Bang Olufsen settings? For owners who haven't modded their BO system

[rulaxin12]

I listen to a wide range of music, from many different sources, radio, Satellite, SD card and have the BO system in my 2013 S4.

I know many S4 owners have different reviews of the system which has caused many to add subs or dynamat their doors to get better quality out of the system.

I am trying to fine tune the settings in the MMI and wanted to see what others have done. Mine are below.

Bass : +3
Treble : no change
fade - rear 3 clicks

sound focus - front
surround level : max
Gala: active

What are your settings and what exactly is the difference between Gala and surround level?

edit:
http://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/car-a...S4,-,Limousine

here's some info from BO...

[audistealth]

IIRC, you get better bass performance from turning surround to min.

[Pilfer]

Try putting focus in the rear



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[audistealth]

Phrasing!

[Black_V!per]

Phrasing!

Are we still using phrasing?

Holy sh!t snacks!

[Shaman]

Gotta say, I put surround to about 2/3, +2 treble, +3 bass to scoop it out a bit and focus is on all passengers. Every other combination for me adds either too much midrange or takes away fidelity. The only thing I don't like about the B&O is that it hangs on "S" in vocals sometimes.

[Pilfer]

What is GALA??

[csullivan]

Gotta say, I put surround to about 2/3, +2 treble, +3 bass to scoop it out a bit and focus is on all passengers. Every other combination for me adds either too much midrange or takes away fidelity. The only thing I don't like about the B&O is that it hangs on "S" in vocals sometimes.

That's about where I leave it. bit more bass.

[SwankPeRFection]

IIRC, you get better bass performance from turning surround to min.

I set my surround to 1/3 or so and the bass is better.

[jazza08]

I don't think there is a perfect setting, it depends on how you like your music and what genre of music you listen to. It seems wierd you're putting the focus to the front then fading to the rear.. basically counteracting each setting?

Mine is bass +3, surround +2. Clarity in music is what my ears enjoy most so I am happy but the system does seem to lack some bass.

Gala adjusts the volume small amounts with increases in road noise.

[vpr80]

Gotta say, I put surround to about 2/3, +2 treble, +3 bass to scoop it out a bit and focus is on all passengers.

Nearly identical to my set up but I "focus" on driver and leave fade centered. Not sure how it is for other people, but it's good for me in the driver's seat.

[SwankPeRFection]

Balance - Default Mid
Fader - Default Mid
Treble - +3
Bass - +6
DSP Focus - All
Surround - -7 from Mid
GALA - Active

SAT sits on BPM and sounds good. Lol

[cspcrx]

What is GALA??

turns the sound up and down based on interior noise basically.

[IanCH]

Huh, now I know what GALA is, I dont think it was called that on my S6 even thought the functionality was the same. Gonna try out some of these settings, never really tried much of the surround on the lower end.

[Ketzer7]

SAT sits on BPM and sounds good. Lol

Not Electric Area too? (at least when they are not playing dubstep or electro out the ass - blech)

Mine basically stays on one or the other of those two channels as well (when not listening to various trance podcasts), so definitely going to give your settings a try on mine.

[SwankPeRFection]

Not Electric Area too? (at least when they are not playing dubstep or electro out the ass - blech)

Mine basically stays on one or the other of those two channels as well (when not listening to various trance podcasts), so definitely going to give your settings a try on mine.

I used to listen to Area a couple of years ago too, but it seems as of late every time I flip to it, it's shit... but maybe it's just my luck. lol

[Ketzer7]

^^ Yeah it's hit or miss with it sometimes. Best times are when they are playing a show from a DJ whose style you already know you like, but the problem there is they can't ever leave it in a consistent time slot and end up moving them all over the place constantly it seems.

[SwankPeRFection]

^^^ Ya, that must be the issue. But try the settings and let me know if you like them. If you're into actually hearing BASS like I do, I think you'll appreciate the settings. Dialing the surround down some is what allows it to come through because if you leave that up, BASS blows on the B&O almost as much as it did on the previous gen BOSE.

[rulaxin12]

Balance - Default Mid
Fader - Default Mid
Treble - +3
Bass - +6
DSP Focus - All
Surround - -7 from Mid
GALA - Active

SAT sits on BPM and sounds good. Lol

Tried this last night and the sound quality is way better than my previous settings. Thanks!

[Ketzer7]

Balance - Default Mid
Fader - Default Mid
Treble - +3
Bass - +6
DSP Focus - All
Surround - -7 from Mid
GALA - Active

SAT sits on BPM and sounds good. Lol

Meant to respond sooner. Set this last night when I left work and listened to my trance podcasts and BPM/Area all the way home and back again this morning, and agree, much better sounding than before. Thanks SP!

[SwankPeRFection]

Glad everyone likes the settings.

[mdgrwl]

Wow... very different taste here.

Balance - center
Fader - 3-4 clicks forward
Treble - 12 o'clock (flat)
Bass - 3 o'clock (adjust to taste, I like a lot of bass and also have a 12' sealed subwoofer in the trunk).
DSP Focus - FRONT
Surround - 0 / OFF
GALA - Inactive

When you go to a concert, where are the speakers and where are they facing? Exactly. In front of you and facing right at you.We hear things best in front of us, that's the way our ears were designed.

I highly suggest Sound Focus FRONT, fade forward a bit and turning Surround to 0 / off. The Surround sounds artificial and the processor takes random treble frequencies and puts it behind the listening ear. Just sounds off... and its not consistent. It takes what it feels like from a song and throws it behind you. Surround sounds is good for movies, not music.

