Millemissen wrote:

Note (if someone not already know this): the AV7000 was never sold in Europa - was for the North American market.

MM

Lucky us. 😕

The AV7000 replaced a Fosgate processor, pre-digital daze, with their proprietary DPL decoding that gave stereo surrounds. The AV7000 was a very poor substitute.

And then there was the most annoying thing of all, since I used it with a plasma set, the set jammed the IR receiver on the AV7000. I went through long enough being only able to do things like change the volume or turn the system off during dark scenes, just about made me pull my hair out. Even the Beo4 wouldn't work to control the damned thing when the screen was even remotely bright. If the scene wasn't as dark as a lump of coal in a black cat's backside, no joy controlling it.

Still have it up in a closet.

Kind of funny story about this.

I just move in in a new build residence. As you may know, all things are sometimes not very well done in the first shot.

As was the TNT: aerial digital TV here in France, the reception was weak… I noticed that because I wanted to have TV from the TV set without any box around. I was struggling with the constructor to make him understand it didn't work as nobody else was complaining because they were using internet boxes (that is using the TV as a monitor only). 

I finally get them to fix it and now it's working great.

But now that here in France, different operators are fighting between them, some of the major national channels are simply cutted from the box feed!

But as people as even forgot they had a TNT Tuner built in the TV, they just wait for the feed to be reestablished as it could be as simple as a 10€ wire for them to have it (in better quality!)

Bottom line, if in may previous home i did use my old CRT tv as a monitor too, I like to be independent from any boxe today to have the minimal service required after a long busy day…

After eight years with a Panasonic TH-50PF20 + Beosystem 2, Mac Mini via Cambridge DAC as Mediacenter and a Beoport + Linkplayer for Radio, I decided to go UHD/4K.

Was also quite tempted to buy a BV or Beosystem 4, but finally prices kept me off to purchase. Also some other reasons, mainly also mentioned by other guys here in the forum.

Now I have got a OLED Loewe Bild 7-65 for video and the Essence MKII as audio source. Both connected to the latest Almando Multiplay (#1003, incl. WISA) which is switching a pair of Beolab 5000 as fronts and a Beolab 7-4 as center.

Works perfectly in terms of picture (OLED!) and sound quality. Also usability is very smooth. In the Bild 7 I can even adjust all the speaker specifics as distances, levels and crossover frequencies for each individual one. In the Essence I could set the Beolab 5000 to a Penta (or Beolab 5) - sound is way better than my old setup with the Beosystem 2 MKIII.

Assisted by an Apple TV 4K I get all the current state of the art streaming services.

Downsides:

- when the Bild 7 is not producing any sound for >2min, the Beolabs 5000 being switched off by the Almando. Happens actually only if I change settings or play around in the TV’s menu. While watching movies, it won't happen.

- Biggest!: no Beo4 anymore. But the aluminum Loewe Assist is perfect in functionality. It can control the Apple TV 4k via HDMI CEC, and directly the Mac Mini as a simulated Apple Remote. So at least, I need only one remote for all devices.

I got also a new Beo6. Maybe I will program this one, but it seems very time demanding and I need to dig into this topic. Perhaps it's not worth nowadays anymore to use that piece. The Loewe Assist is also nicely built.

Is anyone still familiar with Beo6 programming? The config tool I got, but the XML Generator I cannot find anymore. I also have an IR Trans lying around, this I would probably need for this exercise.

stampfki wrote:

After eight years with a Panasonic TH-50PF20 + Beosystem 2, Mac Mini via Cambridge DAC as Mediacenter and a Beoport + Linkplayer for Radio, I decided to go UHD/4K.

Was also quite tempted to buy a BV or Beosystem 4, but finally prices kept me off to purchase. Also some other reasons, mainly also mentioned by other guys here in the forum.

Now I have got a OLED Loewe Bild 7-65 for video and the Essence MKII as audio source. Both connected to the latest Almando Multiplay (#1003, incl. WISA) which is switching a pair of Beolab 5000 as fronts and a Beolab 7-4 as center.

Works perfectly in terms of picture (OLED!) and sound quality. Also usability is very smooth. In the Bild 7 I can even adjust all the speaker specifics as distances, levels and crossover frequencies for each individual one. In the Essence I could set the Beolab 5000 to a Penta (or Beolab 5) - sound is way better than my old setup with the Beosystem 2 MKIII.

Assisted by an Apple TV 4K I get all the current state of the art streaming services.

Downsides:

- when the Bild 7 is not producing any sound for >2min, the Beolabs 5000 being switched off by the Almando. Happens actually only if I change settings or play around in the TV’s menu. While watching movies, it won't happen.

- Biggest!: no Beo4 anymore. But the aluminum Loewe Assist is perfect in functionality. It can control the Apple TV 4k via HDMI CEC, and directly the Mac Mini as a simulated Apple Remote. So at least, I need only one remote for all devices.

I got also a new Beo6. Maybe I will program this one, but it seems very time demanding and I need to dig into this topic. Perhaps it's not worth nowadays anymore to use that piece. The Loewe Assist is also nicely built.

Is anyone still familiar with Beo6 programming? The config tool I got, but the XML Generator I cannot find anymore. I also have an IR Trans lying around, this I would probably need for this exercise.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE

I still do Beo5/6 programming using my iPad configurator App.

/Jacob

Interesting. Would you share that?

stampfki wrote:

Interesting. Would you share that?

Its on the App Store (Beo5/6 ThirdParty Configurator)

/Jacob

With two weeks experience and I wanted to give a quick update:

So far everything is fine but:

- Almando Multiplay: if I stay too long in e.g. KODI without any audio signal supply (no watching movies, just searching something) the Alamando shuts down the Beolabs. Actually not an issue, it's designed like this, but unfortunately this happens also when starting a video stream and buffering takes too long. When the movie finally starts, the Almando is not reactivating the speakers anymore. Only solution is to stop the movie and restart hoping the stream starts before the Almando timeout.

- Loewe remote is a pain in terms of usability. I have my Mac Mini on the STB button, so its directly controlled by the remote emulating Apple Remote IR commands. But since the Mac is not HDMI HEC compliant, I cannot put the HDMI3 source directly on the Loewe STB button. Needs 4 clicks on the remote in order to see KODI on the screen.

So now I’m spending some time to program my Beo6 and IR Trans Translator. Not done yet but works quite well.

The Almando got Powerlink sockets (in and out) as far as I know... and it does not provide 5V power up/down signal ??!

Stefan

Does anyone from Almando customer support ever reply to emails? I'm wanting to buy one and asked a couple of questions 2 weeks - no reply......

I find them very responsive, either on phone or mail. Not sure about their English skills.