Master Control Link 2 - MCL2
Manufactured: 1985 - 1992
Designer: David Lewis
Colours:
You have central heating.. so why not central high fidelity?
For some, high fidelity is facts and figures shown on measuring instruments. For others, high fidelity is faithful sound reproduction and musical delights. For Bang & Olufsen it's both! But why only enjoy high fidelity in the room where your Bang & Olufsen music system has been set up? Why not enjoy your music in the same way that you enjoy the benefits of light, water and heat throughout your home? (1985 Catalogue)
The idea behind Beolink® is really quite simple. It's all about getting the best out of the Bang & Olufsen products you already own and moving the experience rather than the equipment. You can play the same music throughout the house, increase or decrease the volume, change tracks, switch over to the radio or another music source or watch your favourite television programme wherever you have an extra television or a pair of loudspeakers. Beolink® can even be used to control the lights in your home. Beolink® is controlled either by touch or by the Beo4 remote control.
What is Beolink®?
Beolink® is a language. One that allows you to get the most out of your entertainment sources, your time, and most importantly, your pleasure. In its abstract form, the language is about a simple form of operation that most of Bang & Olufsen's products share. In its physical form Beolink® is a range of products that you decide to connect together - and live with. Beolink® is a Bang & Olufsen expression that covers:
the ability to create and operate audio-video systems, and
the ability to distribute sound and picture from a Bang & Olufsen main room system to other rooms in the home, and to operate the main room system from the rooms connected by means of Beolink®
Beolink® is not a product - it is a number of features that are the result of the intelligent interaction between products, a synergy effect.
Bang and Olufsen in the mid-1980's developed the totally unique Master Control Link system - the first and only one of its type in the world at that time - which made users of B&O equipment independent of the music system's placement. No matter which room you were in, you were able to control the music system and switch from radio to records to tapes, play, record, fast forward or rewind, and even program the system to awaken you in the morning, for example.
The secret behind the advanced but simple Link system was the discreet Master Control Link that conveyed the two-way communication between the music system and the remote control unit, be it a Master Control Panel (like Beosystem 5000's MCP5000) with visual feedback, or a Beolink 1000 terminal. Every command which you gave the remote control unit was transformed into infra-red signals which were sent through the Link to the music system. A Link enabled you to take full advantage of your Bang & Olufsen music system. With the added advantage that you didn't have to give up space in the connected room to more than a pair of speakers and the Master Control Link, which wasn't much larger than an audio cassette. The small relay unit could be placed discreetly out of sight - under the bed, in a cupboard or by the skirting board, for example.
Compared with other 'obvious' installations in your home, central high fidelity was both simple and manageable. And it was so flexible that new rooms could become part of your system - to the extent and in the order you desired.
And in the same way that you could vary furnishings from room to room, you could vary your round-the-house-music, with large powerful speakers in large rooms, smaller speakers elsewhere, and the most compact speakers in the most modest rooms.
Master Control Link stereo systems
Beosystem 5000 offered you the most comprehensive remote control that was available at the time. The central remote control unit, Master Control Panel 5000 (MCP 5000), governed practically all functions - including time programming. A display confirmed every command and told you what the system was doing. MCP 5000 could be used in every connected room. Terminal 5000, which controlled the mostimportant functions, could also be used everywhere, but it didn't have a display. And finally, the most necessary functions could be controlled right from the Master Control Link itself. You could turn the speakers on or off. you could switch into or out of a time programming. And you could turn off the complete music system.
Beocenter 7700 and 7007 also gave you three remote control choices: Master Control Panel 7700 with display, Beocenter Terminal and the Master Control Link itself.
The various Panels and Terminals could be used in the rooms where you found it most practical and the Link could either be mounted on a wall or you could have it standing on a desk or table, for example.
The small relay unit was more or less the heart of it all. It connected the music system, the speakers and the Link. And it also had an electronic circuit that protected small speakers against overloading. So that playing loudly in the living room wouldn't damage the small speakers in the kitchen, for example.
Master Control Link History
Master Control Link (MCL) was in use from 1985 until Master Link was introduced in 1992 as an easier and more convenient way to distribute music (and video) around the house.
However, before MCL came into being, Beosystem 5000 utilised a form of MCL known as MCL82 (after the year in which it was introduced). This was not compatible with Beolink 1000 as Beosystem 5000 had its own type of remote control - MCP5000. Added to this, there was also in fact another type known as MCL30 which only worked with Beomaster 3000. MCL82 worked with both the Beosystem 5000 series and also the Beocenter 7000 series.
MCL2 was the Master Control Link system used with Beosystems 5500, 6500 and 7000 as well as Beosystem 4500 and Beocenter 9500.
MasterLink (ML) is the later and current system used by systems lacking power amplifiers such as the BeoSound 9000 and BeoSounds 2300 and 2500. AV9000 originally used MCL but converted to ML early in its life. Both MCL and ML can use the Beolink 1000 as well as the Beo4 which essentially use the same language. The major difference between the system is the signal strength and speed of communication. Both of these differences are corrected by use of the ML/MCL converter which allows a marriage of the two systems.
Master Control Link 2 - MCL2 Product Specifications
Related Products
- BeoSystem 4500
- BeoSystem 6500
- BeoSystem 7000
- BeoSystem 5500
- BeoSystem 3500
- BeoSystem 2500
- Beolink 1000 Remote Controller
- Beolink 5000 Remote Controller
- Beolink 7000 Remote Controller
- MCL2A
- MCL2AV
- MCL2P
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Created: 11th February 2007
Modified: 14th February 2007
Author Notes:
