I have managed, largely thanks to the excellent advice on this forum, to set up my BeoSound 5. Special thanks to all, especially Mr 10% who's advice and answers to previous posts pointed me in the right direction.

I do have a couple of small issues, that may be because of my lack of understanding about the various role options of the BM5/BS5, or just that I am expecting too much, hopefully someone will be able to advise me. 

My set up is as follows, BeoMaster 5 has no speakers connected, the BM5 is masterlinked to my BeoSound 9000 Mk3 to which the speakers in the main room are connected, and to several linked rooms all with Beolink passives, as far as operation from the Beo4 remote is concerned, everything works perfectly in all locations.

What I am confused about is when operating the system in the main room directly from the BeoSound 5, I have to manually select N.Music on the remote to activate the BeoSound 9000 in order to hear anything, again when changing the volume level on the BS5 using the wheel, nothing happens, I have to increase or decrease the volume on the BeoSound 9000 by using the remote. 

I would have thought that as the BeoSound 5 is designed to be operated directly with all its wonderful tactile wheels and levers, that somehow the relevant information would be sent along the masterlink to the BeoSound 9000 to react accordingly, even though I appreciate that the majority of sound settings in this set up would of course be controlled by the BeoSound 9000. Turning the system off however, using the standby buton on the BeoSound 5 isnt a problem, and works perfectly.

I have tried various roles and options on the BeoSound 5, setting it as an Audio Master, regardless of the option, simply freezes the system, so it is currently set as Audio Master Off and the BeoSound 9000 is in option 1.

Apart form the above, which as I mentioned may be me expecting too much, it all works perfectly, and has only frozen once, and that was when I was uploading an extended mix of Olivia Newton John singing Xanadu, which is understandable really!

Kind regards,

P

I don't know that I'd say you were expecting too much (except, perhaps for the Xanadu thing), just that there may be a misunderstanding as to what is going on in your set-up.  BeoSound 9000 and BS-5/BM-5 are considered audio masters, and so at worst expect to be 'peers' on your network.  The BS-5 does not accept its role here as a mere accessory to the BS-9000.  In short the system you describe is working precisely as I would expect it too.

There is a side note here though.  At the moment, when BS-5/BM-5 is networked as you describe, but with a B&O Video Master, the Volume control on the BS-5 fails to work...which is inconsistent with the behavior of other Audio Masters in the family.  We understand that a software fix is coming.

Russ

Thanks for your advice, sadly my BeoSound 9000 is only software version 3.3, but I have tried all the other options suggested last night including connecting the speakers to the BeoMaster 5, setting that as an Audio Master and the BeoSound 9000 in auto option 0, but the system then will not react to commands from the Beo4 such as CD & radio, so the 9000 remains in stand-by.

I think I shall pay a visit to my dealer, they did offer to install the system but at the time I had major building works being undertaken and wanted to have all the connection cables between the BeoSound and BeoMaster 5 chased into the wall first. 

Another thing I noticed last night was that when the Beosound 5 was in my original setting as a slave, Audio Master set to no, it is impossible to wake up the Beosound 5 by operating the various controls directly. Turning the wheel simply illuminates the screen for a second before it goes black, you have to press N Music on the remote in order to wake it. 

I will keep you informed as to the outcome after I have visited my dealer, hopefully there is a quick & simple solution, especially as I have at least two versions of Irene Cara's Flashdance just waiting to be uploaded!

What a feeling,

P

My set up is nearly the same as yours. I have BS9000 in the mainroom as audiomaster, set to option 0, a BS5 set to no audiomaster and a videomaster - BV7-40 - set to option 2. Pressing for example N.MUSIC on my Beo4 let the BS5 start and BS9000 displays N.MUSIC, distributing N.MUSIC to linkrooms. It`s also possible to start the whole system just by turning the BS5 wheel . I can also use the volume wheel of the BS5 to control volume. The BV7 will display volume data.

