tuttivini wrote:

@Guy: Yes, I control all my lightning in the living room, dining and kitchen remotely. In the shelf underside photo you can see a remote receiver which controls the ledstrips behind the floating wall.
It's a simple system from COCO (Click On Click Off), nothing fancy/hightech-domotica, but works great. All my wall switches are from this brand and in every lightsource is a receiver/dimmer. With one touch on the remote I can switch everything off if I leave the house/go to bed/etc. I also have a app on my phones/tablets. You can select scenes, set timers, switch everything on/off, dimm, etc. with the app.

I thought I recognised the COCO receiver/relay.  I use a Lightmanager Pro from JBMedia which receives the Beo4 light commands and controls the RF switches including those from the COCO system. Very similar functionality although I didn't get a wifi-bridge (I make do with the Beo4).  Unfortunately, JB Media no longer make a Lightmanager version that is B&O IR (455kHz) compatible.

Question, how do you connect the Marantz to the BL8000s? I had thought that Marantz didn't have preamp outs, are you using a speaker level to line level convertor? I don't think the DACs in the Marantz will be inferior to the Playmaker, generally I think differences in DACs are overblown and except in extreme cases illusory (one of those being the Apple Airport Express, which doesn't sound good running its internal DAC, but I suspect that's due more to the analog output stages and noisy environment inside the tiny box). If there's a sonic difference in the PM and Marantz I'd suspect it's would be a result of how the Marantz is connected to the BL8000s if you're using speaker level outs. 

Not sure how you get easily adjustable, and feedback on where the settings are set, using a PM as opposed to the Marantz for things like tone, loudness, etc. Also, in some environments the PM can be problematic with respect to wifi connectivity. Mine had issues, even though I can't even see my neighbors wifi. I tried setting a static IP address, then found for my case the issue was my laptop. I could stream from my iPad fine, then found I had a process on my laptop that would periodically seize control of the network card and cause severe dropouts. Removed it and I don't have issues now. Something to consider. 

@Jeff:

The Marantz NR1602 has two line level outputs for the front speakers.
So I connected my BL8000's directly with good quality RCA cables.
This way I can also use the audyssey measuring microphone to use room corrections.

The NR1602 also has a 'ZONE2' output, but unfortunately this is only possible on high level output.
I connected a high-to-low converter to this high-level zone2 output and ran the wires to my kitchen.
In the kitchen I have two BL6000's, so I can play everything I want through the zone2 option.
Works great, but I definitely can hear a quality difference in sound, due to the inferior high-low-converter (listening to the BL6000's, directly connected to the low level output, like my BL8000's, sounds much clearer).

If I'm going to use a Playmaker, I won't use wifi, because I have a wired option (switch is under the shelf), and I will look for a mk2 model. Can't play flac, but network functionality should be better on the mk2 model.

Some months ago I borrowed my dads Apple Airport Express (the model which looks like an Apple tv box) and connected it directly to my BL8000's.
Compared the sound (playing same song through airplay to it and to my NR1602) and the Marantz sounded absolutely the same.
So if are saying that the Airport Express doesn't sound good, I hope the Playmaker will improve my sound quality.

Should I turn on loudness on the PM if I buy one? 

leduds wrote:

Hi Tuttivini,

nice set up indeed. Due to a breakdown of my V1, I recently bought a 55" Samsung. This is my first non B&O TV, but I was not ready to spend neither 2000 Euros for changing the main electronic board of the V1, neither to buy a nice Horizon.

Anyway, the point is that I had to connect my Lab17s on it, through a Playmaker. The only solution that was found by my dealer was to put an A/C converter. I had the same problem as you have : what to do with my Beoremote 1 when I have just to control volume up and down ? I just opted for the Beosound / Beoplay 8 remote, and can confirm that it works fine.

Another solution could be the Essence remote on IR mode ???

Cheers,

Thanks for the confirmation! Good to hear the Beosound/Beoplay 8 remote 100% works with the PM.
Love the looks of this remote and how you can hold it in your hands or place it nicely on a table.

(If I choose to go this way, I borrow my dads Beo4 to set up things like Loudness on the PM, since this can't be done with the app, and after all settings are correct, I buy and use a Beosound/Beoplay 8 remote for the volume) 

How did you connect your PM to your new Samsung tv? Optical out on the Samsung > Optical to rca converter > rca wires to the anolog PM line-input?

