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Having boxes of B&O cables means you have done this before; good! But if your boxes leave you empty-handed, as a done-this-before oldster, you might not be familiar with the modern method of connecting MasterLink: buy a pair of cheap ML male –>RJ45 female adapters and run an Ethernet cable between them (preferably shielded) — much easier to find custom lengths than buying a genuine ML cable. Cheaper than the PowerLink auto-switch boxes, too!
Yup. Don’t do that. Splitter cables are intended to have one driving device (BV *or* BS9000) and two speakers. A switch box — common manufacturers are Almando and OneRemote.dk — will use either the presence of the Powerlink “Power” pin or the audio signal to switch your speakers back and forth. (There is a technical answer that I just don’t remember about how line output impedance of the source and RCA line input impedance of the speaker[‘s built-in amplifier] are supposed to relate, and what happens if you put another source on that Y in parallel with the speaker, thus the original source “sees” the wrong impedance, not just a speaker or two.)
P.S. Don’t throw away that splitter cable — you’ll need it because the Powerlink switch boxes only have a single DIN-8 jack output!
P.P.S. The true B&O-heads here will tell you that you ought to be running a MasterLink cable between those two sources, for an integrated setup. One remote, speakers connected to one device, automated source switching thru it, routing the IR remote commands — totally B&O-whole-house-cool! But the switch boxes work with *any* two sources and don’t require learning anything about B&O systems’ “Option” settings. Given that you started with a simple Y cable, I suggested the easier-to-understand method. But it is sub-optimal if you could get MasterLink configured instead: both your BS9000 and BV9 support it!
Also notice the existing surrounds were made up of two half-circles pasted together — must not have had the correct diameter on hand. You can see the seams at 9:00 and 3:00. And it looks like two (2!) repair efforts were made, given different colors of dried glue.
So I hope somebody can tell you if the part number substitution buying whole drivers is OK. Best choice given that mess. But if not, read on…
[Edit: Before wasting time on foam, double-check with an ohmmeter that the speakers are about the same resistance. A reading of infinity (open, split wire) or of zero (short, fused wire) is obviously bad, and not worth wasting more time on. Nobody mentioned this prior because it’s really unlikely, but given that photo, anything is possible!]
As to the solvents, what you use will depend on how crummy the glue from previous attempts turns out to be. First try up to 91% isopropyl alcohol, and a long fingernail is the finest tool you have or will need. Failing that, a stronger solvent, like “denatured alcohol” or (USA) Goof-Off™, don’t get the stuff on your skin — you should probably use the *back* edge of an X-Acto knife straight blade (actually a triangle). The blade would cut the speaker cone, but the squared-off rear usually catches the glue without ripping into the driver.
If the previous attempt was particularly horrible, the driver might be ruined anyway. Once you remove the old foam, examine the remaining, probably now jagged, edge versus the overlap of the new foam. Also follow the instructions with the re-foam kits to press/piston in&out to make sure the driver coil isn’t rubbing against the magnet or frame before you waste time gluing. Not sure why being coy about where to order parts from Holland, but here in the USA: https://www.simplyspeakers.com/bang-olufsen-speaker-repair-foam-edge-kits.html (International shipping might be expensive, but the basic parts are cheap.)
Nice, thank you! *If* you were willing to take the extra effort, a “driver count” column for each driver size would be helpful for some future readers, even though it doesn’t relate to your initial question. (E.g. the knowledge that Level is a stereo pair, or “how could BL18 possibly sound any good with just a 4-inch woofer” would be answered by your spreadsheet too.) Again thanks.
Can anyone provide an explanation for how the “beam width control” actually controls the beam width on the Beolab8?I understand … … … It is not clear to me how B&O would accomplish this with a seemingly standard 3-way configuration.
