound Edge is a speaker that can either be mounted on the wall or stood on the floor, it is designed on the simple accelerometer mechanism which makes essentially the whole speaker into a giant volume knob. It was first presented at the IFA 2018.
• Serene and Serenata phones created in partnership with Samsung.
• Beosound Shape is a customisable modular wall mounted speaker system that consists of hexagonal tiles designed to hide one of each hi-fi module—speaker, amplifier or acoustic damper—underneath its fabric cover.
• Beoplay H95 is adaptive ANC headphones.

See also:

• Beocenter 9500
• Interior Music – an album by Jean Michel Jarre, a special release for Bang & Olufsen
• List of phonograph manufacturers.

More Notes:

"Jensen designed 234 products for the company"

"His work for Danish company Bang & Olufsen (1965-1985)"

 

"The Beogram [...] was so strange and different from anything before it. There were no influences, no labels, it was simply my design, my invention, my idea. B&O were gobsmacked when they first saw it, but they were too polite to say no, so they decided to produce 50. In the end, many thousands were sold".

 

 

Further notes and some References:

"Annual Report 2020/21: 01 June 2020 – 31 May 2021". ml-eu.globenewswire.com.

"The true story behind Bang and Olufsen", William Schwark, Scanorama, November 2007


Walker, Rob (September 27, 2011). "Can the Cult of Bang & Olufsen Last?". Wired.


Bang & Olufsen rolls out strategy plan Archived 2008-11-16 at the Wayback Machine bang-olufsen.com


"Denmark's Bang & Olufsen would listen to bid approaches", Reuters, 5 January 2015


"HP makes Bang & Olufsen its new audio partner". CNET. Retrieved 21 February 2016.


"HARMAN Completes Acquisition of Bang & Olufsen's Automotive Audio Business". HARMAN Newsroom. Retrieved 2019-02-24.


"B & O Sells Czech Factory to Tymphany". Retrieved 2019-02-24.


"Global Operations". Tymphany. Retrieved 2019-02-24.


"Bang & Olufsen Struggles to Sell $15,000 TV Sets". Bloomberg.com. 2020-01-14. Retrieved 2020-01-16.


Holt, Julie Ring-Hansen (25 October 2006). "Seks ud af ti nye Audier fødes med B&O-anlæg" [Six out of ten new Audis are born with Bang & Olufsen system] (in Danish). Mediehuset Ingeniøren A/S. Retrieved 6 November 2014.


Krøyer, Kent (13 March 2005). "Audi med indbygget koncertsal fra B&O" [Audi with built in concert hall from B&O] (in Danish). Mediehuset Ingeniøren A/S. Retrieved 6 November 2014.


"Audi Glossary". Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2011.


"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-04-24. Retrieved 2013-04-21.


Mercedes AMG S-class"mercedes-amg.com


Abuelsamid, Sam. "B&O Play Audio Systems To Replace Sony In Ford Vehicles In 2017". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-09-17.


"2018 Ford® F-150 Limited Truck | Model Highlights | Ford.com". www.ford.com. Retrieved 2017-09-17.


Bang & Olufsen - Business to Business bang-olufsen.com


Bagner, Alex (May 2007). "Remote access". Wallpaper. IPC Media (99): 264–270. ISSN 1364-4475. OCLC 948263254.


"10 classic jacob jensen gadgets".


"Elegant Design of Sound Equipment Focus of MoMA Show" (PDF). Museum of Modern Art. March 1978.


Apple's Inspiration For The iPod? Bang & Olufsen, Not Braun, fastdesign.com, Nov 2013


"ICEpower – Class D OEM audio amplifiers". Archived from the original on 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2005-09-08.


Bang & Olufsen Medicom Archived 2009-04-04 at the Wayback Machine medicom.bang-olufsen.com


"Bang & Olufsen - High-end Headphones, Speakers, and Televisions". www.bang-olufsen.com.


Beocentral - the definitive Bang & Olufsen reference site Collectors reference site beocentral.com


"Jacob Jensen. Beogram 6000 Turntable. 1974 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art.


