newbie - first post - beosystem 3500

hi guys, first post so i hope i don't sound too stupid and ill informed, i am a retired nurse from the u.k. and have always been in awe at the pure magic of bang and olufsen, i first saw their hi fi in the 1970's and it took my breath away, sadly as a nurse it was way out of my reach i know find myself looking at ebay u.k. and i see some amazing products for a fraction of the cost new, i know they are dated but at my age retro is a plus not a minus, also it appears a lot of B and O systems are as good today as they were when first made although a bit scratched and worn but with my eyes that's not a major flaw after doing a bit of study and seeing what's available, it looks like the beosystem 3500 is a great package i could pick up a piece at a time, what do you think of my choice? also i am retired abroad but have friends coming over on a regular basis who could be bullied into bring separate units with them, they do get free accommodation so shouldn't show much Resistance i would like eventually to acquire the beomaster 3500 amp and tuner, the beogram3500 cd player and the beocord tape deck, i love tapes and still own an 8 track space helmet i purchased in 1973, don't see any mention of 8 track players in the B and O range by the way, it would be great to start a collection of tapes again i would eventually like speakers to match but i have a lot of questions about that and am interested in being able to have the music linked to another room with a second set of speakers, can that be done with the 3500? also, if you display all your separate units together does that mean you cannot mix with other series because of the finish of the different series is connection an issue as B and O use din plugs from what i can see, do i need to ensure that the item i buy has all leads or can i purchase them separately anyway thank you for reading my post and i would very much welcome any comments, cheers

Hi Bidston & welcome.

I bought a new Beomaster 4500 & 4500 CD unit, many, many years back. It's still in daily use and always gets admiring comments even after all this time. IMO, it's still visually stunning.

I say the 4500, because all that time ago I borrowed a 3500 system from my dealer and it looked, again IMO, well......nothing special really. Dull.

Fortunately, I then decided to try the 4500 in my lounge and the rest is history, for me anyway.

My point is, have you considered the 4500 system? Of course everyone has their own opinions as to style & appearance, therefore others may disagree.

My advice, go for the 4500 system  

welcome and loved your story

bidston:

still own an 8 track space helmet i purchased in 1973, don't see any mention of 8 track players in the B and O range by the way

'fraid so - to the best of my knowledge it never happened at B&O

BTW if you start chasing blank cassettes there was a thread in the last 2 months where I believe Soren in Denmark had some spares

appreciate your reply, strange they never entertained 8 track as sound reproduction was far superior to cassette

As an owner of 8 track machines in my cars in the late 60s, I agree as to the sound quality however as playback required the head to move up & down to the next track on the tape, the mechanics of this often meant that the constant movement resulted in the head not quite being in absolute position which resulted in track leakage from the adjacent track (above or below) on the tape. My units had a screw below them so that I could manully adjust the head when it went out of alignment. A frequent requirement and not best ever when driving!

Home 8 track recording units were a bit of a nightmare tbh and never took off.

The arrival of Dolby for cassettes, better machines, cheapness of production and adoption by the main recording studios drove the nails into the coffin.

Remember Betamax anyone ?