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Look up the specs of your Marantz RCA output.
As indicated above, hopefully the specs say something helpful / similar like for my Linn i.e its RCA is max 2V at 80 (linn) volume.
If it doesn’t indicate the volume, and just says rated at 2V, then you may need to play around with a Marantz volume and find a max Marantz volume than makes sense.
And yes, I think with the Marantz RCA rated at 2V, then you should set the BL50s input voltage (for RCA) at 2V too.
Also check the Marantz RCA impedance, and make sure it fits with the right BL50s RCA impedance setting.
Again, worth having a quick scan of the BL50s TSG – a quick Ctrl F for “impedance” and / or “voltage” will get you to the right section quickly.
For my BL50s I have a Linn streamer/DAC connected to the 50s with RCA, for context.
Apologies if you have done some of this already, but…
Check your connected 3rd party device RCA output spec. For my Linn, the RCA outputs at “2V rms at volume 80 (Linn volume)”, and “output impedance 300 ohms”
On my Bl50s, in the configuration settings, I therefore set the RCA input to 2V max input voltage, and the Input Impedance at 50K ohms (the only other choice is 50 ohms).
Seems to work all perfectly well. For example, if I crank the Linn’s volume to its max (90 or 100, cant remember), then the sound out of the 50s deteriorates.
And at the BL50 end, assuming I’m sending out Linn volume 80, then changing the BL50s settings just quietens the sound too much . For example, setting the max Input Voltage to 4, sound is too quiet.
I think there is a little bit on all this is the BL50s Technical Sound Guide.
What 3rd party equipment do you have connected?
Not sure exactly what’s your priority here is.
To use Roon in your Theatre/18s/19 setup? Or to use hi-res music?
You can obviously use Roon in that setup, as the Apple TV is Roon Ready, so will use Roon’s RAAT protocol to stream to. I dont do that with my Apple TV in my living room myself, but I have a different setup with a 3rd party streamer/DAC direct to my front L/R speakers.
I dont really have anything to add re hi-res music to my previous posts I’m afraid. Personally I’d only want to listen to music (2.0) through front left / rights – other combinations of speakers (including the Theatre) doesn’t do it for me.
You could get a network streamer/DAC that is Roon ready and use its analogue output to connect direct to your BL18s.
I do that with my BL50s, though they have higher capabilities than the 18s.
Again, I wouldn’t get over exercised about hi-res on speakers like the 18s. And also, many B&O customers (some of whom have 18s) use Deezer Hifi, which is not the lower bitrate of Spotify, but full CD quality streams. That’s generally how a lot of customers use their stuff.
As someone who had for a long time BL18s and a BL19, I would respectfully say that you really won’t hear much/any difference with hi-res music on these speakers.
Otherwise, the Theatre (as I’m sure you know) doesn’t have a separate digital input which you could use for a network streamer, so you have the option of using the analogue input (USB-C input with the correct dongle), and connect a streamer/DAC to send the Theatre an analogue (hi-res) source.
apologies, honest mistake!
The Halo doesn’t yet have the television control (beyond volume) that it does with the Harmony/Eclipse (if thats what the question was directed at).
and of course, just to add that the bl50s do not have BT, hence the need to use something else (Wifi or IR).
Not sure what your audio source is?
I have bl50s, and a 3rd party streamer/DAC connected directly via RCA.
You can add an IR eye in/behind the side panel of your master 50 speaker, and the BR1 (set to Beosound mode) can then control its volume. (you can play/pause etc also with the BR1, but not with an analogue RCA source obviously, so just volume in that case).
Its ok, not brilliantly responsive but it does work – depends on how direct line of sight the BR1 has of the panel where you’ve hidden the IR eye.
A BR Halo now can (volume) control the BL50s using wifi – that may be a touch more responsive. But unless you can find a Halo on a cheap deal, 700GBP is a lot to spend on a volume wheel product, when all the rest of the things the Halo can do are not usable for you.
Sonos have done exactly the same with their newly released Aero 100 and 300 speakers.
the design is nice enough, but not particularly special to me.
If it was from a different brand, I’m pretty sure many here would say “yeah, well, its nice enough” but not go much further than that.
Thanks very much for the background and context to Peter and his life (both B&O and more generally). A salient reminder to all, myself especially, that life is full of diverse characters, many of whom can share the same hobby. So, many thanks for your nicely reflective post.
Pass on best wishes from, I’m sure, the broader community.
I have my Apple TV 4K connected to the Theatre and controlled with CEC (i.e no PUC cable attached to it). Works fine. So not exactly sure what they mean by “doesn’t support CEC”.
That said, having some devices connected/controlled using PUC and some other using CEC does seem to pose problems / glitches with the Theatre.
That seems to be where the problem lies.
yes, my guess is that the issue is there for people with HDMI devices that are PUC’d but also have CEC i.e a clash between the two. Just a guess though.
No worries.
For broad context, my simple standalone (i.e no other speakers attached) bedroom Theatre setup has generally been fine, especially w.r.to the shutting down issue. There is only one HDMI source (Sky set top box).
The living room Theatre, with external speakers, and 3 HDMI inputs (Sky STB, BR player and ATV 4K) is the one which had the issue with some frequency.
Anyway, my dealer sent round their technician last week and added CEC blockers – he speaks to Denmark quite often, and from what they have told him, B&O are strongly recommending CEC blockers.
How is everyone getting on with the Theatre shutting down / crashing issue? (for those who were affected by it of course).
I’ve had CEC blockers installed in my living room theatre setup (on 2 of the 3 hdMI inputs), and on the bedroom Theatre’s sole HDMI input.
Still havent reached a conclusion yet as to whether this has fixed the issue, as its only been a few days and I need to give it some time (though the living room one did turn itself off once I think the last few days).
Anyway, interested as to how (those) people are getting on?
my living room theatre has bl50s hard wired and bl17s WISA.
I have a listening position with the Theatre plus all the above (LP A), one with just the Theatre (B), and one with the 50s/17s only and no Theatre.
I can switch back and forth between all 3 LPs (A to B to C, and back again), and the time lag is just under 2 seconds every time.
With respect to time lags when switching LPs
I can switch between LPs including the theatre, and LPs with no theatre….and going back and forward between these inc and ex Theatre LPs, it’s still a fraction under 2 seconds.
Hi there MM
On one of the recent podcast the lag when changing listening positions was discussed. It seems that there are some who have long-ish lags (similar to yours), and those for whom the lag is more or less not there i.e. 1-2 seconds.
I’ve played around with my experience – and flicking between LP’s, my lag is between 1-2 seconds. No idea why some have this 7 second lag – Michael, the podcast host, has always had 7 second lags since his Theatre was installed.
Same, and I think this issue explains why even Andrew Robinson’s review mentioned that puzzlingly, while movies etc sounded great, some regular tv sounded odd and even like a cheap sound bar.
My bedroom theatre particularly, where there are no other speaker attached, sounds poor / wrong / bad when the signal switches to 2.0 PCM.
While adjusting in the app to a sound mode with Direct 1:1 processing is not the end of the world, its also something we shouldn’t have to do for the simple task of watching TV.
I dont notice the issue for my living room Theatre setup, which has loads of other speakers attached to the Theatre.
But long story short, this needs fixing soon.
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