How I improved the B&O sound quality for free

[StangTime]

I had to read and reread your post a couple of times as to why your system sounded horrible and unless I’m totally missing something….

If your front, rear and center speakers were “disabled” in the Forscan findings, wouldn’t that mean your vehcile had no sound?

I was scratching my head about this post too and the identical clone posts he put up across the audio forums. It makes zero sense.

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[MISFITGT]

New to the forums so my apologies. I noticed the biggest complaint is the center speaker. Any suggestions on what to replace it with? I know Crutchfield has some options:

 

[m3incorp]

If you read the installation notes from Crutchfield, it mentions these being 4 ohm speakers vs the stock speakers not being 4 ohm. Simply replacing the center speaker and not the DSP/Amp is not the 'best' method. But hey, even if these speaker on the list play at a lower volume, they may sound better to some. Crutchfield has a decent return policy.

New to the forums so my apologies. I noticed the biggest complaint is the center speaker. Any suggestions on what to replace it with? I know Crutchfield has some options:

 

[MISFITGT]

If you read the installation notes from Crutchfield, it mentions these being 4 ohm speakers vs the stock speakers not being 4 ohm. Simply replacing the center speaker and not the DSP/Amp is not the 'best' method. But hey, even if these speaker on the list play at a lower volume, they may sound better to some. Crutchfield has a decent return policy.

From the little time I spent speaking to the Crutchfield helper, they mentioned going for the Infinity as its 3 ohm. I know jack about audio, and I'm not against upgrading the amplifier, but I wanted input from this (topic), as there seems to be people in here that know their stuff.

 

[m3incorp]

The majority of us that tend to upgrade, skip that center speaker and don't have a center speaker at all, post upgrade. If you want to go down the speaker replacement hole, there are a lot threads here that are helpful. Some just disable the center speaker and are happier with their systems and other replace everything in the B&O system except the head unit.

 

[GTyosh]

I had to read and reread your post a couple of times as to why your system sounded horrible and unless I’m totally missing something….

If your front, rear and center speakers were “disabled” in the Forscan findings, wouldn’t that mean your vehcile had no sound?

The tweeters were disabled in the front and rear.

 

[Rael]

Well, I tried covering the center speaker on my last B&O system for a while, and I think it sounded a little better. Now, having disconnected the center speaker a couple of months ago on my new B&O system, I realize it sounds a lot better this way.

I don't know why Ford put that center speaker in. Even without it, I have no trouble at all hearing that lady get aggravated with me as I disobey her driving directions.

 

[Gallatyn]

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'.

This is so true. Ironically, I experienced this by following the B&O subwoofer replacement thread that you have. I just installed the same Pioneer sub that you installed (and poly filled the enclosure). I actually want to go back to the stock paper B&O subwoofer (except that I can’t because I destroyed one of the white plugs that plugs into the subwoofer and I clipped the wires flush on the other white plug - I didn’t think I was going to want to use them again).


Adding a “better” speaker may not address the issue because of the impact of all of the other variables of the system as a whole. Here’s what I noticed which also emphasizes what @GTP said earlier in this thread: the subwoofer plays too loud. This seems to be true with the original sub and the Pioneer sub.


The bass quality is much better from the Pioneer but it’s still too much of the “better” bass. The problems I’m finding in trying to address that with the Bass tone control are two-fold: 1. I can’t get the level of bass quiet enough (it still thumps a little bit too much) and 2. Lowering the Bass tone control also removes some of the level (or frequencies) of the lower door panel speaker - and that, I’ve noticed (to my ears) removes some of the much desired “fullness” of the sound. I noticed this when I had the subwoofer disconnected. I could increase the Bass tone control and either more frequencies or level of frequencies became more prominent from the lower door speaker and made the system sound better temporarily while the sub was gone.


I will say that disconnecting the center speaker does make the Stereo mode sound much better (however, Surround mode kind of seemed to have the same sonic impact to me).


So, I’m trying to find those two white plugs so that I can connect the paper B&O subwoofer and have it back into the system. After that it’s trying to figure out if I want to invest more money to make it better or just enjoy what’s there (because it’s not a horrible sounding system but it could be much better). Thanks for all of the work that both you ( @Gregss24 ) and @GTP have done.

