[XavierItzmann]

Thank you Guy and Millemisen,

Fortunately, I have an Mk3 around.  It’s just that it is white (because that was the better color in our previous house), so I will lightly spray it black.  So I’ll use that!

Now, even so, I can’t help but wonder: suppose I was connecting my old Beocenter 2300 to the BL2.  The Beocenter used Mk1 cables… but are its internal DIN PL ports wired for an Mk3 cable?  I mean, Mk3 did not exist at the time.

But, I see a flaw in my thinking: if the BC2300 was able to drive Penta speakers, then, for sure the PL DINs are fully wired! (Mk2-level).

[XavierItzmann]

Many thanks, Millemisen, I stand corrected.

It should be noted that since the music identification/ripped files autotagging is no longer online, the rip completes to 98% only, and then a long while passes.

Not sure if the Auto-play functions CD RANDOM and CD REPEAT are worth much at this point, or ever were.

By the way, the reason my CD was not plugged in is that I was missing the short power cable.  I was in Europe a few weeks ago and ordered it at a B&O dealer who ordered it from Denmark and had it ready for me in a few days for €20, post-paid (honor system).

Compare to when I ordered another B&O part earlier this year here in the US from about 1,000 kms away, and it took many weeks, the shipping was almost as much as the item, the “service” grudging, and of course payment was required before the order could even be placed.

[XavierItzmann]

I got the BS5 for its aesthetics and nostalgia value.  I also got a Beo6.  Surprisingly, the Beo6 can be reset and, out of the box, will control the BS5 without further work.  Which saved my bacon because I proved utterly useless at programming even the most basic of functions: getting it to show the battery status without turning off your entire ML setup, which according to the Beoworld guide from 2011, generously written by a German user, is supposed to be elemental (!).

I do not see why a BS4 wouldn’t work with your BS5, but I’d be surprised if there is a lot of integration.  In my case, I’ve ML’d my BS3000 to the the BS5, and I can’t say that they add much value to each other.  Sure, if I hit N.MUSIC on the Beo4, it starts the BS5.  And ditto if I depress CD on the Beo4: the BS5 stops, and the BS3000 starts playing a CD, for example.

But that’s pretty much it.  The BS3000 does not display any N.MUSIC metadata from the BS5, even though it is able to, because that’s what it did, well over a decade ago, playing N.MUSIC from BeoLink PC2, via LinkPlayer software (alas!, RIP).  I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that the BS4 won’t either, though I would very much like to lose that bet.

The BS5 works pretty much exactly like a giant, great-looking iPod would.  I would not recommend it as an incoming digital media player, at all.  You’d be able to hook up your WIIM Pro to it, and all it would display on that gorgeous screen is a detestable AUX IN sign in white letters right in the middle of it.

[XavierItzmann]

Stoobie, that looks like a great practical solution!

[XavierItzmann]

Phil’s remarkable software displayed beautiful scrolling metadata N.MUSIC:song name/artist/album and N.RADIO radio station/song name on BS3000, but not on BL3500.

I think Phil said at the time that the BL3500 just didn’t have the functionality.

[XavierItzmann]

Hello Stan!  Yes, I must say, most B&O equipment tends to be solidly built, but sometimes misfortune happens! I wonder what’s B&O’s designed lifetime.

Mads, I tried using the Beo4, again the (R) now connected to the BL2000 fails to wake up this BLW1 connected as an (R).  And unfortunately I have no other IR Eye.  So I’ve claimed a refund from the seller.

Given the difficulty in ascertaining sw version, this could very well be the end of my explorations into the BLW1 world.

Cheerio!

 

[XavierItzmann]

Exchanging the units, factory re-setting them, and re-syncing them:

The BLW1 formerly ML’d to the Audio Master as T; now ML’d to the BL2000 as R:  The BL2000’s buttons fail to wake up this BLW1.

Hypothesis: the ML circuitry on this BLW1 has failed, or its mechanical ML connection.  When the now R was the T, it was getting a wireless wake up signal from the other BLW1, and perhaps trying to wake up the Audiomaster, but it “found”  no detectable Masterlink.

I wish I could test if the Powerlink (R) works from the (T) ML’d to the Audiomaster —which is all I really wanted out of this set-up—, but apparently this functionality is non-testable in the absence of a compatible IR Eye.  I have an IR Eye, but its termination is on an ethernet-like connector (RJ-45), not on a Powerlink connector (DIN).

