Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Bang and Olufsen Fashion

Summary:
The B&O 5000 system was the first series of components from Bang and Olufsen in many years which returned to a "box" design. The original units in the system were the Beomaster 5000, Beocord 5000, Beogram 5000 (phonograph), a two-way remote unique to the 5000 system, a one-way handheld remote and a wide selection of excellent "Datalink" modules which could allow the 5000 to be operated from any room in a home, office or building.

The CD player for the 5000 system was designated CD50 manufactured in only two years... 1985 and 1986. In the same years a Belgium based product called CDX was also manufactured. The CD50 is an exact match to the "box" design of the 5000 system whereas the CDX was a completely different (and beautiful) device.

Although the CD50 is quite limited in operation from the front panel as a stand-alone unit, it is a very nice sounding and very functional machine utilizing Burr-Brown decoders and a large array of RAM buffering. RCA outputs are available as well as the traditional DIN connection.

Full operation of the CD50 can be realized when used with the Beomaster 5000 and Two-way remote.

This machine is quite valuable by eBay standards and regularly brings upwards of $250 for a nice specimen. The CD50 uses a three-beam splitter on the laser with linear tracking. The CDX was of a Philips design using a radial tracking system and a single laser beam.

Strengths:
Laser device very beefy with plenty of heatsinking. Lots of shielding and grounding. Burr-Brown IC decoders utilized.

Weaknesses:
Without factory adaptor, unit will only do a few operations from front panel. Open, Close, Display options, Play, Skip to selection, and Standby/Off. CD must be inserted upside down as in some Pioneer type CD players.

Similar Products Used:
Not many products similar to this beautiful beast!