Simonsen, Torben R. "ICEpower in all active speakers", (in Danish) Electronics Business, 28 September 2010. Accessed: 9 March 2011.


"Bang & Olufsen's Edge speaker can be rolled to adjust the volume". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-08-29.


May 2017, What Hi-Fi? 30. "Hands on: Home review". whathifi.

 

 

More Further readings:

• Bang, Jens (2005). From Spark to Icon. Denmark: Bang & Olufsen. ISBN 87-980814-5-4.
• Jarman, Tim; Jarman Nick (2008). Crowood Collectors' Series: Bang & Olufsen. England: Crowood Press. 
  
• ISBN 978-1-84797-068-8.

 

 

External links:

• Media related to Bang & Olufsen at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Thogersen – A collector's website with photos of B&O products throughout the decades
• Beocentral – A reference site containing descriptions and photos of B&O equipment
• Beomanuals – Free user and service manuals for Bang & Olufsen
• BeoWorld – Everything Bang & Olufsen, community and forum for fans around the globe
• BeoPhile.com (via web.archive.org) – Speaking the language of Bang & Olufsen: comprehensive Web site for B&O collectors.

 

Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Royal Philips Electronics Inc.), most commonly known as Philips, (Euronext: PHIA, NYSE: PHG) is a multinational Dutch electronics corporation.

Philips is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. In 2009, its sales were €23.18 billion. The company employs 115,924 people in more than 60 countries.

Philips is organized in a number of sectors: Philips Consumer Lifestyles (formerly Philips Consumer Electronics and Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Philips Lighting and Philips Healthcare (formerly Philips Medical Systems).
The company was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips, a maternal cousin of Karl Marx, in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Its first products were light bulbs and other electro-technical equipment. Its first factory survives as a museum devoted to light sculpture. In the 1920s, the company started to manufacture other products, such as vacuum tubes (also known worldwide as 'valves'), In 1927 they acquired the British electronic valve manufacturers Mullard and in 1932 the German tube manufacturer Valvo, both of which became subsidiaries. In 1939 they introduced their electric razor, the Philishave (marketed in the USA using the Norelco brand name).
Philips was also instrumental in the revival of the Stirling engine.

As a chip maker, Philips Semiconductors was among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.

In December 2005 Philips announced its intention to make the Semiconductor Division into a separate legal entity. This process of "disentanglement" was completed on 1 October 2006.

On 2 August 2006, Philips completed an agreement to sell a controlling 80.1% stake in Philips Semiconductors to a consortium of private equity investors consisting of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Silver Lake Partners and AlpInvest Partners. The sale completed a process, which began December 2005, with its decision to create a separate legal entity for Semiconductors and to pursue all strategic options. Six weeks before, ahead of its online dialogue, through a letter to 8,000 of Philips managers, it was announced that they were speeding up the transformation of Semiconductors into a stand-alone entity with majority ownership by a third party. It was stated then that "this is much more than just a transaction: it is probably the most significant milestone on a long journey of change for Philips and the beginning of a new chapter for everyone – especially those involved with Semiconductors".

In its more than 115 year history, this counts as a big step that is definitely changing the profile of the company. Philips was one of few companies that successfully made the transition from the electrical world of the 19th century into the electronic age, starting its semiconductor activity in 1953 and building it into a global top 10 player in its industry. As such, Semiconductors was at the heart of many innovations in Philips over the past 50 years.

Agreeing to start a process that would ultimately lead to the decision to sell the Semiconductor Division therefore was one of the toughest decisions that the Board of Management ever had to make.

On 21 August 2006, Bain Capital and Apax Partners announced that they had signed definitive commitments to join the expanded consortium headed by KKR that is to acquire the controlling stake in the Semiconductors Division.

On 1 September 2006, it was announced in Berlin that the name of the new semiconductor company founded by Philips is NXP Semiconductors.

Coinciding with the sale of the Semiconductor Division, Philips also announced that they would drop the word 'Electronics' from the company name, thus becoming simply Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Royal Philips N.V.).

