Dear Ford, I want my 895 dollars back.

[Cobra Jet]

Well, it’s all smoke and mirrors anyway, because B&O was acquired by Harman, which is really Samsung - so if you want to get into the nitty gritty, it’s really not truly B&O in the sense of the original company....

In May 2015, HARMAN International Industries (a subsidiary of Samsung), announced the completion of its acquisition of Bang & Olufsen Automotive car audio business. In March 2017, Tymphany, an audio ODM based in Hong Kong and with manufacturing operations in Dongchen, announced the acquisition of the engineering and manufacturing operation in the Czech Republic from Bang & Olufsen.

Sponsored

 

[okfoz]

One thing I know is the older I get the less I can really appreciate good sound... It used to be one of my passions to have a great stereo, now that I am much older, I can hardly tell the difference, my ears just do not hear like they used to... At one time I could tell the difference between a CD and my MP3 player, not any more...

 

[GreenS550]

What really astounds me is that my daughter's 2012 Escape and my 2017 Explorer Sport have much, much better stereo sound than my Bullitt with the electronics package. I don't know why but my 4 s197s and 3 s550s have all had poorer stereos whether with the premium sound option or not. Maybe the interior configuration?

 

[okfoz]

What really astounds me is that my daughter's 2012 Escape and my 2017 Explorer Sport have much, much better stereo sound than my Bullitt with the electronics package. I don't know why but my 4 s197s and 3 s550s have all had poorer stereos whether with the premium sound option or not. Maybe the interior configuration?

It might be as simple as supply & demand, or the fact that the Mustang does not have the acoustical materials to make it sound as good as those other cars. My 2007 Tahoe, came with BOSE, sounded great when at a stop light, but get on the road at all and it sounded like garbage... I did 2 things 1) I used a lot of Dynamat and other materials to make it quieter from road noise, and 2) I simply upgraded the factory 5" Subwoofer to a 10" with a small amp and it made a world of difference.

 

[13razorbackfan]

Considering the panache of the B&O name as an audiophile top brand, the bruhaha that Ford and B&O made about the low end system that they provided is laughable. B&O claims to have spent 3 years analyzing and fitting their low end, popular price system to the Ford cars to get it it right.
My question to B&O is: What does it feel like to waste 3 years of their life and jeopardize their high standing in the audio world?
The B&O system is, at best , an OK system. Basically average quality.
The optional Sony 6 CD changer stereo on my 2007 F150 is MARKEDLY better.
The Mustang I bought had theB&O on it. It is claimed that the B&O system sounds somewhat better than the standard Shaker system. If that's true, I'm glad it has the B&O. It is not an impressive system, however.

Agreed...I have the 10 Speak B&O on my 19 and the Sony Lariat package in both my F250'S sounds quite a bit better. Funny though the 2013 F250 sounds better than the 2016 but both are quite a bit better than in my Mustang.

I'm going to leave it alone for now but may look to replace the speakers with Alpine and couple Alpine amps to push them and the Sub.

 

[Zinc03svt]

I bought the wife a new Edge ST. Sneaking a JMS Boostmax on it...another story. Anyway, had to turn the bass and midrange down to get it to sound right at half volume. Sounds pretty good to me for factory stereo on a Ford.

 

[CS19]

Agreed...I have the 10 Speak B&O on my 19 and the Sony Lariat package in both my F250'S sounds quite a bit better. Funny though the 2013 F250 sounds better than the 2016 but both are quite a bit better than in my Mustang.

I'm going to leave it alone for now but may look to replace the speakers with Alpine and couple Alpine amps to push them and the Sub.

Yes, it seems as though the stereo systems, in general, on Fords seem to be better sounding when they are older. I have a base system with an added 6 disc changer (factory option) on my 2007 F150. That also has a connector for my MP3 player ( something this 2019 SHOULD have had). That 2007 system sounds fabulous, far better than the B+O and it doesn't even have the optional subwoofer. It seems from the comments that I've seen here that the quality of the stereo sound has been going downhill.

 

[Briebee72]

And the best part is Ford raised the price of the B and O to 995 on the 2020 and I doubt changed anything with the system

 

[13razorbackfan]

And the best part is Ford raised the price of the B and O to 995 on the 2020 and I doubt changed anything with the system

Have you seen the YouTube video of B&O and Ford enthusiasts? How they drone on and on about how awesome this system sounds. Then you go out and listen to it. Makes you wonder.

