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'll preface this with saying that I was able to pick up the A6 off of Amazon through their warehouse deal for $586 CAD
The description of the item, as provided by Amazon was that the item was Very Good and only had a small cosmetic flaw on the back.
The A6 arrived today and it is in mint condition, visually. Just a small scuff on the back as noted by Amazon.
I've set up the A6 now, I connected it to the Beosetup app and update the firmware etc.
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The issue i'm having is that the speaker sounds fantastic, but anything from 0 to 50% volume on my input device (iPhone, iMac) can barely be heard on the A6.
If I increase the volume on my devices past 50%, then the volume starts increasing on the A6 at a huge level and becomes quite loud.
Essentially its not a smooth transition from 0 - 100, its as if all the volume control is being controlled and squished into the 50 - 100% range.
I've tried AUX, Bluetooth, and Airplay. All forms have the same issue with the device volume being below 50% (When using AUX the control of sound is a bit better)
Any ideas on settings that I maybe haven't explored? The obvious culprit could be that this is an open-box item and there is just something wrong hardware wise but i'm hoping that it's something software related or a setting I could tweak because the savings were just amazing on this.
Thanks so much.
Mladen :I'll preface this with saying that I was able to pick up the A6 off of Amazon through their warehouse deal for $586 CAD The description of the item, as provided by Amazon was that the item was Very Good and only had a small cosmetic flaw on the back. The A6 arrived today and it is in mint condition, visually. Just a small scuff on the back as noted by Amazon. I've set up the A6 now, I connected it to the Beosetup app and update the firmware etc. -- The issue i'm having is that the speaker sounds fantastic, but anything from 0 to 50% volume on my input device (iPhone, iMac) can barely be heard on the A6. If I increase the volume on my devices past 50%, then the volume starts increasing on the A6 at a huge level and becomes quite loud. Essentially its not a smooth transition from 0 - 100, its as if all the volume control is being controlled and squished into the 50 - 100% range. I've tried AUX, Bluetooth, and Airplay. All forms have the same issue with the device volume being below 50% (When using AUX the control of sound is a bit better) Any ideas on settings that I maybe haven't explored? The obvious culprit could be that this is an open-box item and there is just something wrong hardware wise but i'm hoping that it's something software related or a setting I could tweak because the savings were just amazing on this. Thanks so much.
Yeah I updated the firmware to the latest version through the BeoSetup iOS app by connecting it to my local network.
There just isn't a natural progression of the volume increasing. It doesn't really go up incrementally, more so it's very low to low sounding from 0 - 50% and then loud to maximum from 50 - 100%
Using my A2 after the A6 its more evident that the volume is not increasing as it should.
Must be something wrong with the unit. Should be able to exchange under warranty.
Livingroom: BL3, BL11, BV11-46 Kitchen: Beosound 1 GVA, Beocom 2 Bathroom: M3 Homeoffice: M3, Beocom 2 Library: Beosound Emerge, Beocom 6000 Bedroom: M5, Essence remote Travel: Beoplay E8 2.0, Beoplay EQ, Beoplay Earset
B&O customer care called me today and they said this a known issue with a number of customers A6's. It's apparently been sent to their engineering team previously and may be fixed with a future firmware upgrade.
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Since I purchased it from Amazon through their "Amazon Warehouse Deals" store, I can't exchange it for a new unit with Amazon. They will only accept a return / refund.
"Please note that used products are not covered by the original manufacturer's warranty."
I guess thats the trade-off for paying $586 CAD instead of $1,459
You got an amazing deal from Amazon.ca if you got it for $586. The normal price is $1299 so you got it for 55% off.
Amazon.com has a few warehouse deals, the cheapest at $799.18 for one in good condition, or about 20% off. The description is a little scary though:
Item is in original packaging, but packaging has damage. Cosmetic damage (Less than 10%) on the top of the item. Cosmetic damage (Less than 10%) on the bottom of the item. Cosmetic damage (Less than 10%) on the sides of the item. Cosmetic damage (Less than 10%) on the back of the item. Missing manual.
I purchased an A6 on Amazon.com, the first had problems and had to be returned. The second was ok. It makes me wonder what they do with the returns! Are they fully checked out before they are listed as warehouse deals?
It is a shame that it is not eligible for warranty repair. I hope that it is correct that a software update can fix that issue, but why does this problem afflict only a some of the A6's? That is a $586 big IF though.
Yeah thus far i've only purchased brand new B&O items and whenever there was an issue it was great to be able to just swap it out.
BUT seeing the A6 on Amazon.ca for $1299 new and then seeing 1 listing for $586 I just had to at least see what was going to arrive. The listing description was a bit better than what you posted, it just said Very Good - 1/4 inch cosmetic flaw. When I opened the item is was just a black scuff that I was able to remove easily with a cleaner. I would say visually the item is in mint condition now.
