Beomaster 3400

The Beomaster 3400 was the centrepiece of B&O’s second quadraphonic Hi-Fi system. Simpler and cheaper than the previous Beomaster 6000 4channel, the 3400 nevertheless offered better performance, though luxury extras like power operated touch controls and remote operation were not included. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The Beomaster 3400 was based on the Beomaster 2000, a slim, elegant unit capable of excellent performance. When looking at the two together, it is clear from the details of construction that it was always the intention to offer a quadraphonic version, though the Beomaster 2000 was launched some years before the 3400. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

Like the Beomaster 2000, the Beomaster 3400 used direct-coupled amplifiers powered from a split-supply. This alone ensured that the performance was in some respects better that that of the Beomaster 6000 4channel, and also meant that there was no need to house four bulky coupling capacitors inside the slim cabinet. The internal architecture of the Beomaster 2000 made the addition of the extra amplifiers and signal routing stages required for four channel operation fairly straightforward, though the potentially very useful AM radio had to be sacrificed to make room. Unlike the Beomaster 6000 4channel, there was no attempt to mount any sort of quadraphonic decoder inside the Beomaster, so for quadraphonic playback a suitable four channel source would be needed, either a tape machine or a record player with a built-in decoder, such as the Beogram 3400. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The extra controls needed for quadraphonic sound fitted easily onto the fascia of the Beomaster 3400. An extra slider was fitted to adjust the balance of the sound front to rear, which had an interesting extra function. Sliding it fully toward the “front” setting placed the set in “two channel power” mode, in which, because only the front two loudspeakers were being driven the power output rose from 20W to 30W for each. An LED indicator confirmed when this mode was engaged, though it is important to note that other than the removal of the driving signal to the rear channel no electrical changes took place in the amplifiers when operating on two channels only. The extra power output was available only due to the lighter loading on the power supply, though this was still less that the maximum output that the Beomaster 2000 could achieve due to the quiescent current loading from the two idle amplifiers. There was a switch connected to the front/rear slider, though this was purely concerned with lighting the indicator. As with the Beomaster 6000 4channel, quadraphonic headphones could be connected, though B&O didn’t make any. The recess for the socket was underneath on the right hand side, and was already large enough in the Beomaster 2000 to accommodate the two ¼" stereo jack sockets. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The large tuning dial had been a prominent feature of the Beomaster 2000, so the designers were left with a lot of space to fill with no AM bands to mark out. The solution was to change the layout from a single horizontal strip to many “vertical” strips, easy covering a small section of the FM band. The tuning pointer was mounted at an angle so as the tuning was operated a small line appeared to traverse these strips one by one. This little trick resulted again in the centre section of the panel being filled with numbers, though it made the set no easier to use. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The Beomaster 3400 was overall a more useful piece of quadraphonic equipment than the 6000 4channel had been. More of a practical product than a piece of signature technology, it was smaller, more affordable, easier to use and capable of better results. By the time it was launched however, it was already too late, quadraphony was in terminal decline and would not return again until the surround-sound home cinema systems appeared in the early 1990s. As a result, the Beomaster 3400 was only in the range for a short time and disappeared quietly after only relatively few were sold. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.