[XavierItzmann]

Got it. Thanks again, MM!

[XavierItzmann]

I do not dispute @severed_hand_of_skywalker’s perspective, but I’ll say this:

The evening we purchased our first B&O and powered speakers, I remarked to my wife that the red light/green light indicators on our new speakers and CD player were genius:

• red dot on each speaker, plus on the CD player: all standby.

• green light on each speaker, plus the green displays on the CD player on: all on.

• red dot button on Beo4: all standby.

Still looks perfect to me. Even our BS5 has a red dot standby light.

[XavierItzmann]

Whereas several earlier and later B&O remotes will work with your Beosystem 2500, the one that best works with it and that was sold concurrently is the Beo4.

[XavierItzmann]

Thanks, Mbee, I see it there!

Still odd that once one clicks on the black bar at the bottom, to show what’s now playing, the list of available sources is now very limited. N.Music and N.Radio and even Deezer and B&O Radio are all gone.

And yes, you are right that if one backs out, at least Deezer and B&O Radio survive on the white bar. Thanks!

[XavierItzmann]

Like Millemisen, I like to see what’s playing and so I have an iPad 6 on a Beoplay A3 and a Fire HD 8+ on its own dedicated wireless charger, as monitors. In my case, these run the B&O app 24×7, and the screens are on at all times.

The transition to 5.4 has been a complete disaster. I can no longer play B&O Radio from the App; instead, I must use a Beoremote Essence to switch sources until B&O Radio plays; only then does it appear in the app and can the stations be switched, etc. Same for Spotify.

Only Deezer and CD can be started from the app; N.Music is gone. Oh, and the interface is thoroughly messed up. Here are a photos of what’s playing right now this minute:

iPad:
B&O Radio radio is playing in Multiroom, but the app is unaware. The song title includes accents or other non-English characters such as ç, and the app can’t parse them, so the tile reads «Suite de valses et cortège-blues pour piano».

IR Eye:
The IR Eye, using decades-old tech, knows we are in a Multiroom situation, and happily plays the B&O Radio content, having Joined-In.

Fire Tablet (Amazon’s version of Android):
Utter and complete disaster. Can’t see what’s playing, other than “B&O Radio”. No pause, volume, nor switch controls. No multiroom controls.

[XavierItzmann]

I thought B&O Radio was gone forever but it turns out that if I hit the “0” button at the top of the Beoremote Essence, and the device cycles thru available sources… there it is, B&O Radio!

It seems this is now the only way to access B&O Radio, at least in my setup.

Strange times.

[XavierItzmann]

Hello,

I have not signed up for any betas but a couple of days ago my main remote, a Fire (Android) tablet with wireless charging had a radical interface change and I was simply unable to figure out how to get my equipment to work from it.

I came to this thread which I hadn’t read before because it discusses a beta, but my 5. 4.1.231020-34650 appears to be very similar to some of the images on the thread, except your images show a volume control below the prev-play/pause/next buttons. This is not the case with mine. No volume control on each individual B&O device screen!

Instead , the volume control is on the home screen… whatever B&O device is selected, there is a joined box (multiroom) icon, and pressing on the icon takes one to multirroom/multiple volume control.

I have never seen a music app which for volume control requires one to exit the now playing screen. Also disappointing: Beolink ML/NL converter only shows access to CD (from a BS3000), but N.MUSIC/N.RADIO access from a BS5 is gone; Beoplay A6 no longer shows Beo Radio. I wonder where it all went.

[XavierItzmann]

Before we moved away, I bought a Lutron Grafik Eye 3106 for our Beo4. See page 28 on this file: https://assets.lutron.com/a/documents/21-31_grafik_eye_3000_series.pdf

With this device, we were able to control all the lights in our main living space (kitchen, utility, dining and sitting room) in addition to our ML equipment from the Beo4. As this product belongs to the pre-internet era, it was 100% reliable in all regards, and a pleasure to use. And let me tell you: it is a beautiful interface which matched our B&O equipment in brushed aluminum and black.

Funny story: I ordered it from an electric equipment retailer. There were two versions, the B&O version and the plain one. The only difference is that the B&O recognizes the Beo4 infrared frequencies. After a couple of days, this nice lady called me up and said they were shipping it to me, but that they had had to fight off their distributor, who had forbidden it be sold to me because I was not a B&O dealer (!). But the lady had gone to bat for me, and told them off, saying I had already paid for the product and I as a customer had already placed a valid order. However, she informed me in future I would not be able to order other B&O versions.

