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
Hello you lovely BeoWorlders.
Thanks to last week's live stream being much more successful than I anticipated I thought another might be fun. (Huge thanks to Steve at Sounds Heavenly and Mikipedia)
This week I have Boss Man Ian joining me and we have a couple of interesting things to discuss with remote support tools and hopefully some news from B&O HQ about future plans.
If you have any questions you would like us to answer please feel free to leave them here or join us on Friday evening at 20:00 UK time. They don't have to be B&O related, whatever you like.
All the best, John.
Hi John,
Thats cool, thx for the efforts put in to make this happen.
Have a question related to the Stage. Audio stream of HDMI or HDMI ARC sources cant be distributed right now. Any plans for that in the future... or in general whats the game plan to integrate TV sound into the b&o speaker ecosystem. (am not talking about surround but really just TV sounds propagation via Stage to the wireless speakers of B&O)
In addition the line-in source of the stage can already be distributed but lacks delay feature which creates echo and makes the functionallity pretty much useless. Any outlook for a firmware update to fix that?
Thanks.
Regards
Good question, thanks.
New: Beovision Harmony, Beolab 50's, Beolab 28's, Beolab 18's, Beolab 17's, Beosound Stage & LG, Beosound 2, Beoplay M3, Beoplay A1, Beoplay Portal, Beoplay H4 gen 2, Beoplay E8 3.0
Mikipedia on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Mikipedia
Mikipedi4 on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mikipedi4
Mikipedia on Intagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikipedi4/
Old: Beosound 9000 mk3, Beolab 3's, Beovision Eclipse, Beolab 1's, Beolab 2, Beovision 10-46, Overture 2300, beolab 8000's, Beolab 4000's, Beovision avant 32" etc. etc.
I'd love to know how Richard is coping during the lockdown.
Haven't seen him in a while - assuming he's self isolating.
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
.
Present: BL90, Core, BL6000, CD7000, Beogram 7000, Essence Remote.
Past: BL1, BL2, BL8000, BS9000, BL5, BC2, BS5, BV5, BV4-50, Beosystem 3, BL3, DVD1, Beoremote 4, Moment.
One particular question:
Are you aware of the "hack" consisting to connect a LG C9 to the Eclipse Sound Center and using the B&O app on the C9 to allow communication?
Is it working well ?
Thanks,
Jean
I’m having issues with the tuning of my BV 10 in the Manchester area. It’s caused bbc channels to move up to 700+ on the epg. Any way to resolve?
Beovision 10, Beoplay V1, Beolab 17, Beolab 9, Beolab 4, Beosound 2, Beosound Moment x 2, Beoplay M3, Beogram 1700
All excellent questions, thanks and keep them coming. John
An idea to show how people have to use alternatives when they are used to use the B&O app. How to make one or more speakergroups in Home, how to select one of more speakers? Does it require more app's for every source, or is it possible within the Home app? Just a suggestion. Macbook-iPad-etc
Question:
Daily use of volume control with the Balance (and similar coming devices)?
How sensitive is the control via app/mobile device and/or voice compared to volume control via the Beoremote One/Essence Remote, as we know it from the current gen of audio systems?
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Best regards - Dyssegaard
Living room: Beovision Eclipse 55, Beolab 3 / R1 (back), Beolab 2 / R1 (sub), AppleTV 4K. Bedroom: Beovision 11-40, AppleTV 4. Home office: Beoplay M5. Kitchen: Beoplay M5. Travel: Beoplay H8, Beoplay A1. NAS: WD My Cloud Home / Plex DLNA Server.
Good idea, but neither John nor Steve are Apple users, so they may not be that forthcoming.
But it would be good if someone with strong experience in using the Home app could chime in.
However solid Airplay 2 is, the Home app integration and implementation by Apple is not their finest hour.
Beobuddy: An idea to show how people have to use alternatives when they are used to use the B&O app. How to make one or more speakergroups in Home, how to select one of more speakers? Does it require more app's for every source, or is it possible within the Home app? Just a suggestion. Macbook-iPad-etc
That will be an upcoming video on how to use Chromecast and Airplay now the app is not used. Great suggestion. John
Razlaw, I love your red stuff in your profile picture.
