Dear all,

I am very happy to have discovered the existance of this forum, as I recently moved to a house where the previous owner has left some parts of his b&o installation. So far, however, I am not a b&o user, but, having read about the wonderful possibilities, I am considering becoming a beo-user. Assisted by this wonderful site and by google, I managed to find some info, but I am yet confused. Hence, I hope to get some answers on my questions, and please forgive me if they are really stupid newbie-questions.

The leftovers from the previous owner consist of

a) a lot of cabling

b) an IR-receiver

c) a white box, which I think is a MCL 2AV, however, it contains 4 (I think 7-pin) connections on the front plate, and in the pictures I saw on this site, all seem to contain 3. See my attached image.

Question 1: What exactly is this white box described in c) ? can anyone tell/guess from my picture?

Question 2: Is this white box to be connected to the hifi-sources by means of those connectors on the front plate? This seems unlikely as the previous owners had their hifi-sources somewhere else.

Many thanks in advance!
 

Hi Guy and welcome.

Q1 : yes it is a MCL2AV, look at :

http://www.beoworld.org/beotech/mcl/index.htm

Q2 : yes the connectors have to go into the front plate, because of the ir eye just beneath the MCL2AV this looks like a link room MCL set-up - imho.

The box does indeed look like an MCL2AV ... can you confirm the text on the box above the sockets?

Neil
 

The main room will be connected into the back of MCL2AV box via MCL and RF cable. Link room audio and video items will plug into the front of the box where they will take advantage of the facilities in the main room system.

For instance you could watch a video in the link room with the VCR in the main room or listen to main room audio on the speakers in the link room TV.

Very versatile system and most definitely years before it's time.

Thanks for the quick answers! (great forum). I think this makes sense (i.e. it is a link room setup). In the main room, are the MCL and RF cables directly plugged into the audio sources? How can I recognise the MCL cables and RF cables?

Related question: in the kitchen there is a similar transceiver and small white speakers. I assume they are passive speakers - but I haven't seen any amplifier (such as MCL 2P). Should I look again, or is this possible? 

Kind regards 

Hi Guy, 

This is actually the expected set-up in the kitchen.  The MCL system ran off of the Speaker-2 output of Bang & Olufsen receivers (BeoMasters) which amplifiers in them, and the data and control was passed on a couple of 'extra' wires in the connection (the 2 3-wire connectors on your MCL-2P).  Youwill not have independent volume control for the speakers in th kitchen, but you will in the room with the 2P.

Modern (ML) BeoSounds can run your system with the addition of an ML-MCL converter which provides the amplifier, and a data translator all in one piece.

Nice find!

Russ

Hi,

I think I am starting to understand - but can anyone confirm?

- on 'older' systems (the one corresponding to the wiring I seem to have), the audio signals carried around are not line level, but speaker level (amplified). This means that by default, volume control happens at the 'master', and passive speakers can be used. Connection to the master room from the link room is done via the IR. The MCL2AV is not doing a lot if I don't connect anything to the front panel. The connectors are 7-pin connectors, and 8-pin connectors (when?). Is all this correct?

- on 'newer' systems, line-level signals are carried around, and hence active speakers, or an MCL2AV + MCL2P are required. Wiring/connectors are different (Masterlink). Is this correct?

Thanks!