Guy
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The ‘Steve cable/solution’ uses the Powerlink output to get the sound out of the audiosystem.
Yes I just realised that! But the BC2300 has PL outputs also.
MM perhaps you could explain to the OP auf Deutsch?
EDIT: And if Steve no longer supplies them, there is a suitable ‘Pin 9 to Powerlink’ cable half way down this page:https://www.powmascables.com/contents/en-us/d101_BEO-Speciale-kabels.html
The cable was shown on Steve’s video here about 4min30sec in: https://youtu.be/Xrcm5WRbqvg?t=273
No, the ‘mini-AV’ is the one marked ‘AV-IN’ to the right of the hdmi sockets on the connections panel.
I don’t think Steve does a suitable cable any more, but it would be worth contacting him at his website for suggestions.
Hi again Luke,
I emailed OneRemote a few days ago about a similar sized item and they said that they could do ‘letter sized’ UK postage for about €21. They even added a checkout box for me, but in the end I didn’t buy the item anyway.
It’s probably worth getting in touch with them by email.
(They did also say that they can send stuff anywhere in mainland China far cheaper than to UK!)
EDIT: You could also try http://www.avaservices.co.uk
one thing to look for without opening it could be to measure if pin 2 in the MCL/PL connector is connected to other ground pins or not
That sounds straightforward – I’ll give that a go tomorrow!
(EDIT: I’ll also look for a serial number.)
Test 11 – Beolink Active 1636 (SW 1.1)
So today I added a BL Active 1636 (in L.OPT 6) to my little ML ‘system’ in parallel with BL1611 and BL3500 (L.OPT 4). I initially tried my OneRemote connected as an audio source to BL1611 AAL socket. Here’s the photo (starting to get messy again!)
As you can see above I used an A2 Active as a ‘Powerlink speaker’ using DIN connection from the BL Active’s PL socket, to a 3.5mm plug into the A2 Active’s aux input. (I often use this setup to test PL outputs)
The result: Full control of the OneRemote is available from BL Active using Beo4 to the IR sensor. ‘Close-up’ control of volume using buttons on IR sensor is possible, and you are able to switch off by pressing PLAY button (long press for whole system). You are also able to ‘Join’ using the IR sensor PLAY button if the BL3500 is already playing.
All the above was repeated with dual audio/video sources connected to BL1611 AAL socket. Basically, the BL Active behaves exactly like BL3500 apart from:
- No response to A.AUX (this needs SW > 1.5?)
- (As expected) Pressing PC on remote does not select an audio source – the speaker just pops slight as the PC input socket (not tested) is activated.
So basically, when the BL1611 is acting as an audio/videomaster, the BL Active behaves exactly as I would expect it to in an ordinary ML system.
With regard to the remaining tests:
- Test 10 (BL3500 activation from PL socket) is on pause for the reasons mentioned in my above response to Madskp.
- Test 14 (BeoLink Passive) and Test 16 (BeoLink Video) on hold unless anyone thinks that I should try something specific.
That’s pretty much it for now – I will attach yet another updated test schedule (Amdt 4).
As always, happy to try other variations while all the equipment is out!
@ madskp.
That all looks very promising. I may well have a look in the back of my ‘new’ BL3500 in the coming days and see what can be achieved, but I am worried about mucking it up! When I was playing around with injecting voltage into the BL1611 there were a couple of times that the ‘system’ seemed to lock up, and I had to unplug all the mains power for a few seconds to get it all to reset.
Nevertheless now that I have seen how well BL3500 works, I am keen to find the parts to update its SW from 2.0 to 2.1. Basically I want the newer sources to be shown on the display, and it would be nice to have N.RADIO (rather than PHONO) showing when I connect my OneRemote.
If I do find the SW upgrade Processor/PCB (as listed in the FAQ) I’ll be digging into the back of the BL3500 then, and will look at those old ‘MCL’ connections.
We know Matador has looked for a BL3500 ‘on’ trigger in the past. One thing I would be keen to explore is whether turning ML off (using MENU MENU 0 9 GO, then up/down arrows) changes the behaviour when trying to trigger the BL3500 from the old MCL socket.