If anyone wants to share setup pictures you can send them to jw.kingstreet@bang-olufsen.co.uk and I'll share them on the show. Anything from a pair of headphones to BeoLab 90 is great. Only profile name will be shared or it can be anonymous if you request.
Also it would be nice to know why you chose what you did or any stories behind the equipment you have, what makes it special to you?
Loving all the replies, thank you all....John
Mikipidia:Is Bossman Ian more a stereo guy or more a surround guy? Harmony or Eclipse? Beolab 17 or beolab 18? And an even bigger controversial one, beolab 9 or beolab 20?
And an even bigger controversial one, beolab 9 or beolab 20?
Great question. Thanks Micky. Do you want to moderate the chat again for me?
John:Razlaw, I love your red stuff in your profile picture.
How about helping user @Milton78 by looking up the part number and price for a replacement battery box for a BeoRemote One BT? (https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/t/40432.aspx) (*You* can be the "remote support tools", because his dealer has closed! :-)
Hi John, excellent format to keep the one who are still in love with the brand excited!
Maybe could share some insights from a shop owner point of view how do you see your position in the light of B&O strategy in products and eco system (end of NL, products being part of other systems (e.g. Stage & 3rd party Screen, Balance Google/Apple), requirement of a mono brand shop on high street,
Do you see a change in customers type dring the recent years with B&O entering the headphone market? Any effect on your business?
how does B&O marketing work for you? does this drive business to you?
Most of us here see this trough the lenses of a brand lover, but maybe not the ones that pay for your bills.
thank you & good luck!
Many of us here are willing to go the extra mile to keep B&O equipment running smoothly.
But with today's reliance on computer networking for BLGW etc, we don't always know what that extra mile looks like.
I'm setting up a Maraki at home and plan a dedicated B&O ethernet switch and VLAN from the Maraki to keep things nice and tidy on an otherwise large network.
After the Maraki (which I believe is already recommended) what would you most recommend switch-wise, configuration-wise, etc. to keep everything happy in an isolated environment?
Has everyone set their timers yet for tonight?
https://youtu.be/4XF8NCERjHs
They're live btw!
I watched last nights podcast, excellent format, quick and snappy, really like it.
On a different note, the answer to the question about NL removal given I do find a little dismissive.
To me its not a simple question of "well just Airplay / CC your music, job done".
At a basic level that does work of course. But a big part of the charm, and differentiating factor, is the ability to wander up to a product and touch it to join. That will be gone going forward, and a poor outcome for some at least. (I'd love some granularity on this 90%/10% usage stat - the devil is always in the detail, and its a convenient broad stat to hide behind, to a point).
In addition, sharing other sources (be it TV audio, vinyl, or others) will be lost too - again, another differentiating factor removed.
Even if only 10% use these non-vanilla functions, then I'd like to see some recognition that their removal just leaves B&O as an(other) maker of wireless speakers (AP2/CC). Going after a younger demographic is perfectly understandable, but I'm not sure why the two usages need to be mutually exclusive going forward.
kawo: Hi John, excellent format to keep the one who are still in love with the brand excited! Maybe could share some insights from a shop owner point of view how do you see your position in the light of B&O strategy in products and eco system (end of NL, products being part of other systems (e.g. Stage & 3rd party Screen, Balance Google/Apple), requirement of a mono brand shop on high street, Do you see a change in customers type dring the recent years with B&O entering the headphone market? Any effect on your business? how does B&O marketing work for you? does this drive business to you? Most of us here see this trough the lenses of a brand lover, but maybe not the ones that pay for your bills. thank you & good luck!
