[SaltineSurfer]

pontios wrote:

Interesting. Can you please tell me what issues? As I already indicated, I am not touching the original drive (I am keeping it as backup) and I also made a full image, so that I can recreate it at any time. I am going to try with Win 7 embedded but also 2009 and IoT 2016. I really got nothing to lose and as it is my profession, I enjoy playing about now that I have the Beomaster and I haven’t yet set it up. I am sure though, that the 1GB PC5200 Ram is not going to cut it, so I am going to replace it with 4Gb if possible or worst case 2Gb. At the end of the day, it’s just an application that runs by default, when windows loads. That’s pretty much what windows embedded/IoT does (not exactly, but close). Will update as soon as I got clones and backup image done.

Hi Pontios, I’m keen to hear how you got on with this project 🙂 Thanks.

[SaltineSurfer]

I don’t have a stage, but do have other ASE platform speakers together with multiple NL/ML converters. It’s possible to ‘Join’ an existing NL playback (such as airplay) from a ML speaker (such as the BL3500) providing the NL/ML converter is configured as the Audio master.  The Airplay stream has to be started before you can join. Unfortunately it’s not possible to map Spotify or airplay to ML sources. B&O radio and Deezer/Music can be mapped, as well with TV sources (I have a beovision 11 and have DTV mapped to Apple TV), so I assume you can do the same with the stage’s tv sources. I hope that helps.

[SaltineSurfer]

Madskp wrote:

Someone brought it up on the Discord B&O channel, and Hall audio answered that the ML streamer is their first priority for now

That would be me 🙂

Madskp wrote:

So my best guess is that the MCL2AV does not establish a data connection with the 1611/BC6-23 before it has been initialised, which in this case first seems happen after the TV has activated the MCL2AV a couple of times.

This must be why it stopped working for me, then came back to life.

I’ve packed the MCL2AV back into it’s box for now and will probably put it on ebay in due course.

Annoyingly I was late to the MasterDataTool party and so missed out on getting hold of one – it would have been ideal for me. I hope the forthcoming Datalink streamer will also include the masterlink port to bridge the two interfaces instead of just acting as a streamer.

Thank you for taking the time to help with this project Madskp.

Rob.

 

[SaltineSurfer]

Some further findings.. when the MCL2AV isn’t responding to CD on the beo4 if I then send the L.OPT1 command from the beo4 the powerlink out comes back to life and the CD command works again! So does the NL when pressing play on the beogram.

It seems the MCL2AV’s option programming gets reset back to option 2 each time the video master puts it in standby 🙁

[SaltineSurfer]

Madskp wrote:

Based on my latest test I must say that it in many ways seems inconsistenly how this works, so also not sure if all my previous observations can be trusted.

Ive just connected the passive amp to PL1 and the 1611 to PL2 and lo and behold the NL converter came to life when play was pressed!! Ive unplugged the passive amp leaving just the 1611 connected to the MCL and the NL converter is now behaving exactly how it was originally. Very weird.

So i’ve managed to do some testing.. after powering on the MCL2AV and pressing play on the beogram the NL converter starts playing. Putting the NL converter in standby stops the beogram. All good, until i press play on the beogram again… the NL converter doesn’t switch on. In this state the trigger pins on the PL socket are both 0v. The IR on the MCL only responds to standby from the beo4 which stops the BG, but pressing CD doesn’t respond. However the NL converter is able to activate and control the BG as normal.

So it would appear that after the MCL is told to go into standby from the video master it cant turn the local PL speakers back on the next time round.

Power cycling the MCL is the only way to bring the PL trigger back to life.

 

I just did a different test using just the beo4 on the MCL. After powering up the MCL, i pressed CD on the remote. BG plays and NL turns on. Pressing standby stops the BG. Holding down standby turns off the NL. I can repeat this and it consistently works. I then changed to starting playback from the BG, and controlled the standby from the beo4, and this too consistently worked.

So it would appear that the PL trigger ‘breaks’ when the standby command’s sent from the video master/NL.

 

[SaltineSurfer]

Madskp wrote:

Just one more note. When it is working it seems to be consistent to the point where I can set the system in standby and wake up the TV again by pressing play on the Beocord several times in a row. But after a power cut i might need to re initialize.

Thanks for testing this out your side yesterday. I reconnected the original IR in parallel to the ir eye this morning so I could hold the timer button down when powering up, and sent the AV command on the beo4, but still no joy. Also tried powering things up in a different sequence too, but ran out of time. I normally leave the 1611 as the last to turn on.

I opened up the 1611 last night to check the joints of the PL connector inside and all looks fine in there.

What I don’t understand is how I managed to get it to trigger the NL, albeit inconsistently, a couple of weeks ago. Were you testing with an ML TV yesterday, or the v1 via the NL converter?

 

[SaltineSurfer]

the J1 connection’s broken – do you know if this is this a jumper – or perhaps is it a fuse? It looks like its supposed to be disconnected like that.

[SaltineSurfer]

[SaltineSurfer]

 

[SaltineSurfer]

Madskp wrote:

However that does only make sense for the older type MCL2AV type 2020 with passive speaker connectors, so unsure if it would have any effect. But might be worth a try.

