Bang and olufsen Beolab 2000 Active Speaker System

The BeoLab 2000 was an interesting and unique product that was intended to make the establishment of a “link room” for an audio system as simple as possible.

The BeoLab 2000 comprised a pair of active loudspeakers, an amplifier, an set of control buttons and an infra-red receiver all in one compact unit. The idea behind the design was that just by making one connection to the audio master system (via Masterlink) all the main functions of that system could be accessed in a second room. Because the loudspeakers were active and contained their own amplifier in was also possible to vary the volume of the sound independently in the link room, something that was not always possible with the earlier, simpler link systems.

The main system could be controlled through the BeoLab 2000 in two ways. Firstly, the system remote control (Beolink 1000, Beo 4 etc.) could be used in the normal manner and secondly a small control unit between the loudspeakers could be used instead. Although this control unit looked as if it should be removable in fact it was very much attached. It was styled in an interesting manner, appearing to be formed from a metal tube. A button in one end of the tube controlled the play/standby function whilst a knurled wheel at the other end regulated the volume. Keys of a similar type to those found on a Beo 4 terminal in the centre section selected the three most commonly used sources (radio, tape, CD), allowed tracks and programmes to be stepped through, and switched the “timer play” function on and off. These few functions were in reality more than enough for most daily requirements.

The BeoLab 2000 was styled in such a way that it was ideally suited to being freestanding on a surface, though a wall bracket was included with each one. The unit was made in one solid piece and had only two cables (Masterlink and mains power) so it was robust enough for “busy” areas such as kitchen work surfaces. Though well finished, the styling did not meet with universal approval, to some it looked too much like a cheap “mini system” with the bulk of the source components removed. It was not obviously a Bang & Olufsen at the first glance, possibly through not being particularly slim or striking in appearance.

The loudspeakers themselves consisted of two 4” woofers and two 1” dome tweeters. The amplifiers that drove these loudspeakers worked on the familiar Beolab “active” system, details of which can be found on our Beolab 8000 page. To improve the bass performance the cabinets employed the bass reflex technique, though despite this, the clever amplifiers and the quality drive units, the fixed distance between the loudspeakers meant that the BeoLab 2000 would never be the first choice for the “serious” listener.

The BeoLab 2000 was keenly priced at about half the price of a Beosound Century (which could give similar performance but could not be integrated in a link system) and about a third of the price of a link room TV set such as the BeoVision MX 4200, which was no match for the BeoLab 2000 in terms of sound quality but of course had the advantage of being usable with the main system video sources as well.