[DT79]

I’m by no means an expert so someone who is by all means correct me, but I have asked very similar things in the past and based on those replies my understanding is that in terms of basic sound quality there ought not to be any difference. The BCC has a more modern bluetooth and I think Mozart is just their most modern streaming and web interface platform giving you more features and flexibility via the app (such as the ability to tailor the EQ). I’d be interested to know what, if anything else.

Both the BCC and the BSC are for streaming to. Neither can connect wirelessly to speakers on its own. In both cases for that you’d need the Transmitter 1. The T1 has a mode for 2.1 WISA speakers wherein it will manage the crossover between BL 18s and 19, as I understand it, leaving you only to set the sub level and distance/phase.  Whereas if you connect the BCC or the BSC via PowerLink you can daisy-chain B*C to one BL18 to the other BL18 to the BL19, but there is no crossover filtering meaning that the BL18s will output their full range in addition to the 19 outputting the bass. That overlap may make setting it up satisfactorily more difficult. Also it means that you lose one of the benefits of using a sub which is to alleviate your speakers of producing bass which should aid their performance and increase overall headroom before ABL or other protections kick in.

As to whether it sounds better via WISA or PL, I’ll let someone else comment as I’ve not yet heard either.

I have my 18s running via optical.  I’d be interested in any experiences of WISA vs optical.

Perhaps someone could also confirm my understanding that you can’t connect up 18s via optical and then run a power link off of one to a 19?

Freddy Landmark wrote:

hi everyone, I still haven’t seen if the BeoConnect Core is better than a core for just sound? set to beolab 18 and 19 and does “Mozart-based” mean something? and lastly, I can’t find out whether cables or a transmitter give the best sound, some say the bass can’t be controlled by cables? Thanks in advance for all your advice Freddy Denmark

[DT79]

Hi @pvenkates, if this is still available, will you accept £300 delivered to UK?

[DT79]

Thanks for your reply. If I understand correctly, and to put this in terms I understand, what you’re basically saying is that the loud parts of the signal are exceeding 0dBfs which is causing distortion when decoded by the DAC in the AV processor?

Thats a reasonable theory and would explain why it happens from some sources/soundtrack and not others and why the room correction EQ also appears to have an effect.

now I come to think about it, I have only heard the problem from different apps on the TV (Plex playing back files or streaming services), not external sources like sky box or blu-ray. Is there some kind of audio setting on the TV that I should be looking for?

I will continue to experiment with the amp’s eq as well.

Die_Bogener wrote:

I have something like that with HDMI and DVD Player Software. The sound is playing with 16-bit resolution. A loud section of the music/movie can use these 16-bit 100%. If you use a software, that is increasing this 16-bit range to make it louder again, then there is a software bug… it’s an overrun of the system, you would need 17 or 18 bit or even more… and these bits are not available. It’s a cheap and mean software bug of calculating the value. It would be better, to limit the sound to the maximum instead making a overrun…

[DT79]

FYI, in case anyone finds this with a similar issue…

I’ve confirmed that it really is just certain soundtracks. I dug out the disc of the rip mentioned above where I first noticed the issue and it played fine, even when turned up very loud: no distortion. The rip was not 1:1 I had converted the soundtrack to save space.

I think the issue might also be with the Anthem Room Correction EQ curve as I tried toggling it off when experiencing the distortion and it reduced significantly.

I think it might be a combination of the characteristics of the soundtrack and the ARC EQ.

 

 

[DT79]

Millemissen wrote:

DT79 wrote:

The essence mk2 lacks chrome cast support in comparison to the Core if I’m not mistaken, is that right?

————

Not in my case.

MM

Thanks, good to know.

[DT79]

The essence mk2 lacks chrome cast support in comparison to the Core if I’m not mistaken, is that right?

[DT79]

I know, and by no means am I saying that the type of product I suggest should be the only or even the main thing, I just think it would be a nice nod to their legacy, and the many owners/fans who are not necessarily UHNWIs.

[DT79]

Wouldn’t it have been nice if,  for the 100th anniversary, they’d created the Beosound Core, but made it all that it could have been (Wisa, multichannel, more inputs (both normal and B&O), active room compensation… no doubt other things) and sold it for the going rate that such a device might go for. That would be a wonderful way to honour longstanding owners of legacy and vintage B&O products, enabling them to bring them bang up to the minute in terms of control and integration.

It needn’t even be the only thing they do for their 100th anniversary, but it would a classy gesture and a nice change from recent form.

Sadly I agree though, it will be a drool-worthily lovely product, artificially inflated in price to make it even more exclusive that it otherwise would be.

[DT79]

it’s just getting silly now.

Catrix wrote:

£15,700 now. What is going on?

[DT79]

Centa Penta, surely!

Evan wrote:

Ok I guess the first step (in the modeling domain) is to get the Kallax into Solidworks. I’ll build the Penta-C(?) / Center Penta(?) What should we name this thing?? …into the Kallax for reference along the way.

[DT79]

That already looks great!

