Audi A6 PHEV Sedan – Bang&Olufsen Premium Sound System

[DerRoland]

Hello Phillip,

my own findings with a bang&olufsen system in an A4 allroad B9 2016 are rather good. In the first weeks of ownership in 2017 (formally a werkswagen) I noticed a strong distortion at normal volume, especially from the center speaker when women speak on news station. With any kind of music there was it not clear to hear. After long tries with different sound demos I could replay this defect with a slow sinus sweep wav file between 100 and 300 Hz.

At the Audipartner, who sell the car to me, I demonstrate this flaw and they admit to solve the issue. At first they replace the center speaker. But the distortion stay there. After reclaim it again, the clue from Audi engineers was to put in a peace foam between the loadspeaker cover and the chassis. That was the solution.

The ultra thin sheets of the doors make “HiFi” nearly impossible. The first thing what professionell sound tuners do is to stick butyl layers in the doors at every possible place. Then they replace the simple paper cone speakers of the system.

At the German forum motortalk is an own thread about the sound quality of the B&O System.

The wish to get a real “HiFi system” from a car manufacturer in the price range of 1k is nearly impossible. Either spend much more (e.g. 6k at your A6), go to an aftermarket sound installer or try it DIY.

Roland

 

[Karl-Heinz Fink]

Hi Roland,
nothing wrong with paper cone speakers. In many cases, exotic cone materials are used for marketing, not really for sound reasons. Nowadays, every car system got a DSP involved to tune the car, so aftermarket or DIY is really difficult if you don't have access to the filtering.

ATB KH

 

[Philipp Paul Klose]

Seeing that Audi dashboard font triggers my PTSD... Didn't have a great experience with mine.....

sorry to hear that.

 

[Philipp Paul Klose]

Hello Phillip,

my own findings with a bang&olufsen system in an A4 allroad B9 2016 are rather good. In the first weeks of ownership in 2017 (formally a werkswagen) I noticed a strong distortion at normal volume, especially from the center speaker when women speak on news station. With any kind of music there was it not clear to hear. After long tries with different sound demos I could replay this defect with a slow sinus sweep wav file between 100 and 300 Hz.

At the Audipartner, who sell the car to me, I demonstrate this flaw and they admit to solve the issue. At first they replace the center speaker. But the distortion stay there. After reclaim it again, the clue from Audi engineers was to put in a peace foam between the loadspeaker cover and the chassis. That was the solution.

The ultra thin sheets of the doors make “HiFi” nearly impossible. The first thing what professionell sound tuners do is to stick butyl layers in the doors at every possible place. Then they replace the simple paper cone speakers of the system.

At the German forum motortalk is an own thread about the sound quality of the B&O System.

The wish to get a real “HiFi system” from a car manufacturer in the price range of 1k is nearly impossible. Either spend much more (e.g. 6k at your A6), go to an aftermarket sound installer or try it DIY.

Roland

Hello Roland,
as Karl-Heinz stated, paper cones are per-se not bad. But what you have to keep in mind is that there are so many other requirements that have to be fulfilled. Some speakers also serve as crash protection or hold with their housings parts like cables or sensors together.
I have heard of that center grille problem. My guess is that your speaker was defect, but when the new one came in, the clips in the grille were not properly replaced and/or a screw was not tightened when replaced. Replacing the center speaker with the wind screen in place is a horrible job.

 

[DerRoland]

Thank you for your replys.

It´s a pleasure to get a comment from the audio department.

Cones of Paper are in my feelings not the ideal material in areas with high humity (raining days/fall/winter), but I haven´t any kind of deeper knowledge about the livespan of car loudspeakers.

Sincerly
Roland

 

[Philipp Paul Klose]

The paper cones are often treated with thin coatings that repel water and humidity. Same with spiders. Or they are designed in a way that water cannot reach them at all. I have seen door speakers that have little roofs. The specs and tests are very rigorous here To insure quality and validity.

 

[PatentLawyer]

sorry to hear that.

No hard feelings. I happened to lease that car (it was my first car lease, actually) so it wasn't the end of the world.

That said, mine had the Bose stereo as there just wasn't a local a black-on-black one with the B&O stereo (2015 A8L). Honestly, the Bose system was surprisingly good.

 

[Philipp Paul Klose]

I have driven so many thousand kilometers in a D4 A8L with 4.2L V8 Diesel. Loved that car. The thing with BOSE is, that they really know what they are doing and they do it good. But they want to control the whole system. From cables, speakers, tuning, amps - they all want to have in their control. Works for some car makers, for some not.