Beosound 8 lightning conversion

One thing that always annoyed me with the Beosound 8 and the Beoplay A8 was when the iPhone was docked, it was no way to comfortably use the phone while continuing to listen to music. I also think the speaker looks better with nothing on top.

So I decided to do a conversion.

I rerouted the cable for the dock and I mounted a 30-pin to lightning adapter in the back. It required to melt away some plastic.

Now I simply use a lightning extension cable to connect my iPhone. And I can comfortably write messages while continuing to listen to music.

Nice job!

However, I choose the easier route.........I bought an iPod Touch, let it stay docked and can still use my iPhone independently ;-)

MM

Yes, there are many nice ways of using these. I also have a CCA connected, and a Nest mini that is set to play music through the CCA. So it is voice controlled.

MM, could you check one thing for me. If you listen to the rear of the speaker, is there any strange bass resonance on higher volume levels? If you could try playing Xavier Rudd - Follow the Sun? On both my units there is something that sounds like sound/bass leakage. I have never noticed this before on other units.

Leo, have you been able to do anything useful with that mini-USB socket? Can you connect it directly to a PC/Mac to transfer sound? Other uses?

Lawrence

I have had it connected to my MacBook. Works great that way.

Damn, now I have to see if I can fit a computer screen on top of it

leosgonewild:

I have had it connected to my MacBook. Works great that way.

Damn, now I have to see if I can fit a computer screen on top of it

You mean... like, an iPad??

You might even be able to fit a lightning connector to keep the iPad there, but... wait a minute... !!

Hehe :P

I would like to separate the speakers from the unit, so they could be placed on each side of a computer.

leosgonewild:

Yes, there are many nice ways of using these. I also have a CCA connected, and a Nest mini that is set to play music through the CCA. So it is voice controlled.

 

 

MM, could you check one thing for me. If you listen to the rear of the speaker, is there any strange bass resonance on higher volume levels? If you could try playing Xavier Rudd - Follow the Sun? On both my units there is something that sounds like sound/bass leakage. I have never noticed this before on other units.

Will do that test....once my wife is out of the house.

Usually I don’t listen at ‘higher volume level’ there - so far I haven’t noticed anything of that kind.

 

Nowadays I mainly use my BP8 for airplaying directly to the unit (which works well even with the iPod Touch docked) and to send a Spotify Connect stream to the opened Spotify app on the iPod.

Over the years I have used any possible (!) kind of connection with the BS/BP8’s I have had - including a voice controlled CCA.
I can confirm that the USB connection works well with a computer.

But I stripped my use down to the use with AirPlay and with the Spotify app. Having an extra iPod dedicated is quite handy, because you can do basicly anything without having to think about where your phone is or is used for.

This is also quite handy because you then also can use the Beo4 for volume controlling and Play/Pause....

 

Also - for the sake of my dear wife - I like to keep things simple and easy to use.