ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hi you all knowledgeable people :)
Why are you not surprised about seeing my enquiry here, asking for support from you instead of B&O customer service?
As I am sure you can tell I HAVE been in touch with them, but after a lengthy dialog and many emails and troubleshooting I find myself in the position where they do not seem to be able to find out what is wrong. To be fair, it is not something that can be easily troubleshot (troubleshooted?) remotely. Not even locally.
Furthermore I am interested in if anyone else:
- owns two Balances
- has tried stereo-pairing them
- has had the same issue as me.
What's my problem then?
Well, both of my non-GA Balances work perfectly, no flaws, they play beautifully both on their own as standalone speakers and in Beolink multiroom set up via the B&O app, using the same home wireless network that has very seldom shown signs of weakness, particularly since I have a good dose of access points in a mesh setup.
Then we come to stereo pairing. It is a fairly straightforward process in the B&O app. Choose a master = left-channel speaker, then link it to the right-channel speaker.
The moment I start actually using this stereo setup, the right-channel speaker starts dropping out. My experience of stereo music then becomes one where the left-channel speaker plays smoothly while the right-channel speaker keeps dropping out. As though muting and unmuting the right-hand speaker rapidly, with varying intensity or length, kind of like when signal keeps dropping out.
Swap around the speakers both physically and in the B&O app, and again it is the right-channel speaker dropping out. Then the speaker that used to be right-channel and that used to drop out, is now playing without a hick-up as the left-channel speaker.
As mentioned above, using the same home wireless network and the B&O app, the speakers each play back flawlessly in a Beolink multiroom setup. It is really only in stereo mode.
What else have I done?
Factory reset? Course, on both! Same issue after that too.
Ethernet cable? Ordered, set up, tested, actually working well, so stereo is working as expected wired.
Closer distance? Wirelessly but instead of the speakers standing about 2-3 meters from each other, the right-channel speaker would still keep dropping out even at a distance of about 30-40 cm (like a foot?) from the other.
Some more thoughts
Somehow I would think this is more of a software issue than a network issue, even if the latter cannot be ruled out strictly speaking. But if it is a network issue, why would Beolink multiroom work without a problem? At some point stereo mode even got disconnected on its own after a lot of drop-outs... or should I call them "signal interruptions" at this point?
B&O customer service in the end advised me to contact a local dealer to see if they could send a... wait for it... paid onsite technician to have it check. In my mind this is not too generous since these are brand new speakers and I would expect that something works as intended out of the box, or if it doesn't, then they should make sure it does for no extra cost to me. It also requires a lot of logistics and time and hassle that I could do without. There is no guarantee if a technician I would pay extra for, would actually find the cause of the problem.
Let me add that the whole case is more of an inconvenience for me than a deal-breaker because a workaround is of course to use Ethernet cables, and because stereo is simply another listening option for me but not my main means of consumption. What matters the most to me is really Beolink and thankfully that works like magic. I can even live with the issue of wirelessly paired stereo mode and hope that one day a B&O developer discovers that this is not only an issue but that could somehow be improved from the software side. But I'd be curious to know if anyone else may have had a similar experience. If not with the Balance, perhaps with the Level?
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Csaba
Good day.
I have what some consider to be pretty good Streaming components. I have had no major problems with them, but they are notorious for not functioning as intended in less than perfect router-connectivity setups. I cannot get for instance Qobuz to connect to this system - yet Amazon and tidal work OK. Other owners comment on the opposite.
I think it does happen a lot on modern equipment and echo-boxes like Beoworld may make you think it is only their products that have a problem. Its not. Far from it.
My solution.
Take your new products to the Dealer and get him to set them up in his showroom. If they bond/bridge/connect, you have a site problem - which may not be B&Os problem. If they dont.....make it the Dealers problem. Unless there is acrid smoke pouring our of your product and it needs and engineer, paying for a home visit is not encouraging the Dealer to solve the problem. You are subsidising him.
I have reached out to you in an e-mail to get some more information - I will be happy to assist in some debugging as to why you are facing these issues.
Can you try to entirely disable the 2.4GHz SSID (ensuring the BS Balance are connected to the 5GHz band) in your routers/APs control panel, and see after that if the sound from the R speaker is still cutting out?
The Balance can't be stereo-paired running an Ethernet cable between the speakers (like Beolab 28), correct?
