Beoplay S3 - Fantastic Speakers with Massive Flaw (Power Saving)

I've started using these as speakers for my TV, along with a sub woofer to fill out everything under 35Hz. My setup is connected like this:

TV -> DAC & pre-amp > sub woofer -> Beoplay S3 (left) -> Beoplay S3 (right)

The sub woofer relays stereo to the first S3 using the wired input, which sends the right channel to the wired input on the other S3. The sub and the S3s are all preset to a certain volume level, and I control the sound level on the DAC/pre-amp using a remote control. This works very nicely, providing the audio source is continuously playing.

If the audio breaks for 12 seconds or longer, the S3s go into some sort of power saving mode and when the audio starts up again, it takes 3 seconds for the S3s to wake, usually the left first, then the right. This may not sound like a lot, but it's incredibly irritating when a movie is paused, as it means backtracking to hear what was said. Sometimes a movie will start, and a good chunk of the audio is missed because the audio hasn't reached the level to wake them. I can only imagine how these speakers would behave with a movie like "A Quiet Place". In contrast, my sub goes to sleep after about 30 mins of inactivity, as do my studio monitors. Why B&O felt 12 seconds was optimal, I don't know.

Is there anything at all I can do about this?

Hi cds,

It’s possible to switch power-saving off on the S3s. Check the manual. I think it requires a double press of the “main” B&O button.

Lawrence

Thanks for the reply.

I've tried this before and unfortunately without success. I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong, but double-pressing the B&O button just seems to turn the speakers off. When I turn them back on again by single-pressing the button, they behave the same as before whereby they go to sleep very quickly and take a while to wake. I've also tried double-pressing the button while the speakers are switched off, and this just seems to turn them on.

Sorry, cds, my pair of S3s are in transit, so I can’t try it again myself. I had mine set up in True Wireless stereo mode and had to set them to high-power standby to keep them paired (for Bluetooth stereo playback).

I can’t find the instructions in the manual or on the B&O support page, but I saved a copy of the FAQ and here is the text:

“You can switch between the two standby power modes by double pressing [B&O button]. In high power standby, BeoPlay S3 will have sense on all inputs and can wake up, and the product indicator will signal an action. This is also the default setting. In low power standby, the speaker will not have Bluetooth or input sense and there will be no product indicator signals.”

Thanks Lawrence.

I wonder if my speakers need updating, as following those instructions seemingly does nothing for me. I'm on firmware version 9.3.6.

Although, reading the description of those two modes makes me doubt that either will help; the high-power mode suggests the speakers will wake on input (which is what they do now), and the low-power mode suggests they're pretty much turned off.

I checked my S3s on 19Jul before packing them, and they were on ver 9.3.6 so pretty likely that is the latest.

Sorry I can’t offer anything more.

L

Oh, that's disappointing. Okay, thank you for your help.

I just can't get over the decision to set the timeout on these to 12 seconds. I mean, even a single minute would make a world of difference to the usability of these speakers. I guess I'll need to come up with an inelegant solution to keep them awake, such as an inaudible tone that plays every 10 seconds or so.

lawrencejmcook:

I checked my S3s on 19Jul before packing them, and they were on ver 9.3.6 so pretty likely that is the latest.

Confirming ver. 9.3.6 is the latest, as per the B&O app.

You might try to contact Customer Support. They’ve recently answered questions that I had about my S3s.

Thanks for confirming.

I have contacted support and I appear to be going through the warranty thing with them at the moment (serial numbers, date & proof of purchase etc.), so we'll see if anything comes from it.

It would be amazing if any enthusiasts out there were able to develop a method of updating the firmware themselves!

Well guys, support started off looking quite promising. I was asked for a number of specific details regarding the behaviour as well as a video demonstrating the problem.

Unfortunately, I hit a dead end when they came back with the following:

 

"The Beoplay S3 is supposed to go in standby after 15 minutes, meaning this issue might not have something standby to do.

The BeoPlay S3 differs slightly from the other B&O PLAY products as this is a licensed product created for a different distributor.
Unfortunately there will be no further software update for this unit, since it is produced by a different distributor.

It is an important objective for us to manufacture products which are as reliable as possible, and we do invest many resources in the quality field to achieve this - also when it comes to licensed products carrying our brand. But we cannot totally prevent that faults can occur in a product while in use.
Since the unit is out of warranty, we are simply unable to offer a return of your product and must kindly ask you to contact your place of purchase for further assistance."

 

So the behaviour is being treated as fault specific to my particular units. As both my speakers exhibit the exact same behaviour under the same circumstances - as do others' - I still firmly believe this is a problem with the configuration of the power saving.

I do wonder where the 15 minutes quoted from B&O comes from. Maybe in Bluetooth mode? Perhaps there are later revisions of these speakers that are better behaved?

I also wonder if there's anything we could do en masse to encourage a software update from B&O.

