Bang & Olufsen Sound System - Questions / Opinions / Experience

[NikNala]

Originally Posted by nishfish87

Must sound really good and LOUD! I wish I could do that but I want to maximize the space in the trunk.

It doesn't take up much space and it's easily removed. The amp is hidden behind the factory amp.

[RavenX5m]

Originally Posted by NikNala

It doesn't take up much space and it's easily removed. The amp is hidden behind the factory amp.

This looks great!

[Yuille36]

That all thumping bass.....love it.

[nishfish87]

Just ordered this pigtail to see if it will require us to not cut the original harness.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163762599549

[Abstracted]

Originally Posted by nishfish87

Just ordered this pigtail to see if it will require us to not cut the original harness.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163762599549

I'm in the wrong business. $28 for that!

[Abstracted]

Just picked up a 12" Cerwin Vega spare tire sub.

And I got a Wavtech LinkDQ LOC.

The Wavtech was just released. It's supposed to have a better frequency response than the LC2i, rated to less than 10Hz. The LC2i is rated down to only 33Hz and has a lower SNR.

And the Wavtech is cheaper!

I just hope the sub fits within the spare.

[viktorhanacek]

Maybe not the popular opinion here, but I'm super happy with the quality of B&O.

Yes, I'm another one who bought the sub in the first days of driving (fitted under trunk) but B&O is high-level sound system which will reproduce EVERYTHING what music composer wanted you to hear, so if the music composer using bad bass (yes, now everyone is producing hip hop so it's easy to hear a bad song) or you do not have 320 kbps file, or if you using any streaming service, then B&O will never give you proper music experience. After I realized this, about 90% of time the sub is turned off because I listen to 320 kbps music files.

If someone would ve interested, I can upload some music files. Airdrop them to your iPhone or load them to iTunes and try it. It's already fantastic, and awesome when it's loud.

Sound setting is on "Studio", treble about 60% and bass 90%. EQ not touched.

Playing from Music app in my iPhone via bluetooth (or you can use USB in armrest).

Make sure you have latest firmware from bmw website (updating via usb flash drive)!

[nishfish87]

Originally Posted by Abstracted

I'm in the wrong business. $28 for that!

I had trouble finding a cheaper alternative, even if I had to pin it myself.

Need to start a side business for these pigtails

[Javaco888]

Originally Posted by Abstracted

Anyone listen to EDM and feel as though the Earthquake subs are good enough?

Or should I skip them and add a boxed 12" in the spare tire space instead?

I recently changed my underseats to the 4-ohm earthquakes. Found a real good deal on Amazon. I used to run the 2ohm on my previous E70.

Listening to some old DeadMau5, it hits clean and hard. It won't rattle the car like a full blown sub and your neighbors won't hear you coming down the street, I think they're very solid for what they are.

[swift]

Originally Posted by Abstracted

Just picked up a 12" Cerwin Vega spare tire sub.

I had picked up that sub for my 370 due to limited trunk space. It does a decent job, but just doesn't seem to have the low end. Could be the application, but I much prefer the factory B&O subs.

Originally Posted by viktorhanacek

Maybe not the popular opinion here, but I'm super happy with the quality of B&O.

I second your opinion. I love a great sound system. This is as close as I could find to the XC90 Bowers & Wilkins system. I want to hear all the detail and this provides. I came across "High Roller" by Crystal Method the other day in my playlist, and the B&O played it very well!

[Abstracted]

So I said in another thread that Bluetooth sounds good (once I got the correct Android audio settings in place). But I just connected my EarStudio ES100 bluetooth receiver, hooked into the aux-in, and WOW!
What a difference in clarity and range!

I think the main problem with the B&O is that you can't EQ it below 100Hz. Consequently you can't boost the low bass to adequate levels (at around 30Hz), and you can't lower the slightly muddy mid-bass at around 70Hz.

The ES100 includes an app for your phone that has a 10-Band EQ with one band at 30Hz and another at 63Hz. After boosting the 30Hz band, and lowing the 63Hz band, the 8" stock under-seat woofers really come alive!

I'm in the process of installing the spare-tire sub, but if I had known that a simple EQ adjustment would make such a difference I wouldn't have bothered, it's that good!