The only difference to my set up is: you have no videomaster. So try to set your BS5 to no audiomaster, BS9000 to option 1, BL passives to option 5. And disconnect all systems - BS5, BS9000, BL passives - from the mains for a minute and reconnect them. First the linkrooms, BS5 and at last BS9000. Maybe this helps. Good luck.

Stefan

Stefen,

Tantalising isnt it? All these combos!!.

However, because the BS9000 has software 3.3 and not 3.4 , It wont be able to accept Option 5 and 6. Also, my set-up is very similar to yours in that the BV7-40 is a master (and I dont have a BS9000). However, it has always been an assumtion of mine that the TV - as Video Master is a very powerful component in a Masterlink Setup and basically dominates the system.

With potentially two audiomasters Liberal faces a number of problems. I think that the issue is that the BS9000 cannot "See" the BM5 as an independent N.Music source. i.e it can open up it's own internal pre-amp to accept say BeoPort in N.Music mode but it cant relinquish basic controls like on/off and volume. I would imagine (but I am no expert on this) that is what software 3.4 will do and that is why there is limited success with the remote. The BS9000 needs to relinquish the authority on the "hard keys" on the BS5.

I did try to configure the BS9000 in link with a BeoPort (strike Beoport and add-in BM5). However, the BM5 does not have Option 6 ability.

Time to call the Pros.

10%

10%, I think so too. What I don`t understand is why do you want to set the BS9000 to a slave option?...

In Liberals set up it should be the audiomaster, set to option 1 or 2. I`m quite sure, it`s not the BS9000 3.3 sw problem. 3.3 detects a Beomedia 1 as N.MUSIC/N.RADIO source, so it should do it with a BM5. When I got my BS9000 MKIII it was updated to 3.4 just because of the colored buttons for N.MUSIC/RADIO use. So maybe just a masterlink problem. I could solve problems like that by resetting the whole system....or...time to call a pro.

Stefan

Just a quick update as to the progress so far, popped into my dealer yesterday and explained the situation, things became very confusing and there was also an engineer on site who suggested some alternative options for both the BeoSound 5 and the BeoSound 9000, neither of which worked and the system froze each time.

I suppose what did become apparent is there seems to be no straight forward solution, which I find strange, as surely the bods at B&O must have tested various configurations with a range of products prior to the initial launch.

My dealer suggested that I e-mail him with a list of the problems associated with the various configurations that I have tried so far, which I have done, and I should get a response from Bang & Olufsen within a few days, hopefully with a solution.

In the meantime I have carried out some further tests at home by running a single master-link cable between the BeoSound 9000 and the BeoMaster 5 so that they are the only two products connected together, re booted the lot, each time I changed an option, making sure that on each occasion the BS9000 was the last item to be turned back on and waiting at least 5 minutes between each re-boot. Nothing changed, so at least I can be certain that there is not a hidden problem somewhere on the master-link cabling in the flat.

I will let you know what solution the bods at B&O come up with, but in the meantime thank you all again for your advice and suggestions.

Kind regards,

P

Liberal,

One last try. Something I note is peculiar on my system and contrary to the Product Configuration Guide.

Try setting the Bs9000 to Option 2.

Go to Roles in the BS5 advance settings (>, <, >, <. GO)  Set the BM5 to Option 0.

Set the Audiomaster to YES (PCG indicates NO)

Powerlink from the BS9000 to the loudspeakers

Give that a try.

I was playing with options/AM settings this afternoon and had a similar event to what you describe. Either suffered from control/no sound or had sound and no control.

Going back to my original settings gave me both control and sound.

10%

Hi Mr 10%,

Gave your suggestion a try, but the master-link froze and no sound.

The engineer at my dealers also couldn't understand why, as soon as the BeoSound 5 is set as Audio Master Yes, regardless of option, that the BeoSound 9000 freezes on the display. It continually shows the volume and does not revert back to display N.Music after a few seconds, and refuses to accept any more commands from the remote until it is shut down, then it will accept commands like CD, Radio etc, but as soon as you select N.Music it freezes again.

