February 27, 2018 Craig LeMoyne

BeoCreate 4-Channel Amplifier Unboxing

The BeoCreate 4-channel amplifier is a great way to bring new life to your old speakers. We have not been this excited about a new product in a long time!

I have an old set of Fluance tall loudspeakers that I love. These things produce an amazing sound, and I have traditionally powered them through receiver/amplifiers like my old Denon AVR-1612.

The problem I have had recently is that my Denon is not working very well, and to use it with streaming services, I have to add another device like a Raspberry Pi running Max2Play.

These days, I don't use the amp for anything but Spotify streaming, so it is kind of a waste to run everything through the Denon.

Enter the BeoCreate! HiFiBerry is a longtime partner of CED, so when Bang&Olufsen and HiFiBerry partnered to make the BeoCreate, we were excited to stock this new product.

The BeoCreate comes in a nice tidy package. As with most products, there are no printed instructions, but if you follow our guide below, you will be up and running in no time.

First things first, mount your Pi to the BeoCreate. For additional security, you can use the included standoffs. We recommend installing your SD card after you mount the Pi, as it is very easy to damage an SD card.

Wiring up the BeoCreate is simple, but we do need to point out a few things. First, the + and - signs for the speaker outputs are VERY small. Also, one set of terminals is for 30W and the other for 60W. There is also a terminal block for providing power if you choose note to use the barrel jack.

To power the BeoCreate, you will need a 12V to 20V power supply that provides at least 3.5A. We offer an optional 18V power supply with our kit that works well.

It is important to note that the BeoCreate provides the power to the Pi. Do not power the Pi separately.

Setting up your SD card is easy. We recommend using the standard BeoCreate image. Burn the SD with a tool like Etcher.

For the initial setup, it is quite handy have the Pi connected via Ethernet. This makes setup easier, and you can always disconnect it and run it wireless later. If you are running Windows, you should first install Bonjour Print Services which will make it easier to autodetect the Beocreate system on your network.

Once everything is running, go to the Beocreate setup page and follow the instructions. The setup is quite slick, it redirects to your local Beocreate system!

Navigating the setup page is easy. Below are some screen shots showing some of the configuration pages, including WiFi Setup, Remote Login, and sources. As you can see, it is easy to setup Spotify, AirPlay, and Bluetooth streaming!