Evan wrote:

Hey everyone – excited to share some recent thoughts on the center channel idea. I think its time this concept finally turn into a project. Recently my partner and I moved to a new house and our new AV room could really use a nice center channel. I have a few extra Pentas kicking around so I think its time to start building one of these. I plan on designing this to fit a pair of cells(?) in the Ikea Kallax shelf. This spot used to be occupied by the AVP and BLK that I previously used as a center channel. I don’t think its going to take up the entire 690*335mm opening (although it could!) but it will probably take up most of it. Before I start modeling the 3D on this, I wanted to open it up for a discussion. I want to design something to share, hopefully something that could be replicated by others interested in this project (first as CAD and then likely a 2D drawing pack). In my mind there are two ways this could go:

1. Traditional wooden box architecture, cloth fret.
2. A more penta-like solution. Something 3D printed (sturdily) that has the spirit of the Penta cabinet geometry baked into its industrial design.

Both of these ideas have there advantages and disadvantages but I wanted to open it up here for a discussion as I want this to benefit as many people as possible. I think many B&O fans would enjoy having such a speaker in their system. Maybe two variants get designed after all? My dream is that it is eventually driven by a remote BL Penta (150/200 style) amp that sits in one of the other shelf cells. I was brainstorming all of this and doodled this in my sketchbook today. I hope it inspires you to share some of your thoughts.

[DT79]

This is what I’ve done with a 7.2. Works a treat. Need to source 5v USB to trigger the 7.x on from either AV amp or TV if not using powerlink.

Ravsted wrote:

I got a BeoLab 7.1 (wired using both left and right channel as center channel). It is at great center speaker with lot of power and clarity. If you go for at home-brew solution with a passive speaker I would build something around a non-B&O center speaker … A good second hand B&W or whatever you prefer. I believe that will give you a way better acoustic result. You can still modify the speaker cabinet to match the Pentas in some way.

[DT79]

I don’t find anything objectionable about listening to a TV in stereo after all it’s true that most TVs have stereo speakers built in, plenty of TV programmes are still only recorded and/or broadcast in stereo and many people may not be inclined to have more than 2 or 2.1 speakers for a variety of reasons. All with the caveat that the further apart those stereo speakers are, the more compromised the location of voices to the screen will be for anyone sitting off-axis.

My problem is that it’s simply an odd choice to make a product of this nature and charge so much for it and to make it only stereo. And only one input (going out of their way to combine analogue and digital into one so you can’t use both) . And no WiSA. And only a proprietary digital output and very limited use digital input (that can’t be used at the same time). They’ve just omitted several really obvious and useful features and every feature they have included they’ve compromised or limited in some way. I just find it baffling and very frustrating.

However no doubt for some people it will fit their desired use case and good for them!

 

[DT79]

I just think there’s an obvious opportunity for a device for people who already have a TV and multi-channel Beolab speakers. And possibly more than one other audio source.

beojeff wrote:

I suspect that the tv’s internal speaker could be used for the center channel. Such a speaker could hardly keep up with the quality of beolabs, though. At least we have 3 levels of options: Core, Stage, and Theatre to fit our needs. It would now be nice to see some improvements to the Stage.

[DT79]

Yep, after looking more closely at the spec this appears to be a real missed opportunity. If it has HDMI ARC and costs £1k then why no multi-channel,  why no WiSA and why oh why always so stingy with the inputs. Also it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they could have implemented their active room correction in such a device as well.

Millemissen wrote:

Oh no! A (Mozart) Core with a HDMI/eARC connection. With only 2 channels support ? Where did the most important speaker for tv viewing – the center – go? Not that I expected TrueImage processing built-in – but this really is too ordinary. And the CEC support – will that bring control of the tv/the connected AppleTV…. ….as Mbee asks? Or is the future two remotes on the table? Only a visit in a B&O store can clarify that…I guess. P.S. I’ll stick to my trusted Essence MK2 boxes for 2 channel music/radio listening and my Theatre for tv/movie watching with great multichannel sound. MM

[DT79]

This could be what I’ve been waiting for, but all those questions definitely need to be answered! It’s hard to believe it ought to cost £1k, but I’m not surprised.

 

[DT79]

That’s true of daisy-chaining via Powerlink, but if you use a Transmitter 1, that does include bass management, right?

I really wish B&O would release a new ‘Core; which is Wisa enabled itself, includes bass management like the Transmitter 1, has a wider range of inputs and also has the Active Room Compensation built in. Although they’d probably charge about £10K for it knowing them! I know there are ways of achieving the same through 3rd party kit (I’ve got it), but it’s crying out for one elegant device within the B&O ecosystem.

Curly wrote:

This is possible but there will be no bass management in terms of crossover frequency. Both speakers will play full range. You’ll have to manually adjust the BL19 to get it to “meld” nicely with the 18s.

[DT79]

I was lurking with interest, waiting for a reply to this…

I find the diagram below ambiguous (as with many of B&Os user manual diagrams). It does appear to suggest that you can daisy chain PL connections from one BL18 to the next and on the BL19, but nowhere does it state that as far as I can see.

Millemissen wrote:

Study this and/or this in order to get a well balanced sound in the room. MM

[DT79]

Yes I just did a search and the companies house listing came up showing them as ‘in liquidation’. Such a pity.

does anyone know of an alternative maker of aftermarket wooden grilles for vintage B&O?

[DT79]

I got oak grilles for my 8000s, 6000s and 7.2 from him last year. Really impressed with the service and quality. I’ll be gutted if he’s gone out of business.

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