New software Beolab 50

Hi,

Yesterday I uploaded a new software for my Beolab 50 (2.3.4.7045). The last software was 2.3.4.6892.

I wonder if this is the "fix" for randomly loosing contact between slave and master speaker (fast flashing orange master speaker).

Best Regards
Martin

I hope it solves your problem. And thanks for letting us know there is an update available.

Probably means the BL90 is updated to?

Anyone confirm.

need to get home soon

Yep, 90’s update too!

Have not installed yet. Any noticeable differences or problems?

Nope none for me

Works fine for me. I’m on 2.3.4.7045 firmware for my Beolab 50

Is the latest software for Beolab 90 numbered:

2.3.4?

Is it the same software version for the Master and the Slave? Mine are 2.3.4.7045 for the Master and 2.3.4.6892 for the Slave

yes, both should be the same and as far as I am aware the SW number should also be the same for the 90's.

Confirm the update number.

Im not sure what has changed? Tone controls were added some whole back so?..

 

Geoff Martins website has quietly removed the BL90 feature list so the few remaining elements (PL and USB volume control) I.e the two most useful features I would like appear to be dropped??

Can anyone else confirm Implementation or not?

Mr 10Percent:

Confirm the update number.

Im not sure what has changed? Tone controls were added some whole back so?..

Geoff Martins website has quietly removed the BL90 feature list so the few remaining elements (PL and USB volume control) I.e the two most useful features I would like appear to be dropped??

Can anyone else confirm Implementation or not?

On my updated BL50 the USB volume control stil functions as before.

Is there a section on the B&O website where I can check the change history and the current firmware for my Beolab 50s?

 

They only seem to be able to update the firmware when connected to the internet via ethernet, and they aren't connected via ethernet most of the time. It's frustrating that they can't seem to update via wifi. 

Gullwing:

Is there a section on the B&O website where I can check the change history and the current firmware for my Beolab 50s?

 

They only seem to be able to update the firmware when connected to the internet via ethernet, and they aren't connected via ethernet most of the time. It's frustrating that they can't seem to update via wifi. 

I also wonder this as the BeoWiser BeoLab 50 First time setup video advices the installer to update the software first time manually via USB as the master unit will NOT update the slave unit if the firmware in the slave is lower than the master. It simply assumes that the slave has the same version as the master (which of course is a horrible design fault). 

It seems that only B&O employees can download the firmware files as it is on an internal network page. I wonder if anyone here has the firmware available for the BeoLab 50s so I can update mine over USB when I receive them in a few days. As I have decided to do installation myself.

I also read that a few people here have different version on their respective speaker sets and that means this is an issue. Perhaps B&O has resolved it though in later iterations of the firmware so that the master does actually take into account a version conflict. But I do not know. 

Michael:

I also wonder this as the BeoWiser BeoLab 50 First time setup video advices the installer to update the software first time manually via USB as the master unit will NOT update the slave unit if the firmware in the slave is lower than the master. It simply assumes that the slave has the same version as the master (which of course is a horrible design fault). It seems that only B&O employees can download the firmware files as it is on an internal network page. I wonder if anyone here has the firmware available for the BeoLab 50s so I can update mine over USB when I receive them in a few days. As I have decided to do installation myself. I also read that a few people here have different version on their respective speaker sets and that means this is an issue. Perhaps B&O has resolved it though in later iterations of the firmware so that the master does actually take into account a version conflict. But I do not know.

Um. What BL50s are coming in a few days ??

Aussie Michael:

Um. What BL50s are coming in a few days ??

Mine

I have just had my Beolab 50 installed and I have the latest firmware on both the master and slave, 2.3.3.7045 but webUi says 2018, guess that is still the same in the latest firmware.

2.3.4.7045 is the lastest, guessing it’s a type-o?

Mikipidia:

2.3.4.7045 is the lastest, guessing it’s a type-o? New: Beovision Harmony, Beolab 50's, Beolab 18's, Beolab 17's, Beolab 3's, Beosound 9000 mk3, Beosound Stage & LG, Beosound 2, Beoplay M3, Beoplay A1, Beoplay H4 gen 2, Beoplay E8 3.0

Mikipedia on YouTube (finally )

https://www.youtube.com/c/Mikipedia

Old: Beovision Eclipse, Beolab 1's, Beolab 2, Beovision 10-46, Overture 2300, beolab 8000's, Beolab 4000's, Beovision avant 32" etc. etc.