Mr 10Percent: My solution. Take your new products to the Dealer and get him to set them up in his showroom. If they bond/bridge/connect, you have a site problem - which may not be B&Os problem. If they dont.....make it the Dealers problem. Unless there is acrid smoke pouring our of your product and it needs and engineer, paying for a home visit is not encouraging the Dealer to solve the problem. You are subsidising him.
Thank you for answering :). Yes, I have thought about bringing the speakers to my dealer's but it is a bit of a job logistically. It would give me another perspective for sure but I would prefer solving it at home. Then again, it might be inevitable after the point of no return :).
c-larsen: I have reached out to you in an e-mail to get some more information - I will be happy to assist in some debugging as to why you are facing these issues.
Hey, that is very kind of you! However I have not received any personal message, I am afraid :(. I hope it is simply delayed.
matteventu: Can you try to entirely disable the 2.4GHz SSID (ensuring the BS Balance are connected to the 5GHz band) in your routers/APs control panel, and see after that if the sound from the R speaker is still cutting out? The Balance can't be stereo-paired running an Ethernet cable between the speakers (like Beolab 28), correct?
Thank you for the tip. I think it is completely relevant to check out and might be useful to rule out. I am a bit hesitant to start messing with my network settings though, since both my partner and I work from home office, me for a business customer, so it would have to be tested at least on a weekend when I am alone. That's often a big ask :). For now I was mainly trying to gather some insight from others.
I did not wire the two Balances directly when testing a cabled setup, simply plugged each via its own Ethernet cable into the router. There are after all two Ethernet slots per speaker, so in theory it might be worth a check but my aim is to stereo-pair completely wirelessly.
Are they linked as a stereo pair in your Google Home app?
I ask because nothing I have paired via that mechanism has ever worked. I've been trying for 18 months with 2x original Google Home speakers and 2x third party (Polk) speakers, and all that happens is that one randomly drops out.
I have other symptoms as well, such as the devices randomly refusing to respond to "OK Google" commands, randomly complaining about a lack of wireless coverage, and so on. I've given up.
Not what you wanted to hear but if you bought your Balances to use as a pair, and there's time to return them, that's what I'd do.
Beovision Horizon 48, Beolab 17, Beolab 19, Core, Beosound Stage w/ Sony, BeoSystem 4, Beoplay M3
Csaba: c-larsen: I have reached out to you in an e-mail to get some more information - I will be happy to assist in some debugging as to why you are facing these issues. Hey, that is very kind of you! However I have not received any personal message, I am afraid :(. I hope it is simply delayed.
Okay, I only had the option to send an e-mail, maybe that function does not work.
It sounds like your problem is caused by WiFi interference on the wireless link between the two speakers. Could you answer a couple of questions:
1. Are your speakers connected to a 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz network?
2. Have you changed the default sound quality settings from the app? (default is to use LC3+)
I might be one of the only others here with a Balance Stereo pair, and I've had very similar issues. I was actually going to send one of my speakers off to B&O for repair, but now maybe I'll hold off.
The right side speaker constantly malfunctions. I've had to factory reset it over and over again because it loses signal and no longer appears in the app at all. What I haven't done yet is try switching the left for the right. I'll do that today.
Question, just to see if you're having the same problem I am - when you look at the speaker settings, does your stereo pair show Left and Unknown? That's what I see most of the time lately.
Beolab 17, A9 MK IV (soon to be sold), Stage x2, H95, E8 Sport, A1 V2
65535: Are they linked as a stereo pair in your Google Home app? Not what you wanted to hear but if you bought your Balances to use as a pair, and there's time to return them, that's what I'd do.
Never checked the Google Home app since today the B&O app is able to setup a stereo pair internally, without redirecting to the Google Home app. But I am going to check how it looks within Google Home once set up in the B&O app.
I had actually not had any plans of buying two Balances at first. I wanted to get one and add it in a Beolink multiroom setup. The reason I ended up buying two was because I was waiting for my Balance Bespoke to be made for me while the Nordic Ice edition came out. I didn’t want to miss out on the Nordic Ice even if I was just about to get delivery of my Bespoke edition. So stereo was not really a part of the plan but I am trying to get it to work.
Hope you’ll get this because I got my first answer stopped for moderation.
There are two Ethernet ports on the Balance, so in theory I could try but I have simply wired each speaker separately to my router. I might try it later and see how the B&O app then behaves.
I will need some alone-time at home with testing disabling 2.4GHz on a weekend, so this may take a while. I have a customer-facing job and depend heavily on a working network that I wouldn’t like to mess with :). But good tip! I’ll get back to this.
