A mid sixtes design from B&O the Beolit 700 in dark blue.
Beolit 700: equipped with FM, LW, MW and SW (the 49 metre waveband) this portable radio offers excellent audio quality and had good ability to pick up even faint radio signals/stations.
The radio had a leather handle and case and came equipped with two extendable FM antennas. It included connections for an extra antenna, an extension loudspeaker and connections for tape or record deck. The Beolit 700 could run off batteries, making it truly portable. It accommodated six size D, 1,5V batteries.
This Beolit suffered from a broken dial cord on AM bands. Finding replacement cord is tricky as there are long runs which can stretch and slip. Working out the route is also a challenge to get it right so searching for a service manual is a good idea unless you are patient.
With a large perspex top dial many of these radios have cracks particularly around the central controls. This one has a small crack by the volume control. The control knobs are all solid metal adding to a quality feel along with the leather strap. The plastic case is not so impressive although very popular on sixties transistor radios, the white polymer tends to turn yellow and a bit shabby not chic. The chrome platted side trims are also prone to pitting and rust probably through use in kitchens.
Sound quality is good with rich bass tone from the elliptical speaker. Treble is not so impressive and shows the limitation of the audio amplifier compared to the later Beolits. The pictures show the battery compartment which houses 6 D cells. Either side in the base there are sockets for car aerial and DIN audio input – a common feature on Danish designs allowing connection to audio source like a record deck or tape recorder/player.
Having twin tuning scaled allows an FM station to remain tuned in when switching to AM and vice versa. The meter shows both battery voltage and signal strength to help tune in to DX stations via the ten telescopic aerials. AM bands cover short wave 49m band as mentioned which you don’t find on the later Beolit.
Overall quite a large and heavy portable when batteries are fitted.
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