PHILIPS FOUNDATION:

The foundations of Philips were laid in 1891 when Anton and Gerard Philips established Philips & Co. in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The company begun manufacturing carbon-filament lamps and by the turn of the century, had become one of the largest producers in Europe. Stimulated by the industrial revolution in Europe, Philips’ first research laboratory started introducing its first innovations in the x-ray and radio technology. Over the years, the list of inventions has only been growing to include many breakthroughs that have continued to enrich people’s everyday lives.



In the early years of Philips &; Co., the representation of the company name took many forms: one was an emblem formed by the initial letters of Philips ; Co., and another was the word Philips printed on the glass of metal filament lamps.



One of the very first campaigns was launched in 1898 when Anton Philips used a range of postcards showing the Dutch national costumes as marketing tools. Each letter of the word Philips was printed in a row of light bulbs as at the top of every card. In the late 1920s, the Philips name began to take on the form that we recognize today.



The now familiar Philips waves and stars first appeared in 1926 on the packaging of miniwatt radio valves, as well as on the Philigraph, an early sound recording device. The waves symbolized radio waves, while the stars represented the ether of the evening sky through which the radio waves would travel.



In 1930 it was the first time that the four stars flanking the three waves were placed together in a circle. After that, the stars and waves started appearing on radios and gramophones, featuring this circle as part of their design. Gradually the use of the circle emblem was then extended to advertising materials and other products.



At this time Philips’ business activities were expanding rapidly and the company wanted to find a trademark that would uniquely represent Philips, but one that would also avoid legal problems with the owners of other well-known circular emblems. This wish resulted in the combination of the Philips circle and the wordmark within the shield emblem.



In 1938, the Philips shield made its first appearance. Although modified over the years, the basic design has remained constant ever since and, together with the wordmark, gives Philips the distinctive identity that is still embraced today.

The first steps of CRT production by Philips started in the thirties with the Deutsche Philips Electro-Spezial gesellschaft in Germany and the Philips NatLab (Physics laboratory) in Holland. After the introduction of television in Europe, just after WWII there was a growing demand of television sets and oscilloscope equipment. Philips in Holland was ambitious and started experimental television in 1948. Philips wanted to be the biggest on this market. From 1948 there was a small Philips production of television and oscilloscope tubes in the town of Eindhoven which soon developed in mass production. In 1976 a part of the Philips CRT production went to the town of Heerlen and produced its 500.000'th tube in 1986. In 1994 the company in Heerlen changed from Philips into CRT-Heerlen B.V. specialized in the production of small monochrome CRT's for the professional market and reached 1.000.000 produced tubes in 1996. In this stage the company was able to produce very complicated tubes like storage CRT's.
In 2001 the company merged into Professional Display Systems, PDS worked on LCD and Plasma technology but went bankrupt in 2009. The employees managed a start through as Cathode Ray Technology which now in 2012 has to close it's doors due to the lack of sales in a stressed market. Their main production was small CRT's for oscilloscope, radar and large medical use (X-ray displays). New experimental developments were small Electron Microscopy, 3D-TV displays, X-Ray purposes and Cathode Ray Lithography for wafer production. Unfortunately the time gap to develop these new products was too big.


28 of September 2012, Cathode Ray Technology (the Netherlands), the last Cathode Ray Tube factory in Europe closed. Ironically the company never experienced so much publicity as now, all of the media brought the news in Holland about the closure. In fact this means the end of mass production 115 years after Ferdinand Braun his invention. The rapid introduction and acceptation of LCD and Plasma displays was responsible for a drastic decrease in sales. Despite the replacement market for the next couple of years in the industrial, medical and avionics sector.
The numbers are small and the last few CRT producers worldwide are in heavy competition.

Gerard Philips:

Gerard Leonard Frederik Philips (October 9, 1858, in Zaltbommel – January 27, 1942, in The Hague, Netherlands) was a Dutch industrialist, co-founder (with his father Frederik Philips) of the Philips Company as a family business in 1891. Gerard and his younger brother Anton Philips changed the business to a corporation by founding in 1912 the NV Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken. As the first CEO of the Philips corporation, Gerard laid with Anton the base for the later Philips multinational.



