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That’s the trouble – I can’t seem to add A.Setup successfully on the Beo4. I have added it, but then when I use the List button to cycle through extra buttons, it doesn’t come up.
If I go back into List settings I can see that A.Setup is there (available for me to move or remove), so I know I added it successfully, but I cannot seem to get it to appear in the extra buttons when I click List.
Location: LiverpoolI should add – I connected a network cable and the B&O app was able to find the Moment, and it’s visible in the app, so it’s ‘working’ in a sense, but no display.
Location: LiverpoolA yes, I’d forgotten about that (having tried and failed before to run it in Win11). I’ve tried v2.7.0, it installed fine. I ran it for my setup and it recommended the exact configuration that I have, but nice to have it confirmed!
Location: LiverpoolJust FYI – My ‘main’ PC is about to get a new motherboard and hard drive upgrade, which will mean a new install of Win 11. I didn’t really want to have to go to the trouble of reinstalling VirtualBox, setting up a virtual Win7-32 machine again, and fiddling about with the settings to get it all to work, so I thought of an easier solution – get a Win7-32 laptop!
I got one of eBay for £25, and the Beo5 config tool (as well as the 3rd party XML generator I found on the old forum) were easily installed on that – I’ll use that cheap laptop as my Beo5 programmer, as I have two Beo5s (one not working, but I’m hoping to fix it – see here if you can help!), and I know what I’m like – I’ll want to keep altering it. Having a Win7-32 laptop specifically for that purpose seemed the best option, and it was a cheap option too.
Location: LiverpoolHi all
Yes, I got it working. In VirtualBox (with Win7-32) I found that adding the USB port was quite easy. The problem I had was adding the connection between the virtual C drive and my host computer’s actual hard drive, so I could copy the installer program onto the virtual machine itself! I got a lot of help from google searches but eventually figured it out.
The configurator is installed and working now – I installed the 5.12 version first, updated the firmware on my Beo5, and then installed the 6.84 version. It seems to be working fine, and I have been able to create a nice setup for my various devices, including link room devices.
I haven’t tried to set up any third party devices yet, which I know can be more complicated, but I’m most of the way there.
Location: LiverpoolThanks – yes I thought that might be the problem but wasn’t 100% clear that I had understood it right, thanks for clarifying.
I have installed VirtualBox and installed Win7-32 within that, but I’m having trouble with it. I can get it to recognise the USB, but I cannot get the file transfer to work, so I can’t get the Configuration Tool’s exe file on to the virtual machine in order to install it!
I’ll keep trying and post here how I get on. I’m also considering the option of juts getting hold of an old, cheap Win7-32 laptop, as I’m sure it will come in useful again – I’m bound to want to reprogram my Beo5 in the future.
Location: LiverpoolJust for info – since posting this yesterday I found this page on the B&O site which explains how to set your Beoplay A8 into other options, including A.Opt 4 where it would only respond to link commands.
Sinc the little round remote that comes with Beosound 8 / Beoplay A8 has no Link button, I can only assume that those two models were set up to respond to standard Beolink IR codes but also the separate codes from the little round remote. Those codes must be unique to that little round remote – surely that’s the only way it could work.
Location: LiverpoolThanks
I’ve ended up with one of these remotes in a package of B&O stuff, which is why I ask. I don’t have a Beosound 8 or Beoplay A8 and have no intention of buying one, but it’s a nice little remote, and if it would have controlled my other equipment, I would have kept it.
However when I test it, it does not control my Beosound 4.
Since I added the original post I have done the ‘phone camera test’ to check that the IR LED is blinking when a button is pressed, and it is, so I would have to assume that it is working, but it does not send the same signals as a Beo4.
Shame, but not a major issue for me, I’ll just sell it on eBay. Thanks for your help.
Location: LiverpoolI think the idea from the developers is to keep ML products alive with streaming possibilities more than being used together with NL products
That’s exactly what I liked about it – at the time that the Kickstarter was started, I only had ML (or earlier) equipment.
I have since bought an Essence Mk2 and a Beolink Converter NL/ML, so those two together are effectively doing the job that the ML Streamer would have done for me.
It cost a bit more than the ML Streamer would have cost, but at least this way I’ve finally taken the plunge into the NL age.
Location: LiverpoolWhen you say that you were not able to control anything how did you activate the Essence in this case, via app?
I don’t remember for certain, but pretty sure I activated it with the app.
I would think that the Penta’s would display something, but i might not be the case with the MCL2AV in stand alone mode, but only work if the MCL2AV is connected to a Beomaster/Beocenter.
I didn’t think the Penta displays would ever work through an MCL2AV. We’re having work done in the house so my Beocenter 8500 is in storage, but when I get it back, I’ll have to test that!
Location: LiverpoolOh I should add that while I did change the options in the BS Essence so it was no longer in ‘Integrated Setup’ mode, the remaining items in my ML/NL network remained connected (Beolink Converter NL/ML, Beosound 4, Beovision 7), and I noticed that my BS4 continued to display the selected source (either N.Radio or N.Music). I didn’t think to check if the display on the BV7 was also displaying the source.
Location: LiverpoolMy RJ45-to-DIN fully wired powerlink cable arrived today from Sounds Heavenly (thanks Steve!), so I’ve started performing some tests.
To begin with, I went into the settings of my BS Essence and turned off the Integrated Setup option, then I connected that new PL cable to the PL1 socket.
Test 1 – BS Essence > BL Penta – Pass
This passed, with sound and display. The Penta’s came out of standby when I selected a source, and went back into standby when I put the Essence into standby. The displayed first showed LOAD TAPE when I powered it up, and also did that when I switched source between N.Radio and N.Music, but then after a few seconds displayed A.TAPE2, and the volume. It didn’t matter if I was listening to N.Radio or N.Music – both displayed as A.TAPE2 on the Pentas (Of course, I forgot to change the sound level settings in the Essence before I tested this, so now my entire village know the true power of the Penta!).
