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
So every morning my Beosound 3000 is programmed to play some easy classical music in the living room at 6:45am. But this morning that didn't happen...
Instead, I woke up to a noise I never heard before. It was - litterally - like the whole US Army invaded my living room with tanks and Apaches. So I rushed down the stairs to see what the heck was happening (did the new fridge explode? Was the house collapsing? Did the dog go ballistic?!), to find out the left of my two BL20's was producing some kind of white noise/static sound (rythmic, though) at a volume that on a scale of 1 to 100 would come in at 200+...
I think (!) the other BL20 did not do this and was playing easy classical music at the programmed 32 level, because the sound seemed to come from the left, but in all honesty: I couldn't even hear the other BL20.
After turning off the system and turning it on again, it's playing lovely like nothing ever happened...
Of course I'll call my dealer straight away this morning (the BL20 is only about 6 months old), but I'm really curious if someone else has ever experienced this? Seems like some kind of fault in the electrical circuit?
Best regards,
(a now almost deaf) Joeri
Hallo jc,
Had this problem as well with one of my Beolab 20, very random failure, cannot be produced and can happen month in between.
I got a spare part change on site and never heard the problem Again.
Beovision Harmony 77" 2nd Gen, Beolab 5, Beolab 17, Beosound 1, Beoplay M3, Beoplay Portal, Beoplay Earset, Beoliving Intelligence
II owned my speakers for over a year without issue, and one evening, that awful loud electronic bassy / glitchy sonic digital static at an absurdly high volume began playing when I turned on my Essence. They did it for two or three power cycles, and then the next day, all was well. Then out of the blue after a few days, the same. Then after a few weeks, and then randomly... I couldn't tell if it is one or both speakers. Techs came to my home and ran diagnostics and found no issues, and finally after it happened again (I was determined to get it on video, I got a bit of it on video, but not the full effect), a Tech replaced something called a power or sound module, for both speakers, and the issue hasn't happened. The warranty repair was done recently and the speakers have been fine since, but each time I turn on the Essence, I prepare to hear the worst! LOL It's nerve racking!
I wonder if we all had similar serial numbers / same run of speakers / PCBs. My dealer said he hadn't heard of this issue at all. It is so random and not reproducible / repeatable.
Wired or wirelessly connected? Could well be something in the DSP module used for the crossovers and driver tailoring, could be something in an amp module, but I'd put money on the DSP brains.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
My behavior occurred wired, as they were always wired to the Essence.
Yes, mine are wired to the BS3000 as well...
Mine was wired with RCA to a MARANTZ reciever.
Interesting, all wired. I don't know the design of the modules in a BL20, but it's probably the same module/board, and since the thing has DSP and if I recall correctly A/D converters in it to digitize the PL inputs, functionally I'd bet either of those two functions. But I don't' know how they're implemented in hardware, but it sure sounds like a hardware issue or a firmware glitch. They are new enough B&O should definitely handle it for y'all, and please let us know what the solution is, I'm quite curious!
Jeff, when my issues began occurring, one of the diagnostic steps we did was to connect them via WISA and see if I could reproduce the problem. Unfortunately, the problem was so random, it never happened the few times I connected them via WISA to my BV11. We also attempted to use different outlets in my house, different surge protectors, etc. Completely random, so I wouldn't say that it wouldn't have happened via WISA as well perhaps it would have, but never did.
My experience is that 95% of the time it happened, it happened when the speakers initially turned on to play sound. Only a couple of times, did they turn on, begin to play music normally, and then after about a second, decide to bombard me with a horrifically loud digital mess of sound.
I know for a fact that boards were replaced in both of my speakers since I couldn't determine whether it was one or both which made the sounds (it was so loud). As I mentioned before the engineer termed the PCBs either a "sound module" or "power module." Knock on wood, they've not done it since that repair, though. Funny, though, when the speakers were returned to me, one speaker's woofer wasn't firing at all. Turned out another tech visit found that the connector to the woofer had come loose (likely during transport), so all that was left was to plug it in again. *phew*.
At a point I was thinking I had lemons for speakers. The pessimist in me is wondering whether the "issue" is still there in the hardware, only to rear its ugly head after the warranty period is over. That is to say: were the replacement boards the same as the faulty ones, only to misbehave after a certain amount of time due to poor design or something else. Ugh.
Can other owners of BL20s on BeoWorld share any peculiar behavior of their speakers? Later this afternoon, I'll attempt to post a link to the short clip I was finally able to take of the behavior, though it isn't representative of the majority of what happened. I'll explain in the post.