Early life and education

Gerard was the first son of Benjamin Frederik David Philips (1 December 1830 – 12 June 1900) and Maria Heyligers (1836 – 1921). His father was active in the tobacco business and a banker at Zaltbommel in the Netherlands; he was a first cousin of Karl Marx.



Career

Gerard Philips became interested in electronics and engineering. Frederik was the financier for Gerard's purchase of the old factory building in Eindhoven where he established the first factory in 1891. They operated the Philips Company as a family business for more than a decade.



Marriage and family

On March 19, 1896 Philips married Johanna van der Willigen (30 September 1862 – 1942). They had no children.

Gerard was an uncle of Frits Philips, whom he and his brother brought into the business. Later they brought in his brother's grandson, Franz Otten.


Gerard and his brother Anton supported education and social programs in Eindhoven, including the Philips Sport Vereniging (Philips Sports Association), which they founded. From it the professional football (soccer) department developed into the independent Philips Sport Vereniging N.V.



Anton Philips:

Anton Frederik Philips (March 14, 1874, Zaltbommel, Gelderland – October 7, 1951, Eindhoven) co-founded Royal Philips Electronics N.V. in 1912 with his older brother Gerard Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He served as CEO of the company from 1922 to 1939.



Early life and education

Anton was born to Maria Heyligers (1836 – 1921) and Benjamin Frederik David Philips (December 1, 1830 – June 12, 1900). His father was active in the tobacco business and a banker at Zaltbommel in the Netherlands. (He was a first cousin to Karl Marx.) Anton's brother Gerard was 16 years older.



Career

In May 1891 the father Frederik was the financier and, with his son Gerard Philips, co-founder of the Philips Company as a family business. In 1912 Anton joined the firm, which they named Royal Philips Electronics N.V.

During World War I, Anton Philips managed to increase sales by taking advantage of a boycott of German goods in several countries. He provided the markets with alternative products.

Anton (and his brother Gerard) are remembered as being civic-minded. In Eindhoven they supported education and social programs and facilities, such as the soccer department of the Philips Sports Association as the best-known example.

Anton Philips brought his son Frits Philips and grandson Franz Otten into the company in their times. Anton took the young Franz Otten with him and other family members to escape the Netherlands just before the Nazi Occupation during World War II; they went to the United States. They returned after the war.

His son Frits Philips chose to stay and manage the company during the occupation; he survived several months at the concentration camp of Vught after his workers went on strike. He saved the lives of 382 Jews by claiming them as indispensable to his factory, and thus helped them evade Nazi roundups and deportation to concentration camps.

Philips died in Eindhoven in 1951.



Marriage and family

Philips married Anne Henriëtte Elisabeth Maria de Jongh (Amersfoort, May 30, 1878 – Eindhoven, March 7, 1970). They had the following children:

* Anna Elisabeth Cornelia Philips (June 19, 1899 – ?), married in 1925 to Pieter Franciscus Sylvester Otten (1895 – 1969), and had:
o Diek Otten
o Franz Otten (b. c. 1928 - d. 1967), manager in the Dutch electronics company Philips
* Frederik Jacques Philips (1905-2005)
* Henriëtte Anna Philips (Eindhoven, October 26, 1906 – ?), married firstly to A. Knappert (d. 1932), without issue; married secondly to G. Jonkheer Sandberg (d. September 5, 1935), without issue; and married thirdly in New York City, New York, on September 29, 1938 to Jonkheer Gerrit van Riemsdijk (Aerdenhout, January 10, 1911 – Eindhoven, November 8, 2005). They had the following children:
o ..., Jonkheerin Gerrit van Riemsdijk (b. Waalre, October 2, 1939), married at Waalre on February 17, 1968 to Johannes Jasper Tuijt (b. Atjeh, Koeta Radja, March 10, 1930), son of Jacobus Tuijt and wife Hedwig Jager, without issue
o ..., Jonkheerin Gerrit van Riemsdijk (b. Waalre, April 3, 1946), married firstly at Calvados, Falaise, on June 6, 1974 to Martinus Jan Petrus Vermooten (Utrecht, September 16, 1939 – Falaise, August 29, 1978), son of Martinus Vermooten and wife Anna Pieternella Hendrika Kwantes, without issue; married secondly in Paris on December 12, 1981 to Jean Yves Louis Bedos (Calvados, Rémy, January 9, 1947 – Calvados, Lisieux, October 5, 1982), son of Georges Charles Bedos and wife Henriette Louise Piel, without issue; and married thirdly at Manche, Sartilly, on September 21, 1985 to Arnaud Evain (b. Ardennes, Sedan, July 7, 1952), son of Jean Claude Evain and wife Flore Halleux, without issue
o ..., Jonkheerin Gerrit van Riemsdijk (b. Waalre, September 4, 1948), married at Waalre, October 28, 1972 to Elie Johan François van Dissel (b. Eindhoven, October 9, 1948), son of Willem Pieter