 

[GTP]

@Gallatyn I agree with all your assessments.
The thing is the subwoofer level is so loud that when you reduce it to near minimum via the control, then the quality of the subwoofer speaker matters less. This is because even the stock speaker is not being driven very hard. That is why I won't change it out for a higher grade unit.

I suppose the bass sound quality would sound tighter just by folding down one of the rear seats.

You are right about where the bass tone control affects frequencies. We just don't have ultimate control over what is a 4way system.

I designed an Lpad using electro acoustic measurements that will reduce the subwoofer level three years ago. I also sourced the green connectors so that the circuit can be inserted before the sub.

With this circuit the bass level can be increased again, which includes the door speakers. And so the fullness can be restored.

 

[Gallatyn]

@Gallatyn I agree with all your assessments.
The thing is the subwoofer level is so loud that when you reduce it to near minimum via the control, then the quality of the subwoofer speaker matters less. This is because even the stock speaker is not being driven very hard. That is why I won't change it out for a higher grade unit.

I suppose the bass sound quality would sound tighter just by folding down one of the rear seats.

You are right about where the bass tone control affects frequencies. We just don't have ultimate control over what is a 4way system.

I designed an Lpad using electro acoustic measurements that will reduce the subwoofer level three years ago. I also sourced the green connectors so that the circuit can be inserted before the sub.

With this circuit the bass level can be increased again, which includes the door speakers. And so the fullness can be restored.

Well, I'm either going to get lucky and find some of those white plugs, buy a used OEM enclosure w/ installed OEM subwoofer from eBay, or keep the Pioneer sub and look into a line out converter like the AudioControl LC2i and an external amp (if an external amp is even necessary which it may not be, actually) so that I can at least control some more aspects of the subwoofer performance than the Bass Tone Control does for me. By the way, that Lpad you designed seems pretty cool too.

 

[GTP]

Look here for connectors:
https://edsparts.com/shop-by-parts/connectors-harnsses/

 

[Gregs24]

This is so true. Ironically, I experienced this by following the B&O subwoofer replacement thread that you have. I just installed the same Pioneer sub that you installed (and poly filled the enclosure). I actually want to go back to the stock paper B&O subwoofer (except that I can’t because I destroyed one of the white plugs that plugs into the subwoofer and I clipped the wires flush on the other white plug - I didn’t think I was going to want to use them again).


Adding a “better” speaker may not address the issue because of the impact of all of the other variables of the system as a whole. Here’s what I noticed which also emphasizes what @GTP said earlier in this thread: the subwoofer plays too loud. This seems to be true with the original sub and the Pioneer sub.


The bass quality is much better from the Pioneer but it’s still too much of the “better” bass. The problems I’m finding in trying to address that with the Bass tone control are two-fold: 1. I can’t get the level of bass quiet enough (it still thumps a little bit too much) and 2. Lowering the Bass tone control also removes some of the level (or frequencies) of the lower door panel speaker - and that, I’ve noticed (to my ears) removes some of the much desired “fullness” of the sound. I noticed this when I had the subwoofer disconnected. I could increase the Bass tone control and either more frequencies or level of frequencies became more prominent from the lower door speaker and made the system sound better temporarily while the sub was gone.


I will say that disconnecting the center speaker does make the Stereo mode sound much better (however, Surround mode kind of seemed to have the same sonic impact to me).


So, I’m trying to find those two white plugs so that I can connect the paper B&O subwoofer and have it back into the system. After that it’s trying to figure out if I want to invest more money to make it better or just enjoy what’s there (because it’s not a horrible sounding system but it could be much better). Thanks for all of the work that both you ( @Gregss24 ) and @GTP have done.

The OEM speaker is sooo poor it isn't worth digging out - I hope the dog ate it!

The bass from the oem speaker is muddy and boomy and no way going back is going to make things better!

 

[Bigred911s]

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.

I set it to your recommend settings and it sounds way better. The bass is much more subdued and not as boomy and overpowering. Thanks!

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