[CharlieWednesday]

My Beogram RX2 is fitted with standard RCA plugs rather than the usual B&O DIN plugs, and my understanding is that this is normal for the RX2 and TX2, as they were intended for the wider market (in fact, my own RX2 is connected to a modern, non-B&O amplifier via standard RCA connection).

You just need an RCA (female) to DIN adapter such as this one (but I’m sure you could find something better quality if you shopped around), and use that to connect it to the phono input of your 8500.

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

I had done a reset already yes, but I didn’t know about that new battery code – thanks.

I had left it on charge overnight and when I checked it this morning it was powered on and wanting to search for a base.

I entered the battery reset code you provided, and it said ‘battery flat’, then after a little while, it switched off.

I’ll leave it on charge again while I am at work today and see what happens when I get back.  If I don’t have any luck I’ll try another battery – I have some new spares.  This one may be faulty.

Thanks for the knowledge.  New useful info, from you, again!

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

I got hold of a Beocenter 9500 pretty cheap because it needed new tape belts (I know I can fix that though, done it before), and it has a cracked glass panel but otherwise in great condition.  I’ll find a new glass panel for it, given time.

However, it also suffers from another common problem – the Speakers 1 outputs don’t work.  I know this will be due to a faulty mute relay, but I’m useless with a soldering iron and my last attempt to fix that same issue in an old BC9000 only made it worse.

However, I do have a full amplifier component from a Beocenter 8500 which I stripped down for parts a while ago.  Can anyone tell me if the BC9500 and BC8500 amplifiers are the same?

I intend to use the BC9500 with active Beolabs, but all the same, it’d be nice to have it fully working.

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

Ah thank you, I had no idea the internals were so very different in the 9300.

I don’t think I’ll ever have use for the 2-way remote capability of the 9500.  I have a two Beo6 remotes but my understanding is that while that is a 2-way remote, that’s not compatible with the 2-way system in the 9500.  I think the 2-way functionality of a Beo6 is only for the BS5 Encore (which I don’t own).

However, the lack of a phono stage in the 9300 is a deal breaker – I’ll make sure I look for a 9500 instead then, not a 9300.

I’ve restored a few in this range before (8000, 8500 and 9000) so it’d also help me that the 9500 has many of the same components that I’m familiar with, unlike the 9300.

Thanks both for your help.

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

It works okay for me when my Beosound 4 is connected.  If I select N.Music or N.Radio, my system powers up, including the Beolabs that are connected to my BV7 TV, and that source plays (for N.Music, that’s digital music stored on my NAS).

The complication with using my Beocenter 8500 instead of the Beosound 4 is that I have to add a 1611 converter into the mix as well, and also the fact that both N.Radio and Phono would both be trying to respond to the same source selection.

Damn B&O for recycling Phono to N.Radio.  The love/hate relationship continues.

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

Agreed. Since I put the new battery in it seems to be a bit brighter, and I might be kidding myself but I swear each time I take it out of its base, it gets a bit brighter.

Of course, the landline hardly ever rings so I’ve just been picking it up occasionally for no reason!

It’s mostly just there because it looks very, very good there.

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

In the BLC web settings there’s a Sources Visible on ML tab, an Experience Mapped to NL tab and an IR Mapping tab.  I’m pretty sure I’ve exhausted every combination of settings on all three of those tabs now!

I’ve ordered the cable for my IR Eye to connect it to the BLC.  I’ll see if I can experiment further with that.

I’ve also dug through some of my old stuff and found that I already have an RJ45-Powerlink to RCA cable, and I also have some RCA to DIN adapters, so I will at least be able to connect the Essence to the Tape.2 input of my BC8500, and control the Essence’s sources with the app on my phone.  At least that’s something.

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

Ah, I’ve just read this in the BL Converter NL/ML installation manual:

IR mapping settings are only relevant if Power Link speakers and IR receiver are installed.

By which it means PL speakers connected directly to the BLC.

I can understand why IR Mapping might only work via an IR Eye that is directly connected to the BLC.  I do have a spare IR Eye but I don’t have the correct cable top connect it to the BL Converter.  I’ll order one so I can give it a try.

I don’t however see why it says the PL speakers would need to be connected to the BL Converter directly for this to work.  That’s never going to work for me as I have a full set of surround speakers, hence they are connected to the BV7 TV.

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

I’ve been experimenting for the full afternoon today, I think I’ve tried every configuration and option available!  If I make one thing work, another stops working.  It seems that using the three generations together just isn’t going to work.