Jacob van Dissel and wife Francisca Frederike Marie Wirtz, without issue.

(To see the Internal Chassis Just click on Older Post Button on bottom page, that's simple !)

Some of References:

"Annual Report 2013/14: 01 June 2013 – 31 May 2014" (PDF). az498215.vo.msecnd.net.

"HARMAN Completes Acquisition of Bang & Olufsen's Automotive Audio Business". HARMAN Newsroom. Retrieved 2019-02-24.

"B & O Sells Czech Factory to Tymphany". Retrieved 2019-02-24.

"Global Operations". Tymphany. Retrieved 2019-02-24.

"The true story behind Bang and Olufsen", William Schwark, Scanorama, November 2007

Walker, Rob (September 27, 2011). "Can the Cult of Bang & Olufsen Last?". Wired.

Bang & Olufsen rolls out strategy plan bang-olufsen.com

"Denmark's Bang & Olufsen would listen to bid approaches", Reuters, 5 January 2015

"HP makes Bang & Olufsen its new audio partner". CNET. Retrieved 21 February 2016.

Holt, Julie Ring-Hansen (25 October 2006). "Seks ud af ti nye Audier fødes med B&O-anlæg" [Six out of ten new Audis are born with Bang & Olufsen system] (in Danish). Mediehuset Ingeniøren A/S. Retrieved 6 November 2014.

Krøyer, Kent (13 March 2005). "Audi med indbygget koncertsal fra B&O" [Audi with built in concert hall from B&O] (in Danish). Mediehuset Ingeniøren A/S. Retrieved 6 November 2014.

"Audi Glossary". Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2011.

"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-04-24. Retrieved 2013-04-21.

Mercedes AMG S-class"mercedes-amg.com

Abuelsamid, Sam. "B&O Play Audio Systems To Replace Sony In Ford Vehicles In 2017". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-09-17.

"2018 Ford® F-150 Limited Truck | Model Highlights | Ford.com". www.ford.com. Retrieved 2017-09-17.

Bang & Olufsen - Business to Business bang-olufsen.com

"10 classic jacob jensen gadgets".

"Elegant Design of Sound Equipment Focus of MoMA Show" (PDF). Museum of Modern Art. March 1978.

Apple's Inspiration For The iPod? Bang & Olufsen, Not Braun, fastdesign.com, Nov 2013

"ICEpower – Class D OEM audio amplifiers".

Bang & Olufsen Medicom Archived 2009-04-04 at the Wayback Machine medicom.bang-olufsen.com

Beocentral - the definitive Bang & Olufsen reference site Collectors reference site beocentral.com

Simonsen, Torben R. "ICEpower in all active speakers", (in Danish) Electronics Business, 28 September 2010. Accessed: 9 March 2011.

"Bang & Olufsen's Edge speaker can be rolled to adjust the volume". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-08-29.

Further reading

Bang, Jens (2005). From Spark to Icon. Denmark: Bang & Olufsen. ISBN 87-980814-5-4.
Jarman, Tim; Jarman Nick (2008). Crowood Collectors' Series: Bang & Olufsen. England: Crowood Press. ISBN 978-1-84797-068-8.