Dear all,

Yesterday I posted my first question on this forum, and I immediately got some very useful answers, which - together with some searching - helped me a lot in finding my way through the b&o landscape as a newcomer. But, not everything is clear yet.

My situation is the following: I moved to a new house in which the previous owners have left parts of their b&o installation. That is, the 'fixed' stuff such as wiring, but - obviously - not the audio sources and active speakers. What do I have:

- in 3 link rooms, there is a transceiver and relay box, which I think is the MCL 2A (X-TRA Speaker Kit). My thoughts are purely based on this description. From this relay box, leads go to smallish passive speakers. However, these transceivers seem 'dead' (no red light, no reaction when I push).

- in one link room, there is a MCL 2AV panel, fed by a small power supply, + IR transceiver. This transceiver is not dead, the leds blink when I push some buttons on my Beolink 1000. There is no MCL 2P or any other kind of amplifier. This MCL 2AV leads to 2 speaker plugs (8 pin or 7 pin - don't know exactly). I know the previous owners used to have active speakers here.

- In the main room, where the hifi-sources used to be, I only see the 7-wire cables ending at L and R speaker plugs (3-pin speaker plugs). No power supply, no other plugs.

That is all I have. Now my questions:

1) Why do the transceivers in the 3 link rooms seem dead? Shouldn't they react if I push the 'mute' or 'timer' button? How are they supposed to get power? As far as I can tell, there is nowhere a power supply. Are getting the power from the 7-wire cable? If so, where is this cable getting its power from? From the MCL 2AV - which I have in only one link room - or from the main room (where the audio sources should be, but unfortunately I don't have)?

2) The 7-wire cable is all around, does it act like some kind of 'bus', i.e. you can split it wherever you need and just add another transceiver/relay box?

Many thanks for helping me demystifying the wonderful world of b&o!
 

Hi Guy,

Most of your questions will be answered when you follow this link  : http://www.beoworld.org/beotech/

the linkroom items get their power supply through the mcl cable indeed [when attached to a beomaster e.g.] exept when there is a mcl 2 p or an dc/adapter. so the tranceivers in the 3 linkrooms will only react to the remote's-signal if there is a master attached to item from the main room.

the mcl2a is just for sound while the mcl2av is for both sounds as well as picture with a dc power adapter, on the site beotech you can also find out wich masters are suitable for reviving this set-up.

1) The three link room transceivers would have been powered from the Audio product connected at the two three pin plugs. This could have been any of the audio systems with MCL connections, Beocenter 8500,9000,9500 Beosystem 4500 or the stacking systems 5500,6500 or 7000.

2) The MCL cable (master control link) can be split as required to feed other rooms. There is a limit to the number of transceiver boxes and speakers that may be connected, as the audio system can only feed a certain number of speakers in parallel if all link rooms are playing at the same time (depends on the impedance of the speakers). The MCL system required an expander to boost the data signal beyond a certain number of transceivers (the number escapes me at the moment)

Thank you both for these clear and quick answers!

In the coming months I might have to use my old audio system. I assume I can just connect the speaker outputs to the corresponding MCL wires - correct? Then, I would still need a 7V DC adapter and connect that one to the pink and ground wires, correct?

A related question: if you 'mute' via the transceiver, I assume this is done locally (and not by the master)?
 

I would strongly suggest getting the cheapest MCL compatible audio player you can rather than jury rigging your existing system. If you live in Berkshire, there is what would appear to be a fairly cheap system selling in the next 3 hours for not very much! Ideal system!

Otherwise, consider something like a Beomaster 5500 or a Beocenter 9500. Where are you based? 

Hi, I'm based in Belgium, and I am certainly considering buying a system. On the other hand, I also would like to gain good technical understanding of the system - hence my questions :)
 

I would not mess with the cables if I was you : just buy a simple cheap B&O master for now [you can sell it later on, ebay or MP] and connect everything properly.

Understanding the mcl is not that difficult and perhaps you can buy your definitive set-up later on; allthough the chance of changing to ML is very well possible depending on your choice of master.

I've used mcl in combination with both a Beocenter8500 as well as a later master6500 and master7000 icm. with our avant [for wich you require a converter] ; now I have to use ML because of my BV3 and BS4. but thats in the future for you I presume.

Well it's not really messing is it, it's just connecting the right cables according to the specifications posted on this site. I will give it a try...

Obviously you can try to do as you say. I suppose some of us feel you might not manage to get it working easily and I suppose we worry that it might then not work with the B&O system. It didn't cost you anything though so you don't have much to lose. Not sure how the boxes will react to just getting power and signal and no data. I was going to offer you a Beomaster 5500 to borrow if you were in the UK.

Thank you for this kind offer! I might be able to borrow something from a family member - will keep you posted!