My MCL2AV also has 2 speaker connections underneath, adjacent to the power input. Does yours not have these?

Madskp wrote:

Maybe something to do with the IR eye.

Yes I wondered if the mode is forced from it not detecting the original IR transceiver.

Guy wrote:

I just wondered if the last little bit about holding the sensor timer button and pressing AV has any effect on what you are trying to achieve?  Possibly not, but worth a try?

Thanks Guy. Unfortunately the original IR receivers not working. However the buttons might be! I’ll reconnect it later to see holding down timer does anything.

Madskp wrote:

Maybe, but again I am wondering if the IR eye could have something to say. I can try to test that, but I will have to wire up a plug for that (all my round IR eyes have the 7 pin DIN connector)

I only connected 3 wires from the IR eye/puck as I think I read somewhere else on here the buttons didn’t work. I used an off-cut of a network cable to connect the two directly with the din cable still attached 🙂

Do you have a beo4 remote Madskp? If you do, would you mind seeing if your MCL reacts to the Option > L.OPT command from it? It could also be the remote’s not setting the option.

Many thanks.

 

[SaltineSurfer]

Morning Madskp,

Ive plugged on of my BL8000 speakers into the MCL (using the same fully wired PL cable) and it turns on okay with music playing out when the BG starts. Changing to both L.OPT1 and 2 makes no difference to the behaviour of the unit – the speaker works with both settings.

Tested the voltages on pins 1 and 4 with the multi-meter and both are 5v.

Perhaps the PL interface on the 1611 is intermittent.

 

 

 

[SaltineSurfer]

Thats really useful thanks! I just tried to set it to Link option 1, but it made no difference. Does the beo4 L.OPT function send the same sequence of key presses that you have to make on the 1000 remote?

Ive also changed the NL’s primary connect setting to be set to my BV11 just incase it needed to be pointing to a TV, but this also made no difference. The BV11 is however able to activate the beogram using the CD source.

The version of my 1611 is 1.3 and the MCL2AV is 2.3 type 2026 which I believe is the same as yours. My MCL2AV has an aerial connection on the right which i’ve not seen in other online photos of it.

 

[SaltineSurfer]

Madskp wrote:

To add further to this I just tried a setup with the Beocenter 9300 – 1611 – Beocenter 6-23. Again with both the datalink and powerlink cable between the BC9300 and the 1611. ALso here I can get the TV to start up by pressing one of the source buttons on the BC9300. So this point to the issue being how the MCL2AV relay this local source button commands to the connected TV.

Hi Madskp,

Thank you for taking the time to test it with your gear. Much appreciated.

I had another play around with it last night with the passive amp connected to the MCL2AV and the 1611 at the ready.I pressed play on the beogram, the amp turned on as expected, and I then pulled the powerlink from the amp and plugged it into the 1611. The NL converter then started playing! But then it didn’t do it a second time, so could have been a fluke. Could it be as simple as the PL port on the 1611 being used as the trigger to start the TV connected to the ML side? After thinking about this some more I wondered if the MCL2AV is detecting whether a speaker is connected to the PL port somehow to determine the mode, which the 1611 doesn’t react to?

Did you have the MCL’s IR transceiver wired in when you did your tests?

Cheers,

Rob.

[SaltineSurfer]

Madskp wrote:

@ebnrob just out of curiosity did you happen to try with another power supply?
Hi Madskp,

Thank you for the message and for your help last week.

I had some time last weekend to play around with it again, and started by replacing the PSU with a 12v switch mode PSU. The MCL2AV worked, however the IR port still read 7V. It was at this point I spotted the multimeter low battery symbol was on – and I recall it giving erroneous readings when low, so changed the battery and the IR voltage read correctly at 5v!! I then switched back to the original PSU and this read 20v – same as Guy’s. With the original PSU connected, the IR pins were giving 5v so all good! Phew! I connected the 3 wires from the passive IR puck and this worked activating the CD source using a beo4 which was positive progress. So now I know the IR transceiver is faulty.

I then put all the connections back on to the 1611 as before, however the NL converter (as video master) wouldn’t activate when the beogram played (as it did before). I rebooted them etc in different orders, powered all down for 3 mins etc, all to no avail. So i changed the powerlink from the MCL2AV -> 1611 over to the passive amp’s PL input – so MCL2AV PL -> passive amp, and the amp turned on when play was pressed on the beogram! So I don’t know what the issue was with the 1611 not connecting to the NL converter.  I tried a few times to get it working again but couldn’t. It seems like the 1611 is activating into a video master mode when booting up now, not seeing the NL converter.

I then tried changing the Option mode of the MCL2AV, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. Having only a Beo4 all I could do was go to the Option menu and tried both A.Opt and L.opt in option 0, option 1, and option 2 and option5. None of which made any difference, so at this point I gave up!

Maybe the MCL2AV needs the old beolink remote to change mode?

Rob.