I’m pretty sure narrow vs. wide, using only a single Beolab 8 (as shown on the website animation) can only be done by screwing around with the original signal itself, probably changing the phase and summing with the original? Maaaaybe there’s something that can also be done by playing two of the 3 drivers with the same or modified signal in their crossover frequency range to interfere? But a better result — and certainly the “follow-the-phone” feature — would require two speakers, with interference between the two, as you understand. For those who do not, please see:
Just get the RCA-to-DIN cable and plug into the RCA connectors on the turntable. Analog-analog-analog. The switch mentioned above lets you use it with either a Phono input or an Aux input, i.e. it has a built-in, switchable, pre-amp/RIAA. Yes, the turntable does have a USB connector, for its built-in analog-to-digital converter! You would use that to digitise your records, when connected to a computer. But when connecting to the 9500? You would need a DAC to convert that USB *back* to analog! Oh, and the cables mentioned too! Uhh,… No.
Beosound “Bollard” – love it! Someone at B&O has a sense of humour!
Huh? Vocab-check: It’s a short, thick post on the deck of a ship or on a wharf, to which a ship’s rope may be secured. But in architectural parlance, it’s any short immobile post — nowadays, used mostly to divert (or disable) vehicles!
I’d need persuading just how much B&O DNA is in these.
Yeah, notice that the installation sheet says “must” be ordered as a package with the amp… wonder if they enforce that “DNA” in the dealer’s ROS?
Not something that can be of much use in a danish climate.
Why, does rain in Denmark always go sideways? Maybe not for installation on a North Sea oil platform… A drain plug in the bottom can be left in or opened up, at installer’s option.
I had a long conversation with my dealer today and he said he will probably close down his business in the next 12 months.
He must be getting old: a younger dealer would cut bait then re-open multi-brand, and try to build a business on the back of the B&O “installation book” they built up over the years. The Unique Selling Proposition? “Sounds as good, waaay lower price, spend that leftover money with my cabinet-maker to craft truly custom install for you, not a ‘plop-this-icon-down’ living room intrusion. Oh, and my {Control4|Savant} remote won’t keep dying on you.”
Every little boy dreams about owning a Porsche, Ferrari, girls dream about owning a Hermes Birkin bag. But I have never seen kids in elementary school playing that they have a b&o.
I’m sure back when B&O made (contracted?) their dollhouse miniatures, some dealers and customers made fun of “wasted marketing money.” But if they were here today and available for every “Barbie” house, they could sow the seeds for the future. B&O even made pink anodizations in recent memory! But movie product placement could have cost as much as a Porsche sponsorship, and children can’t increase next quarter’s revenues — which is what any CEO, and the recapitalization investors, *need* nowadays.
Beolab 18’s only went up $250 US, which can be attributed to inflation.
…or to a slow normalization of US prices against EU? 18s have been roughly 30% higher than European prices for a long time now.
Go “Full Proctologist” removing & re-inserting that IEC C7 figure-8 power plug. (Only the Beosound 1 has such a difficult insertion.) It’s perpendicular to all the others and their cords get in the way of your fingers: take ’em all out first. Sure, you have owned this unit for years so you know this, but still… one more try! Then give up and take it for service of the power supply, because it’s too nice to screw around with yourself.
(Notes: Yes, there is a fuse, but it’s internal and would signal something else wrong. Also just in case, what you *should* expect is rapid “tick-tock-TÍck” of the relays, a brief blink of the standby LED and the sledge illuminator, a few tenths of a second all-off (running tests), then the standby LED comes on steady. This happens regardless of whether or not the finger-saving IR pegs are dirty, or the keypad removed, or any Option-setting. Not certain, but I believe the first relay click happens regardless of the electrical condition & internal self-tests for the rest of the sequence (unless the relay is stuck or the fuse blew for too much current being drawn in some prior, failed, power-up).)
[More complicated, but just to be thorough:] Possible by interposing an Apple computer inbetween. Only Apple brand devices can *send* AirPlay, even though they license lots of speakers to *receive*. So you could, if you were willing to dedicate (and hide!) an old Mac Mini with recording software and output its “stage monitor” to system audio output, which, in the latest releases, can be selected to be any AirPlay speaker. (Or buy rogueamoeba.com Loopback or AirFoil?) I suppose the same could be done with an iPad or even an old iPod Touch, if you could find the right utility. A lot of hardware, just to avoid “no”.
