Beolab 3 and Avant - I'm stumped!

12 replies
C(
c310r (archived2)
Bronze
6 posts
Posted March 14, 2020 at 08:08 GMT
#2135355

Hi guys, new member here!

I'm seeking a little advice if I may.

 

I have a 3.1 setup with Avant (centre), 2xBeolab18 (front left & right, wireless) and 1xSVS sub (RJ45 powerlink to RCA).

It's awesome!

 

I've recently acquired a couple of Beolab 3's so I can go to 5.1. I already had a "receiver 1" so my plan is to run both Beolab 3's from the powerlink on the "receiver 1". 

 

As I'm in Australia and I have no patience to wait for international deliveries, I've made a powerlink cable RJ-45->Mk3 DIN.

I've set up a new speaker group for testing so I can temporarily exclude all the other speakers.

 

So I plug the 3's into the RJ45 powerlink on the "receiver 1" - green lights on the speakers! So far so good. (I know the "receiver 1" works ok because I was using it for the sub channel until recently).

 

Here come the questions….

  1. The Beolab 3's make sound… but *very* quietly and only from the tweeters. I'm getting nothing from the woofers. One's set to L and one to R, and I've set them both to "wall". Is there anything in my Avant setup that could cause this? Could it be cabling?
  2. As I'm using "receiver 1", I tell the Avant that WPL3 is "BEOLAB3". WPL (as all powerlink) can carry stereo… but when I look at the speaker roles I see "BEOLAB3" but have to set "left surround" or "right surround". I want that powerlink to send both the surround channels so the 3's can do L and R properly… how's this done?

thanks in advance :)

andy

Dyssegaard
Dyssegaard
Bronze
301 posts
Posted March 14, 2020 at 09:34 GMT
#2135356
c310r wrote:

Hi guys, new member here!

I'm seeking a little advice if I may.

I have a 3.1 setup with Avant (centre), 2xBeolab18 (front left & right, wireless) and 1xSVS sub (RJ45 powerlink to RCA).

It's awesome!

I've recently acquired a couple of Beolab 3's so I can go to 5.1. I already had a "receiver 1" so my plan is to run both Beolab 3's from the powerlink on the "receiver 1".

As I'm in Australia and I have no patience to wait for international deliveries, I've made a powerlink cable RJ-45->Mk3 DIN.

I've set up a new speaker group for testing so I can temporarily exclude all the other speakers.

So I plug the 3's into the RJ45 powerlink on the "receiver 1" - green lights on the speakers! So far so good. (I know the "receiver 1" works ok because I was using it for the sub channel until recently).

Here come the questions….

The Beolab 3's make sound… but *very* quietly and only from the tweeters. I'm getting nothing from the woofers. One's set to L and one to R, and I've set them both to "wall". Is there anything in my Avant setup that could cause this? Could it be cabling? As I'm using "receiver 1", I tell the Avant that WPL3 is "BEOLAB3". WPL (as all powerlink) can carry stereo… but when I look at the speaker roles I see "BEOLAB3" but have to set "left surround" or "right surround". I want that powerlink to send both the surround channels so the 3's can do L and R properly… how's this done?

thanks in advance :)

andy

I have a pair of Beolab 3 as left and right surround with my Eclipse. Each of them are connected to a Receiver 1, as a Receiver 1 only carries 1 powerlink channel.

So you have to buy one more Receiver 1 to get your setup to work.

Location: Copenhagen

Best regards Dyssegaard
LA
lawrencejmcook
BronzeFounder
713 posts
Posted March 14, 2020 at 11:53 GMT
#2135357
Hi Andy,

I’m afraid that each Receiver 1 can only receive a single channel of a 5.1 setup. That’s why it’s making you choose. To get independent Surround Left and Surround Right you would need either a second Receiver 1 or a cable.

Re. the quiet BL3s, this could be due to the program material, i.e. not much Surround or Rear content. But you could try connecting just a single BL3 to the Receiver 1, and see whether the volume is higher.

Alternatively, assign the Front Left role to that Receiver 1. Should be plenty of content there...

Lawrence
C(
c310r (archived2)
Bronze
6 posts
Posted March 14, 2020 at 21:22 GMT
#2135358

Ah, understood re the receiver - thanks for your replies. I'll hunt for another one :)

 

Still weird how I get nothing but treble from either of the BL3's. 

I've tried connecting one and setting it to "front left" - green light and music but no woofer.

Wondering if I got my cables wrong I made a 3.5mm jack to DIN cable to see if my ipad would send a different signal.

I took the 'trigger' from a breakout on the powerlink and combined the grounds - green light on the speaker.

Plugged 3.5mm into ipad - same result :( 

Beginning to wonder if I have a fault in the units... but both of them??

I think the next step is to get them looked at.

 

LA
lawrencejmcook
BronzeFounder
713 posts
Posted March 14, 2020 at 22:22 GMT
#2135359
Try directly connecting the BL3s to the Avant. Appreciate you’ll need a RJ45 to DIN Powerlink cable.

