[Stan]

Looks great.  Solves the biggest issue with my Eclipse gen1 – what happens when the screen dies?  I wish they had this 5? years ago when I bought my Eclipse…

[Stan]

An M3 works fine to extend the NL network so devices (turntable, receiver, etc.) not near your speakers can be used.  However, in most cases, it’s easier to just connect the device directly to the speaker system.  BS2, Balance, Level, Core, Essence MK2 all have line-in capability.

[Stan]

Higher frequency sound tends to be directional.  This means that speakers tend to sound best when the high frequency drivers are pointed at your head (where your ears live).  In this case, the higher frequencies will be directed toward the ceiling rather than your head.  It would probably sound best in that position if it were pointed down toward your sitting area (maybe put the rear leg on a book (or two) if this doesn’t make it too unsteady or look too weird).

You should definitely run the room calibration given it’s in the corner and close to the ceiling, but that will not help the higher frequencies going toward the ceiling rather than the sitting area.

[Stan]

I’m sure B&O considered the “delay problem”, but decided they were not going to solve it with these “lower end” (for B&O) speakers.  Perhaps it would have required an upgraded processor and related components which would have raised the price too much.  Engineering/Product Development is all about trade-offs, and weighing the cost vs. benefit of thousands of design decisions.  Sometimes, they get it right, sometimes they don’t.  If they don’t get it right for you, don’t buy the product… or learn to live with the limitation.  Get a pair of BL28s if you don’t want a delay (I wish).

About the fact that GVA does not allow the distribution of line-in audio, I haven’t seen an explanation for this, and I can’t think of a reasonable one, except for it being some kind of weird licensing restriction imposed by Google.  When in doubt, blame the lawyers. 😀

 

[Stan]

The line-in to my non-GVA Balance (which I assume is the same as a Level since both are Mozart devices) has a perceptible delay that cannot be eliminated.  This is one reason it is sold as a “music only” speaker (lip synching issues for TV audio).

With the older devices (i.e.  Essence mk2, BS2 gen1, possibly core), there is an option to remove the delay at the cost of not being able to distribute the line-in audio via NL.  I have not found a similar configuration setting for the Balance.  Of course, if your Levels have GVA, then they will not distribute the line-in audio (not that this is needed for your application, but it’s a weird limitation that needs to be mentioned whenever possible) so there is an ever so slight possibility that there is no delay.  However, I’m pretty sure that regardless of GVA status there is still a delay as there needs to be time for the DSP to work its magic (something not happening in an Essence mk2, and to a lesser extend in the BS2)

To my knowledge, the BL-transmitter doesn’t provide any cross over settings.  It simply sends whatever the source provides.

[Stan]

A Level can join a core/essence mk2 with no perceptible delay via Network Link… I can listen to multiple NL devices, one being a Balance, without an “echo”.   Not the path I went…  I bought two Balances, but you do you.  If you like the sound that is all that matters.

[Stan]

Google would be required to use Chromecast, but if you’re using Chromecast, you’re already in deep with Google so one more device shouldn’t be a problem (I would think).

[Stan]

I don’t have any advice for this specific problem, but here are some things I’ve had to do to make various B&O products work.

1. Reboot your phone
2. Drop and re-add the BT pairing in your phone.
3. Drop the device from the app, delete the BT pairing, restart the app, add the device to the app “from scratch”.
4. Do all of 3) above, but also reset the A1.
5. If you have multiple A1s, delete them all and try 3) and 4) above
6. Try all of the above in an area with little BT interference.  For example, in my office, I have a BT keyboard and mouse, a laptop, a tablet, a phone, a smart watch, all using BT from time to time.  I’ve had to leave my office for another room there are no other devices to get some things to work (not necessarily with B&O, but other BT devices).

[Stan]

I looked at my wife’s iPhone, and it did not have this option. However, I upgraded the software to a version released in mid-July, and it appeared. Therefore, I’d recommend upgrading the app (if you haven’t already).

[Stan]

Did you scroll down all the way?  (Sarcasm)

My software version is 4.1.0.45586 on Android.

I have not had time to play with it.

[Stan]

This new behavior is configurable in the app

 

[Stan]

I would be surprised if B&O radio provides a higher bit rate than TuneIn since, it is my understanding, that neither service is actually providing the bit-stream, but rather more or less providing a catalog to find and connect to the bit-stream.  The audio provider is the one actually broadcasting the bit-stream.  I recall in the early days of streaming radio, some stations had higher and lower bitrate offerings – mostly for those folks who still had slow internet – but in today’s world of broadband everywhere, I would think most broadcasters probably don’t do that any longer.

I was going to test this, but then decided it would be too difficult since B&O radio capable devices can’t do TuneIn and vice-versa.  Yeah, I could use bluetooth or Chromecast, but that’s adding another variable or two to the audio chain.

[Stan]

Thanks.  I’m not in a big hurry to fix it so maybe I will wait to see how things turn out for you.  Please post any further positive or negative experiences.

[Stan]

Although speaking of new features, you can now play Deezer “flow” directly from the beo app to a Mozart device (without the Deezer app).  Unfortunately, the “flow” button doesn’t appear for non-Mozart devices.  Not sure when this showed up (as I just got my first Mozart device), but this was something I always wanted.

[Stan]

All true.  However (as reported above), when one selects a station, the app reports “Action not supported by the selected product”.

I can “multi-room” the beo radio station from a Mozart device to a non-Mozart device, but that’s (obviously) not quite the same as playing it directly.

[Stan]

Did you find someone to repair your speakers?

My BS9000 just started having problems.  It turns on and kind of clicks with only the red dot showing.  Ignores remote and button commands, except the open glass door button works 🙁

[Stan]

Thinking about this as water running through pipe helped me pass some physics and EE classes.  Think of the circuit as a pipe, and the resistance as the diameter of the pipe.  The higher the resistance, the smaller the diameter of the pipe.  It takes more water flow (amps) to achieve the same pressure (voltage) of the water in a big pipe (4 Ohms) vs. a small pipe (8 Ohms).  Therefore, the pump (the amp) has to work harder to achieve the same pressure (voltage).

If you prefer math, it’s because Voltage (V) =current (I) * resistance (R) (Ohms law).  Of course, with a speaker, it’s a lot more complicated because of the dynamics of reproducing sound, but at any instant in time, Ohms law holds true (more or less).  I believe this is what Mr 10% was getting at.  Because of the complexity of dynamic circuit behavior, Ohms law is only an approximation so speaker specifications like impedance are also an approximation, and as an approximation can be influenced by “marketing” spin.

[Stan]

BTW, I don’t have any DLNA playlists.  Not even sure how to create them.

[Stan]

I have been hitting the triangle above the album song list, but I get the same behavior if I select the 1st song.

Most of my songs are WMA lossless which the BM5 transcodes to FLAC.  With most (maybe all, I haven’t been paying close attention to this until just now), only the 1st 10 seconds of the 1st song plays.  Then, it stops.  Then I hit play and the next song plays.  Then it stops, etc.

I get similar behavior with MP3 and FLAC files, except these formats will play the 1st song in the album (then stop, etc.).

This works fine with my non-Mozart Beosounds (1st Gen BS2, BS1 GVA, Essence Mk2).

[Stan]

Not only are they only selling 20, they are at their new store in Paris.

[Author]

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