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
I just bought a new house and want to run a cable for a pair of beolab 6000's as rears. I have a cat6 STP cable, so its shielded, I plan to use for the run, together with some shielded couplers and then a custom patch cable at each end going to 8pin din at the speaker, and RCA + 5v at the reciever end. I am using a RPI to signal a relay to supply 5v for the power on signal.
I am using CAT6 STP as its readily available and can be terminated in a jack that fits nicely into keystone plates etc.
As this doesn't need to support newer B&O speakers, I have all 4 pairs and the shield to work with. I do want to run both L&R down the same cable, as I intend to daisy chain the rears. What's the best way to wire the cable? Is it to follow the modern powerlink standard?
Also at the reciever end, should I be shorting pins 2 & 7? I have generally been following the diagram from the 4th post on http://hifi4all.dk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23818&PN=1&TPN=59
Hi samsp,
Here is a link to a wealth of information: https://beointegration.com/uploaded/EN-BeoLink-handbook-v1-7.pdf.
I used microphone cable c-207 from Tasker and that worked very well.
As a side-note I remember a thread from a fellow BeoWorlder that ran cat7 cables from anywhere in the house to a patch rack in his tech room, and only there he assigned them to be powerlink/masterlink/ethernet. I should have read that post before building my house :-).
I hope my response can help!
Regards, Johan
Damn, that's a useful guide. I now have that pinned in my bookmarks.
Using cat 6/7/8 S/FTP S/UTP makes wiring less propriety for B&O, but its still a step up from what builders will usually spec - they tend to go for cat5e, which doesn't have the shielding. I have generally though that it wouldn't work well, but haven't tested it.
My concern with back wiring everything to a central rack for audio would be the cable lengths. With PL audio being an analog signal, and the wire typically being 24 or 26 AWG, the potential for noise and signal loss would seem to be high. I kind of wish B&O had gone digital when they did powerlink, and would have put a D2A as part of the amp in each speaker, but it was still a very analog world when they created that system. These days it would be interesting to do everything digital right up to the speaker, and then do volume and any room correction as part of the D2A process.
Here is a thread on PowerLink cable lengths with a lot of input from Steve: (https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/t/4860.aspx) that could be interesting maybe.
Cheers, Johan
Johan: Here is a link to a wealth of information: https://beointegration.com/uploaded/EN-BeoLink-handbook-v1-7.pdf.
For info, I am not sure of the changes but the handbook is now at version 1-9 here: https://beointegration.com/uploaded/EN-BeoLink-handbook-v1-9.pdf
As long as you use shielded STP cable and ensure that all 8 wires plus the shield are terminated, then you just need to add these RJ45 to Powerlink cables to link the speakers into the (shielded) RJ45 jacks in the wall:-
https://soundsheavenly.com/bang-olufsen/31-325-rj45-to-powerlink-compatible-all-in-one-cable-convert-new-2013-ethernet-powerlink-to-traditional-8-pin-din-powerlink.html#/9-length-18m
When using the speakers with a non-B&O system, please connect the RCA Line input of the speakers instead via these cables:-
https://soundsheavenly.com/bang-olufsen/65-366-rj45-powerlink-compatible-to-twin-phono-cable-output-from-new-bo-devices-to-amps-receivers-etc.html#/2-length-1m
Kind regards, Steve.
Steve.
www.soundsheavenly.com
Founder of Sounds Heavenly Cables and Brand Ambassador for Bang & Olufsen
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