Hi,

Is it possible to attach a Beolab 7-1 to a surround sound pre-amp?  This would be a no brainer with a speaker like a Beolab 4000 which has RCAs.  As far as I can tell from the website, the 7-1 doesn't have RCAs.  And besides that, doesn't it do center as well as left and right, or just center?

Basically, I'm way too poor to afford a Beosystem 3 and I don't want a B&O TV (at this stage), so I could use the Onkyo or NAD preamp, but those would, of course, only have RCA outs.

Any ideas?

Hi dilznik,

Yes, this is possible!  You need a Trigger Box that can generate the required signals to switch the speaker out of Standby mode, so that it can accept the variable-line outputs from the surround sound pre-amp.  I can provide suitable Trigger Boxes for use in UK and Europe (countries with 220-240 volt AC power supplies), but I'm not sure where you are located so my product may or may not be suitable for you.

You are correct that Beolab 7.1 is a stereo speaker, hence (depending on the options available for the specific pre-amp you are using) I would normally feed it the Front Left and Front Right signals from a surround system, then tell the system that there is no Centre speaker fitted.  If the Centre speaker cannot be disabled on the pre-amp, the other option is to feed the Centre channel to both the left and right inputs of the Beolab 7.1, making it a very powerful mono Centre speaker instead.

It is worth bearing in mind that not all Onkyo and NAD models have RCA pre-out sockets, the more basic models normally just have passive speaker outputs.  These can still be used with Beolab 7.1, but ONLY with Attenuated Cables to reduce the signal levels and prevent any damage to the speaker.

Kind regards,

Steve.

Okay, thanks for the answer.  I'm in Australia so the 220v is fine.  I'll contact you then when I can talk my woman into letting me get a 7.1.  So the Trigger Box is a box that takes the RCAs in and then sends out the powerlink?  I think the only connection I saw on the 7.1 is the powerlink.

I'd definitely only get a processor with preamp outs so that part is taken care of.

How does B&O use the 7.1?  As a pure center channel or also with the speaker doing front left and front right with no center channel?  Seems like if you have speakers for the front then you'd want it to be a center channel.  Maybe the speaker is overkill for what I'm looking at doing and I should just get another BL4000 for the center.  Then the RCA question would be resolved too!