You have 4 BeoLabs (excluding the centre channel) - I take it that you are into surround sound ?

Therefore the only way to drive the stereo music AND surround sound is to have the BeoVision "on"

Can you live with using P.MUTE to blank the BV's screen when you are listening to music ?

I'd say, get yourself a Playmaker (as long as you still can), connect it to one of the analog inputs on the tv.

Pushing 'AV' before pushing the 'Source' button lets you turn on the tv 'audio-only'.

As for the A8 remote - you don't need that, if you are streaming or AirPlaying to the Playmaker.

You can control the volumen via your Beo4 as usual.

There is no way to do, what you intend to do with the tv being off!

For browsing your music with the Beo4, you would need to have the tv on anyway.

However, it is not possible 'to browse your music with the Beo4' without an additional PUC-controlled external box - (that is only possible on the newer BV's).

You could do some of it with the AppleTV (but not for/with non-Apple devices).

Browsing music on a tablet or on the iPad makes a lot more fun anyway.

The music can be on the device or on a NAS (or a PC/Mac) with a good DLNA server running.

In case you use iTunes and the Remote app (on an iDevice), you must be able to access your music library through iTunes.

Through MasterLink you could easily expand that to other rooms/get access to the Playmaker from there.

MM

elephant wrote:

You have 4 BeoLabs (excluding the centre channel) - I take it that you are into surround sound ?

Surround for movies only. Music in 2.1 setup  - 8002's + Beolab 11 (coming soon). Can I assign certain loudspeakers to a specific signal input? (i.e. to have only 8002's and 11 playing when AV3 (Playmaker) is on) ?

elephant wrote:

 Therefore the only way to drive the stereo music AND surround sound is to have the BeoVision "on" 

Can you live with using P.MUTE to blank the BV's screen when you are listening to music ?

I can :-)

Thank you

As far as I remember (?) using the 'AV' button before the 'Source-whatever' button will force a BV7-40 into Speaker 2 (front/sub). Otherweise it is easy to choose manually.

See your 'Sound Settings' for how you already have set up the speakers!

MM

Millemissen wrote:

I'd say, get yourself a Playmaker (as long as you still can), connect it to one of the analog inputs on the tv.

Can Essence do the job? (I like it's table/wall remote :-) )

Millemissen wrote:

Pushing 'AV' before pushing the 'Source' button lets you turn on the tv 'audio-only'.

As for the A8 remote - you don't need that, if you are streaming or AirPlaying to the Playmaker.

No, I was unclear... my point was that I used iPhone/iPad as a remote for A8, for browsing and playing it's content, and as you said - I found it amusing and more convenient than anything else (OK, except maybe BS5 ;-) )

Millemissen wrote:

You can control the volumen via your Beo4 as usual.

But I can do it from iPhone as well, right?

Millemissen wrote:

There is no way to do, what you intend to do with the tv being off!

For browsing your music with the Beo4, you would need to have the tv on anyway.

Of course, while TV is on. But I wanted to have both options - one while TV is on and other without TV being on, but now I see TV should be ON, but screen can be OFF (thnx for a AV tip! )

Millemissen wrote:

However, it is not possible 'to browse your music with the Beo4' without an additional PUC-controlled external box - (that is only possible on the newer BV's). You could do some of it with the AppleTV (but not for/with non-Apple devices).

Yes, that was my next question - which box to buy (who can do both and is smooth and intuitive to use, even for the people who use it for the first time)? Also which NAS drive and DLNA server software? Any suggestions?

Millemissen wrote:

As far as I remember (?) using the 'AV' button before the 'Source-whatever' button will force a BV7-40 into Speaker 2 (front/sub). Otherweise it is easy to choose manually.

See your 'Sound Settings' for how you already have set up the speakers!

MM

There is a tv - and there is a BV.

With a BV 7 you can choose in sound settings different speaker modes for video and audio when switch on the TV. If you use 'AV' and then a video source button on Beo4, you start BV 7-40 in audio mode. Means if you want to start with front speakers and sub, you have to select 'Speaker 2' for audio mode.

Räuber

The Essence would not work as you expect it to, when used that way.

See this thread for more about this:

/forum/general-discussion-and-questions/adding-beosound-essence-to-my-existing-setup#post-2026363

----

Sure you can do it from the iPhone as well.

But I (for several reasons) would recommend to leave that on almost max - and do the volumen control via the Beo4.

Find a good level, that fits with the overall volumen level of your system.

----

There are many good NAS devices - this is often discussed on the forum.

Don't pick the cheapest (and weakest).

Be sure that it has a good DLNA server installed and/or that you can add other servers easily to it.

B&O often recommend the Twonky Media Server as the DLNA server.

 

My personal advice would be a Synology - the 'size' depending on your needs for space and backup solution.

You can even AirPlay your files with the newest software running on those using their own apps.

Don't forget - if you have a MacMini on your network (and not too many music files), that can easily be used as the hardware for a DLNA server.

 

MM

Millemissen wrote:

Don't forget - if you have a MacMini on your network (and not too many music files), that can easily be used as the hardware for a DLNA server.

What is "not too many music files" ?

I have some 17,000 on my MacMini (admittedly not all at the highest quality), and at 126GB of music (and some iTunes movies) I am approaching the limit of the MacMini's 320GB hard drive which also contains family photos and family movie clips.

My point being that a dedicated MacMini should be sufficient for most people's music libraries.

Accepting (and excepting) that many here are not "average" 🙂

 

@elephant

I basically agree with you!

'not too many' - of cource - means more than you have free space for!

I am sure, that most people would have enough space on a MacMini, but you never know.......

And some people do have a NAS for backup purposes, and why not use that for the music files, even if you have a MacMini with enough space.

The MacMini does not have to be a 'dedicated MacMini', though - my MacMini is always on anyway.

MM