I have this exact same problem. It's really disappointing because they're basically advertised as computer speakers but this delay makes it so annoying.

Hello,

I have an S3 but my user case is different as I am using it as a BT speaker only, therefore I am not experiencing the same issue.

However the B&O Customer Care answer is not completely clear to me, especially in the following part.

cds:

The BeoPlay S3 differs slightly from the other B&O PLAY products as this is a licensed product created for a different distributor.

Created for a different distributor?

What does it mean?

Thanks.

Olivier

Svenni:

I have this exact same problem. It's really disappointing because they're basically advertised as computer speakers but this delay makes it so annoying.

Yes, I seem to remember the same behaviour when connected via USB. How this behaviour slipped passed testing, I don't know.

OlivierC:

Hello,

 

 

I have an S3 but my user case is different as I am using it as a BT speaker only, therefore I am not experiencing the same issue.

You've given me an idea. If Bluetooth mode doesn't exhibit the same behaviour (perhaps the sleep timer is 15 mins as suggested by B&O Support?), then I wonder about getting a couple of Bluetooth transmitters - one for each speaker - and feeding them with left and right audio channels from the TV. The simplest way I can think of would be using the headphone socket on the TV with a 3.5mm jack to stereo RCA, then feeding each to its own Bluetooth transmitter. The output chain doesn't quite sit well with me because I'd be using the TV's DAC (I doubt it's the best) to convert from digital to analogue, then each Bluetooth transmitter's ADC to convert back to compressed digital, and finally, each speaker's Bluetooth receiver & DAC to reproduce the audio. An alternate route could perhaps be some sort of SPDIF left/right splitter to feed the Bluetooth transmitters with digital left and right channels. Maybe there's even a Bluetooth transmitter out there that could handle both channels and feed each speaker independently... Something to research I think.

OlivierC:

Hello,

However the B&O Customer Care answer is not completely clear to me, especially in the following part.

 

 

cds:

 

The BeoPlay S3 differs slightly from the other B&O PLAY products as this is a licensed product created for a different distributor.

 

 

 

Created for a different distributor?

 

What does it mean?

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

Olivier

Yeah, this confused me a little too. I know that Beoplay stuff is the budget brand that tends to get manufactured in China, but I don't understand the distributor licence. Anyway, software issues aside, the speakers themselves are really quite amazing for the size.

cds:

Anyway, software issues aside, the speakers themselves are really quite amazing for the size.

I love the sound of my pair of S3s. I find them more transparent and dynamic than my BeoLab 3s.

Lawrence

cds:

You've given me an idea. If Bluetooth mode doesn't exhibit the same behaviour (perhaps the sleep timer is 15 mins as suggested by B&O Support?), then I wonder about getting a couple of Bluetooth transmitters - one for each speaker - and feeding them with left and right audio channels from the TV.

I’d be careful here. In addition to researching the BT/sleep timer issue, also check BT latency. I suspect it will be a showstopper.

cds:

Anyway, software issues aside, the speakers themselves are really quite amazing for the size.

I’ve found the same. Best $200 / pair bookshelves I’ve owned.

BeoFrederic:

cds:

 

You've given me an idea. If Bluetooth mode doesn't exhibit the same behaviour (perhaps the sleep timer is 15 mins as suggested by B&O Support?), then I wonder about getting a couple of Bluetooth transmitters - one for each speaker - and feeding them with left and right audio channels from the TV.

 

I’d be careful here. In addition to researching the BT/sleep timer issue, also check BT latency. I suspect it will be a showstopper.

It's funny you should say that; shortly after I posted, the possibility that BT latency might not be a constant crossed my mind. I'll have to do some reading, but if it's something that's determined when the link is negotiated, based on something like signal quality for example, then that may throw the whole idea out of the window. In which case, some sort of BT device that's designed to set up generic pairs of speakers in stereo would be required (if such a thing exists). Unfortunately, the built-in True Wireless function of these speakers is not an option; I could deal with a few milliseconds of latency, but not the 250 milliseconds or so that True Wireless requires.

I have an update to this: I managed to get the left speaker to stay awake!

However, I don't know how I managed this, and the right speaker still takes a few seconds to wake.

This happened after I decided to reconfigure the way the speakers were wired up. Previously, I had the speakers paired in wired mode, with audio input on the left speaker, and the left speaker feeding the right speaker like this:

TV -> DAC & pre-amp > sub woofer -> Beoplay S3 (left) -> Beoplay S3 (right)

Now, I have each speaker fed directly from the audio source like this:

TV -> DAC & pre-amp > sub woofer -> Beoplay S3 (left) 

TV -> DAC & pre-amp > sub woofer -> Beoplay S3 (right)

It doesn't matter how many times I double-press the B&O button on the right speaker, I cannot seem to get it to stay awake. In fact, all double-pressing that button seems to do is either turn off the speaker or turn it back on.

I daren't touch the left speaker in case I break the spell and it switches back to power-saving mode!

Any clues?