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This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hi everyone!
I recently acquired a beocenter 9500 and I have it hooked up to two speaker sets, one pair of RL's upstairs and one pair of RL's next to the beocenter in the basement. However i don't always want the speaker set upstairs (speakers 2) on all the time. Is there a way of switching them off while keeping speakers 1 on? As my previous beomaster 3300 all I had to do was flip the switch for speakers 2. I know I can just plug the upstairs speakers into the speaker 1 sockets, and press mute, as the mute button only cuts sound to speaker set 1. But I would like to know if there is a proper way of going about this, as I can't find anything in the manual.
Thanks!
The neatest solution would be to install an MCL2 link kit in the upstairs room.If you also replace the speaker cables to that room with the dedicated MCL system cable,you will have not only local control of the speakers in the other room,but remote control of the central system too!
If you don't want to run new cables,you could still use an MCL kit to give you the facility of controlling the speakers in the other room,as the sensor plate has manual buttons to switch the speakers and the system-on/off.n.b.the power for the MCL kit is provided by the Beocenter via the special MCL cable,so if you don't want to rewire,you will need a small local power unit too.
Another option with BC9500 is to use the later ML system components,but this would be more expensive,and again would mean rewiring with special ML cable.
The Link systems are explained elsewhere on this site in the Beotech section
An alternative,but effective "budget" solution would be to use a 'speaker selector box.These have a three way switch which allows you to manually select 'speaker 1,'speaker 2,or both sets of speakers,but using the B&O Link equipment has to be the most elegant solution?
Contact Steve at Sounds Heavenly.I imagine that he can supply cabling,and may be able to sort out a switch box too?
Nick
Just to confirm: Yes, that is the "proper way" to go about it: Speakers 2 are always-on, and Speakers 1 are controlled with the "Mute" button. The bug is that when powering up, both speaker sets always turn on -- mute is *not* one of the sound settings that you can program like volume or treble/bass. You can instantly press the mute button every time you turn it on; there is time before the sound starts blasting out of the other speakers. But as Nick points out, MCL2 (which you connect to Speakers 2) is the B&O Way for multiple zones.
P.S. You can also adjust the volume *before* turning on the 9500, by pressing "Sound" first. In your case, both speaker sets are B&O so it doesn't matter, but it sure helps when Speakers 1 and Speakers 2 are different efficiency and normal volume for one zone knocks you out of the room for the other zone. (As you can tell, I did not want to purchase and cable my second zone with B&O MCL, *and* didn't want to spring for B&O speakers either!-)
Thanks for the help! I just purchased a MCL2 Xtra passive speaker kit, I’ll install it soon. I’m sure it’ll be better a million times better than the janky IR repeater I’m using too!
Yes indeed,you will be impressed.In many way's the MCL2 system is more robust than later versions,prap's due to it's simplicity relative to those?
The 'speakers will only switch on in each room if commanded from there,e.g,the 'speakers won't come on in the "extra" room unless you operate the system from there.Switching on the system from the "extra" room,will not turn on the speakers in the main room too!
There are other options including a timer mode where you can set up the timer in the Beocenter and then enable timer in the "extra" room to eg provide a radio wake up.
If you don't get a user manual with the kit,it's probably onsite,or I do have spare one you can have.