Test 2 – BS Essence > BL Passive > BV CX50 – Pass
Just a quick test to ensure that the new cable was able to power up the BL Passive, and drive the speakers. I connected a pair of CX50s. When I selected a source on the Essence, the BL Passive powered on and the source was heard.
Test 3 – BS Essence > BL Passive > MCL2AV > BL Penta – Partial Pass
When I selected a source on the Essence, the BL Passive powered on and the source was heard. No display on the Penta’s here, but I wouldn’t have expected that. I was not able to control anything via the IR Receiver (the old rectangular type) with my BEO4, but the Mute button on the IR Receiver did toggle the sound on and off, but you had to press it twice each time to toggle! The LEDs in the IR receiver worked, including the Timer LED, but I didn’t test if the timer was having any effect.
Test 4 – BS Essence > BL Passive > MLL2A > BV CX50 – Fail
In this test I got no response – the LEDs did not light up on the IR receiver and I got no sound. BUT: this is an MCL2A that I have only just got my hands on, and this is the first time I have tested it – it might be faulty, but I used this one as it is already fully wired up. When I have more time I will wire up another working MCL2A that I already had (but it is not currently wired up) and perform the same test again.
Test 5 – BL Essence > BL Passive > BL 3500 Mk1 – Unable to test
I have a BL 3500 Mk1 which has a DIN input for MCL, but I don’t have the right cable to test this and not enough patience or skill to create one myself, so this one will have to remain untested!
Location: LiverpoolWhat music server do you use, Carolpa?
Location: LiverpoolGood idea – will do.
Location: LiverpoolFollowing the above, I changed Beolink Converter settings back so that N.Music is now set to ‘Bluetooth’ rather than ‘Music’. This means that when I hit the N.Music button on my Beo4 (from Standby), nothing starts playing, but at least this way, I can listen to either Spotify or my music library, initiated from the B&O app, and controllable with my Beo4 once it’s already playing.
One annoyance for me – when you view an album in the B&O app, it show the tracks in alphabetic order according to track title, rather than by track order. That’s just rubbish!
Location: LiverpoolI’m so glad you asked me to check this, because I FOUND IT! Although the Music folder was shared, when I checked the Streaming Options and scrolled down, I found that the Essence was there and it was ticked for sharing, but below that was another item ‘Unknown Device’. I checked the IP address and this was my phone (upon which I run the B&O app), so enabling this solved it! Guy had also tried to tell me this earlier, but I had missed it. I just needed to scroll down and see it. What a bloody idiot.
So, in the web portal for my BLC I have set the N.Music source to ‘Music’ now, instead of ‘Bluetooth’. Now, if I start playing from my music library using the B&O app, my system comes out of standby and it plays. If I press N.Music on my Beo4, my system starts playing whatever was last played. I can play, pause, skip tracks with my Beo4.
Unfortunately however, this seems to have stopped Spotify from working. If I use Spotify to play to my Essence (with either N.Music or N.Radio selected as the source on my system), it plays for about 10 seconds, but then the sound goes off. Spotify shows it is still playing, and the B&O app also shows that it is still playing, but no sound is heard.
So, it seems I can have either my media library or Spotify, but not both. Further experimentation required, it seems!
Location: LiverpoolYes, I’m not an Apple user at all, so I use an Android phone (Pixel 6). I also dug out an old Android tablet to try it on that, but it was too old – the B&O app would not install.
Might be worth a try – next time I have a visitor to the house who uses an iPhone, I’ll see if they’ll let me borrow it for half an hour.
I know that B&O have always integrated better with Apple rather than Android, but I’m just not an Apple fan. Can’t say I’m really much of an Android fan either for that matter, but there’s no other alternative!
Location: LiverpoolUpdate – I still have not been able to get my shared music folder on my PC to show on the B&O app. It shows the device (a tablet PC running Win11), but not the contents. I’m sure this will be a Win11 issue (who is surprised!?). I think I’ll look on eBay for a cheap NAS and see if I can get it working that way.
One good thing though – I did discover I can control music (including Spotify) from that PC, simply using a Bluetooth connection. If I initiate playback via Spotify (or MP3s with Windows Music app), with the PC connected to the BS Essence via Bluetooth, my Beo4 will allow basic control – play, pause, skip tracks. If the PC is on and I select N.Music with my Beo4, it will start playback from the PC, of whatever track was last playing in whichever app is open.
I’m still waiting for the adapter cable to arrive to connect my BS Essence to my Beolink Passive, then connect an MCL2A and MCL2AV to perform the other suggested tests – I’ll keep you posted.
Location: LiverpoolOh, and Happy New Year to you too! Where are my manners…
Location: LiverpoolI’m not familiar with the Philips R12 (I can’t find that model on Google) but perhaps it has a built-in phono pre-amp? I may be wrong about the Yamaha DSP-A5 but when I looked at its specs, it didn’t have a phono input. I assume you are using your Philips deck plugged into Aux?
As for the RX2, I happen to be restoring an RX2 at the moment myself, and I also have another in full working order. It has two adjustments which depend upon which cartridge you have – usually it would be an MMC5 in an RX2, but could also be an MMC4. On the underside of the deck there is a small dial you adjust with a screwdriver to point to the correct type of cartridge, and then on the tonearm itself, you adjust the counterweight depending on the type of cartridge. Turn it all the way past zero as far as it will go, then turn it back to the right pressure fo the stylus. For an MMC4 that’s 1.2g, or for an MMC5 that’s 1.5g.
Location: Liverpool -
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