I disconnected the 1611 converter and BC8500, set the NL/ML converter as an A.Master, and then tried to use IR Mapping to activate N.Radio with a different source button, but none of it worked.  N.Radio on my Essence will only respond to the N.Radio button, no matter what I do in the NL/ML converter’s IR Mapping settings.

I have one option left – if I decide I can’t live without the BC8500 and BG8500 in my office (in place of the BS4 that I have been using), I could just get a cable  (RJ45 Powelink to to 5 pin DIN) to connect the Essence to the Tape.2 input on BC8500.  It means I would lose the ability to control N.Music or N.Radio with my Beo4/Beo6 remotes, but I might be prepared to live with that.  That would take the NL/ML converter out of the equation, and if so I might as well disconnect the BL Gateway too, as I don’t really have much use for that other than as an interesting toy.

 

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

Thanks for the suggestion, but alas, it didn’t work.  The results were the same.

 

I also tried removing everything else out of the network – just the BV7 and the BC8500 connected together (via the 1611), and found something unexpected – if I select a source on the BC8500 panel, the speakers don’t power on.  They’ll only power on if I select a source on the remote.

I assume this is a limitation of the 1611, and that won’t work for me, so I’ll go back to using the BS4 in that room, I think.

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

Today I attempted my experiment using both a 1611 converter and an NL/ML converter in the same system.  It didn’t work.

The 1611 is doing its job – my speakers are connected to my BV7 TV and if I select Phono (or N.Radio) as a source, my BG8500 starts up and I hear it, and I can control it by remote.  Therefore the 1611 is doing its job – taking the A.Aux link from my Beocenter 8500 and bringing it into my ML network.  And yes – I did ensure everything else was already connected before I powered the 1611!

However, I cannot get sources to play from my Essence Mk2.  I have tried using the NL/ML converter’s options to make it work but it won’t.  For example I have tried mapping source DVD2 (which was unused) to the Essence for N.Radio, but when I press DVD2 on my Beo4, I get nothing.  I’ve tried the same with N.Music too – but got nothing.

Using the B&O app (on Android), if I start to play digital music from my NAS, or B&O radio, it shows as playing in the app, but I get nothing else.

The NL/ML converter has a log page and all I am getting is this, when I try to select DVD2 as a source:

Mar 16 10:06:02 (none) BLC[1141]: [info]:Client disconnected. Message: Socket error. Error: Broken pipe, ErrorCode: 32 [Notifier.cpp:233]
Mar 16 10:06:02 (none) BLC[1141]: [info]:Dismissing HTTP Response due to errorState [Http.cpp:349]

So, it’s looking like the BL Converters from two generations aren’t going to talk to each other.  Shame.

I’ll leave it all wired up for now in case anyone has any questions, solutions or ideas!

Location: Liverpool
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[CharlieWednesday]

I got my BC8500 and BG8500 out of storage this weekend, so was able to carry out one more test:

Test 5 – BC8500  > MLL2AV > BL Penta – Partial Pass

Connected via PL Mk2 cables so they will transmit the display data, but no display on the Pentas.  Sound was fine, but no display.

 

Note that I have the 8500 out of storage, my intention is to use it as my main audio system in my office (replacing the BS4).  I’ll be attempting to connect equipment from three generations to see if it all works together, and I’ll report back when I’ve got it all wired up and let you know.  This is the plan:

Main Audio System:

• BC8500 (Opt.0) > BL Converter 1611 > ML Junction Box

Then from the ML Junction Box:

• ML Junction Box > BV7 (Opt.2)
• ML Junction Box > BL Converter NL/ML
• ML Junction Box > BL Gateway

Then for digital audio:

• BL Converter NL/ML > BS Essence Mk 2

The BS Essence Mk2, BL Gateway and BL Converter NL/ML are all also connected via NL.

The speakers are connected to the BV7, being BL Penta (front), BL 600o (rear), BL 7.1 (TV centre) and BL 7.4 (cinema centre).

It’ll probably take me a while to get it all wired up.  I know that the BC8500 will want to go to Phono while the Essence will want to go to N.Radio in response to the PH remote command, but I should be able to get around that using the IR Mapping capability of the NL/ML converter.

I’ll report back here with the results.

Location: Liverpool
My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

The second Beo6 batter from eBay arrived today, so I put it in the ‘dead’ Beo6, charged it for an hour, then connected it to my PC.

