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I did some more research about the Beolab 3500 MCL/Powerlink connector. Browsing through the service manuals for respectivly the service manuals for the LCS 9000 (with MCL connector) and the Beolab 3500 (with Powerlink connector) I noticed a few things.
1) The servicemanual for the Beolab 3500 with powerlink connector is from serial number 19343452. Are your speakers above or belov this serial number?
2) In the specifications sections in the beginning for the service manuals:
– For the LCS9000 the MCL conenctor is shown and all pins assigned except pin 2 (pink) which is DC supply 7.5-8.5 Volts. This corresponds well with the fact that it has its own power supply. Also all pins are shown in the right places in this drawing.
– For the Beolab 3500 there is just a text string stating Beolink Wireless 1 (W1) 8 pin DIN connector and no drawing showing the pinout. I guess it’s B&O’s way of saying this conenctor is only intended for this purpose.
– What strikes me is that Keith wrote that the module with the MCL socket was not redesigned, but as noted before pin 2 was not connected in the MCL, and Pin 2 is ground on a powerlink connector. This could bed the reason for the statement about a fully wired Powerlink cable needed as this also has a ground on pin 7 whis is Data ground/shield on both MCL and Powerlink.
3) Looking at the wirering diagrams in the servicemanuals the external conenctors are not shown, but the conenctors between the different print boards are. Especially the conenction between the Plug PCB (the one with the ML and MCL/PL connector) and what is called the Cross field board:
– For the LCS 9000 the MCL and ML connections are shown, and on wire shown as not conencted (Pin 3 on the Plug PCB).
-For the BL3500 PL signals are shown instead of MCL, but more interesting this PIN 3 on the Plug PCB is now called SP ON. Guess that means speaker on and that is should be possible to turn it on with an external signal.
– Question is: Is it conencted in the Powerlink connector? I don’t know how easy it is to open a Bl3500, but it could be interesting to see if there is a direct connections to something in the Powerlink conenctor.
4) in the Service manual for the LCS 9000 the same block diagram as Keith show with the weird looking DIN connector, but also a full diagram of that PCB showing it the same way. Again it might be a typo as it onlys seems like Pin 2 (which is not used) is placed in the opposite end of the conenctor
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!
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:
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:
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