Sad!

[XavierItzmann]

Thank you Mads, great comments!

The serial numbers are separated by a mere 30 units at the very top of the 20810900 range.

Worth mentioning that both T and R go to sleep (solid red) after about 20 seconds, but pressing buttons such as “Play” or “CD” on the BL2000 immediately wakes up both the T and the R;

… ergo, it appears ML traffic is sent, or at least an activity wake-up; however, the audio master BS3000 fails to wake up.  Also of note, having the CD already playing on BS3000 and then trying to get the BL2000 to merely JOIN has no effect.

Sad!  Have to assume the BLWs are duds.

 

 

[XavierItzmann]

I bought a Beo6 for very little money.  I twice read the Guide (v.2) generously written by hfat in 2012.  I installed the CTSetup program, version 6.84.

I played with the software and with my remote.  I couldn’t quite get it to do what I wanted; in particular, the Beo6 works nicely with my BS5 N.MUSIC, but I could not make N.RADIO even start on the BS5.  I asked for help in the forum but apparently not very many people are familiar with the system anymore.

It must be said, the Beo6 has the very nicest volume control of all B&O devices that I know.

[XavierItzmann]

Reporting for duty!

😉

[XavierItzmann]

For years I tried to use RCA connectors to my Beolab 4000’s.  No matter what I did, no matter what cables, or how short, or how long, or what price, what amp —indeed, even when connected via RCA to one or another B&O audiomaster, the “pop” was always there at on/off time, always disagreeable.

As my location changed, I simply went back to Powerlink.  It works.  You do have your speakers set to Powerlink, and not to LINE, right?

[XavierItzmann]

My favorite radio station, which I got to know when we spent a winter in Venice in 2016-2017.

It beggars belief that in 2024 the B&O app is unable to properly render the French alphabet: instead of displaying the composer’s name «Théodore Dubois», B&O shows it as «ThA©odore Dubois».

Anyway, the music is good!

[XavierItzmann]

In my BLC NL/ML, the following sources appear.  Words [between square parentheses] not displayed by the App, and added only for clarity:

• CD [from BS3000]
• N.MUSIC [from BS5]
• N.RADIO [from BS5]
• B&O Radio Beoplay A6
• Deezer Beoplay A6

From my extensive tinkering with the system in the last year or so, in the absence of the Beoplay A6, my BLC NL/ML will simply refuse to play B&O Radio and Deezer.  In fact, as I was typing this, I was playing B&O Radio from the BLC and went and turned off the A6 (I have it on a switch, English-style).

The audio stopped.

[XavierItzmann]

No worries, I appreciate all your help!

I’ve written Jasmine, we’ll see what she says.

[XavierItzmann]

??????

Wow.  I even have a friend with a Digi-Key account!  Of course you are right that that must be a standard industrial part.  But all OEMs (including B&O!) do this: they use a propietary part No. when it’s probably something from Würth like the image below.

If I get it from B&O it’s going to end up being $50 for 2, I just know it!  Which is fine, I wouldn’t mind.  But today, for instance, B&O Scottsdale didn’t even get back to me.

I’ll contact tekmg.

Digi-Key apparently would sell something along the same lines (if I had the measurements!) for 6¢!  See below.

[XavierItzmann]

I have contacted the Scottsdale, Arizona dealership.  I did not realize how fast these stores have closed!  The stores I used to patronize, Miami (The Falls), Miami Beach, and Charlotte (Carolina), are no more.

I’m travelling to Europe in a few weeks, will try my luck with a store there if the US is unable to supply parts anymore.

[XavierItzmann]

I am not familiar with Windows Media Player.

On iTunes, here is how I do it: once I have extracted the music from the CD and iTunes has completed all of the metadata, I select all the songs in the album and ⌘i (command-I), which is equivalent to the menu item > Song > Get info…

On the dialog window which appears, I select the tab “artwork”.  And then I choose “Add Artwork” and select the square image I have saved somewhere in my disk.

It works perfectly every time.

[XavierItzmann]

It means: which software version is installed on the device?

[XavierItzmann]

sw version?

[XavierItzmann]

On my system, I always use images that are perfectly square.  I may have made an exception or two and imported for instance 500×499 once —maybe twice— only because I was not able to find anything else on the internet.

I add the images to the songs using iTunes (also known as Apple Music).

The representation on the BS5 is always that of a perfect square, using this procedure.

[Author]

Posts