Csaba: matteventu: Can you try to entirely disable the 2.4GHz SSID (ensuring the BS Balance are connected to the 5GHz band) in your routers/APs control panel, and see after that if the sound from the R speaker is still cutting out? The Balance can't be stereo-paired running an Ethernet cable between the speakers (like Beolab 28), correct? Hope you’ll get this because I got my first answer stopped for moderation. There are two Ethernet ports on the Balance, so in theory I could try but I have simply wired each speaker separately to my router. I might try it later and see how the B&O app then behaves. I will need some alone-time at home with testing disabling 2.4GHz on a weekend, so this may take a while. I have a customer-facing job and depend heavily on a working network that I wouldn’t like to mess with :). But good tip! I’ll get back to this.
I would advise against disabling 2.4 GHz. Instead I would recommend to try to connect your Balance speakers to 2.4 GHz and then do the stereo pairing. This will provide more headroom and less interference on the 5 Ghz band to be used for the Wi-Fi link between the speakers.
c-larsen: Csaba: matteventu: Can you try to entirely disable the 2.4GHz SSID (ensuring the BS Balance are connected to the 5GHz band) in your routers/APs control panel, and see after that if the sound from the R speaker is still cutting out? The Balance can't be stereo-paired running an Ethernet cable between the speakers (like Beolab 28), correct? Hope you’ll get this because I got my first answer stopped for moderation. There are two Ethernet ports on the Balance, so in theory I could try but I have simply wired each speaker separately to my router. I might try it later and see how the B&O app then behaves. I will need some alone-time at home with testing disabling 2.4GHz on a weekend, so this may take a while. I have a customer-facing job and depend heavily on a working network that I wouldn’t like to mess with :). But good tip! I’ll get back to this. I would advise against disabling 2.4 GHz. Instead I would recommend to try to connect your Balance speakers to 2.4 GHz and then do the stereo pairing. This will provide more headroom and less interference on the 5 Ghz band to be used for the Wi-Fi link between the speakers.
There should be more people like you in the forum :)
So you're confirming the Mozart products use a wireless connection on the 5GHz band encoded with LC3plus to communicate each other when stereo paired natively via B&O app?
If so, that's good to know, I was afraid they did that over Bluetooth (hence the thought the Wi-Fi 2.4GHz signal could interfere with the wireless link between the 2 speakers).
Is it an 802.11 connection, or any other kind of standard? You mentioned there's an option to select "LC3plus". Can you please elaborate on this? Not having 2 Mozart B&O speakers at hand at the moment I can't check myself
Is there an option that lets you configure the codec used? What are the alternatives to the LC3plus option, in the app?
Thanks a lot for your contribution!
It is basically a good idea if you have both 2,4G and 5G on your wifi router, devide the SSID names in 2.
For example one with the SSID Csaba's network_2,4G and the other with Csaba's network_5G.
Then is it easy to see what band a device is connected to.
I personally always have a few lan-cables lying around for testing stuff, just for ruling things out.
good luck,
Beosound 5 Encore, Beolab 3, Beolab 11, Beosound Balance Non GVA, H9i
c-larsen: Okay, I only had the option to send an e-mail, maybe that function does not work. It sounds like your problem is caused by WiFi interference on the wireless link between the two speakers. Could you answer a couple of questions: 1. Are your speakers connected to a 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz network? 2. Have you changed the default sound quality settings from the app? (default is to use LC3+)
I very much appreciate your kind help! :)
Not too easy questions to answer.
I will take a closer look as soon as I get a chance, right now as I am writing I can only say that any device I connect to my wifi seems to be connected to 5GHz. I just don’t know how this is controlled by my wifi settings. I will probably need to test stereo setup with only 2.4 enabled and only 5 GHz. I have read that in my AirTies 4930 there is an additional chip for extra processing power. On the other hand the 5GHz light indicator on every AP has always been blinking every few seconds while the one for 2.4 has always been lit up continuously. I have not checked if my right-channel Balance would cut off exactly when the light on the 5GHz blinks once, but so far I have a feeling they might be connected to 5GHz and that I might have an issue with this very frequency. I must add I am not a network expert but I will need to doublecheck my theory on a weekend. I have 3 APs and I have tested stereo previously on both the strongest and weakest AP-signal.
