Barry Santini wrote:

I'm in.

Whether you do a kickstarter or not.
Where do I send my good faith deposit?

Barry

Great!

Unless demand goes through the ceiling no Kickstarter and no good faith deposit needed currently. Personally I neither like nor trust crowdfunding much but thanks for the offer! I'm stocking most of the needed components anyway and have my own production line for such boards...

Philip.

I wonder, what I would need it for?

Would streaming be built-in or through the AUX?

User examples, please?

MM

Millemissen wrote:

I wonder, what I would need it for?

Would streaming be built-in or through the AUX?

User examples, please?

MM

Good that you ask!

It would be a fully integrated streaming solution similar to the essence or the new core box but completely open-source. As a tinkering device for a fraction of the cost. Free of software-obsolescence and with some nice additional features like 2-way IR, PL data, amplifier, display, ... 
Thanks to the general open-source community all mayor streaming techniques and services are already covered. 

You'd only need a pair of (preferably older) BeoLab's and a smartphone / tablet either for streaming or configuration.

So think of a small device that e.g. connects via PL to your BL Penta or BL4500 or ... Depending on the streaming source it can control their displays and even push data over IR the e.g. a BeoLink7000. Wouldn't that be cool? A BL7000 remote (RDS version) that displays the name of a web radio station or the current song? So just one of many scenarios...

Philip.

Thanks Philip,

in that case I would not need it.

My Essence (2nd generation) already does what I need - and I can join in to it from remote NL devices.

I am sure a lot of BeoLab owners would like your project for a standalone setup.

Maybe you should also consider making a version with an analog line output (or an SPDIF-out) for connecting to a free input on a BeoSystem or alike.

MM

I think it's a great idea!

Sounds like a good idea for a new toy!

- IR integration should be made one way, too, so that we can control that device with a Beo 4, 5, 6, too.

- Showing the name of a current track / source on a little display would be nice. Additionally showing it on a Beolink 7000 would be super nice. :-)

Although you think Raspberry Pi is a toy i think it has a very big advantage over a custom board: Spare parts!
If a raspberry Pi based solution is defective, it is easy to replace the main computer (raspberry) and to find a replacement. If you design a custom board and it's defective in e.g. 5 years I bet that it would be much harder to find spare parts.

- With a nice little Display it could be placed individually in e.g. an old hifi components case like people building there custom receivers into Sony DAR-1000ES casings etc.

- Aux input: digital would be easier for you? Analog RCA input is more flexible for most people but than there's the need of a good DAC to enjoy the music on a Beolab speaker.

Hungedu wrote:

I think it's a great idea!

Okay, thanks.

Any ideas or wishes?

Great, thanks for your input!

TWG wrote:

- IR integration should be made one way, too, so that we can control that device with a Beo 4, 5, 6, too.

Yes, 2-way is automatically also 1-way compatible

TWG wrote:

Showing the name of a current track / source on a little display would be nice. Additionally showing it on a Beolink 7000 would be super nice.

Yes, especially driving the BL7000 would be really nice. I think effort on the software side would be limited as the 1-way protocol is already known and hopefully 2-way just expands that.

TWG wrote:

Although you think Raspberry Pi is a toy i think it has a very big advantage over a custom board: Spare parts!
If a raspberry Pi based solution is defective, it is easy to replace the main computer (raspberry) and to find a replacement. If you design a custom board and it's defective in e.g. 5 years I bet that it would be much harder to find spare parts.

Unless RPI the design will be fully open-source and all major components will be available for at least 10 years as they are sourced from well known vendors and distributors. No problem for repairing if that would ever fail.

TWG wrote:

- With a nice little Display it could be placed individually in e.g. an old hifi components case like people building there custom receivers into Sony DAR-1000ES casings etc.

Any ideas for a display? I don't like the alphanumeric types much but everything else gets expensive. For me, I don't need an on-board display but if there is demand...

TWG wrote:

- Aux input: digital would be easier for you? Analog RCA input is more flexible for most people but than there's the need of a good DAC to enjoy the music on a Beolab speaker.

Digital or analog aux input doesn't make much difference. Although i.MX6 does natively have S/PDIF input we might run into latency problems if people want to connect it to their TV. So even for the digital way we would need a separate IC to avoid delay time. So either an S/PDIF receiver or an ADC for analog. A good DAC is already there for driving PL.