How I improved the B&O sound quality for free

[Nardly]

Actually you can. I posted this in another thread about a similar "problem". If your car has a CD player use the Music Note button instead. This goes for both Android Auto and Car Play.

"Since I don't have a CD player, that physical button with the music note is Play/Pause on my car and the Eject button is replaced with the "settings" button.

Pressing "settings" will take me out of whatever AA app is running and to the audio settings page of the main menu. From there I can use the Ford touch screen system features. It's not as elegant as pressing the music note button but it does kick you back into the main Ford Sync menu system."

Thanks!

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[S550VIN54]

TLDR takeaways:

1. The factory set the level of the B&O subwoofer way too high by at least 12dB.
2. The tonal balance can be adjusted close to flat with somewhat extreme settings of the 3 tone controls.
3. Imaging is better with the balance 1 click shy of centered on the passenger seat centerline. (For when there is no passenger, and assuming center channel speaker is OFF.)

After much testing and experimenting, I improved the sound of the B&O system just by adjusting the controls.

Here is the final result:

Even after setting the subwoofer tone control to minimum, and the midrange control up by 4 clicks and the treble up by +5 or +6, the subwoofer level is still too hot by around 6dB.

Here are the settings (the balance is set for driver with no passenger):

The OmniMic was placed into passenger headrest:

I will post supporting data that lead me to this alignment next.

 

[S550VIN54]

GTP,

Thanks for taking the time to explain your data regarding the B&O sound system. Going by your display setup I am curious if there is something I missed regarding the center channel. I am still getting sound from the center channel. Also, I guess it depends on the quality of the music but while listening to a CD I have noticed more of a tinny sound so I added just a little more bass for my listening. All in all the sound quality is much better as it had somewhat of a muddy sound before as you mentioned too much bass.

 

[GTP]

Thanks.

Once you notice how loud is the original bass level, it is annoying. After turning it way down, you can "hear" the bass and notice it if you choose to, if you get what I mean.

The sound quality will improve and with much less tinny once you disable your center speaker.

For the center speaker, find my thread "Help me fix the center channel" in this subforum. Main result is in the first post, and the thread has wandered quite a lot. There is the elegant method and direct method to disable the speaker, found in the thread.

 

[S550VIN54]

Thanks.

Once you notice how loud is the original bass level, it is annoying. After turning it way down, you can "hear" the bass and notice it if you choose to, if you get what I mean.

The sound quality will improve and with much less tinny once you disable your center speaker.

For the center speaker, find my thread "Help me fix the center channel" in this subforum. Main result is in the first post, and the thread has wandered quite a lot. There is the elegant method and direct method to disable the speaker, found in the thread.

Will do...I guess as far as a passenger setting the fade would have to be dialed back somewhat as I haven't really sat to see what that side of the car sounds like...lol. its good to hear from an audiophile specialist that the system was worth the money as hearing now is proof.

 

[Firsttexan]

Adding the $65 Pioneer sub cleaned it up quite a bit for me. Made the bass much cleaner and defined. I keep the setting on the lower 25%. And the equalizer dead center and a tick forward of the centerline.

As most audiophiles know, everyone's ear is different. There is no perfect solution for all. The above did it for me. IMO the only way to improve it more, is to re-engineer a whole new system .

Despite the name B&O that Ford paid for. It's no B&O. Just a nice factory system. Given the cabin environment, it does it's job well IMO.

 

[GTP]

Nothing wrong with swapping in a better sub.

Keep in mind that after reducing the OEM sub by 12dB it becomes a "better" sub simply from not being driven as hard. IOW excursion is reduced, as is distortion.

 

[20ducks]

Are the door speakers and rear side panel (cabrio) speakers all 2 Ohm? Is that a common range amongst aftermarket speakers?

 

[GTP]

I'm not going to get into all the parameters to evaluate when choosing speakers. But I can say that it is safest to choose replacements with equal impedance or perhaps a bit higher. The purpose of this is to not ask the amplifier to deliver a lot more current to the new speakers. 8 ohm speakers are not used because a 12V car environment is more about current and less about voltage. 8 ohm or higher just don't play very loud.

Measure the resistance at the terminals of the old speakers. Multiply by about 1.3 to get an idea of the impedance (assuming it is not simply written on the speaker).

Example. Measure 1.6 ohms. That's a 2 ohm speaker.

 

[20ducks]

Are crossovers more important than speakers?

 

[GTP]

They are of exactly equal importance because they have absolute direct influence on the sound.

It is one reason why I am skeptical about disabling any factory EQ via Forscan, without first knowing whether it was developed specifically for the drivers (speaker transducers) set in the car.

(I have a lifetime of experience with speakers, crossover design, and acoustics at expert professional level. Ironically perhaps I don't respond to many questions and posts because there is just so much more involved than meets the eye.)

 

[20ducks]

I still have my ESS Amt 1a crossovers.

 

[Gregs24]

They are of exactly equal importance because they have absolute direct influence on the sound.

It is one reason why I am skeptical about disabling any factory EQ via Forscan, without first knowing whether it was developed specifically for the drivers (speaker transducers) set in the car.

(I have a lifetime of experience with speakers, crossover design, and acoustics at expert professional level. Ironically perhaps I don't respond to many questions and posts because there is just so much more involved than meets the eye.)

This is such a critical point, and should be a sticky at the top of the thread! Just changing speakers blind for 'better' ones will not result in a better sound, whatever 'better' sound is anyway! Even more, every car is different acoustically and so car makers adjust the DSP to optimise for the individual car, thus 'better' speakers with a 'flat signal' may actually sound 'worse'.

 

[GTP]

This is such a critical point, and should be a sticky at the top of the thread! Just changing speakers blind for 'better' ones will not result in a better sound, whatever 'better' sound is anyway! Even more, every car is different acoustically and so car makers adjust the DSP to optimise for the individual car, thus 'better' speakers with a 'flat signal' may actually sound 'worse'.

Where is the emoticon for TRUTH ?

 

[GTP]

This is such a critical point, and should be a sticky at the top of the thread! Just changing speakers blind for 'better' ones will not result in a better sound, whatever 'better' sound is anyway! Even more, every car is different acoustically and so car makers adjust the DSP to optimise for the individual car, thus 'better' speakers with a 'flat signal' may actually sound 'worse'.

And why things are not as simple as matching a 4ohm 5" speaker with a different 4ohm 5" speaker. What about matching sensitivity? Or impedance across the full band? And the raw SPL response will surely not match at all.

Here is an example of a 2-way crossover that I developed back in 2007. The tweeter circuit is on the left and the woofer circuit is on the right. There are seventeen components to precisely control the SPL amplitude and phase response.

This speaker is still the most high-resolution model I ever designed, and it completely disappears within a huge 3-dimensional soundstage.

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