[Madskp]

speedsixdave wrote:

(2) Madskp and Guy have suggested elsewhere that the 15v power supply is only vital if you have a MCL2AV which also has passive speaker outputs and you want to use it (effectively) as an MCL2A. I’m not sure if there’s any real bonus to doing this (rather than just an MCL2A) as I don’t think it gives you independent volume control. Most MCL2AVs don’t have the passive speaker ports anyway.

Just to clarify, the MCL2AV will need an external power supply for powering it in all uses cases whether it is acting as a MCL2A or a MCL2AV since the pink wire with power in the MCL cable is not connected internally. I am not sure about the reference about this, but it might be a misinterpretation of what was meant.

speedsixdave wrote:

(3) MCL2 is a pretty good system. In my experience (detailed here) it’s much easier to set up an MCL2 system that works as you’d like than with Masterlink (ML), especially with older kit like yours. In theory the sound quality is better with ML but you’d need good ears to tell. ML has the additional advantages of volume control on the IR-eye transceivers and the option for standard CAT6/7 cabling and RJ45 plugs though.

Just to add to this: It is possible to ad Masterlink zones to the Beomaster 5500 by use of a Beolink converter type 1611. This might give some other options for link rooms with independent volume control.

 

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

Guy wrote:

Yes to all the questions that you have asked in this paragraph. Be aware that the MCL2AV requires a 15v power supply so ideally look for that when you purchase. If you can find one, the predecessor to the Beolink Passive was known as an MCL2P, and had the advantage of a built in 15v power output designed to power the MCL2AV.

Actualle I have tested that a 12V power supply can also be used. However be avare that the polarity on the connector is reverse to what is common (+ is on the outside of the connector and minus is on the inside), so if you do no use an original power supply be sure to find one where the tips can switch position in order to change polarity.

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

Gustav Månsson wrote:

Do you think it could work with some other, older B&O remote, provided the Beomaster 5500 could interpret the signal?

Yes and no.

The MCL82 can be controlled with a remote for a Beomaster 5000 or a Beocenter 7xxx as mentioned by Charlie.

The Beomaster 5500 can however not interpret those remote signals so the only function you would get is to activate the relay in the MC82 boxes just like when you press the button on the transceiver and make the music already started on the Beomaster 5500 be played in the speakers. All other functions like volume control, and play, stop, forward and rewind and source selection will not work.

So like Charlie I will also suggest you go for at MCL2A box and the try to sell of the MCL82 to someone who has a compatible system.

One thing worth mentioning about the MCL2A is that the volume will follow that on the main speakers, so if you raise the volume in the main room the link room volume will also be raised and vice versa.

If you wan’t individual volume control you should go for a MCL2AV, but that will also require a Beolink passive amp if you want to use passive speakers with it. If you want to know more about this please let me know and I will try to explain the needed setup

 

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

Glad to hear you got it all working as intended 😀

 

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

If you still have the cable you used with the BS9000 and it is long enough it might be easier to just connect the airport express to that again.

Also the remote control command A.MEM is easier to acces than V.AUX2

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

If you activate the command for the input it is currently connected to on the BS3 it should work.
This will probably be a VIDEO related command, but these can be configured freely so only way to see what command is attached to that input is in the setup menu on the BS3.

 

The way your BC2 is connected it will not be able to share its AUX input with the rest of the system.

 

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

For this to work, one of your Airport express units should still have a cable form the sound output to the AUX input of the BS9000.

A.MEM should activate the AUX input on the BS9000 which it also sounds like it does.

on the Mac you will have to choose Airplay to the Airport Express that is currently connected to the BS9000

Hope this helps

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

One supplement to Guy’s suggestion.

Everytime you disconnect a Masterlink cable be sure to power down all connected units in the main room and the link room to avoid the risk of damaging anything.

Also good practice for power up is to get the main room running first, and the the link rooms

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

Thanks for the news about this 🙂

Great work, hopefully this will make these forum an even better place

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

Before concentrating on the link room I think it would be worth to consider if the main room is working correct?