Yes, sorry. I have an issue already that my speakers won’t respond in the app or via web page. So I can’t change from narrow to wide. I guess I can pull the power plug and re plug them. Is this a common issue?

Are they wired or wifi? Wired will fix it, if wifi then I always had to double tap them to make the app work. But with eclipse or harmony it can also be done in the the speaker settings of the tv's menu, don't know about earlier tvs.

They are wired and it seems the app can’t contact them. I will power cycle later. Also noticed that sound disappears from the left speaker (slave) for a few seconds every now and then. Very odd. Perhaps like sound for 10 minutes, disappears for five seconds and comes back.

Anyone experienced this?

I have never noticed anything like that

Razlaw:

I have never noticed anything like that

Not sure what it might have been. Maybe just AirPlay or Apple TV issues. Or something else. As I could not access the app or the webpage maybe something had been causing this. I restarted them today and listened for an hour and it seems to be OK now but time will tell. 

Have you ever had any issues with your speakers so you have to turn them off and on again by pulling the cable or something?


And, by the way. Did any of you get a microphone with the speaker? In the Beolab 50 introduction to features video, Geoff says at 6.50 that a microphone is included.  

I have had one problem with the app that requires them to be restarted. If using the beam control adjustment to change settings within a specific listening mode while listening to music, such as distance or wide/narrow, the app has frozen requiring them to be unplugged. I have not experienced it recently, although I rarely use that feature. I believe it may have been, or will be corrected, in an app update.

Hi, 

I have to return my first pair of speakers after 3 month because they lost contact between the speakers 3-4 times every week. When they lost contact, the masterspeaker started to flash orange very fast. 

After this first pair of speakers,  I got a new pair that works rather good. I just have had this problem (loosing contact between the speakers) a couple of times in 12 month. So yes, the new pair was alot better than the old pair (same software in both pairs!!!). 

What You describe that you sometimes loose sound for a short while in one speaker: I have experienced this some times but it happens just for some seconds and then both works as they should. 

Your problem with the app looses contact with speakers: I have also experienced this a couple of times, and you need to restart (pull the plug of and on again) them again to get the app work with the speakers. As Raslaw said: there is a bug that make this problem happen when you use the app to change beamcontrol (from wide to narrow or vice versa). 

Conclusion: This speakers is not working 100% everytime, and some *** happens from time to time. But they work perfect at 98% of the time. 

Best Regards
Martin

SWEDEN

Razlaw:

I have had one problem with the app that requires them to be restarted. If using the beam control adjustment to change settings within a specific listening mode while listening to music, such as distance or wide/narrow, the app has frozen requiring them to be unplugged. I have not experienced it recently, although I rarely use that feature. I believe it may have been, or will be corrected, in an app update. Beolab 50s 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

Okey weird. How do you change distance? I haven’t had mine calibrated yet so maybe I can’t see all features.

Martin:

Hi,

I have to return my first pair of speakers after 3 month because they lost contact between the speakers 3-4 times every week. When they lost contact, the masterspeaker started to flash orange very fast.

After this first pair of speakers, I got a new pair that works rather good. I just have had this problem (loosing contact between the speakers) a couple of times in 12 month. So yes, the new pair was alot better than the old pair (same software in both pairs!!!).

What You describe that you sometimes loose sound for a short while in one speaker: I have experienced this some times but it happens just for some seconds and then both works as they should.

Your problem with the app looses contact with speakers: I have also experienced this a couple of times, and you need to restart (pull the plug of and on again) them again to get the app work with the speakers. As Raslaw said: there is a bug that make this problem happen when you use the app to change beamcontrol (from wide to narrow or vice versa).

Conclusion: This speakers is not working 100% everytime, and some *** happens from time to time. But they work perfect at 98% of the time.

Best Regards Martin

SWEDEN

Beovision Eclipse 65 with floorstand (from STB Brackets), New! Beolab 50 front, Beolab 3 rear, 2 x Beoplay A6 linkrooms, 2xBeoremote one BT, Beosound 9000 Mark III (sw 3.4), Philips Hue (all lights in the home), Oppo UDP-203, Apple TV 4K. AURALIC Aries G1 (new)

Thank you Martin for the thorough explanation.

