(Apologies for the lengthy post!)

The other day I decided to place a spare Beosystem 6500 in my main listening room, and to use this to listen to radio broadcasts. It's connected to the BL5s via Powerlink.
The BL5s are connected to my main sources through RCA Line-IN (the surround processor); and through Coax S/PDIF, for the digital signal from the soundcard (which receives a digital signal from my cd-player (non-B&O), as well as a DAW connection to my Mac mini, through Firewire. All of these signals are translated to Coax S/PDIF, and sent on to my BL5s.

So - using a Beo4, I'd then either just switch on the Beosystem 6500 to listen to radio, with Option 0; or switch to Option 1 and use the loudspeakers to listen to whatever comes from the soundcard.

In Option 0 - I would operate the Beosystem 6500, and it would control the BL5s through Powerlink.

In Option 1 - I will press RADIO on the Beo4 to fire up the speakers, and then use a universal remote for the various sources. (This universal remote actually can send the B&O IR codes, but I don't mind using two).

Now, here's the fun part:

Just by accident - I press CD on my Beo4, while in Option 0. I don't have a CD-source connected to the Beosystem 6500, but music results???
Turns out that the Beosystem 6500 sends an instruction to the speakers to listen for a CD-signal, and as my non-B&O CD-player was spinning a disc at the time, this signal went to the soundcard, and from there to the speakers through the coax S/PDIF!

Remember that the Beogram CD6500/7000 players both have a DIN OUT as well as a coax S/PDIF OUT. B&O, having many mysterious ways, equipped the players with the coax S/PDIF "for future use." And here it is! Apparently, the Beosystem 6500 is controlling the BL5s through Powerlink, and getting them to accept the S/PDIF signal as coming from a Beogram CD. Nice.

I can even control the speaker volume through the Beosystem 6500, while listening to music from the soundcard - though there's a lag of several seconds before the speakers respond properly. (While the response is instantaneous when I'm listening to a source which actually goes through the Beosystem 6500).

This is quite neat. I prefer the Radio signal through the Beosystem 6500, and I now have control of whatever comes from the soundcard to the BL5s, through the Beosystem 6500.

Might prove useful to others wanting to set up a hybrid system.

Shorter version (I've received a few queries, and the above is clearly too dense!) The trick below may work with various B&O audiomasters, not just the Beomaster 6500/7000.

I use all three connectors on my BL5s: PL, RCA LINE IN, COAX S/PDIF.

The PL goes to a Beomaster 6500, which I set up to listen to radio broadcasts and for other sources. (It's a simple setup for family members, while I have the trickier setup through a soundcard.)

By accident, I pressed CD on the Beo4 (there's no B&O CD-player connected to the Beomaster 6500).

And the speakers opened up to the Coax s/pdif signal coming from my soundcard - which is connected to my Mac mini and a non-B&O cd-player.

This means that if you're considering a hybrid set-up to your BL5s, with partly B&O sources and partly a Mac mini or similar source, you can probably control the signal flow through a B&O audiomaster. The PL sends whatever comes from the Beomaster 6500; but when I choose CD, the speakers accept the digital signal from the soundcard (probably "thinking" it's the s/pdif from the Beogram CD6500).

That's pretty neat, because it means that you can mix sources, and still have B&O control.