[Sandyb]

Answered above no?

The quote was from Christian (at B&O) in response to a pretty similar question over on Discord.

 

[Sandyb]

https://support.bang-olufsen.com/hc/en-us/articles/29025113765009-How-do-I-connect-Digital-Power-Link-speakers-to-Beosound-Beovision-Theatre

https://support.bang-olufsen.com/hc/en-us/articles/28410326989585-How-do-I-add-speakers-to-Beosound-Beovision-Theatre

 

[Sandyb]

A Mozart BS2 can be used / connected wirelessly with a Theatre – the app (connected speakers part of Theatre settings) will give you the option to select/connect via 3 means now.  Those 3 being Powerlink, WISA, and now DPL.   If you have a DPL speaker, that will be an option.

More broadly, you can only connect a max of 4 speakers to the Theatre via DPL.

[Sandyb]

They could introduce Qobuz (which I use), but that doesnt change the fact that the music browsing experience through the B&O app is poor.

[Sandyb]

Yes – Tidal Connect was introduced to most B&O speaker systems a year or so ago, and more recently Tidal music has been properly integrated into the B&O app.   Multiroom behaves the same way as Deezer I believe – though I dont use Tidal myself, but that what everyone seems to be reporting.

If anything the B&O website says that Tidal is preferred / encourages existing customers to migrate to Tidal – or words close to that effect.

[Sandyb]

more interested to hear about your new car!

[Sandyb]

I’ve reported this issue to B&O, so I’d suggest you do also (if you havent already).

My guess is that they have no idea why this is happening.

[Sandyb]

Happened to my living room Theatre this morning, power cycle etc fixed it (albeit 5 minutes after restart).

Source list was fine in the app, just not on the BR1.

[Sandyb]

For clarity, management did not use the term double down, thats just my linguistic turn of phrase.

But outside of updating investors of the full year realised numbers, their big point in the presentation was raising new equity capital specifically in order to speed up the transition from where they were (lets say 3+ years ago) to where they want to get to.

A big part of this transition is transforming their consumer facing retail network – s0 alot of multi-brand points of sale have gone, the target global cities identified, flagships will be opened in many, underperforming (non-Tier 1) franchises will be removed so they remaining ones are top notch, all of which is directed at ensuring high levels of service.

What does it mean for customers? Well just more of what we’ve seen in recent years, they’re just speeding up the above transformation.   They did mention that they’ll continue to lean into luxury pricing, which has already been part of the strategic transformation, and will be continually assessing (ensuring?) that products are at luxury levels.

My point about patience was more one for investors – whom the update was directed at after all.  The network transformation is  not cheap, does have some near term earnings implications, but they see it paying off (earnings growing again) down the road. Investing for the future, hence patience.   ** Jam tomorrow is a bit of an English saying, generally used as a sceptical take on when someone is always promising better days ahead.

[Sandyb]

Plenty of people have had it over recent months.

Hasn’t happened to me in a while, but yes it took some fiddling to get them back.

 

[Sandyb]

Quick note – there is an updated version of the Theatre Speaker Setup – Best Practices document (a V2).

They’ve added  a page for setting up for stereo listening.

Additionally they’ve removed the role/allocation tables for non-Atmos content, and the mention of “For content that does not include height-channels, you can create a Listening Position without any height-roles. This may be preferable. See Table”

No idea why its been removed, nor whether the previous guidance is no longer relevant.

Anyway, the guide is on Discord (under Documentation).

[Sandyb]

Given that the Theatre is going up in price on August 1st (by 500/600 euros), I think we’re all glad we bought them early on!

[Sandyb]

Taking the last few quarters earnings reports into account, not sure “flat to slightly improving” is actually even fair.

Remember earlier this year (and mid way through their financial year) they had to do an out of reporting cycle announcement that full year earnings were likely to fall outside (below) of their previously guided range. Full year earnings are likely to be close to -8% vs the prior financial year.

Profitability and margins look better of course.

Anyways, becoming a lower volume, more niche if higher margin company we know is a risky position to be in, but the vulnerability may not show up fully for a while yet.   The pace of new products though I agree does seem to have slowed somewhat from a few years ago.

[Sandyb]

Presumably the changes listed in the TestFlight app.

 

[Sandyb]

Quick update re Tidal integration in the app.

My Theatre updated to 3.4.2 tonight, and now Tidal integration in the B&O app seems to work fine.

Multiroom (i.e. expanding out using the B&O app) also worked fine.

So, well done to B&O for adding an integrated choice now beyond Deezer.

 

[Sandyb]

I’d echo the first response, in that carving out a focussed listening space within such a large and larger open plan room is nigh on impossible, at least within reason.

And I’d second MM’s comments, that if you rule out a pair of larger speakers and opt instead for 2-4 pairs of smaller speakers, then that choice comes with its own challenges and limitations, as described above.

All depends on how particular you are with respect to the sound image and how precise you need it to be. Placing a few pairs of smaller speakers (and I dont know how you are thinking of connecting them, and to what source) can certainly sound very decent in a general sense with music. But it cant do what a pair of larger speakers can, with respect to soundstage reproduction and separation etc.

Going down the route of 50s (for example) have one advantage – they sound so good that you can then forget about ever needing to change speakers ever again. With a few pairs of smaller speakers, and the hassle of that setup, there’s still a non-trivial chance that you’ll want to change them for something else / better down the road.

[Sandyb]

Apparently you do need 3.4.2.14 for the Tidal integration to work.

Just passing on the info.

[Sandyb]

Was interested as to the extent of Tidal integration, so I created a free 1 month subscription etc.

Does seem similar to Deezer, judging by my screenshots below. There does seem the ability to save Tidal playlists to my buttons.

That all said, when I tried to play Tidal from the B&O app, I get the error message (see pictures). Tidal doesn’t seem to be a Music source either within my Theatre settings.  Perhaps that changes with the new BST SW 3.4.2.1 (26 th May) which I dont have yet, but who knows.

[Sandyb]

Seems like there is full Tidal integration in the app now – looks to be a similar degree of integration as Deezer.

Not relevant for me, but credit where its due, that’s a decent step forward / option for those interested.

[Sandyb]

This release may put the “in” in “incremental”!

Still have icons (black circle etc) with no text, no explanation of what they are – when there are 3 icons squeezed into one row.

Still no move for Signal Info, buried in Settings (it is not a Setting!), to a more prominent place.

Overall, the aesthetics I dont mind too much.

[Author]

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