Bang & Olufsen MCL X-TRA Speaker Kit

Manufactured: 1985 – present
Designer: David Lewis
Colours:

The X-tra Speakers kit (type 2047) was part of Bang & Olufsen’s Master Control Link (MCL) system and gave your central B&O audio/video system an extra dimension. You could play any programme or music source you liked and you could hear it in the room where the extra speakers were installed. However that was not all. You could even control the central system from that room, using the Beolink 1000 remote control.

The central system was your audio and video systems i.e. a Beomaster, Beocenter or Beovision TV or an audio system alone complete with various sources. The local system comprised a set of Beovox passive speakers as well as the parts which made up the ‘X-tra Speakers’ kit i.e. a transceiver and an MCL 2A relay box.

The local system was connected to the central system by means of a special MCL cable which had to be purchased separately. You could buy whatever length of cable you liked.

Installation

The transceiver had to be mounted on a wall where it could receive the messages from your Beolink® remote control. If you were going to install more than four sets of MCL 2A then you also had to install an expander box, the MCL 2E.

The relay box had to be mounted not too distant from the transceiver. The relay box received messages from the central system and fed them through to the X-tra speakers. The transceiver, together with the remote control, told the central system what source to play and at what level.

TV in the local system

By means of an aerial cable you could connect an extra TV to your central video system and use it with the local system. This meant that in addition to watching TV in your local system as well, you could also have access to the other video sources in the central video system e.g. video tapes or satellite TV programmes.

Programming was done by means of the Beolink 1000 remote control terminal and with the Beomaster or Beocenter in the central audio system connected to the mains.

You had to bring the whole system into stand-by mode (by pressing SHIFT and the red dot on the terminal, and then by pressing LINK, 1, STORE.

The stand-by indicator on the transceiver flashed once to confirm that the command had been received. The TV set was then programmed for Option 1 i.e. such that the local TV could be operated without interfering with the TV in the central system.

Programming in general

The local system could be pre-programmed as described below. It was essential that before you could start using the system it was programmed for Option 2 (or Option 1 as for an extra TV set). If you had a local system in several different rooms in the house and if you had a B&O light control system in these rooms, the local system in each room furthermore had to be programmed for light control.

Option 2

Bring the whole system into standby mode by pressing SHIFT and the red dot of the Beolink terminal. Then press LINK, 2 and STORE.

Option 1

Bring the whole system into standby mode by pressing SHIFT and the red dot of the Beolink terminal. Then press LINK, 1 and STORE.

Thos programming option was only used is the transceiver was incorporated in a system which also comprised a TV in the same room.

Light control

You had to bring the whole system into standby mode by pressing SHIFT and the red dot of the Beolink terminal. You then had to hold the TIMER button on the transceiver and press any digit from 1 to 4 on your Beolink remote control terminal.