Its exactly as you suggested earlier, that it seems as is the BeoSound 9000 can't relinquish basic controls or its authority over the master-link system.

I'm beginning to wonder if my BeoSound 9000 has a personality defect and cannot accept authority, maybe an ASBO might solve the problem!

P

Very strange.

Next step: Try another audiomaster. Maybe your dealer can give you a BS4, BC2 or another BS9000 with sw 3.4 for some tests. The audiomaster must be able to handle N.MUSIC. If this will give the same result I would integrate a videomaster to the system, because the BM5 is an audiosource (N.MUSIC, N.RADIO) and a video source (PC - PHOTO, WEB). Maybe your BM5 is "missing" the videomaster (?)....just an idea, because afaik you are the first one with a BS5 without a BV7/9/4 and with a (second) audiomaster.

In any case the first thing I would do is to delete Xanadu from the HD..................

Stefan

Okay. I'm now convinced that the BeoSound 5 has something seriously against Olivia Newton-John. Mine has refused to play anything after "Please Mister, Please." I'm now naming my BeoSound 5 "HAL" after the movie "2001."

However, MOTS had absolutely no problem creating a playlist after Agnetha Faltskog. Maybe it's a scandinavian thing. Perhaps HAL is just smarter than I am.

beojeff:

Okay. I'm now convinced that the BeoSound 5 has something seriously against Olivia Newton-John. Mine has refused to play anything after "Please Mister, Please."

I personally would see that as a feature

Liberal,

Did you ever get this sorted out? 

I'm considering a similar setup and am curious how this is supposed to work...

Stan

Hi Stan,

Not really, it seems that in the development, the very thought that a customer would wish to use the BeoSound 5 simply as a delightful music server, master-linked to an existing Beosound audio system, without a Beovision in the set up,  completely escaped the minds of the B&O product development team. 

I did contact my dealer who suggested that I e-mail him an extensive list with all my questions regarding integration, this was the sent to B&O,  and the reply from a technical advisor forwarded on to me a few weeks later. 

Most of my questions regarding operation were simply responded to as 'this is correct', however my question regarding direct operation from the Beosound 5 to select N. Music on my Beosound 9000 without using the Beo 4 remote prompted a more elaborate answer:

"This is correct - BeoMaster 5 In this environment is a slave - There is an

intention to change this operation in a later SW update. At the moment

there is no switching of the master system to the external source so the CD

for example will continue to play."

Please don't get the wrong impression, I do love my Beosound 5, and having had some time to play with it think that compared to most music servers it is a treat to use, and looks fabulous wall mounted adjacent to my Beosound 9000. I just wish that all those tactile, hands on wheels and levers were able to 'kick start' the rest of my system into operation without having to use the remote.

Hopefully as in the response from B&O a future software update will provide more integration for mere mortals like myself who have no desire to own a television beyond a 16 inch portable that pulled out from a cupboard for Newsnight and the Queens Speech!

It would be nice however to have some definite confirmation from B&O as to what is in the pipeline for future software updates and when........

Best wishes,

Paul

Paul,

Thanks for your detailed response.  I just ordered a BS5 today.  I'm glad to hear they are at least considering this as potentially a future update - although I'm not going to hold my breath - it would seem like it would also require a SW update for the BS9000.

Stan

Stan,

I am sure that you enjoy your Beosound 5.

I have noticed that several minor updates, such as the BM/BS application, and BM OS have already been automatically updated during the past couple of weeks, although these updates haven't made any significant change to the operation, it does prove that B&O are moving in the right direction. 

I am sure that, as the Beosound 5 is such an important contribution to the B&O product portfolio, and marks thier first real attempt at an impressive soultion to integrating thier portfolio into the digital media age, they will not abandon the possibility of developing it further, in favour of another 'out of the loop' product such as a B&O hand blender!

Regards

Paul