Intro:
At first, the 14-speaker B&O system sounded special. By default, it had very LOUD mids, so that made it feel different. Unfortunately, most people quickly discover that the music only sounds good for about half of songs, and it's just plain annoying for the other half. It took me months of adjusting the sound to finally be happy with it...
The problems:
1. BASS is WAY TOO PUNCHY, especially from the FRONT DOORS. It doesn't necessarily distort, but it's low-quality and unsatisfying. In fact, it's usually just annoying.
2. MIDS DISTORT at medium to high volumes, ESPECIALLY FOR COMPLEX ROCK MUSIC. Basically, the main problem is that the music absolutely falls apart for complex, grungy, or ambient music, which is just unacceptable. The MIDS ARE OVERPROCESSED. Bands like 'Radiohead' or 'The Killers' sounded absolutely terrible.
3. 85% OF THE SOUND COMES FROM THE FRONT - The sound does not envelope you. In fact, even people sitting in the second row can barely hear their second-row door speakers.
4. "Surround Mode" seems like it might help, but it's ultimately artificial garbage that falls apart with any type of complex music. It's NOT AN OPTION. It sounds annoying too.
5. The rear 8" "SUBWOOFER" seems like it's only there for the benefit of the people in the 3rd row. It sounds like it's about 25 watts. It's way too quiet.(in a supposed 980 watt sound system). It's completely drowned out by the front door 6x9s.
The solutions:
1. SET THE FADE WAY BACK TO THE SECOND-ROW HEADREST (I prefer touching the back of the headrest... see photo). This makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE to making more speakers matter! Now, the factory subwoofer in the back becomes relevant. From the front row, it adds deeper frequencies to all music. Certain songs that match the sub's bass frequency will sound downright great, and you can clearly hear bass coming from behind you. Next, from the front row, the second row's mids and tweeters help out the front door mids and tweeters, and THE SOUND ENVELOPES YOU. It is so much more satisfying. It actually starts to sound like a 980-watt stereo system. Now, sitting in the second row, you can clearly hear the second row speakers helping out the front doors (as it should be). Setting the fade back also drops some of the punchy bass emphasis from the front doors, which is so very important and welcomed.
2. SET SPEED COMPENSATED VOLUME TO HIGH: The only negative to setting the fade back is that top-end volume is sacrificed. It's not as loud overall. Spotifiy will still be plenty loud, but FM radio will be almost too quiet. The speed-compensated volume really helped FM radio to sound good again. I was happy to discover this.
3. USE SPOTIFY -> LOSSLESS: Sounds the best, particularly for complex music where clarity of midrange is really needed. NOTE: Most newer music sounds best and loudest with sound leveling option turned off. Some old tracks can actually be made louder with the sound leveling turned on.
4. SET THE BASS TO -7 (obviously, I'd set it to -10 if I could). That front door punchy bass needs to be controlled as much as possible to keep the music clean and not annoying.
5. SET THE MIDS to -4 and TREBLE to +2 for "clean" music like Pop, Rap, Hip-Hop, Electronic, Dubstep etc... This tones down the overprocessing (DSP). The mids are still exceptionally loud. Treble will impress people.
6. SET THE MIDS to -5 and TREBLE to 0 for "complex" or "grungy" ROCK music. This further tones down the overprocessing and is the best possible setting for rock music. It's the balance between mids being loud and clear while also not distorting and being annoying. This also keeps treble from being too harsh. Rock music actually sounds decent like this. It took me months to make rock music sound OK
SEE PHOTOS BELOW:
BONUS: The above will make significant improvement. To take it to the next level, an aftermarket subwoofer with its own ported box can be connected directly to the factory sub amp (I estimate that amp puts out 200 watts of quality sub bass, even at deep frequencies). It's AWESOME. See my other "2025 B&O Stereo..." thread for details!
At first, the 14-speaker B&O system sounded special. By default, it had very LOUD mids, so that made it feel different. Unfortunately, most people quickly discover that the music only sounds good for about half of songs, and it's just plain annoying for the other half. It took me months of adjusting the sound to finally be happy with it...
The problems:
1. BASS is WAY TOO PUNCHY, especially from the FRONT DOORS. It doesn't necessarily distort, but it's low-quality and unsatisfying. In fact, it's usually just annoying.
2. MIDS DISTORT at medium to high volumes, ESPECIALLY FOR COMPLEX ROCK MUSIC. Basically, the main problem is that the music absolutely falls apart for complex, grungy, or ambient music, which is just unacceptable. The MIDS ARE OVERPROCESSED. Bands like 'Radiohead' or 'The Killers' sounded absolutely terrible.
3. 85% OF THE SOUND COMES FROM THE FRONT - The sound does not envelope you. In fact, even people sitting in the second row can barely hear their second-row door speakers.
4. "Surround Mode" seems like it might help, but it's ultimately artificial garbage that falls apart with any type of complex music. It's NOT AN OPTION. It sounds annoying too.
5. The rear 8" "SUBWOOFER" seems like it's only there for the benefit of the people in the 3rd row. It sounds like it's about 25 watts. It's way too quiet.(in a supposed 980 watt sound system). It's completely drowned out by the front door 6x9s.
The solutions:
1. SET THE FADE WAY BACK TO THE SECOND-ROW HEADREST (I prefer touching the back of the headrest... see photo). This makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE to making more speakers matter! Now, the factory subwoofer in the back becomes relevant. From the front row, it adds deeper frequencies to all music. Certain songs that match the sub's bass frequency will sound downright great, and you can clearly hear bass coming from behind you. Next, from the front row, the second row's mids and tweeters help out the front door mids and tweeters, and THE SOUND ENVELOPES YOU. It is so much more satisfying. It actually starts to sound like a 980-watt stereo system. Now, sitting in the second row, you can clearly hear the second row speakers helping out the front doors (as it should be). Setting the fade back also drops some of the punchy bass emphasis from the front doors, which is so very important and welcomed.
2. SET SPEED COMPENSATED VOLUME TO HIGH: The only negative to setting the fade back is that top-end volume is sacrificed. It's not as loud overall. Spotifiy will still be plenty loud, but FM radio will be almost too quiet. The speed-compensated volume really helped FM radio to sound good again. I was happy to discover this.
3. USE SPOTIFY -> LOSSLESS: Sounds the best, particularly for complex music where clarity of midrange is really needed. NOTE: Most newer music sounds best and loudest with sound leveling option turned off. Some old tracks can actually be made louder with the sound leveling turned on.
4. SET THE BASS TO -7 (obviously, I'd set it to -10 if I could). That front door punchy bass needs to be controlled as much as possible to keep the music clean and not annoying.
5. SET THE MIDS to -4 and TREBLE to +2 for "clean" music like Pop, Rap, Hip-Hop, Electronic, Dubstep etc... This tones down the overprocessing (DSP). The mids are still exceptionally loud. Treble will impress people.
6. SET THE MIDS to -5 and TREBLE to 0 for "complex" or "grungy" ROCK music. This further tones down the overprocessing and is the best possible setting for rock music. It's the balance between mids being loud and clear while also not distorting and being annoying. This also keeps treble from being too harsh. Rock music actually sounds decent like this. It took me months to make rock music sound OK
SEE PHOTOS BELOW:
BONUS: The above will make significant improvement. To take it to the next level, an aftermarket subwoofer with its own ported box can be connected directly to the factory sub amp (I estimate that amp puts out 200 watts of quality sub bass, even at deep frequencies). It's AWESOME. See my other "2025 B&O Stereo..." thread for details!