The reason for this is that it is not possible to have 2 audiomasters in a Masterlink network which your starting post indicate that you are trying to have with both the BS9000 and the BC2.

Asuming your speakers in the main room is conncted to the Beosystem 3 can you activate the source on both the BS9000 and the BC2 and hear them in the speakers?

 

 

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

carolpa wrote:

The T1611 was designed to integrate Non-ML audio with ML-BV – or – Non-ML BV with ML-audio.

Just to add to this, the 1614 was the predecessor to the 1611. The  1614 did work for these scenarios as well. However in a setup with a music system without ML and with no ML TV the it can not deliver the necessary data voltages to ML link rooms. The 1611 however has the ability to deliver these voltages and is therefor able to substitute a Master unit. That said i can not necessarily deliver the same functions as a dedicated audio master.

That being said as I have mentioned  earlier I experienced the same behavior with a BS Ouverture that is a dedicated ML master.

 

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

speedsixdave wrote:

BS3000 > ML (RJ45) distributor &> BL2000 &> BL Active

And again everything seemed to work as I’d hoped. Short press on . turns either on or off without affecting the others. Long press on any of the three turns everything off. If all three are on, and I short press . on the BS3000, only the BS3000 goes quiet but a CD continues playing through the BL2000 and Active. Incredible! And all without a Videomaster.

Great to hear that you got things working as intended with this setup.

speedsixdave wrote:

So I conclude for now that it’s the presence of the BLC1611 that causes the ‘everything turns off’ problem.

It might not be as simple as that since I also had the same issue with the BS Ouverture.

It could be an issue that was fixed in later software revisions, and newer products though. I am not sure I got to try the scenario out with my Beocenter 2, so I might try to do that and see how it reacts in such a scenario.

speedsixdave wrote:

The BS3000 is a lovely thing but the lack of an (ideally datalinked) phono port and only one Aux port brings it’s own problems for my setup. Not quite perfection yet!

Yeah that’s the backside of the “newer” Beosounds with Masterlink that datalink support was droped. Probably to keep the products cost effective.

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

lenhi wrote:

It has been suggested that the little white joining boxes could be replaced with e.g. RJ45 CAT6 Pass Through, for better stability.

If you get a new RJ45/CAT6  cable installation made in the house and buy the proper RJ45 to ML adapter cables without splicing this might make for better cable stability.

But again I will suggest that you first buy some new unspliced ML cables  to test if the missing sound is due to bad existing cables in your house or problems with your equipment.

 

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

I must admit the latest post here got me laughing because I can so much relate to this scenario of trying to fix something only to realize that it is never going to work in a disassembled state because a switch or sensor must be activated in a certain position which only occurs when assembled 🙂

But good for you that you found the culprit in the end although you might have been better of with the proces of fault finding in this case

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

Niall Hall wrote:

So now I just need the BeoLink Converter 1611 and this special cable: https://soundsheavenly.com/products/5-pin-din-to-4-x-rca-input-and-output-cable-for-b-o-naim-quad#/2-length-1m plus an audio source of course and then I should be good to go, right?

That should be what you need yes

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

TK wrote:

One interesting side note is the discovery that the service manuals for these units also contain Danish warning labels about the lasers, which I would not have expected.

Maybe they were thinking about getting it to other markets if it was successful in NA.

 

TK wrote:

With respect to Beomaster “Tape” vs “Tape2” inputs, its worth considering that the Datalink ’80 protocol does not contain source-specific encodings, as it simply assumes there is “One Beogram” and “One Beocord” per channel, and it doesn’t care which specific sub-type. So apart from stated conventions in the user manual, there’s nothing stopping a user from plugging the 5103 into the ‘Tape’ port of any Datalink ’80 machine and have it be fully functional, AFAIK.

That is also my understanding. My wondering was more to the usability for the end user where the Tape2 command might require extra keypresses, and are not aligned with the actual source being CD in this case. However to be compatible with Beocenters with the sources CD and Tape built in I understand the choice.

TK wrote:

I can put it on BeoBabble and see if any additional information intended primarily for the 6500/7000 units is broadcast as well, but I suspect the answer is no.