Interesting Sal, thanks for the further info! I know what you mean about worrying that this will recur. I've seen it where it was random boards, and where it was due to either a common design fault or common problem with the production process, where all boards from a certain time frame are potentially bad, and the real fix is to swap out every board with replacements that are known to be different and good. How a commercial company handles this is probably to replace the ones that fail under warranty, maybe with a potentially bad board, and hope for the best, until the unit is out of warranty. Depends on the company and how much they care about customer retention I guess. I worked primarily in the military world, where if there was a problem you absolutely had to fix every single system in the inventory. We actually did warranty our products for a prearranged period of time. Which at times led to going out and repairing a huge number of things that were already out in service or in storage depots!
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 :)
Michael:Seems strange that a connector for a woofer just came loose in transport. I bet they very sloppy and forgot to connect it properly.
My suspicion as well, though I didn't make a deal out of it since they travel almost an hour to my house to address that particular issue.
Michael:I believe that when the DSP fails it starts to send digital raw data as sound. It sounds horrible.
This is probably the best description of the sound that I've heard: "digital raw data." I used adjectives like "glitchy" or Trent Reznor's digital distortion in some of Nine Inch Nail's music, but at 100% volume.
Michael:Not very good for the speaker at all. Or for your ears.
My dealer assured me that the sound isn't hurting the speakers -- since the speaker is monitoring itself, there is circuitry that cuts off signals, etc. if things get hairy. Hope that is the case. I hope engineers at B&O are paying attention.
BeoNut since '75
elephant:We had a dinner party and I was Airplaying to the Essence wired to the BL20s.
One of the times this happened we had extended family over. They were visiting for a few days, and I had used the speakers during the beginning of their stay without issue. One evening, I turned on the speakers and nearly caused everyone in the living room to have a heart attack, with the loud din from the speakers. I know what you mean!
elephant:I tried taking control via my IPhone and failed so I ran to try to kill power to the Essence which had no effect by which time the left channel BL20 (don't know about the RGS as I had no line of sight) had gone to orange alert. So I then killed power to the BL20s.
I'm glad elephant mentioned this, as it is a key poing which I don't believe has been made yet: when this happens, the speaker LEDs flash orange quickly, which the manual states as "An error has occurred. Disconnect the speaker from the mains and reconnect it again. If the problem persists, contact your Bang & Olufsen dealer.". Killing the power is the only way to stop the sound, thankfully it is in line with the manual too! LOL
elephant:Do I accept it as a one off ? Or do recreate the situation in 2 weeks timetable the next family event ? Or do I ask the dealer to fix it now ?
Elephant it has happened to you only once. See if it happens again (crossing my fingers for you that it doesn't happen again).
That being said, I do find it particularly interesting that a handful of BL20 owners are experiencing or have experienced this issue. It can't be by chance, right? I mean, B&O do testing like no one's business, this HAS to have been either known, or, if it wasn't sorted out in testing, perhaps there was a bad run of boards that made it into a specific run of speakers. I'd love to find out from B&O what they think.
I showed my wife this thread, and she smiled and said: "Aren't you glad we didn't have the BL90s... Just imagine if that sound happened with them!"
Beolab 28s Beolab 9s Beolab 12-3s Beolab 1s Beolab 6000s 2 pairs Beolab 4000s Beovision 7-55 Beovision 10-40 Beoplay V1 32 inch Beovision Avant 32 inch Beosound 1 (CD player) Beosound 3000 Beosound 5 Core Essence MKII Beoplay M5
Mine are first generation - I was assured by a notable expert (Geoff Martin to be precise) that there was no sonic difference between the generations.
Mine are second gen (lit logo), I was also informed that the only difference between the two is the lit logo.
Sal: Mine are second gen (lit logo), I was also informed that the only difference between the two is the lit logo.
Geoff just said that there was no sonic difference; so the internals could have been changed somehow without altering the sound of the speaker
Anyway... very strange to read that the speakers went bezerk..
Karel.
Mine are second gen (with the lit logo) as well.
Mine was 2nd generation as well.
I was able to locate which one of mine went beserk but more luck then anything as the sound is so high that it is impossible to think about anything else then turn the power off.
I had the same issue a year ago (with the MK2).
I wanted to play a song via Airplay on the Essence (the speakers are WISA connected to a BeoLab Transmitter). And then instead of my song, I heard the very very loud digital raw sound.
I had to unplug the speakers to stop the noise.
I was afraid of playing anything for few weeks. But it never happened again!
I think I know what it is. A friend of mine suggested it was 'pink noise', which is a sound covering all frequencies which dealers can use to test the speakers. If you search for 'pink noise' on Youtube, you'll find some streams with it. Like this one: Pink Noise
It sounds exacly as my BL20 did, except for a lower volume level ;-).
