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 Beoworlders,
I'm a long-time reader, first time posting. I have much respect for your enthusiastic collective expertise!
I’ve just purchased a Beolab 3500 MK1 that came with a wide Masterlink cable. I’m unsure how best to connect it to my Beomaster 4500 (one-way version). I'm using a pair of BL4000 MK1 (good foam version!) speakers connected to the Powerlink inputs, and a Beolink 1000 MK2 remote.According to my BM4500 manual, the 1994 MCL manual and various Forum pages here and here, it seems I require a junction box such as MCL2A, MCL2P, Beolink 1611 converter, or perhaps the MCL/ML unit? The links I referenced are a bit older or are for BM3500, so I'm not sure if that info is complete. My apologies if all this is answered here; I've looked awhile but can't find an exact Forum answer.
There is of course no wide MCL input on the BM4500. Presumably I need a speaker 1 & 2 to MCL cable? I contacted Soundsheavenly this week and got a reply that "the special cable to use the Beomaster with the BL3500 is no longer available, as the special 4-pin plugs are out of production and all spares have been sold".
Influencing my BL3500 cabling and/or junction box purchasing choice: I want to occasionally use the BL3500 for AV purposes, connecting it to in-room HDMI or standard audio jacks on a computer, projector, or a non-B&O flatscreen. Is it the case that the BL3500 MK1 Powerlink style input is “not for typical use”? Is it not for Powerlink cables? Can it be used for these direct AV connections? This input is labeled MCL, confusingly.
So I put it to the Forum: 1) Which connector box and cables would be the best, most flexible, future-proof, least costly solution to linking the BL3500?
2) Where can I best locate cables that may be "out of production with no spares available" (if needed)?
Thanks in advance!
Hi,
Welcome to Beoworld! The 8 pin socket on the Beolab 3500 mk.1 is a Master Control Link (MCL) socket, not Powerlink, so you need a Beolink Converter type 1161166 in order to use this speaker with the 4500 system. I am sorry that the old MCL plugs and cables are out of production as far as I am aware, so there is no option for a direct cable connection.
Please use a Masterlink cable from the speaker to the converter and a Datalink cable from the 4500 to the converter. I can help with these cables via my sponsor link at the foot of the page when my website re-opens after the weekend. Thanks for your patience.
Kind regards, Steve.
Steve.
www.soundsheavenly.com
Founder of Sounds Heavenly Cables and Brand Ambassador for Bang & Olufsen
Sounds Heavenly are proud to sponsor BeoWorld!
Please check out my YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/soundsheavenlycables
Steve at Sounds Heavenly: I am sorry that the old MCL plugs and cables are out of production as far as I am aware, so there is no option for a direct cable connection.
De juiste stekker voor uw bang & Olufsen audio installatie - De plek voor B&O integratie, wifi, domotica en iPad houders. (beomac.com)
Thanks,
However I apologise that I won't be able to obtain these at the moment due to UK Covid-19 lockdown. Maybe once life is back to normal...
For the moment I can only offer standard cables.
The cheapest option is MCL connection direct from the MCL connectors (3pin) on the BM4500 to the round 8pin MCL in the BL3500.
The 8pin and 3pin plugs are available doing an internet search. If you are handy with a soldering iron, this link shows the wiring diagram. (second from the top)
https://www.beoworld.org/beotech/wiring1.htm
Stoobie
Hi Steve,
Apologies for my slow reply - I wanted to see what general response over time I would get to my first ever question on Beoworld. I appreciate your kind expertise amidst the limiting factors of the day.
Meanwhile, I've taken your advice and have been scouring the web for the USA 120V 1161166 Converter but so far, I've been unable to find it. There are plenty of EU 220-240V for sale.
I see relatively few complaints here about the BS4500 or the BL3500, they both seem well liked and well made. Maybe that's why I don't see much of the USA connecting pieces for sale. I know there's Almando, but their connection box is as expensive as my BL3500, which for me makes no sense.
I plan to order the correct cables as soon as I can. I'm pretty unsure about using a direct cable at this point. That might undermine future link room expandability using the Beolink Converter...?
Thanks very much.
Hi Carolpa,
I appreciate your kind reply. I wish I spoke Dutch! Your link was very interesting and informative, I may refer to it in the future.
Hi Stoobie,
I admire your technical knowledge. I'm afraid if you got me soldering anything B&O I would be likely frozen with terror at making an expensive mistake.
I think you have the advantage of much a cheaper and better post, which makes for a much easier transfer of B&O product, which means an abundance of soldering fixes I might have trouble getting!
At this point I wonder if your direct cable idea, though least expensive, might undermine the expansion cabling options of the BL3500? For instance, being able to use it occasionally also for enhanced sound for a projector, computer, or anything else with an audio jack or HDMI port?
If I use the setup Steve suggests, will that not be the best for the greatest number of options for multiple external connections to the BL3500?
Thanks very much,
mike_and: Hi Stoobie, At this point I wonder if your direct cable idea, though least expensive, might undermine the expansion cabling options of the BL3500? For instance, being able to use it occasionally also for enhanced sound for a projector, computer, or anything else with an audio jack or HDMI port? If I use the setup Steve suggests, will that not be the best for the greatest number of options for multiple external connections to the BL3500? Thanks very much,
Hi Mike_and,
The Beomaster 4500 it is made to connect and be fully compatible with the Beolab 3500 (which used to be called LCS 9000) by using this cable. (You need to make sure that the BL3500 is set to MCL mode if connected like this).
