How I improved the B&O sound quality for free

[FreePenguin]

Not sure, I just know I installed an amp, from 12 speaker car, wired my subwoofer into the stock 12 speaker amp, and disabled that EQ, with EQ shit was wonky, it just didn't sound right.

afterwords, so clear, so crisp. All the speakers just played better. It was night and day difference, had gf in car and I enabled/disabled with her eyes close, and she could tell immediately what sounded better. so it wasn't just me/placebo effect. she could tell the difference as I enabled disabled

I have an actual subwoofer JL stealth box, with a MRV-M500 amplifier, those are hardwired into stock amp for signal via molex/rca.

I do know that when you disable factory EQ- the bass rolloff disappears. which is awesome, no need for lc2i for those adding a sub, but it wakens the stock system by itself.

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[Elp_jc]

ACM 727-01-02 xXxx xx 0=EQ Off

Two questions. Does that mod (EQ=off) also kills the treble/mid/bass controls under sound settings, or not? And the other is where do you find the FORScan info (spreadsheet, or whatever) for these cars? Thx.

Dump the B/O stereo, it is a super rip-off; I can see the sub in the trunk but can never tell if it works while driving; plus too much mid-range sound.

My F-150 B&O sounds noticeably better than the Mustang, especially on bass response. I haven't heard the Mustang's base system, but even with its shortcomings, I think for $900 the B&O is probably worth it. And the Bullitt I'm getting already comes with it, so no choice there. Having said that, part of the problem is obviously the sub location (trunk), but my question is if there's a port into the car, or not. I agree it sounds, 'detached', for lack of a better word. I was telling my wife a driver with the window down next to the Mustang probably hears the bass more than the Mustang's driver. Ha ha.

Finally, I don't want to mess with the stereo, other than playing with the adjustments. And to that effect, may I ask if the subwoofer has its own independent channel, or is it driven by the rear speakers? The reason I ask is if it's the latter, then by moving the fader to the front one or two clicks, it should decrease the sub's gain enough to be balanced. The other possible change could be to the sub's porting into the car. Have no idea if there's a port at all or not, but maybe that could be altered easily, and notice a difference. Great technical discussion; thank you for that .

 

[FreePenguin]

Nope. you still can adjust those treble mid bass from the settings. it just disables the factory crap.

but I did lose 1 setting, before I disabled factory EQ I had one setting that made it from "all, to passenger to driver" or something like that, upon disabling it. that entire box was gone.

It sounds 10x better now, and I didn't use that setting anyway. Why would the subwoofer be driven by the rear speakers? it has its own dedicated circuit inside the amp. when you change the bass slider, it changes the front/back and rear sub all the same,

ie. if you have bass up, and you slide the position all way to front, positioning, it kills the sub, as only front speakers play music, but if you slide it all way to rear, only the sub will produce tones. so its definitely a variable inside your little swipes. Removed Sirius XM from the "source" list on the radio. I liked that a lot.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JsjNNLuEvLQa7PEcSN7v6AjN_t9rWvz0npQpcBbU_u0/edit?usp=sharing

I changed several. things, disabled seatbelt chime, disabled honking upon locking or unlocking, changed the lane tap flashes from 3 blinks to 5 blinks, etc. all kinds of crap you can do.

I added 1 inch pacers to my rear seat latches, where connects seat to bracket/metal. No rattling from pressure in trunk, and the bass passes to cabin and back so cleanly its great.

 

[Clump]

@GTP - Thanks for all that work! Will definitely try your settings.

2 questions:
1. Did you disable the center speaker?
2. Surround on or off?

 

[GTP]

Not sure if you are addressing me or @FreePenguin.

1. I have never used Forscan, but I cut the wire to the center speaker. My writeup on this here: Join me in fixing the center speaker issue
2. I have not looked into the Surround mode yet, but I need to. IMO I think cars are putting 5.1 systems into cars more as a marketing ploy than for any true sonic benefit.

 

[GTP]

<snip> ...
may I ask if the subwoofer has its own independent channel, or is it driven by the rear speakers? The reason I ask is if it's the latter, then by moving the fader to the front one or two clicks, it should decrease the sub's gain enough to be balanced.
...
The other possible change could be to the sub's porting into the car. Have no idea if there's a port at all or not, but maybe that could be altered easily, and notice a difference. Great technical discussion; thank you for that .

First, for the subwoofer channel. Yes, it is its own channel. It operates based on the volume, balance, and bass slider controls only.

Graph reprint from my post #8. There is only 2dB increase in bass level with the rear seat folded down, and the response shape remains fairly constant.

IOW, you can leave the rear seats up. Note that bass also transmits through the cones of the rear shelf speakers, as well as through the various holes in the rear shelf unibody. Many people don't realize that bass is kinda unimpeded by most everything. It transmits through other speaker cones, holes, carpeting, etc. In fact, for those adding a sub to their 9-speaker car, and since their rear shelf speakers truly suck, they may as well remove those speakers to allow for a little better bass sound through the remaining speaker holes.

 

[Clump]

Not sure if you are addressing me or @FreePenguin.

