Multiroom "conflict"

I bought a Beoplay M5 today for my office. I hooked a turntable up to it, and can now stream records to the other speakers in my home, which is brilliant. 

 

However...

 

I have a Beoplay A9 Mk. 2 and a Beosound Stage as well. All three speakers are connected to the same network. 

 

When I play something on the M5 and want to extend it to the A9, that works fine. If I want to extend it to the Stage it says "Could not expand the experience" (translated from danish "kunne ikke udvide oplevelsen"), and then the Stage goes red in the Multiroom overview. When playing something on the A9, the Stage can join. When playing something on the Stage, only the A9 shows up in the Multiroom overview - the M5 is missing.

 

What am I doing wrong here?

 

I´ve contacted B&O support, but with all the knowledge in here that might be faster :)

Can you expand anything else (e.g. TuneIn) playing on the M3 to the Stage?

Did you configure the Stage yourself?

MM

Oups, sorry - I meant ‘playing on the M5’.

MM

Yes, I configured the Stage myself, but there´s nothing in the settings that seems to solve this issue. Besides, I can expand from the A9 to the Stage without any issues. 

 

I´ve tried with radio (TuneIn) and Line-In playing on the M5, neither can be expanded to the Stage. 

 

The most important for me is, that I can expand to the A9 - but I would really like the Stage to work as well.

Well, a network reboot (for the third time) changed things. Now I can expand to the Stage OR the A9 - not both. And the app crashed a few times. 

 

Is it supposed to work like this, so you only can expand to ONE speaker - not two or more?

Kasse:

If I want to extend it to the Stage it says "Could not expand the experience" (translated from danish "kunne ikke udvide oplevelsen"), and then the Stage goes red in the Multiroom overview.

Have you tried to restart the Stage (via the B&O App or turning the mains off/on) just after the above experience and check if same issue happens? 

 

Are you able to temporarily wire all three NL products? This way you can check if there is something wrong with the Network Link or that the problems are wifi related.

I’ve only experienced problems with Multiroom when products where on wifi

Sadly I´m not able to wire the products. 

 

I will try a reboot of the Stage later (when SWMBO is not using the TV).

 

Thanks for your inputs, guys.

Kasse:

I will try a reboot of the Stage later (when SWMBO is not using the TV).

I'm asking as I have identified a problem with my Core that is close to what you are experiencing with your Stage and I have now some ideas about the root cause. If a Stage restart solves your multiroom issue up to the next day, then it should be what I'm facing since more than one month (since latest software update) with my Core.

Well, rebooting the network made it work, as I mentioned further up in the thread - will play around some more tomorrow. Right now I´m just enjoying the M5 with the turntable connected; what a wonderfull speaker, and I love the feature that one can stream records to the other speakers :)

Kasse:

I love the feature that one can stream records to the other speakers :)

Unfortunately B&O seems to drop this wonderful feature. Their latest expensive product, the Balance, no longer has it.

Sorry I missed your previous post, what do you mean by “network reboot”? Restarting a product via the B&O app?

That said, you should be able to “propagate” any source from one product to others as long as Beolink is configured on each capable product, which seems to be the case for yours.

I personally have a turntable connected to my Moment and i can join my 4 other products to it so the LP can be listened in all rooms where I have a product.

After restarting the Stage, it all works now - thanks.

 

However, the B&O app crashes and exits quite often when I want to add or remove an additional speaker to Multiroom. I´ve sent a notification to B&O about that.

 

By network reboot I mean turning my router off and on ;)

If all your devices are on WIFI it is best all of them are on the same type of network. So, all 2.4Ghz or all 5GHZ. Normally you can create 2 separate network names for each type of network in your access point, so you're sure they all connect to the right (same) type of network. B&O says this also in their setup menu. 5GHZ is the better network but is has a shorter range ....

The best connection is of course wired ...(less latency). To test the latency you test it with a "ping" command to your device. (for example in command line:  ping 192.168.32.122). You will see all wired connections are much faster in replying. The protocol to synchronise sound between all devices has to take this latency in account. 

I still hope B&O understands the importance of their multiroom protocol and continue to develop it (and use it again in their future products ...) It makes things simple to use. It is not only about sound and design but also about user friendliness. B&O has always been strong in all three of them and now they are dropping one of the most important parts. I see that brands like Sonos are  even making their protocol stronger and easier to use...

 

Nico

Thanks. All my B&O products are connected to the same 2,4Ghz network. I know cabling would be better, but that´s not an option, unfortunately. 

 

I sure do hope as well, that they will keep developing on the Multiroom features. That´s a key factor for me as well.

Kasse:

After restarting the Stage, it all works now - thanks.

Good to hear! But check tomorrow if you can still add the Stage to a multiroom experience, and if you can't, you may be in the same situation I'm with my Core, a Stage restart will then be required daily up to the point B&O fixes the issue.

Enjoy!

I will report back, how it acts up tomorrow :)

Sounds like an update is needed for the Stage though, based on your experience.