So it seems the speaker decided to produce a testing sound, instead of the music. Some kind of electrical glitch, probably?
jc:I think I know what it is. A friend of mine suggested it was 'pink noise', which is a sound covering all frequencies which dealers can use to test the speakers. If you search for 'pink noise' on Youtube, you'll find some streams with it. Like this one: Pink Noise It sounds exacly as my BL20 did, except for a lower volume level ;-). So it seems the speaker decided to produce a testing sound, instead of the music. Some kind of electrical glitch, probably?
Sal:My suspicion as well, though I didn't make a deal out of it since they travel almost an hour to my house to address that particular issue. This is probably the best description of the sound that I've heard: "digital raw data." I used adjectives like "glitchy" or Trent Reznor's digital distortion in some of Nine Inch Nail's music, but at 100% volume. My dealer assured me that the sound isn't hurting the speakers -- since the speaker is monitoring itself, there is circuitry that cuts off signals, etc. if things get hairy. Hope that is the case. I hope engineers at B&O are paying attention.
Michael:I would worry about my speakers hardware after a failure like this. I don't think they are designed to play at those levels for long. And I know for a fact tweeters get blown on at least bl9 even though it has safety features too.
Can they test whether the speakers have been damaged by this behavior? Or how long would this have to happen for damage to occur? I never allowed my speakers to play this noice when it occurred for more than a second at the most before pulling the plug. It was way too loud, and I freaked out.
It happened to me today with my 20s.
Oh NO!!!! Can you describe the situation? Have you contacted your dealer / service person?
*knock on wood* it hasn't happened to me since the boards were replaced, but every time I turn the 20s on, my heart skips a beat expecting the harsh sounds again.
Seems that the Beolab 20 are great for burglar prevention. IF somebody tries to burgle your home and the Beolab 20 starts their noisy show you'll just find the burglar lying on your floor, died by a hear attack.
I'm curious, if anyone from B&O is reading this, Geoff? Can anyone comment, this has happened to, from what it seems, quite a few BL20 owners, and seems to happen out of the blue. If this is a design fault in the speakers, it should be sorted and taken care of for all owners regardless of the warranty situation. It has happened to enough owners that perhaps something slipped through the Quality Controls.
This has happened with my Beolab 20s too a few times. It seems to be the right speaker. I thought it might have been a bad wireless connection. Unfortunately, I cannot trigger this response - so it's almost impossible to find a problem solution with my dealer. It's a loud digital noise including some clicking sounds. Our little dog almost went crazy, he was so scared, he didn't know what to do.
Has anyone found a solution yet? Or at least a reason for those sounds?
btw: my Beolab 20s are connected wirelessly to the transmitter, which is connected to a Beosystem 4. The sound occurs not necessarily in the beginning, but sometimes also in the middle of listening to something. Interestingly, it is only the right speaker (so far).
dasun: This has happened with my Beolab 20s too a few times. It seems to be the right speaker. I thought it might have been a bad wireless connection. Unfortunately, I cannot trigger this response - so it's almost impossible to find a problem solution with my dealer. It's a loud digital noise including some clicking sounds. Our little dog almost went crazy, he was so scared, he didn't know what to do. Has anyone found a solution yet? Or at least a reason for those sounds?
dasun:Has anyone found a solution yet? Or at least a reason for those sounds?
A couple of boards inside both speakers of mine were replaced. I believe others here who have had issues have had internal boards replaced as well. Knock on wood, since the replacement of boards, it hasn't happened to me again. My B&O contact said that the tech felt it had something to do with a bad "sound module" or something to that effect, hence the board replacement.
That being said, it seems that a lot of BL20 owners are having this issue which means that certainly there is a flaw in design, or some bad parts have slipped through.
When it happens, it is terrifying. My cat freaked out, and this happened when we had guests over once, and it was horrid, and embarrassing, to tell you the truth, to have an expensive, high quality product like this behave this way. As it has been said before: unacceptable.
Razlaw:I contacted me dealer today about it. He advised me to call B and O and gave me a phone number.
Can you ask tech support if they know what is causing this? Something official would be nice. Perhaps point them to this thread, as this problem might be bigger than B&O know about.
Sal:A couple of boards inside both speakers of mine were replaced. I believe others here who have had issues have had internal boards replaced as well. Knock on wood, since the replacement of boards, it hasn't happened to me again. My B&O contact said that the tech felt it had something to do with a bad "sound module" or something to that effect, hence the board replacement. That being said, it seems that a lot of BL20 owners are having this issue which means that certainly there is a flaw in design, or some bad parts have slipped through. When it happens, it is terrifying. My cat freaked out, and this happened when we had guests over once, and it was horrid, and embarrassing, to tell you the truth, to have an expensive, high quality product like this behave this way. As it has been said before: unacceptable.
Michael:Maybe they fixed it in MK2 and just thought they could ignore it? I hope this isn't the case.
Mine are Mk2 I believe (lit B&O logo version).