[Matti123]

Originally Posted by Jenner

It's easy to see most people complain about B&O lacking bass. The joke I heard was that B&O stands for Bass for Old people.

I had B&O in a B8.5 Audi S4 and it had the same problem no bass. I also currently have B&O in an Audi Q5 and the bass is acceptable but not great. Just like iconoclast said it's clear at all levels but lacks bass. The speakers are decent (way better than BOSE) and the amps are really quality. B&O has designed a system that will play loud and clear. I find this to be true to B&O no matter what car it is installed nor how much the upgrade cost ($800 in S4, $500 in Q5, $3700 in F85 )

In the S4 I replaced the 8ohm joke of a 10" sub (really a 8" sub in a 10" footprint) with a $100 Kicker 4ohm sub. The weight and magnet of the Kicker was triple what came out. The reduction in resistance to 4ohm increased the power output of the B&O amp and it handled this massive 10" woofer no problem. The bass went from almost nothing to incredible. Best $100 upgrade I ever did to a car. The amp handled it all day long never missed a beat, never overheated or did anything funny in the 2 years I had the setup.

So when I got my F85 I found I had the same issue with B&O...lack of bass overall but especially at low volume. No matter what you do with the bass setting and EQ there isn't anything at normal listening levels. The B&O subs can make some bass with the right music and with the system CRANKED but then everything else is so loud it is TOO loud and still out of balance. Plus with the bass dial maxed it gets too boomy and sounds funny. I wanted to have some bass while being able to play the system at normal levels with my family in the car and be able to have a conversation as well.



I'm sorry you wasted your money on BAVSound. I wish you could get your money back. I believe they brag about their "100 Day In-Car Trial + Free Returns with every order" so maybe you can still return them? There is no way for you to get 2x the bass keeping the ohms the same and the amps the same. It's just not possible.

When I came across the BAVSound Ghost sub and I thought wow this is great ez mode drop in replacement and someone else already solved the problem. I also noticed how low profile the subs were and figured BAV was the only choice due to the odd sub shape/style and factory wiring connector.

But I did not like the specs (or lack of) I did not like that they were 8ohm and I certainly did not like the price. It also didn't look like that much of an improvement in terms of air moved/woofer travel. So I decided to investigate on my own.

I removed the passenger seat bolts and leaned it back against the rear seats so I didn't have to disconnect anything. Removed the grill, then the cage and got down to the sub and it's mount. Pulled that out and removed the connector and realized there was no way I was dropping a "normal" 8" sub in this spot. But it did confirm that the stock sub is a joke and has barely any woofer travel so it's just not going to move a lot of air. I was surprised at how heavy it was, but once you get it out you realize it's just using a huge cheap magnet and the cage that holds it in is designed around just that.

But at least I had an idea of what I was working with and the sub design is VERY cool how the body of the car acts as an enclosure and they have a ported "tube" that runs along the side of the car (under the carpet by the doors).

So I started searching and came across this one company in CA called Earthquake Sound that has a drop in subwoofers for BMWs and has all these patents on their design and uses neodymium magnets so it doesn't have to be so huge and heavy but still can handle power. 300w power handling 4ohm and 1.5" woofer travel had me at hello, but most importantly it was drop in fitment for this location.

Amazon has everything you need:

Earthquake Sound X84SWS 8-inch Shallow Woofer System Under-the-Seat Subwoofers 4-Ohm (Pair) $230
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X41HPJJ/

and

Earthquake Sound R8SWS Installation Ring Adapter for Speakers (Pair) $25:
https://www.amazon.com/Earthquake-So...dp/B00G2MKGOU/

So for about $250 you have everything you need. Half the cost of BAVSound and more importantly half the ohms! (4 instead of 8) Now you can actually double your bass

Here are the trade offs: You have to do a tiny bit more work than the BAV upgrade because you have to cut off the OEM subwoofer connector to use the bare wiring. Not a big deal and I think most of us would just leave these in the car and not bother to swap back to stock parts (but you could get the factory subs to work with the bare wiring if you needed/wanted to)

The other trade off is you can't put the factory cage back over the sub (the 1.5" range of travel would have the SWS-8X aluminum cone cap/heat sink hitting it) and without the cage you cannot put the grill back on top. This is better for sound because there is less plastic obstructing it (trust me there is a lot when you see the cage) but it's bad because dirt/crumbs/toys etc could make their way into the sub from the rear footwell area and damage it or cause it to make noise as it vibrates. Good all weather mats with a lip and/or some vacuuming should be all you need. The front seat footwell/floor mat area is lower than the sub so this isn't a concern from the front.

