First steps with Beocreate - Help needed

Andreas

March 17, 2018 19:58

None

Hello,

I purchased a Beocreate board this week. Now on the weekend I am trying to get it running for the purpose I have in mind.

I would like to run the Beocreate with my Raspberry Pi3 (using picoreplayer for Squeezelite support) and add the CD-Player via optical toslink. Then the beocreate should output to my (passive) canton speakers.

What did I do so far. I plugged the Raspberry to the Beocreate board and removed the Mute jumper. From the side where I have four speaker outs. Which two do I have to use for my speakers?

I powered it up and I got sound from both - cd and squeezelite but only to one speaker.

And secondly, the sound is pretty silent and I cannot get the sound volume increased. I tried to increase volume in iPeng app but even at max the speaker was just whispering.

I did not use the Beocreate software or image because frankly, I have no clue of DSP profiles etc. So I wanted to avoid that.

Please help me how to get it running as desired.

Date Votes

12 comments

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HiFiBerry team March 17, 2018 21:32

Hi,

piCorePlayer does not have support for the Beocreate boards, you can't change the sound profile and the volume will be low as the profile that runs on the DSP is a test profile.

Best you can do is to install the Beocreate software and install the full range profile with this software and then go back to PiCorePlayer. However, output volume them will be VERY loud, so make sure you lower the volume.

Also without native Beocreate support, you won't be able to control the volume from the optical input.

I think, the easiest option that you have is to install squeezelite on the Beocreate image.

Best regards,
Daniel

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Andreas March 18, 2018 08:30

Hello Daniel,

thank you for your support!

I will give it a try with the Beocreate image then.

Concerning the part with the speakers. Is there a plan which socket is for what? I know that it is a 4-channel amplifier but 2x60W and 2x30W. But which is what? Even Google could not give me such a plan / map.

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HiFiBerry team March 18, 2018 09:16

Hi,

there is no fixed mapping of the connectors to left/right. This can be mapped completely flexible in the DSP. With the basic-fullrange profile in the Beocreate image, you can use the two 60W channels.

Best regards,
Daniel

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Andreas March 18, 2018 12:00

Hi again,

after first mistake of using beocreate_raspbian and not coming any further I figured out that the correct image should be beocreate.

Now I got everything set up as mentioned on the website. Still I could not figure out which socket is 30W and which one is 60W. I assume I have now the correct sockets with 60W (from above the two closer to the socket for electricity) as they sounded clearer with higher volume.

I got squeezelite installed with these commands:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo apt-get install squeezelite
$ sudo apt-get install libflac-dev

But volume is still the issue. I made three different use cases. iPeng, Airplay and the CD-Player via Toslink.

iPeng volume in the middle is barely noticable, while max. volume is just normal. So, basically no volume control.

Airplay volume in the middle is normal and loud is loud (although I wish that would be a little louder). But I can influence that with the volume control.

Cd-Player is always at maximum and yelling like hell. I found no way to turn it down.

Any idea how to balance CD-Player and iPeng? Because, Airplay is just fine...

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HiFiBerry team March 18, 2018 15:19

Hi,

at the moment, the best way to control the volume of the CD player would be to use the volume limiter in the Beocreate software. We'll have to check how this can be improved in the future. How would you like to control the volume (remote control, smartphone, keyboard?).

Best regards,
Daniel

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Andreas March 18, 2018 15:27

hmm, as there is no hardware control available (would be my first choice) then smartphone would be the appropriate one. I use either iPeng app or the iOS music app. Is it possible to use the same volume level for toslink as airplay or squeezelite are using on the amplifier?

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HiFiBerry team March 18, 2018 15:31

With the current software, this isn't working as iPeng and squeezelite only change the volume directly on the Raspberry Pi, not the DSP. We're working on something that should allow to handle the volume on the DSP. However, this isn't ready yet. So at the moment, the best thing you can do is the volume control in the Beocreate web application.

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Martin Jensen December 19, 2018 15:05

Hi Daniel and members of the community,

Any news regarding volume control of the optical input in the Beocreate software? Or are there other (software/hardware) options?
I would really appreciate this feature since I’m using the Beocreate with my TV. I experience lag in sound when using AirPlay over my appleTV, so only option as I see it is the optical input.

Best regards,
Martin

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HiFiBerry team December 19, 2018 15:11

Hi,

volume control is already working. If you use the Beocreate software, you can use the web app to change the volume. With other software, you can login and change the volume using alsamixer (or similar tools). What isn't working is the control of the volume via iPeng.

Best regards,
Daniel

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Martin Jensen December 19, 2018 15:33

Hi Daniel,

Hmmm I’m not shure that I agree. On my setup changing the volume through the setup page when input is from optical input changes nothing. Should I regulate volume elsewhere?

Martin

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HiFiBerry team December 19, 2018 15:40

Hi,

you're right. I just remember that the current version of the Beocreate software is still using software volume control. We'll release a new version soon, this should allow to control the volume directly on the DSP.

Best regards,
Daniel

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Martin Jensen December 19, 2018 15:45

Kudos! Will be looking forward to that. How do I get announcements of updates?
Happy holidays.

Martin

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