I guess then the interface crashes due to me maybe changing to many times in a short period but we’ll see with time. It is a bit strange and I don’t think I changed anything. Really just that they suddenly were unresponsive.

The thing about loosing sound in the slave speaker for a few seconds seem like the issue I’ve experienced (already on the second day a few times). I wonder why that happens.

Anyway, the speakers sound very nice but very much stronger than my Beolab 20 that they replace. I don’t know even if I can actually keep them as they probably disturb my neighbors way more even at lower volumes. Hard to say from my apartment though.

And even if I bought mine used it’s still a lot of money so all in all hard to justify keeping them or selling them again. Sigh... :)

Another two things that really annoys me:

- the speakers turn off immediately with it’s slow turn off due to the speaker tweeter moving. When I change between sound modes I would prefer a delay of a few seconds if I chose the wrong one by accident.

- the light in the tweeter is seemingly always on when the speaker is on. I would prefer a possibility to disable it just like on Beolab 20 so it doesn’t disturb.

And one last thing that annoys me a little bit:

- the WiFi module is always on even when in wired mode. Makes zero sense and only takes unnecessary power and may just cause unnecessary rf noise and disturbance.

Just to be clear, they’re wired for internet and sound?

Martin:

Hi, 

I have to return my first pair of speakers after 3 month because they lost contact between the speakers 3-4 times every week. When they lost contact, the masterspeaker started to flash orange very fast. 

After this first pair of speakers,  I got a new pair that works rather good. I just have had this problem (loosing contact between the speakers) a couple of times in 12 month. So yes, the new pair was alot better than the old pair (same software in both pairs!!!). 

What You describe that you sometimes loose sound for a short while in one speaker: I have experienced this some times but it happens just for some seconds and then both works as they should. 

Your problem with the app looses contact with speakers: I have also experienced this a couple of times, and you need to restart (pull the plug of and on again) them again to get the app work with the speakers. As Raslaw said: there is a bug that make this problem happen when you use the app to change beamcontrol (from wide to narrow or vice versa). 

Conclusion: This speakers is not working 100% everytime, and some *** happens from time to time. But they work perfect at 98% of the time. 

Best Regards
Martin

SWEDEN

Hello again Martin,

I read today in the install manual for Beolab 90 that I got from a fellow here on Beoworld something that might be the cause for the issue we are seeing with audio drop out. I quote:
Notice that any infrastructure components as Ethernet switches etc. used in the DPL link needs to be AVB compliant. Otherwise the Beolab 90 Ethernet interface will switch to a Best Effort mode, which can cause audio dropout, timing and power up/down issues.

Im not sure if this means that problems might occur if the speakers are connected specifically through an external switch and not by a cable between the two or if it means that it might happen if a switch is just connected to one of the ports (for example for internet connectivity and app management). 
It is possible to set the speakers to use the best quality mode (dont remember what it is called, but it is not best effort) instead of automatic or best effort. I will try that and see if forcing that is causing dropouts or if it is better with best effort. 

It might be that the speakers need to be wifi connected to have this issue removed if the case is that using a consumer switch/router cabled to Beolab 50/90 might cause issues. This might also have been fixed in later firmwares but as I experienced drop outs the first day I am not so sure. 

Mikipidia:

Just to be clear, they’re wired for internet and sound?

Yes correct. 

Cat7 straight between speaker slave and master DPL ports.
Cat7 straight between speaker master PL and Avant 55 PL port. 
Cat6 cable to ethernet from the DPL/Ethernet port on master to wall outlet - to media center - to router. (for internet, software update/app control).  

That’s all good then because i can only occasionally emmulate your app problems when I switch the speakers to wife for app control, but other than that mine are problem free on wired internet. Not that it should matter, but is the cable between the speakers in the same hole out of 3 on either side? And is it an uninterupted cable? Or do you use wall plugs or any kind of extension? Maybe silly question, but have you tried WiSa and do you have the same drop out issues in WiSa mode?