We still own the property, but when I left I took my Grafik Eye with me and I have it in a box. I’ll have it reinstalled when we settle.

[XavierItzmann]

No idea and it’s probably quite frustrating… but… for about $150 you can install a new disk via a cloning tool and no computer is needed.

Yes, if your motherboard is failing the $150 will be largely a waste of money, but it is one way of finding out.

[XavierItzmann]

B3OHACK3R,

LinkPlayer used to broadcast station name and programme name data to ML on N.Radio and song title and album name to ML on N.Music. This was neatly displayed via scrolling text on the BS3000’s small dot matrix display

As you’ve informed yourself about the protocols, I’m idly curious on whether BS5 fails to broadcast this information to ML, or perhaps BLC NL/ML strips our the data, or is it the B&O app that ignores the data (if available) and simply displays an inane “Playing from N.Music”, etc.

TIA,

[XavierItzmann]

I agree with Guy in that it would be reasonable to change disks after 5 years in order to avoid data loss; at the same time, I agree with Thetin that a reasonable swap process should be: insert blank MS-DOS formatted disk –> the 3200 should “format” or prep the disk for 3200 use.

To give you an example, this is what my 10-year old camera does with any blank memory card. Yes, I realize the camera is 10 years newer than 3200.

Having to have factory service for such a disk swap seems unreasonable, and it seemed unreasonable to me about 2 decades ago when I faced the quandary.

[XavierItzmann]

Not familiar with the product, but as per the following video, the software is unstable, and will not stay stereo, alas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYBEnowdvuw

[XavierItzmann]

When I needed N.MUSIC and N.RADIO capabilities in the 00’s, the BS3000 was no longer available new; if I wanted to update my Beocenter 2300, I needed to step up to a BS3200.

I chose to buy BS3000 used over new BS3200 precisely because of the HDD issue. The 3200 just doesn’t appear to be a viable long-term solution.

The 3000, meanwhile, remains in use via Masterlink and Beolink converter NL/ML.

[XavierItzmann]

Vedet,

My change from the TP-Link “Wi Fi 6” system with a main router and a wireless “Range Extender” to the Google mesh “Wi Fi 5” system was done for reasons having nothing to do with the B&O performance.

The first equipment was mine, which I purchased because my previous internet provider doesn’t give it for free. My previous provider used this technology: Data Over Cable System Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) — семейство стандартов передачи данных по сетям кабельного телевидения по коаксиальному (телевизионному) кабелю. I will sell this equipment, but I know I will only get a few kopecs for it.

My new provider gives the mesh router for “free,” but in reality I know Google, which is an advertising company, uses it to build very detailed user profiles —I’ve gone and disabled many spy features but I’m sure they’re still recording many things I do. The technology Google uses is much, much faster, especially for traffic from the home to the internet —conversely, traffic from the internet to the home is only faster than DOCSIS: Fiber To The X или FTTx (англ. fiber to the x — оптическое волокно до точки X) — это общий термин для любой широкополоснойтелекоммуникационной сети передачи данных, использующей в своей архитектуре волоконно-оптический кабель в качестве последней милидля обеспечения всей или части абонентской линии. Термин является собирательным для нескольких конфигураций развёртывания оптоволокна — начиная от FTTN (до узла) и заканчивая FTTD (до рабочего стола).

The B&O devices work exactly the same under both networks: the new Google mesh has about 25% of the nominal capacity inside the house because it is “Wi Fi 5” vs. my previous “Wi Fi 6”.

Having said this, since the internet outside the house is now much faster, I’ve noticed that internet radio stations now start in about 1 second. I think that’s about 1 second faster than before.

 

[XavierItzmann]

Can report that my small network is stable. Bugs I have found are consistently repeatable and workarounds are available and viable, so I do not attribute any errors to the WiFi networks, but to B&O software. No audio problems.

For 9 months I used a:
• TP-Link AX3000 4-Stream Wi-Fi 6 router with a
• TP-Link AX3000 Wi-Fi Range Extender

I then switched to a “mesh” system with two of these devices:
• Google WiFi model “gj2cq” AC1200 Wi-Fi 5 router

[XavierItzmann]

MJH wrote:

Nice little speaker. It seems that the ‘Bang & Olufsen’ logo is lit when turned on. Like it!

Could it be a render error? In any event, I would hope that in configuration this could be disabled.