 

[CS19]

And the best part is Ford raised the price of the B and O to 995 on the 2020 and I doubt changed anything with the system

LOL. I priced my 2019 on both the 2019 and 2020 Mustang build it program while they were both available and the same time. An exact 2020 duplicate would be exactly $2,000 more and would not have map pockets and a 4 way not 6 way passenger seat. The price of "progress".
And, yes, I would tend to think there is no improvement for the $100.

 

[StynkyLomax]

I'm a little disappointed with the B&O as well.

First time in the car my GF says "it doesn't sound that good."

I think the problem is that when people hear B&O they think it’s a true Bang & Olufsen system and it’s not. If it was it would cost $5,000+. It’s a slight upgrade over standard speakers, no more, no less.
For me, it gets the job done. I had the Sony system in my 17 F150 Lariat and the B&O sounds better to me. I used to be an audiophile, now I can’t hear for shit so it doesn’t matter much. The bass thumps enough for me, I’m happy. I’m 35 for reference. Not old, but I ain’t young.

 

[Briebee72]

so well I found a way to make the stereo sound much better in the GT with the B and O. so I took my sound tube out of engine to stop the engine pumped in noise... side effect now stereo sounds much better cause you can hear it clearer. My two buds who I also got to try removing the sound tube both said same thing that you can hear the stereo better now. I Also added kilmat sound damping sheet to the exposed metal trunk area. ($59 for 50 sq feet or $39 for 25 Sq feet on ebay the 50 mil ones) and it improved the sound greatly from the rear sub, nothing amazing but between the two things and less than 70 bucks it's much better plus much more quiet in the cabin. plus using a 320kb file from usb and turning the surround function on its a night and day difference over when I bought the car. oh if just doing trunk all you really need is 25 sq feet. so for under 50 bucks (with mat and sound tube delete) its a good improvement for little money.

 

[1Bear]

Man Ford has had issues with "premium" stereos. I remember back in the day was same thing with the Mach 440 stereo. It sucked and then they made it about possible to change due to it ran on some funky voltage which required changing out the entire system wires and all if I remember correctly. Now this much Hyped B and O. I mean seriously the stereo in my 2007 focus with 4 crap speakers and a replacement walmart pioneer head unit that was 80 bucks sounds better. It just works. my bluetooth connects automatically and right to pandora with me not even taking it out of my pocket of doing anything with wires.

I think the new sync stuff is overboard makes everything take longer and is more complicated. And I'm sorry the B and O system does not sound that great. I could have spent half as much and replaced a base system and had better sound. If I leave it on regular I can definitely tell the bass (i'm not a rap or hip hop bass person to be clear I like rock and mostly non bass oriented music) is coming for the back corner and sounds like its in a box. And if you leave the car running and music on and then go open your trunk it sounds like the subwoofer is dying trying to keep up. Putting it in surround mode helps blend it out but then all the music sounds sorta wispy and washed out.

I'M just highly disappointed for the cost. And yes I tried it out at dealer but how much can you really play with it? You are more focused on the car itself at the time. It's not till you get your music and play with the settings and all that you get a feel for the stereo. Short of replacing the whole system what low cost options did any of you do to make it sound better?

I know it is all perspective. People coming from less than premium stereos will think this sounds great but those of us coming from other cars with premium stereos ... well this really ain't worth 895 dollars.

I saw that Video where B and O were all proud and they claimed they designed the system to work with the harmonics of the car and blah blah blah.. The people got in and were all wow this is amazing. Oh my go best stereo I have ever heard.... I think they forgot to put that one in my car.

I have used a thumb drive with 320kb mp3s and that helps a bit over compressed music from pandora or spotify. But it is still lacking.

Anyone made a mp3 file structure on a optical disk and see if that helps any? I wouldn't think so over a thumb drive but our cd players do play mp3 file structures from a disk so was curious if worth the hassle.

Agreed!
I just bought mine yesterday and the B/O is not worth poop.
I had to adjust the bass down to half way to get the stereo to play above 14 without distorting.

Bear

 

[13razorbackfan]

Agreed!
I just bought mine yesterday and the B/O is not worth poop.
I had to adjust the bass down to half way to get the stereo to play above 14 without distorting.

Bear

Me too. Sounds really good at normal listening levels, most usually do, but when I crank it up it distorts like crazy

 

[13razorbackfan]

I must have a ringer. My bass is UP and it doesn't distort at any volume.

Want to trade lol?

Sponsored