Newest B&O sound system quality

[tbalt14]

Any suggestions on what to fiddle with to maximize the sound? Just EQ or settings?

Nobody from the US and likely Canada has the new Ranger to play with the B&O to give suggestions quite yet.

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[galion]

The Harman Kardon in my Mini and the Burmester stereo in my wife's GLE450 sound much better than the B&O system in my Ranger Raptor. That being said, in my opinion, it's acceptable for a pickup truck.

 

[Brett]

Anyone outside of the NA market have any input on the quality of the B&O sound system in the Raptor/lariat?
In my experience with other Fords recently, they are a little underwhelming…was curious of the one in the Ranger.

Had B&O in Bronco Wildtrak, worst sounding system I’ve owned. Upgraded to sound bar and new subwoofer still junk. All speakers are paper junk. I’m worried about Raptor my Bose in my 2023 GMC Canyon AT4x sounds unbelievable, so Ford step it up, please.

 

[tbalt14]

Had B&O in Bronco Wildtrak, worst sounding system I’ve owned. Upgraded to sound bar and new subwoofer still junk. All speakers are paper junk. I’m worried about Raptor my Bose in my 2023 GMC Canyon AT4x sounds unbelievable, so Ford step it up, please.

I had Bose in my 2016 GMC Canyon and the B&O in my 22 Ranger is much better than the Bose.

 

[Mikey B]

Anyone outside of the NA market have any input on the quality of the B&O sound system in the Raptor/lariat?
In my experience with other Fords recently, they are a little underwhelming…was curious of the one in the Ranger.

For what its worth, my 2022 Lariat B&O is garbage. It will have to suffice but I’m used to high end pioneer JL amp and Sub, there is no comparison

 

[Ivan Baez]

Hi, I work for Harman, so the B&O system comes from us, based on the specifications provided by Ford to Harman. Having a Ranger and hearing other systems I would rate the ranger B&O sytem as an 8.5 out of 10.

Im comparing it with my previous vehicle sound system, which was a BMW x6 with Harman premium system. I would rate that one at 9.5, and my wifes vehicle whis is an Audi A7 with a B&O system, that would be a 9 from my perspective.

The difference with the B&O system from the ranger is basically the amount of bass the system provides and how early you hear it. In the ranger the system is tuned to provide heavy bass from 30% of the volume upwards, so if you hear it low the bass is very low too. While in the BMW and Audi specs you can hear the bass kick even at low volumes.

One of the cool features from the B&O system in the Ranger dough is the way the resonance of the bass is done, its a new technology that uses the chassis as resonance, not just a box as its traditionally done, which takes a lot more space. The X6 for example had a sub in the trunk and another one on each of the front seats. While the A7 has a large subwoofer box in the spare tire. In the ranger everything is achieved by a very small sub oval speaker and literally no box.

The system sounds very good above 30% volume, based on the notes that sound better I would say its tuned for coutry music or something alike. If you want more bass I would recommend to add an external powered bass only (Harman offers generic JBL and Infinity under seat powered subs that could work for that application), but taking the signal from the OEM bass lines. The new systems control not only audio but other features, so I would not recommend butcher the OEM harness and install an aftermarket system like you could do in older vehicles. If upgrading do only tried install configurations and harnesses.

I hope the info is useful.

 

[coldconfession13]

So the speakers aren't special they are just the typical paper speakers?

 

[Timsvtgen1]

Hi, I work for Harman, so the B&O system comes from us, based on the specifications provided by Ford to Harman. Having a Ranger and hearing other systems I would rate the ranger B&O sytem as an 8.5 out of 10.

Im comparing it with my previous vehicle sound system, which was a BMW x6 with Harman premium system. I would rate that one at 9.5, and my wifes vehicle whis is an Audi A7 with a B&O system, that would be a 9 from my perspective.

The difference with the B&O system from the ranger is basically the amount of bass the system provides and how early you hear it. In the ranger the system is tuned to provide heavy bass from 30% of the volume upwards, so if you hear it low the bass is very low too. While in the BMW and Audi specs you can hear the bass kick even at low volumes.

One of the cool features from the B&O system in the Ranger dough is the way the resonance of the bass is done, its a new technology that uses the chassis as resonance, not just a box as its traditionally done, which takes a lot more space. The X6 for example had a sub in the trunk and another one on each of the front seats. While the A7 has a large subwoofer box in the spare tire. In the ranger everything is achieved by a very small sub oval speaker and literally no box.

