Old B&O system upgrade

Author
Discussion

Blue62

Original Poster:

8,746 posts

151 months

Monday 18th September 2017
quotequote all
I have a near 20 year old B&O system, CD player with the classic organ pie speakers with amps built in. Popped into a B&O shop the other day to enquire about streaming music directly to the speakers and was told it can be done, but the box is £600 +

Anyone know of a more cost effective solution, all i really want to do is play my spotify stuff through them.

Gotama

47 posts

219 months

Monday 18th September 2017
quotequote all
Sonos Bridge... grab one from eBay. Then the appropriate cables (sounds like you have BeoLab 8000's like me)...

cable

NorthDave

2,355 posts

231 months

Monday 18th September 2017
quotequote all
Gotama said:
Sonos Bridge... grab one from eBay. Then the appropriate cables (sounds like you have BeoLab 8000's like me)...

cable
I don't particularly know BandO but I suspect this should be a Sonos Connect not a bridge.

h0b0

7,557 posts

195 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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I'm going to guess you have an Overature. (Or 3000 which is the same without tape). In fact it doesn't matter which system you have, as all models of that generation connect to auxiliary devices the same way. There's an aux input on the back which is a din connector. You can get a B&O din to RCA cable on Amazon. (Phono instead of rca in the U.K.) once you have that cable you can use a Logitech Bluetooth receiver. If you already have a record player in the aux do not use the extra box the record player may have. That's a pre amp which boosts the signal from record players.

To listen to the music just select aux on you beo 4 (and drink wine)

All in this should be less than 50 pounds.

NorthDave

2,355 posts

231 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
h0b0 said:
I'm going to guess you have an Overature. (Or 3000 which is the same without tape). In fact it doesn't matter which system you have, as all models of that generation connect to auxiliary devices the same way. There's an aux input on the back which is a din connector. You can get a B&O din to RCA cable on Amazon. (Phono instead of rca in the U.K.) once you have that cable you can use a Logitech Bluetooth receiver. If you already have a record player in the aux do not use the extra box the record player may have. That's a pre amp which boosts the signal from record players.

To listen to the music just select aux on you beo 4 (and drink wine)

All in this should be less than 50 pounds.
All good apart from the Bluetooth bit! If you go Sonos the sound quality will be better as the stream isn't compressed. Not sure on the quality of the hi-fi in question but you may or may not be able to notice the difference.

Gotama

47 posts

219 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
NorthDave said:
Gotama said:
Sonos Bridge... grab one from eBay. Then the appropriate cables (sounds like you have BeoLab 8000's like me)...

cable
I don't particularly know BandO but I suspect this should be a Sonos Connect not a bridge.
Apologies....Correct.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
Wouldn't Google music cast be a lot cheaper?
Especially as the OP doesn't need multi room.

h0b0

7,557 posts

195 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
NorthDave said:
All good apart from the Bluetooth bit! If you go Sonos the sound quality will be better as the stream isn't compressed. Not sure on the quality of the hi-fi in question but you may or may not be able to notice the difference.
Bluetooth is compressed granted. But, the latest codecs (aptX) work better than before. I'm sure Sonos may be less compressed but a lot of the sound quality will come from the source.

The OP spoke about cost and sonos is expensive. For me sonos only makes sense in a whole house installation and even then the speaker sound quality is average. If we are going for expensive proprietary solutions then we should at least stick to B&O. The Playmaker can be had second hand for reasonable money on eBay and will integrate seamlessly. It supports airplay from Apple.

An example

The playmaker can be either stand alone or can be connected to your B&O system.



Edited by h0b0 on Tuesday 19th September 12:54

jinkster

2,235 posts

155 months

Wednesday 20th September 2017
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The Playmaker was a disaster.

What you will need is the Essence and then connect to speakers.

https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/collection/sound-s...

Ask around on the Beoworld forum - very helpful people.

Steve at Sounds Heavenly is also very good - you could always give him a call and ask.

talkssense

1,336 posts

201 months

Wednesday 20th September 2017
quotequote all
3.5mm cable to B&O aux in. £10
Chrome cast £30

Job jobbed.

Multiroom is then there if you want it as well via google home app. Hell you could add a whole extra B&O zone with the M5 and do the above for your £600

boxedin

1,351 posts

125 months

Thursday 21st September 2017
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I've no idea what type of B&O speakers you have but:

https://www.hifiberry.com/beocreate


h0b0

7,557 posts

195 months

Friday 22nd September 2017
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jinkster said:
The Playmaker was a disaster.

What you will need is the Essence and then connect to speakers.

https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/collection/sound-s...

Ask around on the Beoworld forum - very helpful people.

Steve at Sounds Heavenly is also very good - you could always give him a call and ask.
The essence does bring us full circle though as the OP asked for a cost effective alternative.

I think the chrome cast audio with cables as suggested by someone else fits the OPs criteria best. Couple it with plex and I think you have everything covered.

jinkster

2,235 posts

155 months

Thursday 12th October 2017
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I just bought an essence mark 1 for 160 on eBay. I’m on the lookout for Beolab 3s now!