Beolab 8000 + Beolab 2 connect to Amp

[phiI]

Hello,

I have a pair of Beolab 8000 and a Beolab 2 that i want to connect to my amp, i have all necessary Pre-outs, but i have an issue with the beolab 8000 pair where they do not turn on at low volume when using the RCA connection/occasionally turn off by themselves.

I have bought a pair of powerlink trigger cables with Aux (mistake by me to buy AUX as i did not see the powerlink to RCA trigger cable when i bought them) before the Beolab 2 came, and that works just fine on the 8000 speakers, but i was wondering how to do the optimal setup now that the sub is arriving.

I am considering 3 different setups:

1 (temporary setup before cables in setup 2 arrives if needed):
Connect both 8000 speakers to the sub for “power on” information
Sub connected with aux trigger cable to a “aux<->RCA” to amp
8000 connected with RCA cable and set to Line mode

2 (direct connection for all speakers to amp):
Seperate powerlink trigger cables with RCA connected directly to SUB (buy new cables)

3 (sound routing and management controlled by sub):
Connect both 8000 speakers to the sub for audio and power on.
Beolab 2 connected to AMP with Powerlink Aux cable and Aux <-> RCA Left/Right adapter (or eventually powerlink trigger cable with left right RCA).

New on the forum and tried to do a search, couldn’t find too much information on my exact situation, hopefully someone on here is able to help, thanks in advance.

[Tignum]

Hello Phil and welcome,

I would say that if your amplifier is stereo (and has no specific subwoofer connection) then it is best to connect the 8000s to the PowerLink output sockets of the BeoLab2 using good PowerLink cables. This is how B&O has designed it to work: the BeoLab 2 filters out the lower frequencies and the 8000s do not have to deal with those anymore.

The BeoLab 2 then needs to be connected to the Amp with a PowerLink cable that somehow gets the trigger signal. This 5V signal will tell the BeoLabs to switch on. This is what you refer to with the ‘AUX/RCA PowerLink trigger cable’ I think.

Steve at Sounds Heavenly (site sponsor) is always happy to help! I think he is back tomorrow. I would not be surprised if he will step in, correct me, and help you. Also in case your amp has a specific subwoofer connection that makes it a bit more complex.

Or find a nice BeoMaster/Sound/System with PowerLink connections :-)?

Best of luck, Johan

[phiI]

Just to clarify, as i see i didn’t write it completely correct, the amp has sub out so for setup 1 and 2 the sub will be connected to sub out

[Tignum]

If your amplifier has a specific sub out, then connect all speakers separately to your amplifier, not via the BeoLab2. You otherwise might risk that the higher frequencies are filtered out by the amp already, and they do not reach the 8000s.

Checking some webshops for cabling that is meant to connect BeoLabs to pre-outs, they all feed the (5v) trigger signal into the PowerLink cable through either 3.5mm trigger port, or a USB port. The sellers claim that the regular 12V trigger signals of such amplifiers are brought back to 5v by the cable. USB is 5V already. These cables are not cheap in my opinion!

Here my knowledge/help stops. Maybe a BeoWorld member with actual experience can help you with any other doubt. Good luck!

[Steve at Sounds Heavenly]

Hi,

You can use trigger cables to activate just about any Beolab speakers (with a few excpetions such as Beolab 5), but they are needed for Beolab 2, 2500, 7-x and 10 speakers which don’t have a line input option. They can also be used with speakers such as Beolab 8000 to force the speakers to remain on instead of having them click on and off when the sound plays (this is often an issue when using them as rear surround speakers).

I use a separate mains-derived trigger signal in my cables rather than USB, as the USB power rails in many audio products can be electrically noisy, causing unwanted pops and bangs to be heard through the speakers. I don’t advise ever using 12v outputs from an amplifier or receiver to trigger Beolab speakers, as all of the receiver manufacturers that I spoke to said that doing this would void their product warranty and one said that this could potentially cause an equipment fault.

Please feel free to get in touch via my sponsor link below with any specific questions. I can usually get these speakers working well with any model of amplifier, please let me know the full model number of the amp and I can help further.

Kind regards, Steve.

[Author]

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