Beo 4

A replacement for both the Beolink 1000 and 5000. At a glance, the Beo 4 looked very much like the Beolink 5000, but closer inspection revealed that there were controls on only one side, and that the LCD was not transparent. Furthermore, the Beo 4 was only a one way terminal. This then required new software for many products which had previously relied on the two way system, and these had “Beo 4” added to their model names, such as the MX 7000 Beo 4. Even the AV 9000 system now only came with a Beo 4 terminal. Around the time the Beo 4 was introduced, Beocenter 9500 was dropped, and the replacement 9300 only used one way communication. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The quality of finish of early Beo 4 terminals was poor, with plastics being used for both the case and front panel. Soon this was changed to die cast zinc and aluminium, making the case of similar quality to the Beolink 5000. One complaint with the Beolink 5000 had been that it was too complicated, so in an attempt to simplify the Beo 4 a new programming or “customising” system was used. Functions were picked from a “list”, and the list was programmed by the B&O dealer to include only those functions relevant to the user’s equipment. Adding new functions to the list was easy when new items were added to the system. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

Another new feature of the Beo 4 was the use of coloured keys, which initially looked like the “fastext” controls of cheaper sets. This was indeed one of their functions, but in conjunction with the “Go” button they were central to the operation of many products. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.