Mikipidia:

That’s all good then because i can only occasionally emmulate your app problems when I switch the speakers to wife for app control, but other than that mine are problem free on wired internet. Not that it should matter, but is the cable between the speakers in the same hole out of 3 on either side? And is it an uninterupted cable? Or do you use wall plugs or any kind of extension? Maybe silly question, but have you tried WiSa and do you have the same drop out issues in WiSa mode? New: Beovision Harmony, Beolab 50's, Beolab 18's, Beolab 17's, Beolab 3's, Beosound 9000 mk3, Beosound Stage & LG, Beosound 2, Beoplay M3, Beoplay A1, Beoplay H4 gen 2, Beoplay E8 3.0

Mikipedia on YouTube (finally )

https://www.youtube.com/c/Mikipedia

Old: Beovision Eclipse, Beolab 1's, Beolab 2, Beovision 10-46, Overture 2300, beolab 8000's, Beolab 4000's, Beovision avant 32" etc. etc.

Wife mode I don’t have .

Anyway, no I have connected them as per the instructions. The first one from the furthest in of the three outlets on master is connected to my router. The second one (middle) is connected to the furthest (inner) port of the three on the slave.

I don’t think it matters though as they are remembered by the switch and recognized as they are used every time the speakers boot up.

On master the inner one says DPL/Ethernet and on slave it simply say DPL. And in the Bl90 instruction it is stated in a figure that the connect is to be as I made it.

Yes the cable between speakers is uninterrupted but pretty long. Maybe 7 meters.

Michael:

- the speakers turn off immediately with it’s slow turn off due to the speaker tweeter moving. When I change between sound modes I would prefer a delay of a few seconds if I chose the wrong one by accident.

Could you clarify what your concern is about changing sound modes? On mine, if I change modes there is no movement of the tweeter at all, unless the mode change requires a change between open and wide, in which case that change occurs very quickly. Also, the sound gets softer very briefly as the mode changes.

Razlaw:

Could you clarify what your concern is about changing sound modes? On mine, if I change modes there is no movement of the tweeter at all, unless the mode change requires a change between open and wide, in which case that change occurs very quickly. Also, the sound gets softer very briefly as the mode changes.

Beolab 50s 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

Yes, I mean when I switch between modes on my tv and they go to standby. I have my TV set to power savings mode so speakers turn off immediately. Other Beolab are quick but 50 are like 25 seconds slow to turn off and then 25 to turn on. And makes a lot of noise doing so.

I wish they had a delay of like 30 seconds programmable all that it could be avoided when listening to different modes for comparison reasons.

Otherwise I realize I have to turn the energy saving feature off but it seems like a bad idea energy wise :).

I guess I don’t have that problem as my 50s are connected to a Core and a BV7 so all mode changes are done via the app.

The update is only to address a loud unexpected popping noise which can appear on the secondary speaker every once in a while. A very intermittent problem. No other bugs/fixes are introduced at this time. 

BeoMegaMan:

The update is only to address a loud unexpected popping noise which can appear on the secondary speaker every once in a while. A very intermittent problem. No other bugs/fixes are introduced at this time.

Ah, you know... A little B&O here, a little there

Okey, good thing that is adressed at least.

I have been experimenting with my speakers all evening and realize that the app is constantly crashing the webserver in the bl50. I guess there is some bad code written that makes it receive a bad commando if something happens to quickly. Íve had alot of issues with the app freezing after changing beam contol and modes.

I also for fun added the EQ settings for Beolab 5 as my friend who had them before 50 said they were more bass heavy. Which seems to be true.

Is it correct that the speakers right/left role is set under the beam control setting? Its a strange decision I feel, and when I changed my speakers to the correct roles the sound changed quite dramatically (even though they are not calibrated with a microphone yet).

The PL output I suppose is unchanged from this as the choice of right and left is made in the TV when using the PL. But for beam control the sound is managed by the speakers Sharc DSP and then it causes effects anyway. (So for you guys only using PL, check this).

Anyone here from B&O development team that can tell me why the app freezes after changing presets? I had some luck getting out of freeze by letting my TV change it, sometimes that would help, or use beam direction instead of the “listening modes”. But now its all frozen again so I guess I will have to power cycle them (which I will do tomorrow).

Is there any reason to worry that some process is hanging and causing overheating cpu in the speakers due to the bug? As is common when a process hangs in a regular computer.

As I have already today had to power cycle my speakers five times due to this “bug” I wonder if it is a bad idea to buy two hue power plugs so I can easily power cycle without having to pull the physical plug. Ideas on this?

Now a last tune of Spiegel im spiegel by Arvo Pärt before bed.

My 50s were updated to 3.0.0.257 today. Started a new thread on this but then thought perhaps this was better place. When checking the version in the app it also shows a Web-UI version with a build date of 3/20/2020.