Regarding the sound, I am not sure what you mean by LC3+. Sorry if this is very basic :). All I think I have configured for standalone or Beolink is Omni-channel with 2 units of treble added and that the speaker is stood by the wall. After each repositioning I’d run Active Room Compensation. Otherwise AirPlay multiroom and Beolink are enabled as this is what I use the most. With stereo I have noticed that Omni-direction would always change to Forward automatically.
Last but not least something that I have been wondering about is if anybody has ever attempted to stereo-pair a non-GA and a GA-enabled Balance and what would happen. Customer care having checked mine based on serial number they could confirm that both of mine were non-GA. Hopefully this can be trusted, just like the order I placed for my non-GA Bespoke edition at my dealer’s. Strangely the B&O app shows my Bespoke edition as Beosound Balance Google Assistant under the attribute Product type whereas my Nordic Ice is just Beosound Balance. I cannot be 100% sure because of the clues one should look for, but everything except this product type info indicates that my Bespoke one is also non-GA. There is also something called a Type number, which is the same for both speakers. I do not know if this differs depending on if the Balance contains GA. But I do think this can be ruled out.
Gaea: It is basically a good idea if you have both 2,4G and 5G on your wifi router, devide the SSID names in 2. For example one with the SSID Csaba's network_2,4G and the other with Csaba's network_5G. Then is it easy to see what band a device is connected to. I personally always have a few lan-cables lying around for testing stuff, just for ruling things out. good luck,
Yeah, that’s how mine came out of the box. Names tagged with frequency. However after I set up a mesh 3-point network for better performance and coverage even the 5GHz frequency had inherited the name of the 2.4GHz network. I’ll need to dig a bit deeper into this.
Thanks all for all the fantastic input so far!! This is the dialog I was not able to have with customer care.
I agree actually that I probably shouldn’t disable 2.4 as such, but I need to find a way to have my Balances connect to that one. Maybe I’m slightly confused because both networks have automatically been named the same when I set up mesh.
Next I will need to verify if they really connect to 5GHz (I think so), then if the drop-outs occur at the same time as the light indicator blinking once on the 5GHz network, and then rename the two networks and see if I could simply connect the speakers from the B&O app to the correct one. Should be relatively straightforward.
Glad to help. I think you will benefit a lot from separating the two bands by fx creating <ssid_2_4> and <ssid_5> so you know which devices is running on which band. Once that is done I would recommend to try to connect your Balances to the 2.4 Ghz network and then just stereo pair them via the app as usual.
I look forward to hear if your issues go away. Otherwise let me know :)
BeoCom 1401: I might be one of the only others here with a Balance Stereo pair, and I've had very similar issues. I was actually going to send one of my speakers off to B&O for repair, but now maybe I'll hold off. The right side speaker constantly malfunctions. I've had to factory reset it over and over again because it loses signal and no longer appears in the app at all. What I haven't done yet is try switching the left for the right. I'll do that today. Question, just to see if you're having the same problem I am - when you look at the speaker settings, does your stereo pair show Left and Unknown? That's what I see most of the time lately.
Do you have 2 non-GA or 2 GA speakers?
Factory resets never helped me either.
I think you could definitely try the same things as I have:
- extend from one speaker to the other, then test
- now swap them around physically, then set them up again but with stereo according to the new position and then test
- test stereo both close to the router and with the speakers placed close to each other
- you could also compare how they work both individually (one is off for example) and in a BeoLink setup joined together
- see if they work better if they are both Ethernet-wired to your router and then setup stereo and test
Remember that my issue is that sound dropping out on the right-channel speaker immediately starts after pressing Play. I can actually see Left and Right labels in the app. I cannot recall Unknown but it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a different problem. Also, I have once experienced such heavy drop-out that even my stereo pair had disconnected itself. Then the speaker on the right was lost and was struggling to come back online and was therefore not recognized by the app. Factory reset did help with it being recognized at least.
c-larsen: Glad to help. I think you will benefit a lot from separating the two bands by fx creating <ssid_2_4> and <ssid_5> so you know which devices is running on which band. Once that is done I would recommend to try to connect your Balances to the 2.4 Ghz network and then just stereo pair them via the app as usual. I look forward to hear if your issues go away. Otherwise let me know :)
Most definitely I will! I really couldn’t care if my 5GHz is the culprit as long as my stereo pair works :). If it does, it is still beyond me why Beolink works using the same network. Now I simply need a weekend afternoon alone, which is not too easy with a 1 and a half year old and his mom always at home :)).
