Subwoofer Extremely Lacking in B&O System

[Adam CW]

I'm not saying the speakers used in the Bronco Sport are top of the line, but some of the most highly-rated consumer speakers available are made using paper cones. It's not necessarily the material that makes them sound bad.

I used to consider myself an audiophile, not so much now that my ears don't work so well any more. My advice to friends who asked was to set a budget, then plan to spend HALF your budget on speakers. And then, because sound "quality" is so subjective, ignore the speaker reviews and stats. Instead, go out and listen to as many different brands and styles of speaker as you can. You may find you will not be happy without the most expensive drivers in the store, or you may like a pair that some audiophile knucklehead told you were cheap garbage. You never know...

I agree. I think the reason paper cones have a bad reputation is because most cheap, low quality speakers are made with them.

When I was in the market for a new set of speakers I listened to multiple brands and types. I even listened to a couple of $10,000+ speakers expecting to be wowed and I wasn’t. I honestly thought my $1,200 Wharfedales were better.

Does anyone have any pictures of the speakers used in the B&O system?

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[ScareCrow]

Food for thought.....

2021 Ford Bronco - B&O Sound System Review

 

[ESBadlands]

I'm growing very salty, and I started off salty ahead of it...ITS AN ECONOMY OFF ROAD CAPABLE ENTRY LEVEL BUDGET MINDED COMPACT SUV....IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE TOP OF THE LINE SURROUND SOUND, THEATER QUALITY BLOW YOUR HAIR BACK BLAU PUNCT...For the love of GOD...some of you need a serious reality check. You WANT TOP tier every feature ever created for $40K. Yep that is a large sum for a car...but it's 2022...you want LUXURY pay up. This incessant whiny I want I want is absolutely nauseating. Drive a stock vehicle from the 70s for a few weeks then see how far it's come. Unreal the utter bitching over the most trivial things. YOU BOUGHT THE WRONG VEHICLE....OWN IT.

Cool story bro . Ok, back to my whining, about whatever I feel like whining about.

 

[kingtj]

Sorry...and not looking for buddy's so thanks for the offer. It's not a luxury car, it's a Bronco sport. Want a luxury sound system suv get an escalade or another similar mall model Lincoln Navigator....you just don't get it. The Bronco/sport was never designed for comforts of home. YOU and many others seem to miss the entire point of recreational vehicle. I don't picture myself listening for the C minor as I roll through mud and mountain trails. Again...you bought the wrong vehicle yet so many of YOU expect Ford to cater to every single option...there is a cost efficiency point and a premium sound system isn't part of it. Since you can make it sound like a Dolby sound studio for $800...guess you screwed the pooch with the B/O upgrade. That is poor consumer purchasing.

I'm gone wear my ignore button right quick.

I never said anything about expecting Ford to cater to "every single option" on my Bronco Sport! And I definitely know I didn't "buy the wrong vehicle", since as I've said before -- this is my second vehicle that I don't want to use for my daily commute. This replaced an old Chrysler minivan that was my former "spare vehicle" for hauling stuff around. But I'm at the point I don't need to move much furniture anymore. I'd rather have something fun that has some off-road capability and will be a good option for ice and snow.

This isn't about demanding something that's cost prohibitive on anything other than some luxury car. This is about calling auto-makers out for being penny-pinchers and ripping off the consumer.

I had a really good sounding Rockford Fosgate branded stereo that came in my old Mitsubishi Eclipse ... hardly a luxury car. It can absolutely be done. But not when Ford wants to pocket some extra cash by selling you a 6x9" speaker as the subwoofer for the system, etc.

 

[RiotfunK]

these are the door speakers. Made by God knows who. Marketed as B&O, under harman and owned by Samsung. Also used as Sonys speakers in previous Ford models. Same speakers Ford has been using for last 10 years. But they’re 25w 4ohm so most off the shelf auto speakers will work.
I bet if you swap out just the 4 door speakers, it will be night and day difference since any aftermarket speakers can handle it better and won’t distort at very low volumes. And can get cheap ones like 80-100$ for four and just run off the factory amp.

 

[13MikeH]

Cool story bro . Ok, back to my whining, about whatever I feel like whining about.

Enjoy...

 

[Adam CW]

these are the door speakers. Made by God knows who. Marketed as B&O, under harman and owned by Samsung. Also used as Sonys speakers in previous Ford models. Same speakers Ford has been using for last 10 years. But they’re 25w 4ohm so most off the shelf auto speakers will work.
I bet if you swap out just the 4 door speakers, it will be night and day difference since any aftermarket speakers can handle it better and won’t distort at very low volumes. And can get cheap ones like 80-100$ for four and just run off the factory amp.

That’s a tiny magnet!

If Ford is using the same speakers (just more of them) for the premium sound system, why would any stereo company want to put their name on it?

What exactly did B&O add to it?

 

[Jess1]

...

What exactly did B&O add to it?

In my experience w/OEMs, it's a bit of salesmanship along with some real engineering. The name brand company will usually work w/the suppliers and manuf in the development of component placement and selection to best fit the attributes of said brand at the given price point.
I did note a fair amount of noticible difference between the "base" and B&O setups - especially with a better quality source (S/XM isn't...)

 

[Mark S.]

I bet if you swap out just the 4 door speakers, it will be night and day difference since any aftermarket speakers can handle it better and won’t distort at very low volumes.

The only issue with this is the digital signal processor. I believe the B&O system uses a DSP to "tune" the amp output for the speakers. That means whatever equalization it's currently applying to the OEM speakers will also be applied to any replacements. You may get "better" sound, or the equalization may make the "better" speakers sound like dookey as well.

I believe those with discerning ears will likely not be satisfied with anything less than bypassing the OEM amp/DSP setup entirely. Since that would entail replacing the speakers too, there's little risk in replacing them first to see if you're satisfied with the result. My experience watching many go through this process in the Mustang community suggests speaker replacement won't be enough.

 

[69cuda340s]

I think the B&O stereo in my Badlands sounds great.

 

[69cuda340s]

I'm growing very salty, and I started off salty ahead of it...ITS AN ECONOMY OFF ROAD CAPABLE ENTRY LEVEL BUDGET MINDED COMPACT SUV....IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE TOP OF THE LINE SURROUND SOUND, THEATER QUALITY BLOW YOUR HAIR BACK BLAU PUNCT...For the love of GOD...some of you need a serious reality check. You WANT TOP tier every feature ever created for $40K. Yep that is a large sum for a car...but it's 2022...you want LUXURY pay up. This incessant whiny I want I want is absolutely nauseating. Drive a stock vehicle from the 70s for a few weeks then see how far it's come. Unreal the utter bitching over the most trivial things. YOU BOUGHT THE WRONG VEHICLE....OWN IT.

You need to go over to thread about mudd hanging up in wheel wells set those folks straight too....

 

[13MikeH]

You need to go over to thread about mudd hanging up in wheel wells set those folks straight too....

I am just a grumpy old man happy with what I researched and paid for. Guess I'm old school in a way that, there is a give and take in value and you can't expect champagne delivery on beer money.

 

[Adam CW]

How does the B&O system compare to Ford’s older Sony systems?

 

[BigPhatPaulie]

How does the B&O system compare to Ford’s older Sony systems?

It is certainly a lot better than the sony system in my parents 2017 explorer platinum

 

[kyle_conrad]

I had the "fancy" system (I believe it was Sony then?) in my Ford Fiesta Titanium, and the B&O system in the BS sounds miles better than that. Setting it to surround, adjusting the position, and using high quality audio (generally Tidal's master quality), I don't really have anything to complain about so far.

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