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BeoPlay A3 unpacking and setup

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elephant
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elephant Posted: Sun, Jul 8 2012 11:51 AM

I probably should upload these to somewhere and copy and paste links, but I am going to do it that "easy" way ... a series of some 30 posts (helps improve my BeoWorld status Smile)

You may recall that during the during the Struer 2912 tour we received a product briefing on the A3 from the B&O product manager ... so Sue and I had a little play and we said "this is our next B&O purchase" !

Later we all had the wonderful experience of being shown in one of the factories a history of various design mock ups and and prototypes that were presented to the B&O boards for discussions and approvals (and disapprovals too).  

It turned out that the presenter had been involved in the design of the A3, and I told him it would be our next purchase.  We looked at buying it at the B&O store in Struer (the factory store does not sell anything, which is a pity because all the goos are marked as aero cost Smile).  In the end we decided that we should buy it from our local store ... and so yesterday was THE day Big Smile

Apologies for the iPhone 3GS pictures and lighting ... AND once posted they are too big, too grainy, and too unwieldy - so I am trying a different approach of using the image folders on the BeoWorld site and updating the picture links 

First picture is the "outside" of the B&O store in the basement of the "Factory" ... which is what our local store now almost looks like ... except its window is not labelled "COME INSIDE & PLAY".

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Michael
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Michael replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 11:53 AM
elephant:

I probably should upload these to somewhere and copy and paste links, but I am going to do it that "easy" way ... a series of some 30 posts (helps improve my BeoWorld status )

You may recall that during the during the Struer 2912 tour we received a product briefing on the A3 from the B&O product manager ... so Sue and I had a little play and we said "this is our next B&O purchase" !

Later we all had the wonderful experience of being shown in one of the factories a history of various design mock ups and and prototypes that were presented to the B&O boards for discussions and approvals (and disapprovals too).

It turned out that the presenter had been involved in the design of the A3, and I told him it would be our next purchase. We looked at buying it at the B&O store in Struer (the factory store does not sell anything, which is a pity because all the goos are marked as aero cost ). In the end we decided that we should buy it from our local store ... and so yesterday was THE day

Apologies for the iPhone 3GS pictures and lighting

First picture is the "outside" of the B&O store in the basement of the "Factory" ... which is what our local store now almost looks like ... except its window is not labelled "COME INSIDE & PLAY".

Beo-Ed :-)

Congratulations on the big day! I hope it will be a good companion for your iPad! :)

Beolab 50, Beolab 8000 x 2, Beolab 4000 x 2, 
BeoSound Core, BeoSound 9000, BeoSound Century, 
BeoLit 15, BeoPlay A1, BeoPlay P2, BeoPlay H9 3rd Gen, BeoPlay H6, EarSet 3i, 
BeoVision Eclipse Gen 2 55", BeoPlay V1-40, 
BeoCom 6000 and so much else :)  

elephant
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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 11:55 AM

Second photo is the product demo we got at the Factory ... yesterday we spent about an hour "playing" before we made our purchase

the product manager looks some much better now that I shrunk the grainy image

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elephant
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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 11:57 AM

Third picture is the beginning of the unboxing process once we got home ... took the usual boring brown B&O box out of the usual black B&O bag and found there was a BeoPlay logo on the box

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elephant
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elephant Sleep [|-)] replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 12:00 PM

But inside the BROWN box was a BLUE box ... at last some proper packaging Big Smile

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elephant
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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 12:04 PM

As well as the plastic wrapped BLUE box there were B&O manuals in their usual plastic bag.

3 year warranty is a nice bonus !

The use manual consist of a universal picture guide on page 2 for "everyday usage", and two pages (per language) of advice and guidance including:

 

  1. don't put it where it can get wet
  2. don't put it in direct sunlight (not flood lights)

 

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elephant
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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 12:09 PM

When we unwrapped the blue box we found there was a nice carry handle !

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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 12:12 PM

Opening the blue box we found that the first thing to come out is a WHITE box ...

Black bag, brown box, blue box, white box ... will it never end ?

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elephant
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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 12:16 PM

Inside the white box was the power block and attached cable ... but no points for the power point ... just a figure 8 hole 

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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 12:19 PM

But in the polystyrene packaging of inside there was a plastic bag holding ...

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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 12:31 PM

... five international power point adapter plugs - now that IS quality Smile

Note the 2001 like scene on the blue box's cover Whistle

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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 12:38 PM

we mate the Australian socket plug to the power block ... later I discovered that the socket plug rotates so that the L-shape of block and plug can be adjusted to fit different power outlet situations ... now that IS quality Smile

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elephant
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elephant replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 12:41 PM

the power block's cord is 3 metres long ... now that IS quality Smile

 

And now that I have replaced the first 12 pictures I can get on with the rest of the process !!!!

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elephant
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Having assembled the plug and power block I returned to what was inside the blue box ... a bag of iPad "socks" - the dealer had made me practice in the store with taking off and putting on their iPad's sock so I new what to expect at this point ...

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elephant
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... two sleeves - one for the iPad 1 and one for the latter iPads - I postponed the break-your-finger-nail, thumb-wrestling task of fitting the correct sleeve around our iPad 1 until later Big Smile - time to get a move along and get the A3 out of the box !