The system sounds very good above 30% volume, based on the notes that sound better I would say its tuned for coutry music or something alike. If you want more bass I would recommend to add an external powered bass only (Harman offers generic JBL and Infinity under seat powered subs that could work for that application), but taking the signal from the OEM bass lines. The new systems control not only audio but other features, so I would not recommend butcher the OEM harness and install an aftermarket system like you could do in older vehicles. If upgrading do only tried install configurations and harnesses.

I hope the info is useful.

Very useful, thank you. Do you know if the system in the 2024 might be anything improved from the previous years? Or no.

 

[Ivan Baez]

So the speakers aren't special they are just the typical paper speakers?

For whay I know they are B&O speakers, paper cone, according to the specs from Ford.

We have speakers made even out of diamond dust and polymer (used in some high end BMW's) but this depends on the customer requirements and budget.

At least in the case of the ranger the speakers are also B&O, we have some customers that order just one part of the system from Harman, and they get other cheaper parts from other brands which do not match the original system requirements.

If anyone has the boom audio JBL system in their harley road king or something similar, and the speakers blew up on restart after turning off the bike with high audio volume that is the reason. HD did not want to instal Harman speakers for the harman system, thats why they cannot stand the power of the amp at full volume on startup.

 

[Ivan Baez]

Very useful, thank you. Do you know if the system in the 2024 might be anything improved from the previous years? Or no.

If you refer to the previous gen ranger in the US the answer is yes, the 2024 ranger raptor is a lot better than that of the previous gen ranger in the US.

IF you mean vs the next gen raptor B&O systems from previous years (2022- ROW) then the system is very similar, the subwoofer changed and was improved from 2023 onwards.

 

[Timsvtgen1]

If you refer to the previous gen ranger in the US the answer is yes, the 2024 ranger raptor is a lot better than that of the previos gen ranger in the US.

IF you mean vs the next gen raptor B&O systems from previous years (2022- ROW) then the system is very similar, the subwoofer changed and was improved from 2023 onwards.

Thanks, Appreciate it.

 

[dfwford]

I have B&O in my 2024 Mustang.

It's decent, but there's nothing special about it.

 

[Mikey B]

Hi, I work for Harman, so the B&O system comes from us, based on the specifications provided by Ford to Harman. Having a Ranger and hearing other systems I would rate the ranger B&O sytem as an 8.5 out of 10.

Im comparing it with my previous vehicle sound system, which was a BMW x6 with Harman premium system. I would rate that one at 9.5, and my wifes vehicle whis is an Audi A7 with a B&O system, that would be a 9 from my perspective.

The difference with the B&O system from the ranger is basically the amount of bass the system provides and how early you hear it. In the ranger the system is tuned to provide heavy bass from 30% of the volume upwards, so if you hear it low the bass is very low too. While in the BMW and Audi specs you can hear the bass kick even at low volumes.

One of the cool features from the B&O system in the Ranger dough is the way the resonance of the bass is done, its a new technology that uses the chassis as resonance, not just a box as its traditionally done, which takes a lot more space. The X6 for example had a sub in the trunk and another one on each of the front seats. While the A7 has a large subwoofer box in the spare tire. In the ranger everything is achieved by a very small sub oval speaker and literally no box.

The system sounds very good above 30% volume, based on the notes that sound better I would say its tuned for coutry music or something alike. If you want more bass I would recommend to add an external powered bass only (Harman offers generic JBL and Infinity under seat powered subs that could work for that application), but taking the signal from the OEM bass lines. The new systems control not only audio but other features, so I would not recommend butcher the OEM harness and install an aftermarket system like you could do in older vehicles. If upgrading do only tried install configurations and harnesses.

I hope the info is useful.

Good explanation, I should have been more detailed about my response, one ahead of yours and your comments are bang on, if you like clean sound at higher levels the B&O system in the Ranger has heavy bass distortion and to be fair, the system does sound good and warm at low volumes, in fact its a con of my old Pioneer and JL amp setup that it does not sound warm at low levels.

 

[Jancha]

Anyone outside of the NA market have any input on the quality of the B&O sound system in the Raptor/lariat?
In my experience with other Fords recently, they are a little underwhelming…was curious of the one in the Ranger.

I have bo in my raptor ranger.

sound is good.

would have wished for more sound vibration insulation on doors and panels. There is some vibration at higher volume.

And its by miles better than the standard audio.

 

[Ivan Baez]

Good explanation, I should have been more detailed about my response, one ahead of yours and your comments are bang on, if you like clean sound at higher levels the B&O system in the Ranger has heavy bass distortion and to be fair, the system does sound good and warm at low volumes, in fact its a con of my old Pioneer and JL amp setup that it does not sound warm at low levels.

for me the measure of "enough bass" is when the rear view mirror vibrates with the bass, the Ranger passes this test but only from mid volume upwards.

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