Testing the B&W Formation Duo

How familiar are you with configuring a network? Based on all the above, I’m pretty sure that it has somting to do with your network setup. I would check that all ports in the firewall/router are open on the internal network.

I guess that you have internet through Waoo/Fibia and that your fiberbox is in bridge mode ( standard in my area - 4300) and that Orbi operates as (the only) DHCP server?

Yes, fibia/waoo fiberbox, and my netgear orbipro operate as DHCP server, you are quite right.
My area -4671 :wink:
I am checking at my router settings as we speak right now

Has it something to do with NAT filtering on WAN configuration? is set on safe. the other option is open.

Under safty setting MAC ACL Activate MAC access is deactivated?

Then try to open your Orbi admin interface and check that all network traffic is allowed on internal network.

I would try to talk to HiFi-klubben in your area. I know my local one pretty good, and they’re nice chaps.

Another thing you could try - just to test - Use Spotify (eg. a trial) and connect Spotify to the Duo’s just to confirm that the network can stream.

Don’t alter the WAN and MAC settings.

Thank you for all your help, i really appreciate it. I have tidal premium, and my music before i bought roon nucleus with internal SSD where i copy all of my music was/is on my NAS synology. I could play synology audio and tidal with airplay just 2 days before, but now i can even not stream with airplay to my Formation duo speakers :-((
When i try to airplay to living room where i have formation duo and formation audio, it commes with airplay error not connecting to living room where i chose to stream from airplay
My plan was to enjoy some music this weekend with my roon nucleus and formation duo. But…this is not the case. Sorry. it is very ennoying.

This one will be in Danish, sorry Community.

Jeg tror du skal have en med kendskab til både Roon og opsætning af denne samt netværk til at gennemgå hele dit setup, da jeg mistænker at det ikke er korrekt konfigureret. Formation produkterne er nærmest plug’n’play, så jeg tror ikke det er dér problemet er.

Kender du andre med Roon hvor det spiller og hvor du evt. kunne tage dine højttalere med for at tjekke at de virker korrekt?

Vh. Mark

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Hej Mark.
Mit navn er Frederik.
Da jeg købt højtaler og formation audio hos HiFi klubben i Køge, når jeg spurgte om roon og deres server og produkter, de kendte de slet ikke noget til. Det synes jeg er mærkeligt, når man tage i betragtning at Bower wilkins selv anbefalder roon. Jeg kender desværre ikke nogen med roon nucleus eller formation duo. Har dog selv kendskab til netværk osv. Er stærkstrøm-civil ingeniør af uddannelse.
Tusind tak for din tid og hjælp, er dybt taknemmelig. Ønsker dig en god søndag.
Det er dog meget mærkeligt fordi da jeg begyndte i går at bruge roon så kunne jeg godt se bower wilkins under roon ready devices, bare ikke mere i dag.

Mvh Frederik

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You’re welcome. Sorry to hear Frederik. Good luck with the troubleshooting.

If all other fails, I might offer you to drive to Holbæk and test your Duo’s in my Roon setup.

Best regards,

Mark

Thank you very much Mark.

I really appreciate your time and help.

Yours faithfully
Frederik

Everything works fine now.
An update on what i did. Hope this will help other people with the same issue.

Unplugged both my formation audio and formation duo from power supply.

Plugged in power supply only formation duo loudspeakers.
They showed on roon ready audio devices.

Now i am using my formation duo loudspeakers to stream some music which i cannot find in my roon music SSD even i have copied everything from my NAS music library to SSD with airplay. May be it is because some library are in mp3 file.

Now i cannot se my formation duo as roon ready under settings audio.
Is this because i am using them with airplay, or because i have plugged to power supply my formation audio streaming box?

Just now i see my formation audio under roon ready devices. I see the same device under other network devices, i presume because they have the same ip address. But formation duo loudspeakers are not showing.
The question is, are the loudspeakers not showing because they are playing with airplay from synology app, or is this because of the formation audio streaming box.

By the way, how do i get the best of formation duo from my roon nucleus? Do i have to adjust room correction settings etc? I have flac files and tidal Master subscription.

