Beolab 17 and non-BO TV

Hello everyone.

I have a pair of Beolab 17s. (My collection is slowly growing )

I would like to know how/if I can connect them to my non-B&O television.

My television (Panasonic Plasma TH-42PZ800A) has optical out and monitor-out (RCA) connections. It seems to allow me to specify that it will output PCM rather than Dolby over the optical out and also the output level to some extent (0 to -12dB), at least in DVB mode. I'm not sure how that would change if I was watching a disc or AppleTV program through the TV...

The 17s have been supplied with an Essence mark 1 so that could also be used as part of the solution if it was required.

I saw in a previous post by Geoff Martin that the speakers can decode stereo PCM on the optical input. That post which I now can't find seemed to allude to some problems or dangers, though, and I certainly don't want to damage anything.

Thanks for your thoughts on my question.

Cheers

Scott

Hello Scott,

You should pick up a B&O Connection Hub (part number 1625026, MSRP $249, comes included with the BeoPlay S8 speaker package, but has many more uses than just that).  You can use optical out of Panasonic plasma to the optical input of the connection hub, so your TV remote will control the volume of the BeoLab 17s.  Then use PowerLink Cat-7 to go into your speakers (daisy chained or with a PowerLink splitter).  The Connection hub also has a line input that you can connect your BeoSound Essence to for audio streaming.  

Ryan

BeoRTB:

Hello Scott,

You should pick up a B&O Connection Hub (part number 1625026, MSRP $249, comes included with the BeoPlay S8 speaker package, but has many more uses than just that). You can use optical out of Panasonic plasma to the optical input of the connection hub, so your TV remote will control the volume of the BeoLab 17s. Then use PowerLink Cat-7 to go into your speakers (daisy chained or with a PowerLink splitter). The Connection hub also has a line input that you can connect your BeoSound Essence to for audio streaming.

Ryan

Thank you Ryan. I have seen the connection hub come up in discussions like this one and I am curious about it. However, if the BL 17s have an optical input why would I need to add the connection hub? I understand it would give me more sources to send to the speakers, but if I only want sound from the TV through these speakers is it necessary?

And, if I must add something in between the TV and the speakers, could I not just add the Essence using the Audio L-R inputs? (This would probably be the place to insert a discussion about the relative quality of digital vs analog L-R connections.)

Regarding your point about using the remote control to adjust the speakers' volume—do you mean the speakers will not get louder when I turn the TV up, if I don't have the connection hub?

Oh, so much to learn...

Thanks

Scott

Hi Scott,

Beolab 17s do have an optical input, however this isn't particularly useful.  Why?  Because I've never yet found a TV that has a volume-controlled optical output.  The Beolab 17s don't have a volume control either, meaning that your TV sound will immediately blast out at FULL VOLUME when you connect the speakers, with no way to turn it down before the speaker drivers fall apart......

A few audio devices (eg. Sonos Connect) have a volume controlled optical output, so you could link the headphone socket of your TV to a Sonos Connect if you want an optical connection to the speakers.  Otherwise, the S8 Connection Hub is a less expensive solution (optical cable from the TV to the Hub, then RJ45 Powerlink cables from the Hub to the speakers).

I have all the cables you need available for any of these options and I'm always happy to help if you have any questions.

Kind regards, Steve.

Hi Steve, thanks for your reply.

Steve at Sounds Heavenly:

Beolab 17s do have an optical input, however this isn't particularly useful.  Why?  Because I've never yet found a TV that has a volume-controlled optical output.  The Beolab 17s don't have a volume control either, meaning that your TV sound will immediately blast out at FULL VOLUME when you connect the speakers, with no way to turn it down before the speaker drivers fall apart......

Steve at Sounds Heavenly:

A few audio devices (eg. Sonos Connect) have a volume controlled optical output, so you could link the headphone socket of your TV to a Sonos Connect if you want an optical connection to the speakers.  Otherwise, the S8 Connection Hub is a less expensive solution (optical cable from the TV to the Hub, then RJ45 Powerlink cables from the Hub to the speakers).

About the connection hub—my reading seems to indicate that an optical cable can transmit several different types of signal. For example I found a post, I think by Geoff Martin, that seemed to say that if you passed a signal other than stereo PCM bitstream via optical to a Beolab it wouldn’t be able to decode it and there would be silence. What signals is the Connection Hub able to decode for it’s connected speakers?

Thanks again for helping

Scott