The only other thing I did besides the 2 subs and the ring adapters was to add some sound insulation to the metal "floor" of the car in the area that the sub sits in. I was careful NOT to put this on the rolled area that leads into the port as I didn't want to mess with the port tuning or air flow.

Dynamat works but it's too expensive (IMHO) so I use GTMAT and find it to be the same thing at a great price. This kit for $15 will do several cars and you only need a tiny bit for the X5M:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KNL1BG/

So in the end you'll end up with 2 crappy B&O subs, 2 huge plastic cages and 2 top speaker grills left over (save or toss your call) in exchange for a huge improvement in bass you can feel!

I was VERY pleased when I fired up my tunes and had KILLER bass at loud levels and great bass at lower levels. It is the kind you feel in your gut/butt and with the windows closed you can feel the pressure.

I was also pleased with how easy a DIY it was and the improvement in bass vs how little I spent on parts. Sad B&O can't get that right and that BMW charges $3700. I am sure people would be more pleased if they increased the cost to $4000 and just used these subs instead!

I hope others who are looking to improve the B&O system give this upgrade a shot before trying to swap amps or fill up the trunk with huge sub enclosures. Unless you need a car show style stereo this is really all you need for a great system with no compromises and low effort and cost.

Had to register to this forum just because of this comment. What a bunch of bad advice. First of all 8ohm is superior to 4ohm, it is used for a reason, because it delivers way higher quality bass with more depth. Also replacing 8ohm sub with 4ohm makes the amplifier do more work than designed, I am surprised yours did not blow up. Are you a teenager or something? You sound just like it, bet you would enjoy bose sound system with muffled bass that is boosted on the upper range. You will grow up though and maybe you have by now.
You are saying Bang olufsen subwoofers are cheap and bad quality? They use neodymium magnets too lmao. They are heavy because they use quality material, they have better materials than neodymium too. Also seems like you do not understand a single thing about electronics or audio. What ever you guys do just dont buy some cheap earthquake 4ohm subs with low level of craftmanship. Also lets talk about that the Bang olufsen subwoofers are 8ohms each receiving 250W. Now you replaced them with subwoofers that are 4ohm and ONLY handle 300W. Oh boy they aint going to last long. Atleast my local Bmw audio upgrader knows what he is doing and teaching so comments like yours would not exist. What an hilarious comment.

[Matti123]

Originally Posted by pachieh

I am interested though in the quality of the Earthquakes. Mostly related to type of cone material, responsiveness (ie speed), accuracy, etc. Since the B&O system is all about accurate sound reproduction and clarity, I think it would be fairly important for any replacement woofer to be in the same league.

I had a 10" Diamond Audio HEX in a previous vehicle and it was incredibly accurate/responsive.

The unfortunate thing is that there aren't many shallow mount 8" woofer that fit our OEM enclosures...

The quality of earthquakes is obviously lower but they are one of the best aftermarket options. About accuracy, the earthquakes being 4ohm instead of 8ohm means the accuracy of sound reproduction and clarity are worse. Also the frequency response is worse on earthquakes, because a good 4ohm subwoofer cant go lower than a good 8ohm subwoofer. So in conclusion changing to 4ohm earthquakes is a direct loss in sound quality and depth, but will result in more boomy bass because it is demanding more power fromthe amplifier. Also there is risk of amplifier blowing out.

[gan23]

I’ll add a few thing on my experience side of thing with the B&O. The car has 5 year and 140k kilometers. My central speaker is broken again. It’ll be the second time that it’s being replaced.

The way I found out this time was with a weird ending of the door chime which sounded like in a can at the end of the chime. Also, I heard like if the engine was knocking while accelerating caused by the fake sound pumping thru the speakers.