Anyway all this is listed as ‘Test 10’ on my schedule, and I will report back here if I discover anything. The diagrams to which you have linked will be a good start!
Ok, so here is my question that maybe worth a thread on its own: Iv’ got a spare 3500, I’ve got a spare old Mac mini and I can find a not so expensive Beolink PC2. Would it be possible to have something like MAC (VNC but no screen) > Beoport or PC2 > 3500, be an standalone whole unit where Mac would be music server through iTunes, the sound would go out of the 3500, and the whole thing would just need a Beo4 to start, play and skip? Ok as I was writing I got that you would not be able to select a specific album. But then there is the iTunes remote app for iThing that could be use as remote for browsing and playing. Then bonus question: if yes. would BM-link be enough or Link player (deprecated) be better? *The Mac mini is an old one with whatever system that show some sort of cat on it. You have 2 hours…
Gosh yes maybe a new thread. And more than two hours!!
I have never played with a mac or BM-link (or Link player) hence I don’t really know the differences between that and its use with Beoport SW on a PC. However, with the PC the computer needs to be up and running for the Beoport and BL3500 to be able to access any functionality. So your Mac music server would have to be up and running and controlling Beoport permanently in order for Beo4 ML access to be possible – otherwise the bit in bold above would be difficult.
With regard to ‘selecting specific albums’ – I think Beoport does at least enable you to access playlists. Next time I have it up and running I will check how easy this is to do from the Beo4.
Wasn’t there someone else using a standalone mac/Beoport system? I will have a think about this over the coming days, and maybe a search of the archived forums (although I am sure that you have done the latter!).
It’s re-assuring that there are a few of us who are determined to use Beo4 as much as possible and avoid picking up an iDevice to operate our AV systems (and the rest of our houses) Long may this continue!
You need to find an MX!
The funny thing is that I used to have several! Back in about 2013, when I moved from Denmark to Germany I had a bit of a clear-out and took them to the local re-cycling centre!! That was before they became popular for retro-gaming.
Test 15 repeated using BV10-32 instead of BL3500. No changes to the connection between OneRemote and BL1611. TV in V.OPT 2. Full functionality and sound using A.TAPE as source (TV screen does not come on).
(BV10-32 non-reflective screen working well!)
Sorry for reply in English.
I think Steve at Sounds Heavenly used to supply a cable to connect an aux output to the BV11’s Mini-AV socket. If this is still available (from Steve or B&O) then you could connect from the BC2300 AUX socket to the BV’s Mini AV.
This would allow you to play the BC2300 through the TV’s speakers.
But before I go, I thought I would expose my novel ‘non-soldering’ approach to my OneRemote adaptor.
Basically I realised that the connection required was a ‘mirror image’ of the OneRemote DIN output. I therefore used an Audio Aux Y adaptor (7-pin) with two sockets and one plug. I connected the OneRemote to one of the sockets, and then connected the other socket to the BL1611’s AAL input socket using panel pins (I cut the heads off) inserted into the appropriate holes. Here’s a picture:
A fresh copy of the Test Schedule is attached – new text in blue.
I will be having a play with the Beolink Active (Test 11) later today, although I am not really sure what I will be testing! Suggestions welcome!
I have also found a Beolink Video 1615 (Test 16). However, having read the Service Manual I am not sure that it is worth even testing anything. The manual states:
All ML output components have been removed … the audio path is one-way from ML to AAL.
Hence ML can only be an input, so it’s probably only worth testing with an MX TV or similar – which I don’t have.
Anyway, apparently I now need some ‘fresh air’ so I will be back later …
Test 15 – OneRemote input/control
Well this was straightforward! I made a OneRemote adaptor (without soldering!) to connect OneRemote DIN output pins 2, 5, 3, and 7 to AAL input pins 2, 4, 1, and 6 respectively. (I wanted the OneRemote to be an audio source, rather than video).
I programmed the OneRemote as ‘A.TAPE’ source (setting 402 – cable direct mode with the OneRemote’s IR receiver disabled), which means it should be selectable and controllable over ‘datalink’ using A.TAPE. The BL3500 is connected to the BL1611 ML cable.
