It began in the early 1960s. I was employed by Salling Radio in Roslev as an apprentice.
It was then a real radio workshop with repair and sales. We worked with tube amplifiers and receivers and later – in the mid-1960s, the first transistorized products came from B&O and other manufacturers.
That means I learned how to repair both technologies.
There were two really exciting products back then that were absolutely unattainable. It was the B&O tube amplifier – HiFi Amplifier 608 – with a blue front. It is also available with a black front from approx. 1960. Only a few were sold in Salling Radio.
The second ….. was in 1967 when the Beolab 5000 was launched. It was probably one of the most exciting things I could imagine. A product at that price – DKK 2,350 in 1967, that corresponds to DKK 18,500 in 2011. Imagine an amplifier in that design with an output power of 2×60 watts.
That the dream of owning a Beolab 5000 would come true was at the time completely unthinkable for me.

The Beolab 5000 series is the first B&O product designed by Jakob Jensen.
The Beolab 5000 series is B&O’s first design with slider controls or a slide rule.

After completing an education in Aarhus, I got a nice job at B&O. I had the opportunity to work in the middle of the fantastic products and during a period when the classic products were created.
In the late 1970s, what would later become Classic Audio started, but I didn’t quite know that at the time.
I got the idea that now I had to find my Beolab 5000 system. I could see the products standing around in B&O’s laboratories and really no one thought the Beolab 5000 was anything special anymore. It was therefore not that difficult to collect the products in the Beolab system in a very good condition. After a short time I had the system assembled and I put it in perfect working order. It really was the fulfillment of the dream from 1967.

Then a few years passed and an idea began to take shape.
Why should I be the only one who had a dream of owning a classic product?

Perhaps it could be an idea to look at the possibilities of finding more of the right products. Of course, it should first and foremost be the Beolab 5000 series that should be at the center.

The concept began to take shape.

• The product must be cosmetically and technically flawless.
• Cosmetically, it is easy to document the result, you can simply – see!
• Technically, all necessary measurements and tests must be carried out to show the quality and a document must show the result.
• There must be a proper user manual for the product.

In short, buying a classic product should be an experience that is completely identical to buying a new product or better.
And then comes the completely unique experience, the opportunity to buy the dream product from ‘back then’.
I decided that I wanted to offer the concept to others, and Classic Audio was established.

In order to be able to fulfill the above, quite a few things had to be set in motion. I started buying the products I perceived as classic, and honestly, it’s very much influenced by which products I actually think are products I enjoy listening to, looking at and of course — renovating.
Classic Audio was to be a company for the sale of totally refurbished classic products according to the above concept.
I acquired all the necessary measuring and testing equipment. A lot of equipment was and is required to be able to measure everything on an amplifier or a gramophone that I wanted to be able to do. I will be able to measure all essential points for amplifiers, receivers, gramophones, speakers and tape recorders. It was actually quite an extensive task.

All this also means that premises are needed. Today, Classic Audio is ‘at home’ in lovely premises in a newly built wing of 60 m2 of our house.

• A nice workshop combined with a listening and demo room.
• A basement with storage and rough workshop.

It is simply a pleasure to pick up a Beolab 5000 – sold to a customer or the customer has brought his own Beolab – and then start renovating everything in this particular classic. Measure and listen to the quality before I start and then see what can really be achieved after about 100 components have been changed in the Beolab. The Beolab 5000 is of course repaired first if necessary, and then the replacement of all the components begins, which means that the original specifications can be achieved again and the real Beolab 5000 sound can be enjoyed. Of course over the original Beovox 5000 and Beovox 2500 Cube speakers.
After many hours of renovating both the electrical circuits in Beolab 5000 and renovating the cabinet and cabinet parts by using the original cabinet parts from other Beolab 5000, the end result is there!

A Beolab 5000
that plays like brand new and looks like the day it left B&O 40 years ago, it’s totally worth it!

For a complete renovation, at least 2 other Beolab 5000s are used – sometimes 3, a lot of hours, a lot of new components (more than 100), a long time for measurements and listening to the result.
To achieve the perfect result, the best parts are selected from several other Beolabs. There are cabinet parts and other mechanical parts that are completely special to Beolab and which of course cannot be bought anymore.
To ensure that the Beolab 5000 really will also play problem-free for many years to come. I have chosen to leave the Beolab 5000 running in a user test for min. 500 hours before it is taken over by the expectant customer. It really ensures that any periodic errors have been removed and I can deliver a classic quality product.

I have described what the concept is like for the Beolab 5000. I just want to mention that it is of course exactly the same concept that is implemented for any classic product that is totally refurbished at Classic Audio.

And I only refurbish the type of products I like to make, so each appliance is refurbished as if it were truly my own.

The products I like to refurbish?
Yes, these are products typically from the period 1965 to 1980 and they are products produced by:

• Bang & Olufsen
• Quad
• Thor’s
• Revox
• .. and a few others

It is my passion for the fine classic products I have tried to describe.