Sandyb:I watched last nights podcast, excellent format, quick and snappy, really like it. On a different note, the answer to the question about NL removal given I do find a little dismissive. To me its not a simple question of "well just Airplay / CC your music, job done". At a basic level that does work of course. But a big part of the charm, and differentiating factor, is the ability to wander up to a product and touch it to join. That will be gone going forward, and a poor outcome for some at least. (I'd love some granularity on this 90%/10% usage stat - the devil is always in the detail, and its a convenient broad stat to hide behind, to a point). In addition, sharing other sources (be it TV audio, vinyl, or others) will be lost too - again, another differentiating factor removed. Even if only 10% use these non-vanilla functions, then I'd like to see some recognition that their removal just leaves B&O as an(other) maker of wireless speakers (AP2/CC). Going after a younger demographic is perfectly understandable, but I'm not sure why the two usages need to be mutually exclusive going forward.
Thanks Sandyb,
It was covered a little more in the first stream so sorry if you felt a bit fobbed off.
Although I agree that touch to join could be useful and I know a few people do use it I can only speak from my personal experience and my experience in the store.
Because I have so many products on the system in the store I often found that touch to join was flaky a lot of the time for me, despite setting defaults in the setup things would often join to the wrong product and you would stand taping and waiting for the silence before it found another product to join. By time I had found what I wanted I could have grabbed my phone and joined them together. Altough this probably works better in a smaller setup.
I rarely demonstrated this feature as couldn't be sure it would work properly. I can only change and adapt to what B&O release and make the best of it then adjust how I demonstrate products to customers.
I totally understand why people are annoyed it just went, without warning. I wasn't even notified and found out myself only to have it confirmed when I called B&O thinking there was a problem with my Beosound Balance. This I agree was poor form!
For new customers coming in they will know no difference, this is just the way it is now but it is irritating to the 10% (a B&O usage statistic) that did use the BeoLink.
So, I think it could have been handled a little better but I also understand from B&O's viewpoint that it's not cost effective to keep developing and updating something that they claim 90% of users don't bother using.
I agree that sharing line in sound around multi-room was very good. From my experience selling the products line in was again very rarely used and even more rare that it was used then piped around a multi-room system. Same with TV sound, with some TV's there was always a delay depending on the source and I always got the impression that it was never really meant for TV sound and it was focused towards music distribution anyway. It was kind of a happy accident that TV sound would work as well.
In summary, I wish it was still there for the people like yourself that got enjoyment from it but I do understand why they made the decision to pull it and ultimately I can only work with what B&O supply to me so I have to adapt with what they decide.
Thanks boss (we know you're really in charge!)
The tap to join can be occasionally flaky, but generally is fine, and to me not too out of line reliability wise with AP and CC.
It does generally all work fine (NL that is) in my setup - 4 rooms (2 BV's, pls A9 and BS2).
Anyway, is what it is, and I was one of the few that suggested this was going to happen a couple of years ago, so I'm not reacting out of shock / surprise.
If B&O made their audio products Roon capable (not just using AP, but the Roon streaming protocol), I'd be a much happier man (by way of giveth with one hand, taketh with the other).
That all said, I've been saving my last packet of Quavers for an afternoon treat, and I feel that time is now.
Grumpiness aside, an excellent pod again - Germanic efficiency may I say in covering so many questions so briskly!
John: Thanks Sandyb, It was covered a little more in the first stream so sorry if you felt a bit fobbed off. Although I agree that touch to join could be useful and I know a few people do use it I can only speak from my personal experience and my experience in the store. Because I have so many products on the system in the store I often found that touch to join was flaky a lot of the time for me, despite setting defaults in the setup things would often join to the wrong product and you would stand taping and waiting for the silence before it found another product to join. By time I had found what I wanted I could have grabbed my phone and joined them together. Altough this probably works better in a smaller setup. I rarely demonstrated this feature as couldn't be sure it would work properly. I can only change and adapt to what B&O release and make the best of it then adjust how I demonstrate products to customers. I totally understand why people are annoyed it just went, without warning. I wasn't even notified and found out myself only to have it confirmed when I called B&O thinking there was a problem with my Beosound Balance. This I agree was poor form! For new customers coming in they will know no difference, this is just the way it is now but it is irritating to the 10% (a B&O usage statistic) that did use the BeoLink. So, I think it could have been handled a little better but I also understand from B&O's viewpoint that it's not cost effective to keep developing and updating something that they claim 90% of users don't bother using. I agree that sharing line in sound around multi-room was very good. From my experience selling the products line in was again very rarely used and even more rare that it was used then piped around a multi-room system. Same with TV sound, with some TV's there was always a delay depending on the source and I always got the impression that it was never really meant for TV sound and it was focused towards music distribution anyway. It was kind of a happy accident that TV sound would work as well. In summary, I wish it was still there for the people like yourself that got enjoyment from it but I do understand why they made the decision to pull it and ultimately I can only work with what B&O supply to me so I have to adapt with what they decide.
