This page focuses on the project build history. See the GitHub repo for project files and build instructions.
https://github.com/hornej/beovox-poe
Turning 40 year old speakers into PoE-powered Airplay speakers
The BeoVox PoE project is an 80W PoE-PD PCB and panel mount for powering a HiFiBerry Beocreate 4 channel amplifier for upcycling B&O BeoVox CX50 and CX100 speakers.
During the summer of 2022 I was working at a smart home company that was using Sonos for their audio system, and although it sounded great, I wanted to see if there was an open source alternative that could rival Sonos. I soon stumbled upon HiFiBerry which started my journey down this rabbit hole.
HiFiBerry makes a variety of audio gear like amplifiers and DACs for playing music using a Raspberry Pi. In 2017 they partnered with Bang and Olufsen to make an amplifier specifically for upcycling older passive B&O speakers, like the CX50 and CX100.
I really like the aesthetic of the CX50 and CX100 speakers. They have a brutalist and retro look that feels very timeless. The CX100 speakers were designed in 1984 by Jacob Jensen and were in production for almost 20 years.
Years of Magic - A History of B&O products | B&O
Designed by Jacob Jensen, these classic passive loudspeakers are among the most successful in Bang & Olufsen history and was in production until late 2003. The clean design with the aluminium cabinet and black fabric is timeless and retro all at once.
So I went on eBay and found a pair of black CX50’s and upcycled them with the Beocreate 4 channel amp.
After getting them set up I really enjoyed using them. I thought they sounded great. They allowed me to use Airplay from my iPhone, pair them with my Apple TV to use as TV speakers, and do multi-room audio by simultaneously streaming to HomePod mini.