B&O gramophone and record player without RIAA amplifier

Neo Radio has a built-in RIAA amplifier, which is necessary for most B&O gramophones or record players to play records for the system.

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What is an RIAA amplifier

An RIAA amplifier is actually a small pre-amplifier which amplifies the signals from the pick-up on a gramophone or record player. The sound can thus be played through the Beomaster or Beosound system to the speaker.

Quite a few of the B&O turntables do not have a built-in RIAA amplifier. They cannot therefore be connected Neo Radio, but must be connected directly to Beomaster or Beosound.

Below you can see the list of turntables with and without RIAA amplifier. We have tried to make the list complete. If there are any gramophones missing or there are errors in the list, please let us know.

Turntable without RIAA amplifier - need Neo Radio

Picture Year Beoworld Beocentral BeoZone B&O
Beogram 1000V 1966-72 Click
Beogram 1001 1973-74 Click
Beogram 1100 1976-77 Click Click
Beogram 1102 1978 Click Click
Beogram 1200 1969-72 Click Click
Beogram 1201 1973 Click
Beogram 1202 1974-75 Click Click Click
Beogram 1203 1974-76 Click Click Click
Beogram 1204 1976
Beogram 1500 1968-74 Click Click Click
Beogram 1700 1979-82 Click Click Click
Beogram 1800 1971-73 Click Click
Beogram 1800 VF 1968-69 Click Click
Beogram 1900 1976 Click Click
Beogram 1902 1977-78 Click Click Click
Beogram 2000 1975-77 Click
Beogram 2000 RD 1983-87 Click Click Click
Beogram 2200 1979-80 Click Click Click
Beogram 2202 1981 Click Click Click Click
Beogram 2400 1979-80 Click Click Click
Beogram 2402 1981 Click Click Click Click
Beogram 2404 1980-83 Click Click
Beogram 3000 1967-68 Click Click
Beogram 3000 1972-75 Click Click Click
Beogram 3000 1985-87 Click Click Click
Beogram 3300 1987-90 Click Click Click
Beogram 3400 1975-77 Click Click Click
Beogram 3404 1980-82 Click Click Click
Beogram 4000 1974-75 Click Click Click Click
Beogram 4001 1977-80 Click Click
Beogram 4002 1975-79 Click Click Click
Beogram 4004 1978-80 Click Click Click
Beogram 5000 1983-86 Click Click Click
Beogram 5005 1985-87 Click Click Click
Beogram 5500 1987-89 Click Click Click Click
Beogram 6002 1983-86 Click Click Click
Beogram 6006 1981-82 Click Click Click
Beogram 8000 1981-82 Click Click Click
Beogram 8002 1982-87 Click Click Click
Beogram 8500 1990-93 Click Click Click
Beogram 9000 1988-90 Click Click Click
Beogram 9500 1989-93 Click Click Click
Beogram RX 1983-86 Click Click Click
Beogram RX2 1985-91 Click Click Click
Beogram TX 1983-85 Click Click Click Click
Beogram TX2 1985-91 Click Click Click

Record player with RIAA amplifier - cannot be used with Neo Radio

Model Picture Year Beoworld Beocentral BeoZone B&O
Beogram 1000VF 1965-73
Beogram 1200 with GF3 1968-73
Beogram 3000 with GF4 1968
Beogram 3400 Quad 1975-77
Beogram 3500 1990-93 Click Click Click
Beogram 4500 1988-91 Click Click Click
Beogram 6000 1974-78 Click Click Click
Beogram 6500 1989-91 Click Click Click
Beogram 7000 1992-96 Click Click Click

How an RIAA amplifier works

Back in 1954, the RIAA – Recording Industry Association of America – standard was agreed upon, which replaced many years of chaos in standards.

Everyone who developed gramophones made their own standard.

The RIAA standard - or rather the RIAA curve - aims to make recording gramophone records easier and simpler. The RIAA curve is a frequency band that goes from 20 Hz to 20 KHz, where the signal is attenuated 20 db at 20 Hz and amplified 20 dB at 20 KHz. The playback curve is exactly the opposite, so you achieve an even frequency response.

If the signal at 20 Hz was not attenuated by 20 dB, then the needle would have to move extremely much on a low-frequency signal during playback. It would not be physically possible and take up more space on the vinyl record. The signal is therefore amplified, as described above, in the subsequent RIAA amplifier.

Of course, everyone tries to make a perfect RIAA amplifier with the lowest possible noise, but it is not typical in the RIAA amplifier that noise nuisance occurs. The noise comes from the rumble when the vinyl record spins and when the crackle from dust and dirt in the record grooves is a natural part of a record player.

Neo Radio has a built-in RIAA amplifier, which is adapted to a B&O gramophone or record player. Bang & Olufsen has made gramophones with and without RIAA amplifier - there are, however, most models without RIAA.

The RIAA amplifier i Neo Radio has a quality that matches the best RIAA amplifiers in Bang & Olufsen products. How can we say this? It is because Neomesteren consists of people who were part of the development department at B&O in the days when the RIAA amplifiers were being developed, so Neo Radio is made by the best B&O development people.