Yeah, I just let Ian pay all the bills, that stuff is beneath me :-)
I can always put the Roon suggestion forward to HQ, who knows what future updates will bring.
Enjoy your Quavers, you've probably earned them. Savour every last one.
I enjoyed the live show again but not quite up to German standards. I was disappointed with myself at the audio mistakes and the car crash ending!
New USB microphone is on it's way for next week's show, time to step up the efficiency. I aim to make the Germans envious next time.
Take care...John
BV Harmony 65 / Eclipse 55 / BL 50 / 19 / 18 / BS 2 all brass
BV Horizon 48 / V1 40 / BL 17 / Beoplay S3 all black
V1 / BL 3 / BS Essence MKII / Beoplay A3 all white
BS Moment / BS 3000 / BS 3200 / BL 400 all silver
Headphones / bluetooth speakers / BLC NL-ML / BLGateway
I know…B&O virus has grown on me !
Fansastic: I completely agree with you and still cannot understand the decision B&O made in this matter. The hardware of NL Multiroom is 100% bulletproof and I do need see there is a lot of software maintenance also. I personally want to use a B&O interface only because I feel it is special and so nice to use. All my gear is handled through remote/app/touch to join. Off course you are only able to do so when you have a lot of B&O gear, hence the little target group for the Multiroom. But to eliminate this feature is a huge mistake. If it is possible to have BS1/2 with or without GVA, why not put NL multiroom as a option in the new gear! The thing what I’m frustrated about especially: there seems to be just a minor group of users that is frustrated about it. On the upside, both Willy and Henrik from Mikepedia’s broadcast are as critical as I am! And you off course Sandyb!
I completely agree with you and still cannot understand the decision B&O made in this matter. The hardware of NL Multiroom is 100% bulletproof and I do need see there is a lot of software maintenance also. I personally want to use a B&O interface only because I feel it is special and so nice to use. All my gear is handled through remote/app/touch to join. Off course you are only able to do so when you have a lot of B&O gear, hence the little target group for the Multiroom. But to eliminate this feature is a huge mistake. If it is possible to have BS1/2 with or without GVA, why not put NL multiroom as a option in the new gear!
The thing what I’m frustrated about especially: there seems to be just a minor group of users that is frustrated about it. On the upside, both Willy and Henrik from Mikepedia’s broadcast are as critical as I am! And you off course Sandyb!
I totally agree with those of you who think NL Multiroom is one of the beauties with B&O. It will never be the same experience to bring up your phone to fiddle in the Google app. Touch and join is such a clever concept and adds to the beauty.
I understand its tempting to rely on technology that someone else is developing but I think its a big mistake by B&O to leave NL Multiroom.