It worked!  To my surprise it connected and a new profile was created.  No lights/screen came on but I had expected that from the advice given in the other post linked by Stoobie.  I created a basic configuration, hit the button, and lo-and-behold, the screen came on with ‘No valid configuration’ displayed.   It took quite a bit of time the firmware to update, but once it was done, the screen came on, my configuration was displayed, and it now seems to be working.  I haven’t tested it fully yet as I have put it back on charge to charge fully, but it’s looking good.

You were right Matador – there really is no such thing as a truly ‘dead’ Beo6.

 

Location: Liverpool
My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

The new battery I got from eBay has been in my working Beo6 for just over a week now.  I do use it every day (although admittedly not all that much), and it has spent a little bit of time in its dock connected to my PC when I have decided to alter the buttons once or twice, but the battery is holding up well – showing 75% now.

I ordered another one of the same battery to see if it will help reinvigorate my other ‘dead’ Beo6 but it hasn’t arrived yet.  I’ll let you know how I get on with that.

I did go to a B&O store on Saturday by the way, and asked about their ability to fit new batteries in a Beo6 (and also my Beocom 2).  They looked at me like I’d asked for a new wax tube for an Edison gramophone.

Tell you one thing though – I always thought the Beovision Theatre looked a bit ugly in the photos on B&O website but it isn’t when you see it for real. It really isn’t.

Location: Liverpool
My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

Ah thank you guy, I don’t have any circlip pliers and was too impatient to order some and wait for them, so I tried your second method, only rather than using pliers to bring the two screws together, I used my teeth!  My dentist won’t thank me but I got it out (with some difficulty), and the new battery is now installed.

Location: Liverpool
My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

I have a new battery for my Beocom 2 and have fallen at the first hurdle, almost.  After unscrewing the bottom plate and disconnecting the cable, there’s a round plastic thing that holds the battery in place.  I’ve tried every which way to pull it out using long nose pliers, while being careful not to snap it, but I can’t get the damned thing out.  Any advice would be much appreciated.

Location: Liverpool
My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

Yes I do see them, but they seem to be much dimmer than they should be – they give off very little light.

Fortunately mine does not seem to suffer any other problems with the display (which I have read about), it’s just the dim backlight that’s an issue.

I did notice however that if left out of the base, the battery lasts very little time, so I have ordered a replacement.  Maybe a new battery with more power will help the brightness.

Otherwise I’ll just learn to live with it – I don’t have the skill to replace those lamps!

Location: Liverpool
My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

You may be onto something there.  I got out my old Win7 32bit laptop which has config tool 6.84 already installed, connected the dock, and connected the ‘dead’ Beo6.  To my surprise Windows made the ‘device connected’ sound, and the config tool recognised it and created a new profile for it.  The Beo6 itself however did not light up, then after a couple of minutes on the dock, Windows made the ‘device disconnected’ sound, and I’ve had nothing since.

I tried installing the earlier 5.12 version of the config tool but got nothing from that, and I tried opening it up and disconnecting the battery (as recommended in B&O’s service manual fort hr Beo6), then putting it back in the dock, but got nothing from that either.

The battery I got for the restored Beo6 was quite cheap though, so I’ll buy another and see if I can get any further with it once it has a new battery in it.  The fact that it responded at all when I first connected it to the old laptop is telling me that there’s some life still in it!

Thanks for the advice.

Location: Liverpool
My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

Ah that’s interesting, I might try some of that with my ‘dead’ one then, before I give up on it.  Thanks for the link.  I have put it onto the dock which is connected to my PC and the PC is not recognising it, but I won’t give up just yet.

As for the working Beo6 that I bought the battery for, still working, and the battery is still showing about 85%, so it’s looking like a good battery so far.

Location: Liverpool
My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

Battery from eBay arrived (this one), installed quite easily in the Beo6, and I’m happy to say it works.  I left it to charge for a couple of hours then took it off the charger.  I’ve also had it connected to my PC a couple of times to configure it, but after a few hours with a little bit of use, it’s still showing an almost full battery.

I was also quite pleased that once I first configured it and the software was updated to 3.40a, I was able to connect it to my Win11 PC rather than having to use an old Win7 32-bit laptop I had bought specifically for programming my two Beo5s.

I did in fact buy two Beo6, not one, but the other ones does appear to be dead – once the battery was fully charged in thew working one, I added it to the other Beo6, but got nothing from it.  I did get them very cheap though so it was still worth it for the one that I did get working, and the other one can do for parts – they are both in fantastic cosmetic condition.

After I have been using it for a little while and can give a more thorough report on the battery reliability, I’ll post again.

Location: Liverpool
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