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Controlling Levinson Amp via Ethernet

Hello,

I just purchased a Levinson 532H amplifier and was reading up in the manual & serial protocol document that you can control it via an ethernet port. My goal is to be able to turn the amplifier on/off from my computer.

Notes on commanding per the Levinson serial protocol document:
"An external host controller can use the external protocol to control and monitor the operation of the No5 Series Power Amplifiers. The protocol consists of simple ASCII character set based commands, which are passed to the amplifier as command packets via the Ethernet port."

I believe I should be able to power on the amplifier by sending it a command such as this:
RQST:CS:PWR:ON\r

I'm able to connect to the amplifier via the network and open the status webpage, so I know the ethernet connection is working. I have also scanned its ports and found that ports 21 (ftp) and 80 (http) are open. I have also tried using Hyperterminal to send the command to ports 21 and 80 but could not get that to work.

Anyone know how a simple way to send ASCII commands via ethernet? All the google search I seem to do come up with fancy C++ codes, and I'm not a big programmer. I would just like a simple script to send a single command.

Thanks,
Chris
128x128cjwessing
6 responses Add your response
cjwessing's avatar
cjwessing OP
32 posts
 
DTC,
Thanks for the response. I currently have the amplifier hooked up to my router, and access the amplifier through that. I know that the connection is correct because I am able to get to the amplifier status webpage.

I think you're right, I just need to figure out the correct protocol/program to send the message from the computer to the amplifier.

I've emailed Levinson support, but they have been absolutely no help.

Thanks,
Chris
cjwessing's avatar
cjwessing OP
32 posts
 
Denon1, I'm very impressed with the sound of the Levinson 532H, one of the best amps I've had in my system to date (only amps that I would say sounded better were my Levinson 436 monoblocks). Currently have them hooked up to a pair of KEF Reference 3.2 speakers.
dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
Sounds like you are making connection, but somehow the protocol is not working. Just to be sure, are you connecting directly to the PC? If so, are you using a crossover Ethernet cable? Can you change the name of the device from the Status screen. If you get the Status Screen and can change the device name, then you probably have the correct cable and setup.

Have you called your dealer or the company and asked for help?
denon1
345 posts
 
Cj, how do you like the sound of the 532h?
cjwessing's avatar
cjwessing OP
32 posts
 
Thanks Al. I also found TCPline and was trying that over the weekend, but couldn't get it to work. I tried sending ASCII commands to ports 21 and 80 to no avail...

Please let me know if anyone else has any ideas.

Thanks,
Chris
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I did some Googling, but as you found the answer is more elusive than might be expected. I did find a utility called TCPLine, which seems like it might do the job (if you are using Windows). A screenshot is shown here.

Hope that helps. Regards,
-- Al
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