1. I have never used Forscan, but I cut the wire to the center speaker. My writeup on this here: Join me in fixing the center speaker issue
2. I have not looked into the Surround mode yet, but I need to. IMO I think cars are putting 5.1 systems into cars more as a marketing ploy than for any true sonic benefit.

Thanks!

Didn't get to try this in my Mustang yet, but I have a Ranger with B&O and figured the factory EQ would be similar so gave it a shot. Great improvement! It even makes Sirius sound better.

To my old and abused ears surround mode sounded better with my old settings. I turned it off, but will try it back on eventually.

 

[zero_chance]

Definitely in depth, as always. I’m afraid I see more people complaining about the lack of bass from that system however. I believe you’re the first I’ve seen personally who thought it needed to be toned down. Not everyone has the ear for the finer points of music (including me), and a majority of people want it loud and the bass to pound, not necessarily focusing on SQ.

 

[CS19]

I did play around with the many adjustnents to get the sound I wanted. My observation is that the B&O subwoofer has to be turned way down to get a quality sound to not overpower the sound.
Additionly, enabling the Surround Sound vastly improved the sound since it cut the center speaker out of the system.
I did my adjustments on the cd player since the Sirius radio is not a good sound source. The HD FM is much better than Sirius.
Anyway, at this point I'm getting a pretty nice sound out of the system.

 

[GTP]

Definitely in depth, as always. I’m afraid I see more people complaining about the lack of bass from that system however. I believe you’re the first I’ve seen personally who thought it needed to be toned down. Not everyone has the ear for the finer points of music (including me), and a majority of people want it loud and the bass to pound, not necessarily focusing on SQ.

I corrected my earlier post to say that I had the 9-speaker system in my 2016 Mustang, not 12-speakers. It is true that the 9-speaker car is lacking bass, and there is not a zero-cost solution for that.

I did play around with the many adjustnents to get the sound I wanted. My observation is that the B&O subwoofer has to be turned way down to get a quality sound to not overpower the sound.
Additionly, enabling the Surround Sound vastly improved the sound since it cut the center speaker out of the system.
I did my adjustments on the cd player since the Sirius radio is not a good sound source. The HD FM is much better than Sirius.
Anyway, at this point I'm getting a pretty nice sound out of the system.

I will investigate the Surround mode a little more soon. I can hear a different spatial thing going on. I will put my mic right over the center speaker and verify if it gets turned off in this mode. I can return to this post with that info.

 

[GTP]

TLDR: I make the case for giving it a try to set the bass to a lower level.


Sensitivity to better sound quality does not come automatically to any of us. But it is pretty apparent when we hear something better for the first time.

I do agree that emphasized bass sounds more “fun” whether at home or in the car. On the other hand it also sounds “artificial”, and less “realistic”.

A good analogy is exhaust drone. At first it is not noticed. Soon enough you find yourself driving at a steady speed where the rpm matches the drone frequency. And then you notice it. After that, you can’t NOT notice it. It gets on your nerves.

When the B&O system controls are all at their center positions, the bass makes a “pumping” sound inside the cabin. And it sounds like it is overpowering the rest of the music. I call it “drowning out” the song.
​

With bass, you don’t notice that it is exaggerated, until you try turning it down for a while. There are two tests I can suggest. First, turn down the slide control one click at a time while listening to the music. Keep turning it down until you no longer “notice” that the bass sounds like a distinct and separate quality to the sound. Then turn it back up by just one click until you now just barely notice it as a distinct sound quality.

Once the system is adjusted to be flat (as measured by a mic, and not as shown by the slider controls), then it is very easy to follow along with any of the band players. If guitar is your thing, you can follow the guitar player without the bass “drowning” him out. Or the drummer’s cymbal work. Or the piano (which spans from bass to treble, BTW). Whatever. But most of all, you can also follow along the bass player’s line, and it is BECAUSE he is not louder than everyone else.

Listening to bass set to a lower loudness takes some acclimation. I demonstrated all this to a fellow Stanger just yesterday on a trip to the dealer. We put in my CD Brian Bromberg’s Downright Upright. He is an acoustic bassist and the band leader. With the controls at flat, his acoustic bass made that pumping sound in the cabin. After readjusting the controls it was much easier to follow his line and any of the other band members: drums, piano, guitar, sax are all on the first track and the mix was perfect.

I am not saying that I am right. I’m just suggesting to try the bass set lower for a while and see if it sounds better to you after giving it a chance.

 

[39Mustang]

When I ordered my 2018 F350 Platinum and 2018 Mustang GT the B&O system wasn't an option and the Sony system sucks and I want to change it to the B&O so exactly what has to be changed?

 

[GTP]

I'm surprised. Usually Sony knows what they are doing, including vehicles.

What's bad about it?

 

[offcamber]

Thanks GTP. Great deep dive into the car’s audio system.
Knowing what you know now would you just pad the signal to the sub and call it a day?

 

[GT5.0Fan]

Is there a simple speaker swap that could be made to any of these speakers that would make a day and night difference in sound quality with more clarity and sound value/loudness?

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