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so now for the "Thus Sprake Zarathustra" introduction as the A3 monolith is revealed ... I told you there was a 2001 theme to all of this Laughing

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Stripping the A3 of its plastic bag we reveal the iPad docking area - a nice B&O logo inside and some product details hidden away so as not to disturb the elegance of the outside of the A3

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elephant
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... pausing for a moment of reflection in the process ...

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elephant
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now for the next act of mating or docking ... the iPad with is rubber sock to the A3

 

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elephant
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... now docking is tricky ... you need to UNLOCK the dock by using a recessed switch (with a nice B&O logo) on the rear of the A3 ...

... the natural, closed position is the locked state with the Apple connecter protruding ...

... so obviously you need to retract (unlock) the connecter by sliding the switch to its OPEN position BEFORE you try inserting the iPad ...

... which you do by first fitting the non-connect side under some discrete lugs at the far end of this picture, the clicking the connector end in here, and then LOCKING it all in place by sliding the B&O switch on the back into its CLOSED position

 

DOCKED AT LAST ... or so I thought ...

I already had had two lessons (one in Struer and one at the dealer) about how tricky that switch is, how you need to slide it firmly closed - which I thought I had but as we will find out in a little while, even the last millimetre makes ALL the difference

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Paul W replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 1:44 PM

Lovely posting Elephant! I hope that you are having lots of fun!

 

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So we stand the A3 proudly up, its B&O logo along one side nicely on display (this is what I call the TV position, horizontal and vertical i.e. landscape mode Smile)

And connect the power so that the A3 can start charging its own batteries as well as the iPad - a very clever design as when the A3 is unplugged its batteries serve two purposes - powering the speakers AND keeping the iPad as fully changed as possible.  There is a small LED near the on/off button and the power input port. It is off when the A3 is fully charged while being plugged in, it glows green when the A3 is unplugged but with a good power supply in the batteries, after being used for some time it turns orange, and the red at which point you better plug it back in ! (or stop using it and remove the still fully changed iPad).  When you do connect the power, it indicates the state of charging from going from red to orange to green and finally to being off (black if you will). 

Anyway at this point I expect the A3 to connect to the iPad and then be registered as attached hardware by the iPad and thus trigger the "ET phone home" scenario that the two page write up in the manual mentioned ... but nothing happened ... so I waited ... and more nothing ... after rereading the manual and not finding any web addresses to use I did have the brains to try the docking switch at the back ... AH HA there was a millimetre gap, so PUSH it closed and BINGO :~

~ SWEET ~

... so yes, of course I do ! so select (Yes) ... and we get presented with the App Store's "buy" page ...

... and so a new App is born Smile

 

 

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elephant
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So time to try out the new App and check the system settings (since I ha dread the manual I knew there was something to be checked Big Smile)

This new App, BeoSetup, has two options:

  1. status

      
  2. "ET phone home" for an update, which I thought I had better do JUST in case

    !  
  3. But the iPad's system settings also has two important updates as a result of the installation, firstly the addition of "Speakers" !! and then the BeoSetup App (at the bottom this shot, which just contains a Legal statement)

      
  4. And the "Speakers" setting allows you to have TON CONTROL of either a flat response to the speakers behaviour or it can have the range of the human voice accentuated (do I detect the hand of Geoff Martin here ?) and which so far I have not had to fiddle with ...



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elephant
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Final picture for tonight, showing the iPad being charged, and me testing the connectivity from the A3/iPad to the Apple TVs

 

 

Many thanks Michael and Paul for your encouragements during this marathon post ... took much longer than expected, and there were some system glitches along the way, but not nearly as bad as Soren in Mexico gets.

 

Tomorrow I shall post pictures from the "first day in the life of an A3" (some you may already have seen appear in one of the other threads!)

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Vienna replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 2:15 PM

elephant:
so now for the "Thus Sprake Zarathustra" introduction as the A3 monolith is revealed ...

LOL - the first movie I viewed on my Pad3/A3 combo has been "2001"
(but, for the sake of a lager picture, i decided to turn the monolith 90°  - sorry Stanley)

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Paul W replied on Sun, Jul 8 2012 2:25 PM

Elephant really great postings! I love the Airplay menu - Isn't Airplay a wonderful, wonderful idea! So simple and so effective!!! Brilliant!

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Top post Elephant, you did it my way, unpack, read the manual, and then start setup, family, neighbors and friends here in Mexico use me as the handyman for new electronics, normally they unpack, throw away the packing material and manuals, start setting up, give it up and call me.Surprise 

Collecting Vintage B&O is not a hobby, its a lifestyle.

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Great post ed

When I saw the blue box I thought oh you've got a blue one. I'd like a blue one and install it on my dining room wall for dinner music.

Hope you're enjoying the new A3.

Cheers

Michael.
elephant
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elephant replied on Mon, Jul 9 2012 11:14 AM

Thanks guys for the feedback - we certainly are enjoying it !  Look for to the next post Big Smile

And I am afraid the only come in traditional black .....

BeoNut since '75

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