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
Hi everyone
We have a rather old-school B&O set up though it still works brilliantly. Essentially we use an Airplay receiver into our audio master and distribute the sound via master link, in addition of course to CDs, radios, vinyl etc etc.
We'd love to add a couple more speakers. In particular replace an old Beovision 7 in our bedroom with a new speaker as we don't ever watch (live) TV these days.
We'd also like to replace a Beolab 2000 with something that's got a better sound quality.
We like the Beosound 1 & 2. The Beoplay 9 looks fantastic. The Emerge and Level also look like they might be ideal.
The problem is connectivity. We don't want to reply on wireless as transmission around our house is poor and we'd also miss the unique feature of masterlink of simply pressing Radio (or CD or whatever) to get the content we like. We don't want to be messing round with phones and iPads all over the house.
I'd appreciate your thoughts and any solutions you may have put in place.
Many Thanks
Alan
EDIT - we have a couple of spare Beolink Passive units - could the output from these be fed to any Line In capability of the newer speakers?
"You think we can slap some oak on this thing?"
Alternatively you could use your Beolink Passives with some new or second hand passive speakers and retain all the functionality you have at the moment. Depending on the speakers you get the sound quality should be very good. I replaced a Beolab 3500 with Beolink Passive and two S45-2 in my kitchen and the sound quality is excellent - however you need somewhere to put them as they obviously take up more room - for me it was on top of two shelves where they cant really be seen. You could always look for smaller beovox speakers or new small speakers like Q Acoustics.
Other alternatives are to get a Beolink Active without the remote eye and connect that to one of the newer speakers via the Aux in, you would then use the remote eye from your passive with the active - but this would mean getting a special lead that take line out from the Beolink Active into the new speaker and I think (maybe wrong) you would have to control the volume on the speaker but the Beolink Active would at least give you control of sources. Or an other option if you get the Beolink Active you could look for some Beolab 4000s, 6000s or 8000s to connect to it.
Pestria: Hi everyone We have a rather old-school B&O set up though it still works brilliantly. Essentially we use an Airplay receiver into our audio master and distribute the sound via master link, in addition of course to CDs, radios, vinyl etc etc. We'd love to add a couple more speakers. In particular replace an old Beovision 7 in our bedroom with a new speaker as we don't ever watch (live) TV these days. We'd also like to replace a Beolab 2000 with something that's got a better sound quality. We like the Beosound 1 & 2. The Beoplay 9 looks fantastic. The Emerge and Level also look like they might be ideal. The problem is connectivity. We don't want to reply on wireless as transmission around our house is poor and we'd also miss the unique feature of masterlink of simply pressing Radio (or CD or whatever) to get the content we like. We don't want to be messing round with phones and iPads all over the house. I'd appreciate your thoughts and any solutions you may have put in place. Many Thanks Alan EDIT - we have a couple of spare Beolink Passive units - could the output from these be fed to any Line In capability of the newer speakers?
It is a tricky one!
‘…..simply pressing Radio (or CD or whatever) to get the content we like.‘
I am not sure what you aim at there?
Starting a radio station with the touch of a button - on the device or with the Beoremote One - is not a big problem with the newer B&O devices.
Connecting the newer devices to the old ML ones for e.g. playing a CD however would require a bridge between these two generations of B&O devices (that is called the NL/ML Converter).
What would you mean with ‘the content we like’???Starting some music (e.g. from a streaming service: Apple Music, Spotify….) will always involve ‘a phone/iPad’. Somehow you will have to choose the content - like you probably do now with airplaying. I don’t see a way to come around this!
The easiest way to expand your setup however, will - as others already have suggested - be to add either your excisting, spare BL Passive units (plus some good passive speakers) or to use Beolink Actives and speakers like the BL4000. This might also be a solution for the bedroom (which speaker do you have there now?).
But you will have to have the ML cables in place!!!
This way you could keep on using the AirPlay receiver as of now.
If you want a combination of new and old, you might - as also already suggested - use a BL Active and connect that to the line in of e.g. a BS Level or a Beoplay A9…..(special cable needed).
If you also want to use the features of the new device - without going wireless - you’ll need a network cable connected to your router/internet there and you will have to use one or more apps on the ‘phone/iPad’.Apart from this you will have to deal with two x volume controls (one for each system), which is not for everyone.
The newer devices e.g the BS Emerge can be used as an Airplay receiver (with the built in speaker) and you could add or remove that (= the AirPlay 2 function) when you play to the excisting AirPlay receiver (of course depending on which one you have in place already). The Emerge also can be hardwired instead of wireless.
As you see, there is no easy solution……all depends on what your needs and wishes are - and whether you can accept that you will have to use ‘the phone/iPad’ as a part of the setup, when it comes to more than radio and cd listening.
One last thing….maybe you should let someone in knowing advice you how to get a better wifi in the house. Old, mis-placed wifi routers are often the cause for bad ‘wireless transmission around the house’.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Just want to point out that the BS1 doesn't have a line in. It can only work with wireless streaming sources.
Steve at Sounds Heavenly (a forum sponsor) has a solution which I believe would allow you to connect the speaker output of your existing Passives to the "line in" of a newer device:
https://soundsheavenly.com/line-in-connection/33-power-amplifier-to-beolab-line-in-attenuated-convertor-kit.html
A little kludgy, but it seems like it will do what you want.
Also, once you get a newer device in house, you might find you like some of its features over the ML system (different music in different rooms, for example)?