These 40-Year-Old Bang & Olufsen Turntables Will Outlive You (EXCLUSIVE)
Some of the Beogram turntables in Bang & Olufsen’s newest Beosystem 3000c release are over forty years old, and yet they’ve never been in better shape or demanded a higher retail price. Mads Kogsgaard Hansen, director of product circularity at Bang & Olufsen, says the restored turntables cost around five times more than they did in 1985, when the Beogram 3000s were originally released, and for good reason.
“When we do something as special as this, limited to a hundred numbered units each treated by hand, it has a luxury element to it,” he says, breaking down the detailed work that goes into these highly limited restorations. First, the vintage Beogram 3000s return to the workshop where they were originally made in the tiny coastal town of Struer, Denmark, where craftspeople dismantle everything, cleaning anything dirty, fixing anything broken, and replacing anything beyond repair. Then, they turn the tables on the turntables.
Since the first round of solid walnut restored Beogram 3000 turntables sold out in roughly 30 days, Bang & Olufsen is dropping an even more limited “Dune Grey” edition, where a dark-stained walnut wood replaces the original plastic back cover. It’s an “upgrade to the craftsmanship,” as Hansen puts it, while the matching modern Beolab 8 speakers, built from the same dark-stained walnut and soft matte aluminium, complete the Beosystem and upgrade the tech so it can also play streaming music.
This is what Bang & Olufsen’s Recreated Classics programme, which includes the Beosystem 3000c, is all about: Bringing old classics into the modern day and proving the power of old but excellent tech.
“We are looking at a consumer electronics industry where things are not lasting, the lifespan of devices is going down. We would like to offer an alternative to that,” says Hansen. “We would like to invite future consumers to think differently, make long-term choices, and invest in better quality that lasts longer. Maybe buy fewer devices at a higher quality because they both emotionally keep their value and keep their financial value much better than you think.”
So far, through its upcycling line established in 2020, Bang & Olufsen has pushed this message by rebuilding original six-disc CD players from the ‘90s and radically minimalist ‘70s turntables. Now, it’s continuing with a second round of Beosystems, all releasing on June 18 for $30,000 apiece, reviving a sleek design famous for its “floating” appearance from a time when turntables were typically bulky boxes.
But when Hansen isn’t busy bringing B&O’s best vintage gear back from the archives, he’s ensuring all its new products are modular and easy to repair. Of the mere 14 electronic products certified Cradle to Cradle, meaning the object’s circular design is informed by materials either reusable or returnable to nature, a whopping nine are from B&O, and one of those is the Beolab 8 speakers.
This is the part that gets Hansen, as director of product circularity, really excited. While he’s not shy to admit that buying into these new Beosystem 3000c models is a sizable investment, he’s also quick to point out that “it is made for more than one lifespan.”
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