Call me a fossil, if you will, but I loved the old green light/red light signifiers.

[XavierItzmann]

I read the following comment above and it prompted me to find out more:

They should keep in mind they are not targeting the top 1% of people. Their new target group is the top 0,001% of people

Barron’s says North America had 1.05 million VHNWI in 2021, and since population was 332 m, you get 0.32%. But I believe it is not just VHNWI’s who drive spending, but also their wives and descendants. There’s a mixup with the Mexican and Canadian VHNWI’s, but we are probably still in the 1% ballpark.

Now in Europe there were 0.67 m VHNWI in 2021, and the EU population was 444 m, so that gives you 0.15% —yeah, maybe more rarified than just 1%, but maybe closer to the 0.5% top families? I realize there’s also a mixup there between the EU and Europe, so we might be counting British and Russian one-percenters in the EU population numbers.

In Asia, even though the number of VHNWI is analogous that of Europe, there are a lot (a lot) more of the less fortunate, so in that case certainly we are looking at a much more rarified audience than just the tenth-of-one-percenters —but fortunately these types can be found in just a few cities, to wit (in order):

NY, Tokyo, HK, LA, London, Paris, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, Dallas.

The good news is that B&O can stop doing global advertising, and just focus in oh, maybe fifty cities worldwide. The bad news is that reaching the headspace of the top 1% to 0.01% can be very expensive.

I must say, the current strategy (here in the US) where their dealers outside the major cities are not even B&O dealers, but dealers-installers of high-end electronics, might be the (sadly and soul-lessly) expeditious approach: you call the high end A/V guy to “update” your house, are willing to cut a check for a significant fraction of a million, and let the A/V guy guide you to whatever is appropriate for the situation… and hopefully B&O can be part of the ticket.

[XavierItzmann]

Actually, it is available from the next-to-base model, the £21,200 Fiesta Titanium ?.

I had forgotten Ford still makes sedan automobiles —traditional cars. In America, it ceased car production in 2020 and 2021 when it closed the last Mexican and Brazilian plants that made them.

The only Ford car still sold this side of the pond is the Mustang, but that’s a 2-door “sports” coupé. Everything else is a truck, and yes of course, you can get a truck with Bang and Olufsen audio.

But in all fairness, it is certainly the case that contract decisions for B&O entry-level vehicle supply were made long, long before the company decided to re-target. Also, it is not clear to me if these automotive-supply contracts are drawn by Samsung Electronics, by its subsidiary Harman Audio, or indeed by its partner B&O at all.

[XavierItzmann]

I was unaware that B&O had re-targeted its product line to VHNWIs. It is fair for any company to re-target its product offer, if it thinks a better business opportunity lies there.

According to the magazine Forbes, in the U.S. market, this describes households with liquid assets between $5m and $30m. The website Insurance Newsnet says that these households are heavily concentrated in the 55 to 74 age group… and further defines this group as the famous, much derided 1% (!).

Well, it looks like we might all be, either by legacy or by recent purchase, one-percenters. Congratulations are in order, one can hazard?

Did B&O announce when do they expect to complete this transition? Because I have news for B&O: it is a bit questionable that Explore and A1 are suitable for this market, even if a rather gauche prancing horse happens to be pictured in the casing, except, perhaps, as party favors for the hired help. I’d even put an asterisk by the Emerge.

Same goes for Beoplay EX, methinks, and Beoplay HX —for, if the target truly is the 1%, why does HX even exist? What kind of skin-flint one percenter would buy HX, and why, when good and proper H95s are available?

As to the Stage, well, who knows, perhaps true one percenters could have it installed it in the servant’s luncheon area. To show some magnanimity, you know, and besides, ostentatious displays of equity are all the rage.

But what really gives me pause is that Bang and Olufsen is included in the Audi A4 Premium Plus which retails for $45,400… this is below the price of the average car in the U.S. Do one-percenters get around in compact conventionally fueled sedans? Questionable. On the other hand, they may buy this vehicle for their daughter as she departs for university, so it is not like 1% households would never own an A4.

——

Please take no offense, this brief essay is written with tongue fully planted in cheek. In all seriousness, I am glad B&O still offers entry-level products and most of mine are, in fact, entry-level items. And my current cars cost a fraction of what an A4 does.

[XavierItzmann]

Dear Steve,

I have been patiently waiting for several months for you to offer delivery to the US, and I am dismayed to hear it remains unavailable.

Cheerio,

[Author]

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