Result: Full control possible. The OneRemote radio only starts when A.TAPE is pressed, not other audio/video sources such as CD or RADIO. I can select radio presets, move through the menus to listen to music off my NAS etc.
So the OneRemote setting (402) seems to change its datalink capabilities to work with AAL. And the AAL datalink pin 6 is functional!
I repeated the above test using BL2000 and that works fine too. I also checked full functionality using BL3500 and BL2000 connected at the same time.
EDIT: And just a short press of the Beo4 ‘off’ button shuts the complete system down including the OneRemote.
EDIT 2: Photo:
Same here with BC2300, BC6 and 1611.It made nothing appart the long press shutdown
At least we are getting consistent results, so that’s something. I am about to try datalink control of my OneRemote radio ….
So tonight I made an attempt at Test 12 – making use of the BL1611 AAL pin 6 datalink input.
I don’t have any pure datalink source devices other than my BG6500 turntable and that is packed away so carefully that I am not prepared to get it out for this project!
However, I do have a DVD1 for which I previously made a special SCART to 7-pin DIN cable for the project described here: https://archivedforum2.beoworld.co.uk/forums/p/45162/327485.aspx#327485
Basically, the cable connects SCART data pin 8 to DIN pin 6, plus audio to DIN pins 3 and 5. It previously worked well to connect an extra ‘CD’ player (the DVD1) directly to my BC9500’s AUX/TV socket, which also uses pin 6 for data.
Anyway, for this test I used the BL3500 as the controlling ML device and the DVD1 was connected to the BL1611’s AAL socket. Audio (a CD) played fine with a video source connected, but no datalink control of the DVD1 was possible (I couldn’t start up the DVD1, play, stop, or change tracks with the remote, hence had to use the DVD1’s front panel). However, when I tried a long-press of the Beo4’s ‘off’ button, the entire system did shut down including the DVD1.
Hence some data is being passed from BL3500 to the DVD1 via the BL1611, but just not the full spectrum of normal datalink commands.
I hope that Test 15 (Control of OneRemote radio) will be more successful, once I have made that (nameless) adaptor!
This is less logical. Or maybe not: the converter was meant to be connected to a Video AAL or Audio AAL, but not both at the same time. Then without Y splitting adapter or similar in which scenario would the converter need to revert to video mode after have been triggered by Powerlink?
It could be connected to both video and audio AAL at the same time, hence this diagram in the ML handbook.
But I can’t work out how it triggered a return to videomaster. Perhaps something in the data triggers the switch back. I have just tried shorting the PL pin 4 to ground, but that makes no difference.
EDIT: Actually it must be a request over masterlink that triggers the switching between audio and videomaster, in the same way that we are using it with the Beolabs.
I dont undestand it either. The MCL pinouts on the Beotech page has a DC supply of 7.5-8.5 Volt on pin 2 where powerlink on/off pins can be either pin 1 or 4. Furthermore MCL normally caries speaker level signals, where powerlink caries line level signals.
I suppose that in MCL mode the BL3500 (LCS9000) worked a bit like an MCL2AV. That too used the speaker level input and turned it into a volume controlled PL output. The MCL2AV also had its own power supply, hence didn’t need the 7.5-8.5v supply. I suspect that (like the MCL2AV) the ‘MCL BL3500’ volume would also go up and down slightly as the ‘master volume’ in the audiomaster was varied.
Just a note. In my experiment I injected the power on pin 4 and 7, but as mentioned pin 2 and 7 is soldered together in my 1611, and conneted to the ground plane in the 1611. As you see some kind of reaction Im not sure if it will make any difference in your case. But if you have a multimeter handy you could try to measure if pin 2 is connected to the ground i one of the connectors just to verify.
We now have a copy of the BL1611 Service Manual (I’ll PM you a copy) – here’s the PL socket:
I just opened my BL1611 up again to check internally with my multimeter – there is no continuity between pin 7 and anything else as far as I can tell. Pin 2 has continuity with the ground plane.
I am stopping the tests for today. Some may have noticed that I have deliberately avoided anything that involves soldering, but I will be forced to make up a few leads to try most other options!
I am happy to repeat anything that I have tried so far if you want more info or there is something that I have missed.
Attached is a fresh copy of the test schedule with new notes in Blue.
