B&O system first impressions and thoughts on upgrading.

[Parrotheadad]

Okay so first impression of B&O system and I’m in agreement with other members. It’s a bit better than the lower trims but not over the top. First thing that stands out is that strong center channel sound stage that seems to take away from the overall separation of sound. Then in general the sound sounds strained especially on HD radio and radio in general. The sound is noticeably better on Bluetooth and usb sources and less strained. To me it sounds like loading too much into the input level of an amplifier resulting in too much gain and early distortion.

If you haven’t had good audio systems before it may impress you at first by getting loud quick but then starts to get strained. I’m sure better speakers would help but I think the culprit is the B&O amp with lack of real clean power. Having upgraded separate amps may help in several ways. Using the Key 4 channel amp and running the doors and tweeters bi-amped would solve a couple of things. The biggest would be overcoming the imbalance of the center overpowering the front stage and then cleaning up the overall sound and having unlimited control of where the power is going. I could care less about what little the rear speakers contribute. At this point they are fill in for ambience especially in the surround mode. I plan on doing what colinl did with the separate 8” Alpine in a sub box down in the cubby under the rear seat powered by a 1 ohm stable amp. I like the idea of modifying the PAC APH-FD02 harness to fit the factory connector and using it to feed a good line converter then onto the amps. Several good choices out there for component speakers to upgrade the doors and dash tweeters. At the end of the day it’s whatever satisfies you. Some would think this is overkill while car audiophiles would still see it as anemic. I’m not trying win sound competitions, I just want to look forward to my ride instead of being let down by the recent trend of auto manufacturers using big names to make you think you’re getting a great system. Guys keep the ideas coming.

Sponsored

 

[colinl]

I listen to Spotify wired nearly 100% of the time, never tried to listen critically to hd radio, Sirius or even Spotify via Bluetooth. I have most things downloaded on very high quality (it's an option in Spotify app) but honestly I'm not sure I can hear when something gets played that is streamed at lower quality.

Surround mode is terrible. I use stereo mode and still have considered whether to replace the center speaker or just unplug it.

An amp would be my next upgrade but I'm not sure I'll ever get around to it because of the cost of interfacing with A2B and then if I use a high power amp I'll probably replace my door speakers again. I'm not sure it's worth it to put in a key 200.4 with the components I'm using now. It would be better no question, but how much I can't guess.

I haven't seen any benchmark or specs on what the B&O amp produces but with a 20A fuse we can make some educated guesses. I think the doors and dash speakers are probably getting 25 to 40 watts rms.

I replaced those speakers with a set of Focal auditor RSE 165 and I use a 3khz bass blocker on the tweeter since they are bi amped.

I need to apply sound deadener everywhere and I have it but it's been too cold in the garage when I've had the free time.

 

[Lynyrd Skynyrd]

Just my experience with B&O, Sony and most other manufacturers “high end” audio system. If you want quality, throw it out and build your system.
Just curious, what bit rate is Spotify? Was not aware they had high end audio. I know of Amazon HD (CD quality) and Tidal. All the rest (used to) kinda suck

 

[colinl]

Just my experience with B&O, Sony and most other manufacturers “high end” audio system. If you want quality, throw it out and build your system.
Just curious, what bit rate is Spotify? Was not aware they had high end audio. I know of Amazon HD (CD quality) and Tidal. All the rest (used to) kinda suck

I've seen this:
On most devices, Spotify defaults to a variable 'Automatic' setting and offers four fixed playback tiers: 24 kbps (Low), 96 kbps (Normal), 160 kbps (High), and 320 kbps (Very High).

320 is good enough for me, I think 'cd quality' is generally considered 160.

Agreed on building your own system from scratch. The reason I have B&O is because it is included in Lariat Luxury and I really wanted adaptive cruise control for all the work driving I do. (As an aside, it's huge in crosswinds, it will steer into a 40mph gust and keep you between the lines.)

The stock B&O has 'ok' tweeters but the 6.5 in the doors are pretty terrible. Pretty much anything you put there that fits will be a very big improvement in midbass. That said, the doors are not that deep and you want to be very careful about modifying because of how the window track goes through that part of the door panel.

 

[Lynyrd Skynyrd]

Just googled
Amazon HD Ultra 850 16bit kbps
Spotify is your network dependent varies from 24-128
Tidal uses FLAC at 24 bit/ 1411 kbps
Apple Music 192 but uses lossless for 24 bit CD
In General Tidal still holds the crown if sound quality is important.
I’ve had $$$$ sound systems and there is quite the difference

 

[colinl]

Just googled
Amazon HD Ultra 850 16bit kbps
Spotify is your network dependent varies from 24-128
Tidal uses FLAC at 24 bit/ 1411 kbps
Apple Music 192 but uses lossless for 24 bit CD
In General Tidal still holds the crown if sound quality is important.
I’ve had $$$$ sound systems and there is quite the difference

Yeah, I specifically mentioned that I haven't necessarily noticed the difference between downloaded Very High which is 320 kbit, and streaming which might be 320, or could be 160 or 96. If the stream were to fall all the way to 24k I'm sure I would notice that, it would sound like ass.

I can easily hear the difference between bluetooth and wired. I understand the convenience of bluetooth but it's crappy, especially in the Maverick. I do use wireless android auto in my wife's Bronco.

Sponsored