Strange - the second bunch of photos post had to be approved by a moderator - and as time stamp there is the time of the creation - not of the approval. So if you don't want to miss the photos... here's a little "push" of this thread...

Ralf

By the way: thanks for your kind comments!

Still trying to improve though...

Now playing with the home office room (BM 4500, BD CD 4500 and Wharfedale speakers - not linked yet, but...).

Once addicted to B&O, there's no cure, I am always looking at new stuff, new setups, even though I cannot afford the latest series of products I have even more fun in buying (and selling) some of the older things and playing with different configurations... It is just a hobby, don't you think so....?

Ralf

Hi Peter,

Just read that link:

The Mac mini has a disc reader/player, and reads all formats of standard DVD/CD/CDR etc. It doesn't read the HD standard discs, nor does it read SACD.

I don't think you'd hear a difference between a BeoSound 4 and a BeoSound 2300 player -- both would convey the musical signal to your active speakers through Powerlink, and it's the quality of the speakers that is decisive as far as the quality of playback is concerned. You may want to consider getting a good Digital-to-Analog converter and connecting that between your Mac mini and the BeoSound. The DAC inside the mini is not of audiophile quality.

How many CDs/DVDs you can fit on the server depends upon how you store them. You can use a RAID configuration, which means that if one of the harddisks in the server (mine has four) fails, all the information you have stored is still on the remaining three -- in other words, you have reserved capacity to ensure this kind of fail-safe in order to prevent loss of data. You can also just store your data raw and chance it. I'm using X-RAID on an Infrant NAS Server. Each DVD takes up to 7GB space; the CDs depends upon  the bitrate at which you store them, I'd counsel 320 kbps as a minimum.

The Touch is a universal unit, it communicates via wireless (you'll need an Airport Extreme Base Station) and you only need one Touch. You'll find that the other members of your family will want to use it, though. The server I'm using is capable of sending several movies and different tracks of music out to various outlets in my apartment at the same time (Tvs, computers, stereos), and my daughter has demanded her own Touch.

You only need one, though, to get the whole thing working, and then you can just bring it along with you to whatever room you'll be using it in. It will communicate with your Mac mini via wireless.

I'm personally waiting for iRed 2.0 which will make it possible for my Touch to also transmit Beo4 commands to the hardware. At present I'm using Beo4 to switch units off and on.
 

Thanks very much soundproof - I'm slowly getting my head around this technology. The IR 2.0 sounds like it will be worth waiting for, in the meantime I'll get on with designing the wiring system, incorporating the CAT6 recommendations and the Co-ax cabling suggestions too.

Cheers

Peter

Hi all, back again after many architect and engineers meetings! We're just about to start digging holes in the ground and filling them back in again! 😎

I have decide on the mac-mini route for now and will link it to other screens in the house, but unfortunately it's VERY limited down here on this tiny Isle! I can't stream video content from the net and use the apple tv set up as it can be used elsewhere in the world, so I'll ignore that I think and just use the mini as a music and stored video content server. Haven't decided on the external hard drive set up yet so am interested in others' thoughts.

On a technical level I have been quoted  around $3000 by the B&O guy in Auckland to wire the house up using the existing Beosound 2300 and Lab 3500 link speakers plus another pair. HOWEVER, he claims there might be some signal strength issues as the 2300 does not have ML - does anyone have any ideas on this? My 2300 has one aux and two powerlink outputs. My main question is this - what cabling is required to link in the other speakers and will there be any signal issues? Do the 3500 link room units need ML connection in order for them to receive signals from the B&O remote? Can I place an interface from aux to convert to ML and then distribute accordingly? If I need aux to accept the signal from the mac-mini (which I do) how can I sort out the need for ML if it's necessary? Can powerlink distribute sound to other speaker pairs or link room speakers - I guess I mean can speakers be linked is "series"?

Should I just listen to the B&O guy and let them get on with it or can I source the required cabling on the net and do it myself with the sparky? Are there screening issues that the B&O guy will by default eliminate, whereas I may have problems with? Do I need to solder connections myself and if so is it fiddly or straightforward?

Sorry for all the questions but I really regard you lot as a splendid bunch of mentors and and much needed support group! And don't get me started on what sort of lights/switches/windows/steel/................................................................😮

Joking apart we are very excited to be starting soon!🤩

Cheers for now , and I've tried to add an artists impression/CAD drawing of proposed house just for interest!

Peter