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10 classic jacob jensen gadgets

Bang and Olufsen are famous for their superior consumer electronics design in the period prior to the 80s. There are no designers employed by the company and instead, all design is traditionally outsourced. The Bang and Olufsen heyday, when their products were must have items for the homes of architects and designers is largely due to one man, Jacob Jensen, who designed a range of classic products for B&O between the late 60s and 80s.

Like Apple today, Jensen obsessed with build quality and finish, and eschewed visible buttons wherever possible, using below glass illuminated controls and even proposing gesture based interfaces.

Most satisfyingly, unlike current trends in design from double curved car shells to rounded corner boxes on web pages, Jensen’s trademark look consisted of ruthlessly squared off edges and rectilinear forms.

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(Ranked by user votes) Vote on and review the contenders below.
1
Selected by MOMA for its permanent collection in 1972, the BeoGram 4000 was the first record deck to have an electronically controlled parallel tracking tone arm. Despite the underlying complexity, it manages to maintain the sleek minimalist look of classic Jensen designed products.
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BeoGram 4000 Record Deck (1973). more...
(votes: +46)
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2
Designed at the same time as the Beolab 5000 Amplifier and Beomaster 5000 Tuner, these innovative speakers were innovative in the trend of separating bass and treble into separate units and were part of Jensens first major system for B&O.
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BeoVox 2500 Cube Tweeters (1967). more...
(votes: +31)
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3
Years before Apple's quest for buttonless designs for the iPhone B&O were producing similar interfaces to today's through glass illuminated touch panels. The BeoCenter 9000 was Jensens last major design for B&O, where he even wanted to include a gesture based interface allowing the CD panel to open as a hand waved across it.
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BeoCenter 9000 (1987). more...
(votes: +28)
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4
Rayner Banham, the famous architectural historian at the Bartlett described this radio as so elegant, you couldn't tell what it was, a minimalist classic, with razor sharp square edges.
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Beolit 600 Portable Radio (1970). more...
(votes: +22)
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5
In the late 70s Jensen was under pressure from B&amp;O to produce a stackable system to rival successful Japanese hifi systems. Jensen protested by jumping up and down of the prototype models he had made, smashing them to pieces.<p /><p />Later a compromise was reached with the Beosystem 5000 which although a rack system, had none of the cheap flashing lights and controls of the Japanese equivalents.<p /><p />Later B&amp;O reverted back to the console systems, and the 5000 remains something of an anomaly.
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BeoSystem 5000 (1980). more...
(votes: +20)
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6
This was the first item made directly under the Jacob Jensen brand, for Max Rene. Later watches were made after the studio had been taken over by Jacobs son.<p /><p />The watch is made of Titanium and has half of the face silver and half black, to represent nigh and day. The hands are half black and half silver, the appropriate portion showing depending on which half of the background they appear over.
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Watch 510/520 Jacob Jensen (1986). more...
(votes: +17)
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7
Jensens sleek rectangular headphones also went against the contemporary design trend of semi spherical ear muffs of the type that were then ubiquitous but seem to only be worn by football commentators these days.
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U70 Headphones (1978). more...
(votes: +15)
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8
Nicknamed the Tomsbstone, this was possibly the Jacob Jensen classic. It went against the grain of front fascia control panels with a surface display with Helvetica labeling.
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BeoMaster 1200 Tuner/Amplifier (1969). more...
(votes: +12)
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9
These two units with the accompanying Cube speaker system, were the first major designs by Jensen for B&O. They combine rational industrial design with luxurious consumer detailing to produce a look somewhat like the best slide rule ever made.
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Beomaster and Beolab 5000 (1967) - The best slide rules ever made. more...
(votes: +6)
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10
This was the first ever project that Jensen worked on for B&O, however his input was minimal, changing the top plate from white to black as the transistors were changed from germanium to silicon.
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BeoMaster 1000 Tuner/Amplifier version 2 (1966?). more...
(votes: +2)
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