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
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Hi all,
My first time on this forum as a member, though ever since I’ve bought my BL 18’s (approx. 4 months ago), I have been a regular guest. Thank you all for the insightful posts. Indispensable info for newbies.
The setting; in the living, an Arcam solo movie 5.1, Panasonic plasma TV and two BL 18, that replaced my B&W’s. Music source: apple lossless files on a NAS, streaming through Sonos connect, digital out to the Arcam, DA conversion in the Arcam and then analogue out to the BL 18’s. The B&O dealer sold me the correct speaker cables to be able to do this.
I was very happy with this setup. Good music quality and good DVD playback through the BL’s too.
Now my Arcam died, so I need a new setup. For the music part, no problem, analogue out from the Sonos connect directly into the BL 18’s, works fine for me. I read I could go digital out using tosslink as well, but I don’t think I would hear much difference, and people who did this report they frequently need to reset the speakers.
But DVD playback now is a problem of course, since I no longer have an AV amplifier. So I am forced to buy a Beovision 😁 as the centrepiece of my movie/DVD and music experience. I had a look at the all new Beovision 14: 4k technology and the Android smart TV platform, seems pretty future proof to me.
But I run into a problem or two it seems, and the B&O resellers seem unable to solve it.
The 14 sports only HDMI digital in, but my Sonos only has tosslink or coax out. So the only option seems to be analogue out into the line-in of the TV. Is that correct?
Alternatively: use the TV to directly connect to the NAS via Ethernet (lose the Sonos) and stream using any media player software on android, or the somewhat cumbersome native B&O interface. That seems OK, though I would really miss the Sonos interface I’m used to, but it seems the 14 cannot play Alec (apple lossless) files (seriously?). So this would involve recoding all of my music from Alec to Flac. Is that correct?
I thought of a third (and I think preferable) solution, but I am not sure this will work. Leave the Sonos connected as is (analogue out directly to the 18’s) and simultaneously connect the BL’s to the TV using powerlink. I assume here that the speakers will take their cue from whatever source sends a signal first? If this would involve switching settings in the speakers manually all the time however that would spoil the experience a bit for me. Is this a viable option?
I hope some of you are able to help me out. If there is another solution that is simpler, that would be great too. Any help is much appreciated.
Cheers, Morten
Welcome to Beoworld, and congratulations on the 18s and the future, 14. I have been considering a 14 also. It is a beautiful television.
I have one other possible suggestion, although an expensive one. I am not 100% sure it would work, others with more knowledge can confirm if I am right or wrong. You could buy a Beosound Essence. Connect the Sonos to the Essence. Then, if I am correct, the 14 could connect wirelessly to the Essence. You could then use the Sonos app.
I have done something similar with my system. I have the Sonos connected to my Beosound 5 which is in turn connected with my Beovisions and Speakers by Masterlink cable. (the older technology before the current Net Link.) I thus can select the source with the B and O remote that the Sonos is connected to, and then use the Sonos App to select music.
Beolab 28s Beolab 9s Beolab 12-3s Beolab 1s Beolab 6000s 2 pairs Beolab 4000s Beovision 7-55 Beovision 10-40 Beoplay V1 32 inch Beovision Avant 32 inch Beosound 1 (CD player) Beosound 3000 Beosound 5 Core Essence MKII Beoplay M5
Thank you Razlaw for your quick response. I really need to dig into this a bit deeper. Buy a Beosound essence would be like adding a Sonos like device wouldn't it? Could we see it as a full replacement? I'll look into this, thanks a lot.
Ok, cristal clear. like you say, a good but expensive route. Do hope my option 3 is a viable one too. Thanks again.
Hi Morten58
You will hardly find anyone, who suggests connecting two sources parallel to the 18's.
And anyway it is a mess, when changing sources!
Your Sonos has an analog output - in the settings you can set this to fixed line-out (see product Guide page 4).
Use a phono/RCA (left/right) cable to minijack stereo to connect this to the analog input on the BV14 (User Guide page 18).
Make a Speaker Group consisting of your two 18's and assign this to this input - your B&O dealer should be able to show how this is done!
Afterwards you will have to activate this input via the remote control. Once this is done you can use the Sonos app as usual. All volume control is done via BV14/the Remote.
Hope this helps!
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
It sure does Millemissen, thank you very much. Good to know my 'clever scheme' to hook the 18's up in parallel is a bad idea. Very happy indeed that set up the way you suggest should enable me to keep using Sonos. Bit amazed though that two different dealers here did not come up with that solution, even though I was pretty clear that not being able to use the BV 14 as my 'music distributor' would be a deal breaker. Now fitful dreams of course, as no barriers left for buying a new TV 👍
Happy to help ;-)
Please let us know, when you have gotten your new tv (pictures much appreciated).
P.S. Do remember, that when the software of the BV14 (soon) allows for NL-integration, you will be able to distribute the 'Sonos-sound' to other NL products (e.g. the Beosound 1/2)...
....should you happen to fall in love with one of those too ;-)))
Sure, will do. Extra multi room functionality is not an issue with sonos of course, but the new speakers do look gorgeous. I'll try and restrain myself 😅 What with the beolabs 18 and a pair of 3's, now adding a BV 14, I feel some female impedance developing.
Cheers Morten
Hi Jan,
That really is a great option thank you. Looking at their site, it seems this little thing here is able to replace the need for buying a B&O tv altogether. Am I right? If so, this is a cheap and simple solution to my problem. Not entirely sure I like it though, for it kills my reasoning that buying a BV 14 cannot be avoided in the current and unfortunate situation 😡😡.
thanks a lot for this suggestion!
Morten
Morten58:Hi Jan, That really is a great option thank you. Looking at their site, it seems this little thing here is able to replace the need for buying a B&O tv altogether. Am I right? If so, this is a cheap and simple solution to my problem. Not entirely sure I like it though, for it kills my reasoning that buying a BV 14 cannot be avoided in the current and unfortunate situation 😡😡. thanks a lot for this suggestion! Morten
@jans
May I add: the poosibility of using the (much better) tv speakers as a center speaker with the added right/left BL18 speakers, when watching video - maybe even in a 5.1/7.1 setup.
Millemissen:@jans May I add: the poosibility of using the (much better) tv speakers as a center speaker with the added right/left BL18 speakers, when watching video - maybe even in a 5.1/7.1 setup. MM There is a tv - and there is a BV.
Thanks Guy's, this really just makes my day. I will now just brood over a way to bring the joyful news to the family
Just Some new info after visiting a good B&O dealer. We discussed my option 3, so dual connection of the BL 18 's. One connection to the analogue out of the Sonos and another one using power link to the Beovision.
First off Jan's suggestion of the Almando switch was put forward as an excellent option, but then a b&o techy joint our conversation. He remarked that option 3 should work with the BL 18. Then he dug into the B&O tech database just to be sure.
It confirmed his idea showing that when power link, toslink and line-in are connected all at the same time, the speaker will automatically prioritise in this order: 1. Power link 2. Toslink 3. Line-in. A source with a higher priority will always interrupt any source connected to a lower priority connection. A source connected to a higher priority connection must be stopped before a lower priority connection can be started.
Interesting information I think, for anyone with a set of BL 18's
cheers Morten
Yes you are right, so the switch is not necessary and the cables basically are pretty thin (by audiophile standards :-) so I guess it is doable, even from an aesthetic point of view. I was amazed as well.
Looking forward to the results of your test(s).
Hi Razlaw, I have no info on the 20's. It will depend on the technology in use of course, but that info apparently is available to B&O dealers. As for differences in sound; that is very much a personal matter or so it seems. I personally cannot hear differences between dac's, but some can. Connecting sonos with toslink would mean however that you should use sonos to control volume right? That it seems might deteriorate sound quality if you use fixed volume now and use the BV 7 to control volume, according to some. Just my 2C
Razlaw:Very interesting! I wonder if the same is true of Beolab 20s. I have 20s connected to a BV 7 but have wondered about connecting a Sonos to the toslink and whether there would be any difference in the sound.
I have 20s connected to a BV 7 but have wondered about connecting a Sonos to the toslink and whether there would be any difference in the sound.
That is a different situation.
With the BV7 you have the option of fonnecting the digitalo-out of the Sonos directly to the system - - and let rhe tv control the volume like in all other cases.
The Sonos should be set to 'fixed output' then.
This is not possible with the BV11, since it doesn't have seperate spdif inputs.
However, if you - like Morten - think of connecting the Sonos directly to the BL20 via spdif, you must set the output to 'variable' and do the volume control on the Sonos/the Sonos app.
This certainly - since it is done in the digital domain - will reduce the bitdepth of the playbacked material.
However, whether you will be able to hear it/notice any difference, only a personal (unbiased from the theoretical knowledge) would tell.
Just try it out - if the nerdy part in you can't let go ;-))))
To me the convenience of having all sources controlled in a consistent way (withe Beo remote) is by far more inportant than the theoretical benefifs, you would get from connecting via digital directly to the speakers.
Thus my advice for Morten to use the analog out of the Sonos (with fixed output) to the analog-in on the BV14.
Sorry for the typos in the above post ;-(
I wrote:
'This certainly - since it is done in the digital domain - will reduce the bitdepth of the playbacked material'
It seems that the Sonos is processing internally in 24 bits - means enough headroom for a volume control in the digital domain.
So - it is not likely, that you would hear any 'degrading' in the sound, when using the volume control on the Sonos/the app, when connecting digital.
But....this - in my view - does not compensate for the advantages of the consisistent/convinient volume control of having everything in your setup controlled via the tv/the Beo remote ;-)
For a standalone setup (Sonos and a pair of the newer speakers) it might be a good way to go.
No, I think you are right, it's hardly worth the effort. To me, the Sonos interface and convenience trump the possible sound quality advantage of digital out.
But that brings me to another matter. I find the B&O interface to play music from a NAS a bit cumbersome and old fashioned. You see a map structure and have to click through to the map where the music files are and where the picture of the album is, before you know what you are playing. In Sonos of course this is different, as in Apple Music or iTunes and google play.
This is the most important reason for me to stay with Sonos and it's interface, but maybe I'm just misinformed and B&O does have a much better solution. I haven't found it yet, but hopefully you guy's can help? And yes I know I could buy a connect or some such solution, but that is just Sonos by B&O, I'm looking for a (smart) tv solution.
I thought that on the new BV 14 and it's android platform, I could use any media player, like JD rivers or something like that. But that would mean recoding my alac files to flac, and then I would still not be sure that it would work. Besides,,I heard and read on this forum, that the new android platform is not up to speed yet. Neither on B&O or any other tv platform
Hi Morten,
the HomeMedia player of the B&O-tv's is based on DLNA - and follows the rules of DLNA.
DLNA servers ( running on a pc, NAS etc) can have different options of arranging the files for you (that is how you see it in the HomeMedia player interface).
Unfortunately there is no real search function in rhe HM player, not even a search via the alphabet.
There have been ton of threads/posts on this topic on the forum!
On the BS/BM5 B&O offered a scroll function for browsing albums etc - nice because it gives you a visual approach to your collections.
This works well, if the collection is not very big.
Most people however, don't 'search for' content and B&O - on the BS5 - offered the MOTS function as the basic interface = starting with something you like and letting the system choose, what comes next.
This approach has evolved into the PatternPlay/MoodWheel function of the BS Moment.
This may be sufficient for a lot of people - others want to browse their collection and maybe make playlists...
On the BS Moment the search function with the new (soon to be released) software version will be a bit improved - now you can search via the alphabet.
There was a thread recently about this.
Sonos and many others have proprietary (not DLNA compliant) solutions, which means that these will only work within a given 'ecosystem'.
On the new Android-based tv's you can install apps from the Google Play Store - time will tell how well these will work.
There even is an app, that makes Airplay possible.
Again this will also be a question of what you yourself expect them to offer.
There are many ways to play back your content on the newer BV's - the Android-based BV's even support Google's Chromecast.
Another way of using the HomeMedia Player on the BV's is to enable the renderer function.
This way you will be able to push the content from a 'control point' software/app of your own choise.
Some of these have quite good search functions (one example is the 8Player app for iOS).
My advice = now that your files are in the ALAC format and you are used to and confident with the Sonos software/app: just stick to that!
That B&O has some (in fact more) solutions built-in, does not mean that you must use these.
If another one suits you better, feel free to use that.
The good thing is, that you actually can do that. You can connect the Sonos - and even distribute the sound to other NL-devices (if you have any).
Hi Millemissen,
You are very right, all these options are there and we get to choose, which is great. I did't really look for any threads on this topic, precisely because I have the option to keep using Sonos. And as you say, that is dlna compatible.
As you know I've been looking at the BV 14 but after my last visit to the dealer (and getting some posters to see what they look like in the home situation), talking to him about the current issues and discussing previous systems, I'm now considering avant 55. Older platform I know, but it seems reliable and the picture quality and sound look/sound fantastic to me. Having another look, with the boss, later on. Will keep you posted.
then experiments will start ;-).