At the very least I’m going to add my learnings so that also others could benefit from it.
I swapped the left and right and everything is working perfectly - for now. Let's see how long it lasts. I'll update this thread as I continue to use them.
matteventu: There should be more people like you in the forum :) So you're confirming the Mozart products use a wireless connection on the 5GHz band encoded with LC3plus to communicate each other when stereo paired natively via B&O app? If so, that's good to know, I was afraid they did that over Bluetooth (hence the thought the Wi-Fi 2.4GHz signal could interfere with the wireless link between the 2 speakers). Is it an 802.11 connection, or any other kind of standard? You mentioned there's an option to select "LC3plus". Can you please elaborate on this? Not having 2 Mozart B&O speakers at hand at the moment I can't check myself Is there an option that lets you configure the codec used? What are the alternatives to the LC3plus option, in the app? Thanks a lot for your contribution!
Yes, the products use a wireless connection for better performance and audio quality.
Once you have done your stereo pair, you can select the desired audio quality level via the app. If you go to "Product Settings -> Audio Quality" it will give you the option to select between LC3plus or Uncompressed PCM. Obviously the uncompressed option will require higher bandwidth and hence will be more sensitive to interference. So I recommend to at least start with LC3plus to verify you do not experience dropouts or other issues.
If your setup allows it, there is also the option to attach an Ethernet cable between the speakers. Then you can still have a wireless connection to your router, but the audio data will be transmitted via the cable. If you want to go with this option, you first need to do the stereo pairing wirelessly (without any ethernet cables attached) and then once they are paired you can connect the cable and it will automatically switch to use that for the audio link.
Interesting discussion on 5GHz.
Long ago I created a hidden 2.4GHz-only SSID specifically for the Google Assistant products I have because some of them - most obviously the earlier Nest gear - do not support 5GHz.
But I might now investigate a 5GHz-only alternative for the products that do. It's a bit messy (I would of course prefer a single, concurrent band wi-fi network) and I'm not hopeful it'll make a difference, but it's worth a shot!
For those who want to learn more about LC3plus - have a look here:
Page 7 - 2.2
https://assets.ctfassets.net/8cd2csgvqd3m/2luyxeIlLHpkR3cNHcrpfc/c7b95506226eed7f75e435fac4ee1766/Beolab_28_technical_sound_guide.pdf
And at the Frauenhofer homepage here:
https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/iis/en/doc/pr/2021/2021_06_LC3plus_B-and-O_EN.pdf
P.S.
I guess at some point there will be a similar Technical Guide for the Balance/other Mozart speakers....when he, who usually writes these has some spare time
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Did you try killing the B&O app from the backround once pairing is complete? this trick always works with A1, P6 etc when encounting drop-outs in stereo pair setup! (iOS tested many times, not sure about Android)
c-larsen: Yes, the products use a wireless connection for better performance and audio quality. Once you have done your stereo pair, you can select the desired audio quality level via the app. If you go to "Product Settings -> Audio Quality" it will give you the option to select between LC3plus or Uncompressed PCM. Obviously the uncompressed option will require higher bandwidth and hence will be more sensitive to interference. So I recommend to at least start with LC3plus to verify you do not experience dropouts or other issues. If your setup allows it, there is also the option to attach an Ethernet cable between the speakers. Then you can still have a wireless connection to your router, but the audio data will be transmitted via the cable. If you want to go with this option, you first need to do the stereo pairing wirelessly (without any ethernet cables attached) and then once they are paired you can connect the cable and it will automatically switch to use that for the audio link.
Thank you for confirming. Really appreciated!
Is the 5GHz wireless connection over 802.11 standard, or is it a proprietary protocol?
The ability to make the stereo pair work also via ethernet cable doesn't seem to be documented anywhere, is that because it's still in testing (albeit alredy released), or it was just an oversight? If the latter, I'd suggest providing feedback internally to the team that deals with the support resources.
A little bit off topic, but I’m interested how the Balance sounds when paired.
I was impressed about the sound of the Balance, but didn’t hear them paired.
Do they overclass the Beolab 18? Or do they sound to harsh in stereo or is it spot on?
I’m interested in your impressions.