That $1614.94 price are “used – like new” from Amazon Warehouse. “No item damage observed during inspection. Minor packaging damage observed,” which would be a great deal if true. The last such I tried was a Beosound 1 2.gen: Alas, it came in a box without a power cord, with some minor scratches on one side,… and it was a 1.gen! So someone else scammed amazon with their return. Thankfully, amazon took my return without questioning my complaints, nor suggesting that *I* was the scammer at that point — who knew since the previous return clearly had *not* been inspected.
Fortunately there is no previous generation of Balance, nevertheless one cannot buy used B&O from amazon without meticulously checking once it arrives. Don’t drop-ship as a gift to your cousin who doesn’t know what to look for, don’t spend on overseas shipping, etc. “доверяй, но проверяй,” as Ronald Reagan said. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify)
Meantime, they jacked up the sale-price of the black one, new, from $2116 yesterday to $2516 today. Natural was, and is, $2599. But the Aluminum are still available, 8 units left today at $2274. [Edit: Price gone as of 8/24 — they sold 1 (8 left -> 7 left in stock) and raised the price to $2890.]
amazon.com has a few aluminum Balance for $2275. (ASIN=B0B69SZNNW) This is vs. B&O website $3250, which is 30% off. Compared to the Balance original release price ($2250) it doesn’t look like such a bargain. But if you wanted the newer aluminum model to match your old gear but were putting it off, now’s your chance!
Inexperienced question: You say “repair the SMD caps” but your yellow dots are highlighting 5 of what look like ordinary electrolytic radial-lead caps? The two unmarked ones on the left (labeled “F” and one below) are flush like SMD pieces, but even they look likely to be ordinary electrolytics. So is this photo of your board *after* you repaired it, with your careful arrangement of the replacements and the yellow dots obscure the original square plastic bases? Or is this what it looked like originally, too?
(For other novices like me, here is what a SMD electrolytic capacitor looks like:)
)
Please pardon the simple question; I have not yet dared to open mine!USA, thru August 23: B&O website “back-to-school” special: A9 previous generation, in black, $2100. Also modest discounts from MSRP on Beoplay EX, HX, Explore: https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/us/back-to-school
amazon.com is running the same price on the white A9 4th gen (ASIN=B08FBMQ6GM) and black, but gold is goofy-priced.
[Edit August 14: B&O website A9 gen.4 gone; August 15: amazon.com now white only, a few left. August 17: amazon.com now black only at that price, white higher from some third-party arbitrageur.]
Also avoid the temptation to use a TOSlink->3.5mm optical adapter with a standard TOSlink cable. The data stream depends on the distance & tolerance of the gap in this friction-fit connector. Too little light output or too much reflection at the junction, and you lose!
What is “accu?”
What do you expect without accu?
As you probably gathered by now, @auric — but just in case — @Die_Bogener means a battery. The abbreviation comes from the rechargeable nature of it, an “energy ACCUmulator”.
Beosound 2, almost-equally iconic, was updated with Mozart. (Understood not mentioned in the same breath above, because not battery-powered and 2.5 times more than BS1-gen.1 cost. But what price beauty… it’s what I would choose except for price, because my BS1 so rarely leaves its AC base.)
Spraying vinegar, or bleach (Clorox Clean-Up™ is bleach&soap&water), can sit on styrofoam without ruining it, I believe… Alas, I think he’s in Australia which makes shipping this oversize monster from the USA kind of a waste?
May I ask which of the sheet products you are using to encapsulate? Folks always suggest Visqueen liners, like they used to put under mobile homes, but that doesn’t work on crushed stone. I once found a multi-layer specialty product, but it isn’t in Google anymore, just dozens of application contractors (thank you SEO companies).
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