I really think their "Inspection" is limited to a thorough visual inspection and then simply turning the unit on to see if it works. I doubt someone at Amazon went through the various volume settings from 0 - 100% on AUX, Bluetooth, Airplay to pickup on a slight sound issue.
As for the software update i'm confused about how it could actually fix this A6 because all A6's have the same hardware and software... why it would only affect some units is a little weird and almost makes me think that its really just a hardware issue that won't get resolved.
The A6 in its current state still sounds amazing, I can control the volumes and get it to where I want. Its just a little annoying that I know and can tell the volume progression isn't as smooth as it should be.
Maybe you got a better deal than you think,,,
I re-read your
Maybe this is something that is more common with the A6's.
I changed the volume on the Essence remote from 50% to 25% and back (looking at the iPad) and then checked the log files on the A6:
BeoSoundASE: Volume 47 from bleRemote
BeoSoundASE: Volume 41 from bleRemote
BeoSoundASE: Volume 37 from bleRemote
BeoSoundASE: Volume 39 from bleRemote
with a couple of additional entries in between. So what shows as the low of 25% on the iPad, the A6 log showd 37, and around 50% is 47. Just an interesting observation.
I'm not sure why my entire previous post doesn't show... You have to click on "clock to show quoted text". It's not a quote, and I can't see why it thinks it is.
I just did the same except I was controlling the volume of the A6 with it's touch controls this time while viewing my iPhone to see how the volume changed.
Essentially it takes 2 "swipes" on the A6 physical controls to move the volume indicator on the iPhone up by 1 bar. Of course, when controlling the volume from the iPhone itself and pressing the volume up button, the volume increases at 1 bar per each press.
How is your sound from the 0 - 50% range though? Is it pretty quiet or if you were at 50% would you be able to comfortably fill the room with sound?
I may just pay a visit to the local B&O store here to see how the unit performs in their showroom. They also do repairs so I may be needing that haha.
Mladen : How is your sound from the 0 - 50% range though? Is it pretty quiet or if you were at 50% would you be able to comfortably fill the room with sound?
I guess the term "comfortably fill the room with sound" is different for everyone, but for me I don't listen to loud music, mostly because I live in a townhouse and I want to be considerate of my neighbors, but my normal listening volume seems to be at 47 as listed in the BeoPlay log file. Below that there doesn't appear to be much of a noticable change before it goes silent. It's pretty quiet in that range.
Right now I am playing with my Essence which is hooked up to BeoLab 17's. Granted it's 3:30 in the morning right now so I am definately not playing it too loudly. The comfortable quiet level that it is playing at right now is 42, probably a little quieter than I was playing the A6 when I tested it, so it looks to be somewhat similar. Again anything below this is pretty quiet.
Maybe thats just how the A6 is then. Depending on how people control the volume or perceive it they may have never contact B&O support about it. The people who did contact the support team (like me) is perhaps the reason they had said they "had heard of this issue before."
I live in a condo as well so I don't go near the top end of the A6's volume since its just too loud haha.
I'll check out the A6 at the B&O store this weekend and see if it's any different. If not I guess thats just how this speaker is with the low end control of volume.
Thanks for your help! I'll post back here after I see how the A6 performs in the showroom.
This seems pretty normal for me as it seems consistent on all my B&O equipment. My BeoSystem 4 had the default volume set to 40 and I typically turn it up to 45 for music and 50-ish for movies. I would rather have it this way than back in the "old" days when the volume on my receiver was normally set at 9 o'clock for normal listening and 10 to 10:30 for loud. It doesn't seem to buy me anything to have the volume compressed at the low end.
Listened to the unit in the showroom over the weekend and there is a clear difference between it and my A6 at home.
You can easily tell that the volume progression is a lot smoother and by hitting 'volume up' once on your phone the volume doesn't jump up to a crazy different level like it does with my unit at home.
If you're cool with using the volume controls on the unit or have a separate remote like you do then the unit would probably be pretty fine.
Just a heads up if anyone is looking for a good deal: I've returned / shipped the unit back to Amazon and it should arrive at their warehouse on April 18th. The A6 truly is almost perfect visually and there are no major cosmetic issues. If you go on Amazon.ca next week you will most likely see it listed as a warehouse deal for $586 CAD
The exact same issue has been happening to my A6, also, the volume starts decreasing and disappears after 2 tracks.
I took the speaker to the maintanance center and the team there there was nothing wrong with the speaker and gave me some wrong information on how to set it up.
I also sent a complaint through the app and someone contacted me telling me To approach the nearest B&O center since they can’t do anything for me.
How can the world’s best speaker have the world’s most incompetent team??
I heard the same complaint from different people here in Dubai.
Any advice on how to find a solution for this?