UPDATE. The Beosound 8 arrived today. After checking the exterior, I plugged it in and plugged in AUX cables to the back. The light turned on, green, but when I went to try the sound, nothing came out. Feeling slightly disheartened, I went to dig around in my box of old stuff and found an iPod Touch that has not been used in years. I charged it up a bit and plugged it into the dock. Nothing at first, but then I noticed that if I jiggled the dock a bit, it would intermittently send power, and once I found a position where the light stayed green, I pressed Play on the iPod Touch. 

And it worked!

So I tried it with my iPod Classic, which is what I use in my office at work. Nothing. I tried moving it around, still nothing. 

So then I dug up a 30pin to Lightning adapter and plugged in my iPhone 11. It was kind of precarious perched on the dock, but the green light came on and I got sound from the speakers!

So it appears that the dock has a short in it, but it also keeps the AUX input from working. If I understood what I've researched correctly, the iPod dock is the default and if nothing is plugged in, then it goes to AUX. Given that I couldn't get the AUX to work, I'm guessing that the dock is engaged somehow (though the light does not turn green).

My plan for the Beosound 8 was to connect it to an old Airport Express so that I could basically use the speakers as an AirPlay device in my home office. So far, that doesn't seem to work. At my office I have a bluetooth adapter attached to my Apple iPod Hi-Fi, so my next step is once I can make it over there, I'm going to bring the adapter home. Hopefully that should work.

In the meantime, any suggestions on getting the AUX input to work? 

Thanks for reading.