So the 8 pin plug that you mention on the BL3500 as looking like Powerlink is the MCL socket. MCL and Speakerlink are fully compatible. The BM 4500 has Powerlink and MCL (in the form of Speakerlink connectors.)You can plug a projector, computer (anything with audio jack) into the BM4500 via the 7pin AUX/TV socket and play the sound through that to the BM4500, BL4000’s and BL3500 or just through Bl4000’s or just BL3500. And then you only need the expense of 1 MCL cable (as above) and a convertor cable to plug into AUX/TV, not the extra expense of any extra “connection boxes”. With HDMI you will need an adapter to extract the sound to feed into the BM4500. If you can no longer source the connectors then Steve’s suggestion is next best.The BL3500 is not made to be used with anything other than Masterlink or MCL and it was made as a speaker for a link room. It is not a good speaker for using as a “soundbar” and is almost impossible to set up as a center speaker. People have used them as standalone with the Beolink Convertor (you need to make sure you get the correct one), but this is usually if they do not have a compatible Beomaster. If you go for the standalone BL3500 and Beolink Convertor, you still need the adapter cable to go from any audio jack into the Beolink Convertor (plus an audio extractor for any HDMI generated sound). I am not sure if you can set the correct option settings in the convertor via the IR eye in the BL3500 or is you will also need the B&O IR eye connected. I would only use this option if you really do not want to go through your BM4500.Even if you go with any of your other solutions it will not add any future proofing unless you extend your setup to include newer Masterlink products such as a TV and then you would only need to consider the Beolink Convertor not MCL kits. If you go down this route you will still need and adapter to extract the sound from HDMI as MCL and Masterlink cannot carry digital sound.I hope that helps a bit more with decisions.Stoobie
Thanks for your very detailed and thoughtful reply. I've been doing numerous searches for the cable type you described above, and continuing the search for the Beolink converter idea that Steve has proposed to get around the difficulty of custom cable building with hard-to-get parts.
So far I'm not encouraged. The cable you've mentioned existed at one time. But no search has turned it up at all. Ebay has every converter except the right one. It turns out I need the Beolink 1612 (US voltage), not the 1611 (EU voltage). I'd rather not use a voltage converter just for that.
Beolink 1612's seem rarer than a hen's tooth. Hifishark has no internet sale history at all on that model, otherwise I could research those clues even if they are old. I've contacted 2 US B&O dealers - with no help offered at all. US vintage resellers hardly seem to exist as do UK/EU specialty B&O places like Sound-Affair.
Perhaps a little more time, patience - and posting a wanted notice within Beoworld for a Beolink 1612? I will gladly hear more ideas.
Thanks very kindly,
It is very frustrating because I found a supplier of the cables in Germany but I can longer find the link.
Good luck with your search.
Pardon me for being slightly didactic: Steve -- or you -- can make a cable that will will work just fine. It will not pass anybody's quality control standards, but you will have a working set to listen to, while you hunt for "proper" alternatives.
(1) Take a pair of 2-pin DIN speaker connectors (1 spade+1 pin), remove the plastic strain covers, and notch out the proper quadrant (or slice off the top third) of the plug plastic with a knife. (You don't even need to be able to solder: Steve sells screw-terminal 2-pin DIN connectors.) (2) Take 2 single pins made to be inserted into a DIN connector, either ordered fresh or scavenged from any DIN connector with barrel-spikes you can free up. Crimp or screw them (new pins) or attach their wire stubs (scavenged pins) onto correct wires in your cable. (Use a 2-connector "terminal barrier strip" or small butt connectors for scavenged pin wires, if you don't want to solder.) (3) Using needlenose pliers, insert the 2-pin half-plugs into the bottom of the DIN jacks, then each single-wire pin, into the left & right upper quadrants -- which are open because of your notches! -- on the equipment. Done.
(Notes: Yes, of course, double-check your work with the single pins to their correct wires on the DIN-8 at the other end. (If Steve is willing to make you this jury-rigged thing, he will surely give you a color code chart.) If you're feeling queasy about it, shrink, tape, or caulk beyond the first centimeter of the single pins, to prevent shorting against each other if the cable is yanked sideways. If the equipment is so old that the plug pins are loose in the jacks, tie a small elastic around the bundle near the jack panel, to splay/tension the pins all outward slightly. Even if Steve says I've got this all wrong (i.e the 2-pin speaker plug is the wrong size to match the bottom half of the jack) -- you can *still* do it all by needlenose'ing single pins, including the spade.)
Criminy, my father's tube equipment from the 1950s has *bare wires* jammed into jack holes. Yes, the connection only lasts a year or two before making noise, but that's why you're using DIN pins. Listen While You Work [Edited to reflect 3-pin DIN speaker plugs, reverse if the 2-pin part is upside-down on the 4500.)
Hi trackbeo,
Interesting plan! Unfortunately I have to obtain insurance in order to trade professionally, and one of the terms of my insurance is that I'm not allowed to provide technical advice for customers who make home built cables
However, once Covid-19 restrictions are over here in UK and I have the current backlog of custom orders cleared (currently around 6 months waiting list) then I hope to be able to look at sourcing the plugs and cables again ready to make the correctly specified and tested items that are ready for years of reliable service.
Sorry I can't help in the short term though. Thanks for your understanding.