Legendary Danish audio brand Bang & Olufsen (B&O) is bringing back its Beosound 9000 CD player, a six-disc device that can lie flat or be mounted vertically or horizontally, as the limited-edition Beosystem 9000c. Only 200 units will be sold, and each player will be paired with a set of his Beolab 28 speakers from B&O. It's a $55,000 package. If those numbers don't deter you, you'll be able to purchase it starting April 24th.
At that price do B&O wants you to know how much time and effort went into making this limited edition a reality. Beosystem 9000c is not newly manufactured. Instead, B&O collected 200 of his original Beosound 9000 CD players and refurbished them between 1996 and 2011 in the same factory where they were first manufactured (with many of the same technicians).
The timing of this system seems perfect. In the UK in 2023, CD sales increased for the first time since 2004.
This project is partially inspired by the success of the first Recreated Classics effort, a refurbished Beogram 4000 turntable sold by B&O in 2020. Mads Kogsgaard Hansen, Head of Product Circularity and Portfolio Planning at B&O, said in a press release: “We want to demonstrate that second-life products can be just as appealing as new products, and that high-quality items like the Beosound 9000 don't need to have an end date.”
B&O also uses the Beosystem 9000c to show off its mastery of aluminum. In addition to completely disassembling (and reassembling) each CD player, the aluminum backplates were given a new “cosmic black” color to match the look of his Beolab 28 speakers. . This is a process that involves hairline brushing, etching, and pearl blasting of aluminum pieces.
For those not familiar with the history of the Beosound 9000, its fame goes beyond its striking aesthetics. Her six CDs are stored behind a motorized glass cover. Rather than moving CDs to be read by a playback mechanism (the way typical turntables or carousel-style changers do), a silent motorized CD clamper moves from disc to disc and begins playing within seconds. .
Cleverly, each disc automatically reorients itself after playback, making text on the CD surface easily readable even under transparent glass.
With built-in Wi-Fi connected Beolab 28 speakers, the combined Beosystem 9000c not only plays CDs, but also streams music from various music services via AirPlay 2, Chromecast or Bluetooth. can. The system can be controlled via the included Beoremote One, an app on your phone, or the speaker's physical controls.
The Beosystem 9000c is priced out of reach for most people, but you could save around $25,000 by assembling the components yourself. A new set of Beolab 28 speakers starts at $20,250, but he found at least one used Beosound 9000 rebuilt in white that can be purchased for 25,900 Swedish kronor (approximately $2,400).