L
C(
c310r (archived2)
Bronze
6 posts
Posted March 14, 2020 at 22:53 GMT
#2135360

I'm getting pretty good at patching cables :)

Ok just connected both BL3's to PL4. Green lights on the speakers.

Avant is happy (doesn't say 'missing') and i get a faint white noise when scrolling through speaker connections.

Created a speaker group just for the BL3's and assigned front left and right. 

I'm getting stereo music from the BL3s but only out of the tweeters.

 

 

LA
lawrencejmcook
BronzeFounder
713 posts
Posted March 15, 2020 at 07:46 GMT
#2135361
So sorry, Andy, but if you are SURE that the cables are correctly wired, then it looks like a problem with both BL3s.

The reason I hesitate is that, with passive speakers it is really easy to wire one speaker out of phase with the other, e.g. left speaker correctly wired, but right speaker with positive wire connected to negative terminal. The audible effect of this is to get a really thin sound lacking in bass.

B&O’s factory-made Powerlink cables prevent that from happening by design. But if you’ve been soldering your own cables, there is scope to mix them up.

Last test: play just 1 speaker at a time in your new speaker group, perhaps by unplugging just 1 BL3. Even if a speaker is wired out of phase, on its own it will sound normal.

If the single speaker fails that test, then you almost certainly have an issue with both BL3s.

Lawrence
C(
c310r (archived2)
Bronze
6 posts
Posted March 15, 2020 at 08:27 GMT
#2135362

Many thanks Lawrence. 

I have someone coming round tomorrow with a 'known good' speaker so that'll prove whether it's my cables or not. Hoping it is!

As a completely separate cable test I created a female DIN to 3.5mm line in jack so I could do this:

Avant PL RJ45 -> male DIN (unplugged from BL3s) -> female DIN -> 3.5mm jack plugged into PC sound system line in (powered 2.1 Jamo system).

Interesting thing about this is I get full range... BUT it's a *really* low signal that I have to crank to 70%+ on the Avant to get meaningful sound on the Jamo.

Hoping this points to a crappy cable/soldering... will advise :)

 

thanks again

andy

C(
c310r (archived2)
Bronze
6 posts
Posted March 17, 2020 at 02:23 GMT
#2135363

Update - both BL3 woofers open-circuit :(

On a positive note my cables worked!

Thanks all for your input and stay safe.

andy

M(
mickhoog (archived2)
Bronze
3812 posts
Posted March 17, 2020 at 08:15 GMT
#2135364
c310r wrote:

Hi guys, new member here!

I'm seeking a little advice if I may.

I have a 3.1 setup with Avant (centre), 2xBeolab18 (front left & right, wireless) and 1xSVS sub (RJ45 powerlink to RCA).

It's awesome!

I've recently acquired a couple of Beolab 3's so I can go to 5.1. I already had a "receiver 1" so my plan is to run both Beolab 3's from the powerlink on the "receiver 1".

As I'm in Australia and I have no patience to wait for international deliveries, I've made a powerlink cable RJ-45->Mk3 DIN.

I've set up a new speaker group for testing so I can temporarily exclude all the other speakers.

So I plug the 3's into the RJ45 powerlink on the "receiver 1" - green lights on the speakers! So far so good. (I know the "receiver 1" works ok because I was using it for the sub channel until recently).

Here come the questions….

The Beolab 3's make sound… but *very* quietly and only from the tweeters. I'm getting nothing from the woofers. One's set to L and one to R, and I've set them both to "wall". Is there anything in my Avant setup that could cause this? Could it be cabling? As I'm using "receiver 1", I tell the Avant that WPL3 is "BEOLAB3". WPL (as all powerlink) can carry stereo… but when I look at the speaker roles I see "BEOLAB3" but have to set "left surround" or "right surround". I want that powerlink to send both the surround channels so the 3's can do L and R properly… how's this done?

thanks in advance :)

andy

Gday from Melb

This is my exact setup

I’m using original cables from the receiver 1 to my BL3 which are rears

They are quiet which made me think it was the BL3. Never understood why they were rated so well on here.

If I had them set directly with say an Essence Mk2 they perform really well.

But as rears in our setup - not much chop.

I did factory reset of the Avant last week actually from scratch and connected a mic. It made some of the speakers with like -7.4 dB which I had always cranked them up

I use Foxtel for everything and rarely play BR discs on the Avant.

From the reset it sounds better but I haven’t been really listening to it that much as haven’t had the time.

I also haven’t tried the BL3 plugged directly into the Avant just via the receiver.

When I’ve played BR discs in the past I’ve found them to be ok but never amazing

When I get back I’ll give a few movies a go now it’s been reset.

That being said even the Apple TV movies sound better than what comes through Foxtel.

In conclusion I don’t think it’s your cables and I dont think it’s your receiver 1
or
BeoWorld Gold Membership card
Join BeoWorld

Register to access the forums, reference material, and exclusive member benefits — including our monthly prize draw.

Become a Member

December 2026 Prize Draw

Gold Members Only

As a Gold member you're automatically entered into our exclusive prize draw — your chance to win iconic Bang & Olufsen products. A unique benefit of BeoWorld Gold membership, every draw brings a new opportunity to win something special.

View Prize Go For Gold