Does the playmaker have sound adjustments? I thought it only had left and right adjustments...

Have to check, I was not present when the B&O dealer came for installation. I will let you know.

By the way, what is the TV on the photograph?

@leduds: My TV is a Philips 55" (55pfl7008), like it, but bought it just a little to early (when 4k was expensive, so this is only 1080p)

@Leosgonewild: You can adjust many thing in the Playmaker, using a Beo4 remote.

Weirdly enough  this is not mentioned in the manual.

Adjusting the speaker output maximum level:
link

Set it to a fixed volume:
link

Adjust bass/treble/loudness (downside is you can't visualise what you are setting, but I understood it does work):

@Leduds: And is the ir signal from the beoplay remote powerfull? Like the beo4.

Does the PM still receive a signal if your for example place it on its side? I ask this because I want to hang my PM under the shelf, like described. 

My PM is actually inside a cabinet, set to fixed volume. I control tracks via either the iPad Spotify app or Apple Remote app controlling my iTunes on the PC. I'd forgotten the PM could do tone controls and such, since I've had it set up as fixed for so long (couple of years). One thing I would really miss using a PM for tone control is seeing where the settings are at. That's one thing about my BS9000 that I've loved since the beginning, I can easily read the display from my listening area and can see where all the controls are set. After a while I come to know what works best for this or that album, for example early CDs that were a tad bright need -1 on treble, which is just about a perfect setting to tame the harshness without cutting it so much it gets dull. I also find the loudness contour B&O selected just perfect for later night, less robust listening, it makes the music sound full and balanced at low levels without sounding heavy handed as so many implementations of loudness do.

I have a Marantz 1402 I use for my AV setup, I was constrained to something that would fit in the shallow depth of the cabinet I have. I haven't felt limited by performance, it sounds quite good and 5.1 is all I need. I'm generally quite impressed with the Marantz stuff.

Jeff wrote:

My PM is actually inside a cabinet, set to fixed volume. I control tracks via either the iPad Spotify app or Apple Remote app controlling my iTunes on the PC. I'd forgotten the PM could do tone controls and such, since I've had it set up as fixed for so long (couple of years). One thing I would really miss using a PM for tone control is seeing where the settings are at. That's one thing about my BS9000 that I've loved since the beginning, I can easily read the display from my listening area and can see where all the controls are set. After a while I come to know what works best for this or that album, for example early CDs that were a tad bright need -1 on treble, which is just about a perfect setting to tame the harshness without cutting it so much it gets dull. I also find the loudness contour B&O selected just perfect for later night, less robust listening, it makes the music sound full and balanced at low levels without sounding heavy handed as so many implementations of loudness do.

I have a Marantz 1402 I use for my AV setup, I was constrained to something that would fit in the shallow depth of the cabinet I have. I haven't felt limited by performance, it sounds quite good and 5.1 is all I need. I'm generally quite impressed with the Marantz stuff.

In your case, you don't need tone control on the PM, because you've set it at a fixed level output. Your BS9000 does the tone control for this incoming signal, If you would also set those tone controls on the PM, it would be 'double', so for example if you would set the treble to +1 on the PM, and also on the BS9000, it would be +2 together) .

I think it wouldn't be a big problem for me if I don't see what tone-settings I make. I think I will do this only once (listen, adjust if needed and turn loudness on).  On my Marantz I alsno never change tone settings. I did this once (using Audessey meusurements), listened, played with the settings until I reached my prefered optimal settings and be satisfied with it. Sometimes I play with tonal settings again, but everytime I come back to the same settings...

Your Marantz NR1402 is almost the same as my NR1602 (except airplay, 2 extra channels, network functionality and arc).
Do you have it connected to the same (stereo) speakers as you use with your BS9000 and the Playmaker?

If so, can you tell me how the soundquality from the NR1402 compares to the soundquality coming from the Playmaker or the BS9000?
I ask this because I'm still not 'convinced' it buying a Playmaker, and removing the Marantz, would give me a better sound quality.
I wan't to buy a Playmaker for two reasons:
1> to get a better sound quality (if I'm already not at the 'limits' of my BL8000 mkII's...) 
2> to get a cleaner look (nothing vissible under the floating shelf)
(and 3> I like the looks of the Beoplay A8 remote (which I want to use with the PM) very much. Would look a lot more stylish than the Marantz remote on my table)