[SaltineSurfer]

Madskp wrote:

ebnrob wrote:

Unfortunately though the white IR transceiver it came with doesn’t appear to be working. I’ve connected it up to the relevant screw terminals but it doesnt light up, or respond to IR commands from my beo4. I have a feeling this issue is to do with the mode the MCL2AV is programmed to.

Ok that is unfortunate. In one of the older MCL manuals it is mentioned that if no IR eye i connected to the MCL2AV and it is connected to a TV it will default to option 2. So maybe try without the IR eye.

ebnrob wrote:

I have an IR puck for the beolink passive amp (the one with the timer button) – do you know if this would work on the MCL2AV?

That should work as long as you only connect the three wires for ground, +5V and IR data. But the fact that the white IR eye does no show any light could also be an indication of some missing voltage. If you have a multimeter you could try to measure if you get 5V between the 5V and ground screw terminals.

Thanks for the tips. I’ve just checked the voltage and it’s reading 7.4v instead of 5v! Also the same in the ir data to ground. Checking the power supply – it’s outputting 30v! It’s rated 15v Dc and is one of the old heavy transformers – I’m guessing it’s not regulated. Could this be the problem?

Just looked at the solder joints on the underside and all look good.

Thanks for your help!

[SaltineSurfer]

Dear Madskp,

Thank you for the replies!

Madskp wrote:

The 1611 does not have option settings but the MCL2AV does. It has option 0, 1 and 2 but these are related to an IR eye connected to the MCL2AV, so might not have effect on what you are trying to achive.

Unfortunately though the white IR transceiver it came with doesn’t appear to be working. I’ve connected it up to the relevant screw terminals but it doesnt light up, or respond to IR commands from my beo4. I have a feeling this issue is to do with the mode the MCL2AV is programmed to.

I have an IR puck for the beolink passive amp (the one with the timer button) – do you know if this would work on the MCL2AV?

Madskp wrote:

One thing you can try if you have a datalink Beocenter/Beomaster/Beosound is to connect that instead of the MCL2AV and see how things are reacting

Unfortunately I don’t 🙁

Madskp wrote:

I have as mentioned a Beoplay 1 and a NL/ML conveter so I might try to do some experiments with that when time allows it.

That would be great – thanks!

Rob.

[SaltineSurfer]

A further development…  the next time I pressed play on the beogram the amp didn’t turn on (this was with the MCL2AV connected to the passive amp) . If I turn the MCL2AV off then on again, the amp triggers on correctly when play is started. So i just tested the powerlink back on the 1611, power cycled the MCL2AV, pressed play.. and the beosound2 turned on an the sound came out! However as with the amp – if I turn the BS2 off, and play the record again – the BS2 did not power up. So something weird is going on with the PL out of the MCL2AV.

[SaltineSurfer]

My M3 is the only device thats been updated so far. Nothing for my M5, cores or BS2. I can’t see anything new on the M3 post update – and disappointingly, the connect to secondary product functionality is still broken 🙁

[SaltineSurfer]

I’m getting closer…. I just dug out a beolink passive amp and connected the powerlink to the MCL2AV powerlink and it turned the amp on when pressing play on the beogram! So, while still playing, I then pulled the powerlink from the amp and plugged it back into the 1611 powerlink input – and hey presto – it turned the Network link  speaker on and started playing! So I reckon it’s either a wiring mis-match between the two powerlink sockets (maybe different powerlink versions?) – or the MCL2AV can’t see the 1611 connected to it when powering up, so disables the PL out?

[SaltineSurfer]

Hi all, I bought a beogram 3500 earlier in the year which I have had, up until now, connected to my BS9000, but having seen this thread some months ago, I really liked the idea of being able to remote control the beogram via masterlink 🙂

I already have a 1611 converter, so I bought a MCL2AV off ebay and a 7 pin datalink cable from my local b&o service centre. Wired this up following the connection example earlier in the thread (thank you!) – Beogram to the CD din, and 1611 to the TV din – and the 1611 connected to my old Beolab 3500 for testing, and it worked! I could access the beogram on the CD source from my BL3500 and beo4 remote control of the beogram magically worked!

My next goal was to get this accessible on my newer network link products so I connected the 1611 converter to an NL/ML converter, which I configured as a Video Master. And this works! I can Join a playing vinyl from another room and the remote control also works (amazing!).

The next goal is to get the Beosound 2 NL speaker (that’s in the same room as the beogram) to turn on automatically when play is pressed on the beogram – but this is where I’ve not been able to succeed. The NL converter is configured with “Connect to Primary” set to the Beosound 2 – which is the setting needed on this converter to normally achieve this (this is what I use for my BS9000’s NL converter). So I am wondering if the 1611 converter is able to work in “Option 0” with the MCL2AV as it doesn’t trigger the NL converter (the Video master) when play’s pressed on the beogram.

I just tried adding a mk2 powerlink cable between the 1611 and the MCL2AV in the hope this may do the trick as it shows this connection in the 1611 manual when connected to an Avant ML TV and Aux-link audio system, but disappointingly, it made no difference. Perhaps theres a mode I need to enable on the MCL2AV to get this to work?

Many thanks!

Rob.

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