Beolit 800 family

(1964-1966) FM/MW/LW/SW Portable radio, 1x1W

This model used the same basic chassis as the Beolit De Luxe 611-FMK but was housed in a large and boxy wooden cabinet. The better acoustic properties of the cabinet helped to improve the sound slightly, although the circuit and loudspeaker were unchanged. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The cabinet was designed so that as well as being used like an ordinary portable set the Beolit De Luxe 611-FMT could be laid down on its front and used on a shelf or a table. To support the front of the set the handle could be tilted down fully forwards, an action which would also push out two round plastic feet at the lower part of the front of the set. The combination of these two means of support made the set stable and protected the wooden finish when used in this position. To ensure good performance when used like this, the whole chassis was mounted in the cabinet so that the loudspeaker would end up at the top, unfortunately meaning that when used vertically (the most common position) the loudspeaker ended up at the rear. Even though there was a grille at the front, the densely packed electronics inside meant that little or no sound came out of it. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

To keep the set neat when used horizontally, a wooden cover finished in matching veneer was fitted to the bottom. This had to be removed to reach the battery compartment and sockets for a loudspeaker, tape recorder, record player and external aerial. Slots cut in the wooden part allowed any cable to exit when the wooden cover was refitted. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

Reversing the chassis also meant that all the controls appear backwards when compared to the Beolit De Luxe 611-FMK. Other changes included moving the rod antennas so that there was now one at each end of the dial and fitting turned metal control knobs for the volume, treble, bass and tuning controls. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The Beolit De Luxe 611-FMT was replaced in 1966 by the Beolit 800. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

(1966-1968) FM/MW/LW/SW Portable radio, 1x1W

This model replaced the Beolit 611 De Luxe 611-FMT. Outwardly it was very similar, but can be easily recognised by its restyled tuning dial, white (instead of black) pushbuttons and slightly different control knobs. The new knobs were all the same size (previously the tuning knob had been larger) so to make the tuning control easier to recognise at a glance it was given a black centre. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

Internally the receiver circuit remained largely unaltered but the audio amplifier had been redesigned. The amplifier in the original version had used five transistors and although capable of reasonable performance had in truth a little too much gain, leading to excessive background noise and a volume control that could prove difficult to adjust. The new circuit had only four transistors, replacing two PNP germanium types in the preamplifier with a single low noise NPN silicon device. This change brought improved performance at the cost of slightly increased battery consumption. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The Beolit 800 was replaced at the top of the range by the Beolit 1000. Text copyright © Beocentral. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.