As mentioned in this post https://forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/beotooth-5500-a-datalink-bluetooth-receiver/#post-50219  about the Beotooth 5500 by Pilatomic the Tape2 source is missing at least one feature  compared to Tape, so it is possible that the Tape2 choice has somehow limited how many features B&O decided to develop for this.

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

Very interesting read. I did not know that B&O had this product once. Could it be one that was only available for the North American market?

Looking at the manual it looks like it was intended for use with the Tape2 command. While I can see the flexibilty in what music systems it can be used with with this command I still think its odd from a user interface standpoint.
The manual focus on control with a beolink 7000 though were the Tape2 command is easier accesible than Beolink 1000/5000/ Beo4.

I also notice in the manual that Beocenter 2500 and 9500 has a limitation in selecting tracks on a specific CD. Could this be due to a simpler integration of the Tape2 command in these systems?

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

Niall Hall wrote:

I did some tests today just out of curiosity by connecting the BeoLab 3500 (set to Option 4) directly to my BeoVision 8 (set to Option 2), and the result was that no audio reached the speaker. The MasterLink connection is definitely active, I confirmed this by pressing MENU MENU 0 2 GO, and the BeoLab displayed ML OK.

When the Beolab 3500 is in option 4 it will only respond to commands if the command LINK is pressed before the actual command. On the BEO4 remote link commands can be added to the list.

But to test it out you could simply set the Beolab 3500 to option 6 and it should react to the same commands as the TV. The Beolab 3500 display should show the same source as you choose on the TV.

 

Niall Hall wrote:

So I tried asking Copilot what could be causing the problem, and according to the AI, the HDMI input is the reason it isn’t working. The HDMI audio signal is entirely digital, while the ML audio signal is analog, and there is no internal component that converts between the two. It referenced this service manual as a source: http://www.abo-center.dk/Abo_center_2/reptips/diagrammer/Beovision/Beovision%208%2032%20Type%209550.pdf

However, the manual is in Danish, which is not my strongest language, so I can’t really confirm whether the AI is correct.

If anyone has experience with this setup or can confirm whether the HDMI/ML limitation is correct, I’d really appreciate your insight.

It is correct that there are some limitations with digital sources going to Masterlink. I think it has to do with delays being introduced in the conversion from digital audio to analog audio (which is used in Masterlink). But try to see if you can get something out by the method described above.

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

Niall Hall wrote:

it seems that the easiest way is to get a special cable that allows it to work as a stand‑alone speaker.

This solution is easy in terms of connection, but has some drawbacks in terms of usablity. To activate the speaker you need to press Menu+Menu+0+4+GO after that the speaker will play, but any keypress will turn it off again so no volume control is available.

Niall Hall wrote:

However, since I already have the ML cable and my BeoVision 8‑32 has a MasterLink socket, I’m wondering: could I simply connect the two and use the BeoLab 3500 as an extra speaker in my TV room?

That is a possibility. The BL3500 will the respond to the same commands as the TV, and play the same sources. You could run into some issues with the volume control on the TV and the BL3500 not following each other though.

 

A third possibility is to connect the Masterlink cable from the BL3500 to a Beolink Converter type 1611. That way you can use it as a stand alone speaker with to selectable input, and functioning volume control. The solution is shown in this post https://forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/beolab-3500-and-1611-converter-settings/page/4/#post-42271

Hope this can help you a little

Location: Denmark

[Madskp]

lausvi wrote:

Would be nice to have a look inside?

My thought as well. Could be nice to see if it is just wires or if there is some form of extra circitry.

 

lausvi wrote:

it’s not the MCL IR-transceiver as it doesn’t have the buttons, but the external IR-receiver for the VX5000(/BMx500 I think?))

I belive that it is the VX sensor shown in this thread https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/t/5529.aspx

The one for Beomaster x500 has the text sensor on the front and is shown in this post https://forum.beoworld.org/forums/topic/beolink-passive-ir-eye/page/2/#post-45805

 

Location: Denmark

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