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
Fansastic: Sandyb: I watched last nights podcast, excellent format, quick and snappy, really like it. On a different note, the answer to the question about NL removal given I do find a little dismissive. To me its not a simple question of "well just Airplay / CC your music, job done". At a basic level that does work of course. But a big part of the charm, and differentiating factor, is the ability to wander up to a product and touch it to join. That will be gone going forward, and a poor outcome for some at least. (I'd love some granularity on this 90%/10% usage stat - the devil is always in the detail, and its a convenient broad stat to hide behind, to a point). In addition, sharing other sources (be it TV audio, vinyl, or others) will be lost too - again, another differentiating factor removed. Even if only 10% use these non-vanilla functions, then I'd like to see some recognition that their removal just leaves B&O as an(other) maker of wireless speakers (AP2/CC). Going after a younger demographic is perfectly understandable, but I'm not sure why the two usages need to be mutually exclusive going forward. I completely agree with you and still cannot understand the decision B&O made in this matter. The hardware of NL Multiroom is 100% bulletproof and I do need see there is a lot of software maintenance also. I personally want to use a B&O interface only because I feel it is special and so nice to use. All my gear is handled through remote/app/touch to join. Off course you are only able to do so when you have a lot of B&O gear, hence the little target group for the Multiroom. But to eliminate this feature is a huge mistake. If it is possible to have BS1/2 with or without GVA, why not put NL multiroom as a option in the new gear! The thing what I’m frustrated about especially: there seems to be just a minor group of users that is frustrated about it. On the upside, both Willy and Henrik from Mikepedia’s broadcast are as critical as I am! And you off course Sandyb!
Sandyb: I watched last nights podcast, excellent format, quick and snappy, really like it. On a different note, the answer to the question about NL removal given I do find a little dismissive. To me its not a simple question of "well just Airplay / CC your music, job done". At a basic level that does work of course. But a big part of the charm, and differentiating factor, is the ability to wander up to a product and touch it to join. That will be gone going forward, and a poor outcome for some at least. (I'd love some granularity on this 90%/10% usage stat - the devil is always in the detail, and its a convenient broad stat to hide behind, to a point). In addition, sharing other sources (be it TV audio, vinyl, or others) will be lost too - again, another differentiating factor removed. Even if only 10% use these non-vanilla functions, then I'd like to see some recognition that their removal just leaves B&O as an(other) maker of wireless speakers (AP2/CC). Going after a younger demographic is perfectly understandable, but I'm not sure why the two usages need to be mutually exclusive going forward.
There are more people in that boat - I certainly am!
I too fail to understand why the link function has to be removed.
Sure there has been changes to ‘link’ over the years, but the old gen ‘link’ was replaced by a new version of ‘link’.
And having to have you smartphone/tablet ready all the time is not ‘link’.
It may be a way to do multiroom.....for those, who carry their phone everywhere in the home all the time.
But it is nowhere near, what we are used to with ‘link’ in this and all previous versions.
And - basicly - I have nothing against changes....as long as changes improve things.
Promote and demonstrate and sell the AP2/CC multiroom as much as you want, but keep what has some B&O origin in it.
I am not happy with the thought that I won’t be able to use my remote control for the new/coming gear (should I buy some of it).
As for John having problems demonstrating Touch to Join in the shop - it might be because you have far too many devices.
Maybe a seperate home-like situation in the shop with 2 tv’s and 2-3 audio devices (like Sandyb wrote), would have been easier to handle in order to sell B&O multiroom.
On the other hand - I do understand the dealers.....it is far easier just to demonstrate how you can group some speakers with the AP menu.
But you can do that with a lot of products, that are available today.
Leaves the question: can a dealer convince the costumer, that a B&O device is sooooo much better - considering the price tag.
And can B&O as a company make products that stand out against other devices in the market?
It is a fact, that - along with the convenience trend - people do care less and less for audio quality.....music has in most cases become just something for background listening, a sound tapetry in the home.
Which is kind of ok - but not all there is to music!
Will B&O be able to survive making expensive quality audio devices for a small market that is willing to pay the price.........even if there is not much difference in the functionallity?
My pledge - keep the NL and the beoremote controlling for the rumoured 10 %...........these 10% might be the ones who generate 30-40% of the overall sales including buying BV’s!!!
I doubt that the average AP2/CC costumer will want to invest in an expensive tv solution from B&O.
Start demonstrating CC and AP2 in the shops ............and watch out for those who want more, then demonstrate B&O link and BeoRemote/Essence Remote controlling.
Personally I will try to keep my current stuff going for as long as possible....since I am very pleased with my setup.
I do highly admire the sound/sound possibilities of a device like the Balance (excellent job from the acoustic department etc).
But it will not find a place at my home........unless they would rethink this strategy.