Mike wrote:

I can definitely confirm that the Beolab 5 are controllable with the Logitech remotes (I have tried the touch ant the ultimate touch including the hub). 

they need to be set in to the correct mode (therefore you need a beo4, changing the mode is not possible with the harmony), and everything works well. 

Mike, I assume they're running in "option 1" mode? Based on that the Harmony should have commands like power on / off and volume? Can understand the need for a Beo4 to initially set mode as probably BL5 would be set mode 0 "powerlink data".

I currently have a Harmony Elite controlling a LG tv and s8 connection hub & BL9. Will probably be upgrading to BL5s and would be nice to have one remote - with a beo4 as a backup.

If you're having an issue with the Harmony not correctly controlling a Beo product, contact them via email at their support center. I went back and forth with them several times when trying to control my old AV7000. They'd make a change, send me a new file to load to the remote, have me tell them what worked and what didn't, then repeat. Took three tries but they got it right, and earned quite a bit of respect from me for their support.

alee wrote:

This is not quite correct. I have a pair of Beolab 5s and a Logitech Harmony ultimate setup.  I have my speakers in A OPT mode 4.. The setup can in fact turn on the speakers but cannot turn them off. I use a non-B&O preamp to adjust volume. 

Now, I haven’t tried to use the Logitech harmony to do things like change the A OPT or sound settings (including sound store). I have a beoremote one and Beo4 remote for that. But I can confirm that once set up, you can at least turn he speakers on. 

If I read the above, and then subsequently:

Jeff wrote:

If you're having an issue with the Harmony not correctly controlling a Beo product, contact them via email at their support center. I went back and forth with them several times when trying to control my old AV7000. They'd make a change, send me a new file to load to the remote, have me tell them what worked and what didn't, then repeat. Took three tries but they got it right, and earned quite a bit of respect from me for their support. 

Then this sounds like it's fixable?

If so, surely someone must have gotten this to fully work with the BL5?

The reason I want to be sure is I've auditioned a set of BL5 and they were very nice. Being able to operate them smoothly however, is also a key deciding factor for me.

Can anybody fully confirm they've got a setup in the likes of a non B&O source, hooked to the BL5 with a digital cable and controlled all the kit using a Logitech Harmony (ideally using the hub and Harmony's app)?

fully confirmed. thats exactly what i do.

have beo4 as backup to set the correct mode, and the daily use is operated with the harmony.

Mike, thanks for that. Much appreciated.

Do you use the logitech hub to control this all, or the remote itself (which requires aiming)?

Did you need to take specific steps in order to get this to work?

Just to check: you can make an activity like: play music, you press that on the Harmony app, and everything starts up and powers down without needing to use the Beo4 remote? Also, while playing, the harmony app/remote can control the BL5 volume?

i use the hub to control everything. i did nothing special, just place the hub in the range of the lab5s and the rest of my equipment.

and yes, it works exactly as you expect.

setting it up is straight forward:

you add activities like "music listening", then you set the involved equipment (like beolab5 and a radio), set the input that should be selected (e.g. radio for the lab5 and tuner for your radio,...), where you cange the chanel (on the radio) and where you want to control the volume (on the beolabs).

thats it. the rest works fine (at least in my system :-) )

until now, i could not find a thing that the harmony can not control (even the irobot vacuum cleaner, the fire tv stick (just with the hub, becaus its bluetooth controlled,...).

the only negativ thing that i can say about it, is, compared to the beo4 it's like an ugly piece of palstics in the hand --> like almost any other remot controls

regards

mike

Mike, great. Thanks for your input.

Does the hub need a clear line of sight to the BL5s? I.e. does the hub need to be in a distinctively visible place, close to the BL5s?

Thanks again so much.

Edit: I guess what I'm trying to ask is: are the BL5's infrared receiver by any means sensitive?

depends on the surrounding. in my previous apartment it was not necessary to have it aligned.

since i'm in my new house (in a much bigger living room, and the bl5 in the sunroom with a lot of glass) it is not that easy anymore. so i placed the hub in a high position, to get a direct sight connection.

regards

While it would be nice if Harmony offered an upmarket, metal, sexier remote that maintained their excellent functionality, they do make a very good, flexible, easy to program universal remote. I am consistently impressed by their offerings, especially whenever I need to reprogram mine for a new piece of hardware, the ease of adding or changing things is impressive.

In my case, due to the Hub placement, I found out that the BL5 IR eyes are not easy to activate, so I have defined my system to send the IR commands from the Harmony hand piece.

Don't forget that you can send IR commands from the hub using the two IR extenders as well...