I'm so thrilled with the sound quality that I'm willing to put up with these technical issues. My previous pair of stereo speakers were more traditional hifi, but incredibly good bookshelves - Guru QM10 MK2 - lots of people on this forum are from Scandinavia, I'm thinking some might be familiar with those speakers. They were spectacular, but I'm done with speaker wire, amps and sources. I had a massive receiver powering my old bookshelves, and I never want to deal with that again. Even if B&O products didn't look amazing, I would still be done with traditional hifi. But when you combine the simplicity of digital sources with B&O's aesthetic, I'm never, ever going back.
The great thing is that my Balance stereo pair sounds even better than the QM10 MK2. Comparing them to other B&O speakers is an interesting proposition because I think they're a class above all of the "cheap" B&O stuff, but still well below Beolab. The A9 MK4 was my favorite lower tier B&O product before the Balance (I almost bought one multiple times) but the Balance in stereo is on another level entirely. I've only had a cursory listen to the BL28, and there's no question they share a lot of tech. Yes, the 28 is much, much better. But is it 10K better? Probably not, but I would still buy them if they were within my budget.
Hopefully this helps.
Thanks for the information. I agree about the Beolab 28, i like them very much too! The Beolab 9 are very good, but i missed a little bit 3D. The sound is great, bass, mids en treble good in balance, but you never got the idea the artist stands in front of you (the Beolab 28 sounds really 3D, top!)
I think i have to ask my dealer to pair them in a separate room for a good listen session.
Thanks everyone for an awesome conversation on both my issue, sound quality options in stereo, cabling between two speakers, as well as comparing to other stereo. So much to learn.
A small update I have got today is that I can confirm my speakers were indeed connected to 5GHz but the blinking on the access point did not seem to correspond to drop-outs. In fact, and I was both excited and mad about it, the stereo pair was working well finally. Even on 5GHz. I have not done anything. Or have I?
I must confess I have recently unplugged my wireless completely for almost two weeks due to travelling. Only never tested stereo pairing since. So I wonder if this simple thing may have solved my issue. I still find it difficult to accept that Beolink multiroom has worked perfectly the entire time while stereo mode using the same wireless network wasn’t, making me think that network cannot have been the reason.
I have also split up my frequencies and given them two different names. Connecting to the 2.4 and pairing the speakers using 2.4 I have not had the time to test yet.
I was told by my ISP that one difference between the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies is that 2.4 has more coverage while 5 has got a better performance if the device is close to the access point.
Not sure how stereo will work from now on but I have got a couple of things to try that I have learned here. So I’ll know what to do. If it still keeps cutting out, I have now got proof that they CAN work just fine even using 5GHz.
As for the sound, I have not dared to give the 28s a listen but I definitely wouldn’t call stereo on the Balance harsh. I do think it sounds basically like one Balance, only twice :). Plus the stereo dimension. Meaning pretty fantastic. I will need to do some more serious listening before I swing by my dealer’s and compare them to the Beolab 28. Of course I expect the latter to have the advantage.
Not sure if it was mentioned, but if you are subscribed to BETA SW, you will loose the stereo pairing functionality. Just FYI.
Ah, you know... A little B&O here, a little there
Glad to hear it is working. It should work on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz so I am glad to hear this is also the case. It could be the band separation that helped but it could also be the improvements done in the latest software release that has made a difference. If you run into any issues at least now you know where to start the troubleshooting. Otherwise I will be happy to assist.
BeoMegaMan: Not sure if it was mentioned, but if you are subscribed to BETA SW, you will loose the stereo pairing functionality. Just FYI.
This is not correct. You need to separate the pair to sign up for the Beta SW but once they are signed up you can create a stereo pair and you will still receive Beta SW on both speakers when available.
c-larsen: Glad to hear it is working. It should work on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz so I am glad to hear this is also the case. It could be the band separation that helped but it could also be the improvements done in the latest software release that has made a difference. If you run into any issues at least now you know where to start the troubleshooting. Otherwise I will be happy to assist.
Yes, I also assume it would have to work on 5GHz. I noticed there was an update waiting for me (version 1.8.10009 and I was on 1.7.40060) but I decided to keep my testing tidy and tested first with the older version and I still got the above results). Otherwise according to the release notes of 1.8.10009 it was only Google Chromecast that was updated.
It would be nice to have a list of release notes available for each product. The app is able to show it but after the update it is gone.
And for the record, I did participate in the beta program ahead of the Beolink release but opted out after it cause I only wanted to test Beolink ;).
Bottom line: awesome help, so happy with the outcome and the learning, I feel much safer and self-service now. Thank you so much! :)