I have an original BS1 Gold Special Edition - the 1st 1000 units. (Somewhere). In the day, it was great but compared to latter-day "Beoplay", I don't think they compare that well? I'm doing some cruising on eBay at the moment looking for some useful bits here and there but the original BL8000 and BL6000 on there are looking great value at the moment.

Apart from the fact that FM radio - where I live - is almost dead, the only and main drawback of this unit is, that the AUX has no autosense.   I’d prefer to use the headphone out to a Playmaker’s line input…..which has line sense. And then connect a set of e.g. BL8000’s there. This way you - in addition - you are able to use the AUX of the BS1 for a turntable or maybe even for a small tv! Even better would be to use an Essence MK2/Core - this way you could  transfer the CD playback (and the sound of an optional vinyl player) to a modern NL/Mozart based setup in the home.   If this just is about a simple ‘first time B&O unit’, I’d personally recommend the Beosound 8 instead of the BS1. This has autosense on the Aux/line-in…..which makes it very handy, if you connect an Airplay/Chromecast/BT device there. And it should come with its own small remote control. The BS8 is in my opinion a very underrated unit. MM

Thanks MM, That is interesting, I also love Beosound 8 (especially after hearing a talk from Geoff Martin in "The Cube" at Struer about how much the digital signal processing had improved the sound). I hope to be able to feature this in a video soon. Yes, auto-sensing on the Aux input would have made the Beosound 1 even better, but on balance I think the addition of a CD player makes it a better all-round solution for someone wanting their first B&O product. Adding a turntable via the Aux input, now that would make it really great, what a good idea! Kind regards, Steve.

That's an interesting choice, Steve. The original Beosound 1 rarely gets much attention. A problem that I see with all of the aluminum grill speakers, though, is that they show dings very noticeably. It's challenging to find them pristine on the second-hand market after all these years. My choice of speaker to suggest to someone new to B&O would be the Beoplay A6 or Beoplay M5. These speakers are very affordable, have the modern streaming services as well as aux input, have that B&O tactile magic (especially the A6 where you just run your hand along the top to adjust the volume), and beautifully fit into any decor. Even better is to get both so that you can begin to appreciate B&O's multiroom benefits and expandability.

I am very pleased with my BeoSound 1 - bought for £120 on eBay a couple of months ago.  I used a small hammer to gently hammer out (from the inside) a couple of dents in the front grill and now it looks very presentable.  I mostly use if for FM radio (still going strong in UK), but occasionally for CDs and there's an AirPort Express connected to the Aux input. Login to view image EDIT:  The older ones (like mine, SW version 1.3) don't have the clock or timer.  There is just a 'sleep timer' function. EDIT 2: Having watched Steve's video more closer, I noticed that he selected AUX by pressing CD < and > simultaneously.  On my older SW version, you select AUX by pressing the search buttons (<< and >>) simultaneously.  (Or A.TAPE or AUX on the remote.)