Thank you very much in advance.

Hi @TreeZorro

This is now a fairly old thread. I came across it while browsing for something else. I notice that you have removed Phantoms from your list. You may even have bought new speakers!
Back in November last year I posted this on DevialetChat:
https://devialetchat.com/Thread-Devialet-can-now-repair-Phantoms-it-seems if you are still looking, maybe Devialet support can confirm if Phantom is repairable and confirm pricing?

Hi Frederik

Try reading here Problems connecting to Roon - Orbi Mesh. It seems there could be some network issues with Orbi gear.

I really hope, this wil get you moving on.

Hi Mark,

Everything is working fine now.

Thank You very much for your time and help.

Thank you for the link. I’m still looking (and saving:) for new speakers. I have preordered a pair of Buchardt Audio A500. They will be delivered in June. They are working on Roon Readyness so they look pretty appealing to me. But I will try them out at home before I decide.

Since I started this thread Dali have also released Rubicon 2C that looks interesting. Both the Dali and the Buchardt is a lot cheaper than the Genelec 8351 so if the Buchard Audio A500 sounds good and works well with my setup I’m considering staying with them. I would think the Genelec is a better speaker but I’m not sure the potential improvement is worth the extra money to me.

The active Buchardt models are certainly interesting. Looking forward to the first reports. If Buchardt can make the speakers cardioid via DSP it’s going to be interesting indeed…

Exactly. I’m hoping for the best but I also recognize that they are very good at marketing :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m still at a loss why B&W don’t provide any method of remote control outside of an app. That’s a complete deal breaker for me. Having to unlock a device and then find/open an app just to make a quick volume change is rediculous. But I appreciate some people don’t mind. Each to their own :wink:

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Hi there! I have also been researching for almost a year now what to buy and have been saving money for it. I started with a budget of about 2.5k, at the moment I have set my ceiling to 5-5.5k. I wish I had the money for an 8c but these are ridiculously expensive :slight_smile:

Overall I have been looking for
Good sound that can go down to around 30 Hz ( I really dislike separate subwoofer)
Great performance on low volume (80% of the time I listen music at low volume)
Streaming options
Local digital file playback capability
Control via my Android phone playback & volume level
Wired and wireless connection options

Every time I was close to buying something, I would get stuck on the source/control issue. Yes I love the idea of the duo’s and audio streaming services however I am puzzled with basic things such as how do I playback my local digital audio collection… I hate the idea of having such expensive speakers but lacking the option to connect in the simplest way my PC and output audio via USB for example.

Lately I have been looking at the Buchard option. I do like the WiSA streaming and the hub does offer some connectivity options, alas without USB in, direct storage options and no UI app as well to control the system effectively. A roon solution can do the trick with controlling the system but limited to the extra gear and what I can physically connect to the hub. In order to enjoy these, I’d need to resort into buying a primare PRE35 that is WiSA compatible, XLR out for a cabled connection to speakers, Android UI, USB audio in, storage etc etc BUT costs as much as the speakers…

I am wondering if you after all bought Buchard and your experience with them?

I did buy the Buchardts but returned them and ended up with the Genelec 8341. From your description it sounds like the Buchardt A500 may be for you if you don’t like subwoofers and want to go down to 30Hz. The Genelecs “only” go to 38 Hz. I may add a sub later but the bass is very good for now.

I was not crazy about the Buchardt hub either and had some trouble intergrating it into my system with a Harmony remote. A lot of these new DSP speakers have shortcomings with connectivity. That was also why I did not choose the Formation Duo.

I was looking at the Primare SC15 to replace the Buchardt hub. The SC15 is way cheaper than the PRE35 but depending on your needs you may want the PRE35. I really liked the Buchards soundwise and you can read about me comparing them to the Genelecs here: Genelec 8341 or Buchardt A500?
So if you want deep bass and don’t like floorstanders (or don’t have the room) I would recommend the Buchardts with a different hub. I think I read on their Facebook page that they are working on a another more upscale hub for the A500 and A700.

Thanks! :slight_smile: