[pepps]

SOLVED!

After your useful comments and suggestions I have solved the problem (for now).

I tried the old classic ‘plug in and unplug repeatedly’ a headphone connector in the little headphone socket.
And sure enough it all sprang into life!

I love this forum! Always helps get results when we work together!

Thank you all!

[pepps]

matador wrote:

Hi, I’m not good at this but what comes to my mind: Do you have sound from the headphone socket? Did you deactivate the converter as mentioned above? Do the mute light light on or off accordingly, meaning could it be a stuck key on the keyboard? Could it be the headphone switch that is stuck?

Hi Matador,

Thanks for your reply.
Um no, I didn’t deactivate the converter. It was an MCL2P – I didn’t state that correctly in my original post sorry.
The mute button on the keyboard does activate the little green light as expected. Doesn’t appear to be stuck.

I’ve connected headphones and sound plays through them fine. I don’t hear a relay click when I plug them in though.
Perhaps a randomly failed headphone relay?

Julian

[pepps]

Guy wrote:

When you say that you ‘had it connected to a BL converter and was playing through some Beovox’, do you mean that you were using an ML/MCL converter as a Passive (amplifier) using its PL input, and were you connecting it to the BC2500 using the same PL Mk3 cable that you are trying to use with the Beolabs?

Hi Guy,

Thanks for your reply. I was using a Powerlink cable I bought from Steve at Soundsheavenly from one of the Powerlink sockets on the BC to a MCL2P and then on to the Beovox.

I’ve since tested the BL2500s with my BV6 using both a Mk3 Powerlink cable (works fine) and the original 5-pin Powerlink cables which came with the BL2500s (works fine).

Julian

[pepps]

Hi there,

Thank you for replying.
Activating and deactivating the mute as you kindly describe doesn’t have any effect on switching on the Beolabs sadly.
Any other ideas?

[pepps]

I love my Pentas for their presentation and spatial elegance.
Coupled with a pair of Beovox 3000 (flat panel) in a 4 speaker pattern, a cd of Hail To The Thief, The Gloaming (track 8), is nothing short of magical.

I replaced a pair of Celestion Ditton 44’s with BL Penta – but those Dittons are still in my posession because those too are glorious.

BL 6000 are the biggest disappointment for me. So shallow.

The best, in my opinion, are Beovox 1702. So beautiful and clear. Obviously they’re small and won’t rumble thunder on a film score, but play Nina Simone and your heart will melt.

[pepps]

guy wrote:

Great news – thanks for the update. And I’d be interested to know if the MCL2P ‘power down’ starts working as it should.

The conclusion: everything works perfectly!
I unplugged the whole system to do some work on cable tidying, etc.
When I put everything back together, slowly, over a whole Sunday recently I ended up with everything in harmony: Beovision activates MCL2P on startup and deactivates it at standby/switch off and the sound is superb (as mentioned before – but man it’s so good it’s worth mentioning again).

[pepps]

Steve at Sounds Heavenly wrote:

Hi pepps, That is great to hear! I grew up with a 1970s Beocenter 3300 which I spent months repairing, I was amazed by the power of that system. Looking back, there are two systems that I wish I had been able to buy when they were released: one was the Century, which I later owned (lovely lighting as with the BS2500!) and more recently the Beosound 1. That was why I thought it could be interesting to feature in the video as it is often forgotten but it is a superb first system for anyone wanting to try out B&O on a budget. Kind regards, Steve.

Aha yes the wonderful Century….I’m gently trying to guage whether or not our 12y/o would enjoy a Beosystem. He currently has my old pair of Beovox 3702 proudly on his desk (they’re 1/3 of his desk space!) so a Century would certainly free up some space. He loves the movement of my other B&O items, don’t we all love the theatre of owning B&O pieces?
It’s a good comment Steve…*scratches chin in ponderment*

[pepps]

My first B&O speakers were Beovox 1702s. The smallest of the range of aluminium-edged wooden pressure chamber speakers. They’re still in use today and were given to me by my Mum. They came from her Beogram 1500 which fell out of favour during the cd boom (my Dad bought a Beosystem 3500 when they were on offer for £1k back in the 90’s).

I took those 1702s with me to London when I left home and they have stayed with me ever since.
I was using them at a party once and someone knocked one off the sideboard to the floor – the tweeter fell out! (It was rattling around against the inside of the baffle.) Something had happened with the wood where the tweeter was screwed in – might have been at build stage, which is not expected. But nobody had had the grills off in our ownership, let alone the drivers out. Or maybe the shock from the fall was so great that the weight of the tweeter forced the thread in the wood to fail? Those little drivers are heavy.
Anyway, I carefully repaired them and they remained the mainstay in all sorts of non-B&O set-ups until I bought my first BM5000 (pizzabox) in 2009 where they worked as secondary speakers (speakers 2) in the dining room in a basic (non-Beolink) multi-room setup. (My main speakers at the time were Celestion Ditton 44s – they’re fabulous.)

When I changed the BM5000 for a BM6500 and a pair of Penta Mk2, the Beovox 1702s remained in full use but this time in the kitchen (room 3) in a MCL2A set-up.

And now they serve my other half and me well as our bedroom speakers, providing the sound from a BS2500 (via MCL2P) – which looks just stunning as a bedroom system. The lighting is glorious and the sliding glass so calming and graceful. The power from the MCL2P works really well with the little 1702s.

Oh dear I’ve been rambling on again………..

[pepps]

Great news – thanks for the update. And I’d be interested to know if the MCL2P ‘power down’ starts working as it should.

Quick update: the MCL2P activates each time I turn on the BV. Which is odd because the BV is set to default to 1 speaker for ‘visual’ and 2 speakers for ‘audio’.

I’m curious if this is because I set the rears as BL4000.

More experimenting after work…

[pepps]

Guy wrote:

Have you tried moving the MCL2P powerlink connection to one of the TV’s PL sockets where the Pentas are connected – just to see if they trigger on?

Hello Guy, a good idea.
However I think I was just rushing yesterday and didn’t go through everything carefully.

Everything is now working pretty much perfectly.

The PL cable I had used (originally plugged into the right hand Penta) was the problem. I tested it by plugging it into my BM3500 and it would not activate the MCL2P at all.

I swapped it for one I bought from Steve@SoundsHeavenly and it worked fine. So I switched everything off and plugged Steve’s PL lead into the BV and it activated the MCL2P without issue.

I may have been too hasty yesterday. And on reflection I didn’t power off the Beosystem 3500 which is linked to the BV via Masterlink converter.

But now I have everything in the right place and it all works a treat! Although I do have to power down the MCL2P myself, it doesn’t do so when I switch off the BV.
But I shall do another full power down and see if that resolves the issue.

You know what though? These Beovox 3000s sound almost perfectly matched to the Pentas during the white noise set-up test. The tone is very very similar. And my quick test just now of Rise of the Jedi, an early scene where Ben goes to meet Palpatine and The Emperor says, “My boyyyyy” with all that lovely low end rumble…..ohhh man that sounds so good in 4 speaker mode.
I think the switch over from BL6000 to these Beovox is a fluky but inspired choice! I have regained floor space and appear to have a vastly improved sound AND the Beovox compliment the Pentas so well visually. So subtle but very sexy!

Once I’ve chased in the speaker cables and finished the skirting conduit I’ll pop up so photos.

As always thank you all for your interest and support!

Julian

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Millemissen wrote:

Do you have any front speakers (L/R) connected?

MM

Yes, Penta Mk2 left and right and a BL7.4 centre.

[pepps]

@pepps Did you configure the BV7 to use the PL output (where the 2P is connected) as rear/surround speaker? MM

Hello,

Thanks for your replies.
My steps so far have been to connect the MCL2P with a ‘Penta-friendly’ Powerlink cable to the BV7 via one of the Powerlink speaker sockets. The Beovox are connected to that with the correct connectors. This MCL2P was working in the other room the day before I moved it all up to the lounge, so I’m fairly confident it isn’t at fault.

In the sound menu for the BV I have a problem:
Under Speaker Types I cannot make the MCL2P activate. My Pentas make the test signal sound as I hover over the connection for them, but as I scroll down through the other sockets the MCL2P doesn’t switch on.

Consequently in the Speaker Roles menu I only get options for the two Pentas I have connected (the 7.4 centre isn’t affected).

The activation from my Beosystem 2500 works fine from Powerlink to the MCL2P so I’m wondering if the Powerlink sockets on the BV are different to those on the Beosystem.

[pepps]

Hmmmm so a while after my post and I finally got around to setting up the Beovox 3000s with an MCL2P.

No joy.

The amp doesn’t switch on when Speakers 5 is selected on the BV.
Back to the drawing board.
(The Powerlink lead I’m using is fully wired and was used on my Penta previously.)

[pepps]

Any PVR box with a scart socket will provide you with tv coverage Lesley.

[pepps]

That home cinema room – still picking my jaw up off the floor.
Staggering.

[pepps]

RallyMK1 wrote:
Oh wow, that is totally different. Yes, it’s the US model.

Die_Bogener wrote:

Interesting project This is a US MX5500? The European modell is complete different.

I love how both of these Beovisions have speaker outputs for connecting non-active units for stereo sound! Such a rarity in other tvs from this era.

[pepps]

Hello,

This is a very tricky question to answer. The stylus tip is clearly intact, but we can’t tell anything about the suspension or how it’ll sound in general use.
If you’re wondering if it’s clean enough, well there aren’t any huge fluff or dust deposits visible so perhaps it’s ok. But again it’s not easy to tell anything further.

You’ll have to bite the bullet and fit it to a Beogram to see how it plays. Perhaps not with your most valuable record.

Forgive me for stating the obvious but there’s not much else to say.

Julian

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KolfMAKER wrote:

@Steve Very interesting the Mini-jack to RCA cable also has a trigger signal. But for my understanding, the trigger signal needs to be 5v on Pin 4. Where do you get the 5v to be used on Pin 4 to activate the B&O speaker amp to get from stand-by to active? Hoe does that work with this cable?

Those secrets will stay with Steve for all time dear fellow 🙂

[pepps]

Dear both,

Thank you for your replies – excellent news! This should complete (for now) the lounge set-up with a happy compromise met between floor space needing to be freed up around the sofa and the need for surround sound. They look like good bedfellows of the Pentas too.
I was hoping to get some BL3000’s but at the moment the expense outweighs the need – there is a very nice looking pair of BL4500’s on eBay at the moment but they’re after £600 or more.
For now the Beovox will do the job while looking nice and sexy too.

[pepps]

Hi @David656,

I appreciate your comments. I think I’m going to double my efforts to find a pair of BL 3000s. I am a little nervous about what to expect regardig the displays – but there’s a very clever chap I know in Kent who’s a dab hand at 80s/90s B&O repairs so if I find the right set I’m certain he can breath a little magic over them.

Julian

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