Give that a try - bet you'll love it.

[SwankPeRFection]

I'd like to point out that a lot of these settings also have to do with what type of music you like listening to. Also, some concerts now have speakers in the back and sides of spectator area as well. Depends on where the venue is. I had a full Clarion DSP in a previous car that could mimic pretty much any virtual surround setting you could think of. They all sounded good. For my type of music, my settings work. YMMV depending on your tastes, but I didn't get the B&O option to fade to two speakers in my front doors and not use the DSP.

[rs4dreams]

Swank, I'll have to try out your settings tonight.

I personally prefer surround focus on driver though. I feel like the bass comes through deeper and more naturally this way. I'm in the middle on all settings except bass on +1.

[SwankPeRFection]

Bump the BASS up to a minimum of +6 and lower the Surround. Depending on music and source, this may be enough, maybe not. (You won't get no BASS with any settings from the 80's channel. lol)

[mdgrwl]

I'd like to point out that a lot of these settings also have to do with what type of music you like listening to. Also, some concerts now have speakers in the back and sides of spectator area as well. Depends on where the venue is. I had a full Clarion DSP in a previous car that could mimic pretty much any virtual surround setting you could think of. They all sounded good. For my type of music, my settings work. YMMV depending on your tastes, but I didn't get the B&O option to fade to two speakers in my front doors and not use the DSP.

With your settings, you have no sound stage. Its just a hot mess... sounds coming from everywhere. Some think this is 'cool' as they hear 'surround', but in reality your getting frequency cancellation and blurry sound lacking clarity.

Professional studio producers use a simple 2.1 channel system. L/R speakers and a subwoofer. Thats it. 2 channels. Left & Right, and sub. Having a some random 'surround processor' screw with this is something I will not allow.

In addition most competition SQ setups consist of just 2 front component speakers and a sub. Some have and there is nothing wrong with a little rear 'fill', but it should be kept to a minimum and most SQ competitors have these set up with a low pass filter set around 900hz-1200k keeping the sound stage in front of the listener, where it should be.

But hey, what do I know? All these 12 speaker 'surround sound' systems that come OE are pure marketing.

The B/O sounds good. It is full and clear (when set up right). It does need the assistance of a amplified sub as turning up the OE bass up too much starts to distort. Otherwise its a great, full sounding system... again, when set up right.

[SwankPeRFection]

I feel like I'm getting Wested here. Lol

Tell you what. I'll use my settings and you use yours. I don't need a "staged" setup because I prefer to listen to my music type and hear it from a non-localized direction. There's no sound cancelation happening and no, it's not all surround and echoey.

If you really are an audiophile then you'd know that EQ settings for one type of music doesn't work for another and while these settings aren't even EQ settings for that matter, some still work for one type music while not for another.

[rs4dreams]

I tried your settings Swank. They worked decently well for electronic music. As soon as Losing my Religion by REM came on, the mids were being drowned by lots of weird treble. Didn't seem to have very good fidelity at all. I tried toning it down to +4 bass +2 treble but still didn't like it.

[SwankPeRFection]

If you recall, I did say it was not meant for Rock.

If you are the kind of person who doesn't like bass and wants a more subdued blend of melody with lower levels of rhythm, you won't like those settings. The fact that you prefer bass at +1 only does show that. No big deal.

[rs4dreams]

If you recall, I did say it was not meant for Rock.

If you are the kind of person who doesn't like bass and wants a more subdued blend of melody with lower levels of rhythm, you won't like those settings. The fact that you prefer bass at +1 only does show that. No big deal.

Fair enough I totally agree with you about "no right or wrong." Different people will like wildly different settings for even the same genre of music, never mind different genres.

I wish there was a way to easily save/load different sound profiles.

[SwankPeRFection]

Darn it! You beat me to the edit. I was going to say....

You'd like my settings if you had robot ears.

[mdgrwl]

If you recall, I did say it was not meant for Rock.

If you are the kind of person who doesn't like bass and wants a more subdued blend of melody with lower levels of rhythm, you won't like those settings. The fact that you prefer bass at +1 only does show that. No big deal.

Not meant for rock? lol... subdued blend of melody with lower levels of rhythm???? What on earth are you talking about man?

There are two lines of thought:
1 - Ill set my car sound up however the heck I want, its all preference, theres no rules, and shuv it cuz thats that.
or
2 - There ARE fundamental rules when setting up a sound system properly. Things to consider are sound stage and focus, along with proper application of EQ to equalize out any acoustic 'holes' or 'sound traps' within the cabin.

Take your pick... but any decent set up should play relatively "flat" or "neutral", allowing the producers work to shine thru, regardless of genre.

There are always preferences, yes I agree, and thats why I set my sound up under the 2nd option but I do like a little more kick from the lower frequencies and thats why I have a dedicated amplified sub in addition to the BO system.

[mdgrwl]

If you really are an audiophile then you'd know that EQ settings for one type of music doesn't work for another and while these settings aren't even EQ settings for that matter, some still work for one type music while not for another.

Wrong. EQ is to balance out any acoustic imbalance within the listening environment. Think of the word. "EQUALIZE".

Too often people juice EQ settings, treating it as a personal preference toy and wonder why another album or genre sounds terrible under the same EQ settings.

Again, EQ is to balance out any imbalance or "equalize" out any imbalance in a room, and in this case a car cabin. It takes some work and balance to get it right, but again, any genre or album should sound decent through a properly set up system.

FWIW Im a musician. I play bass. Gigs can range from small bars to hollow boomy stages to outdoor venues. One EQ setting on my amp will not work in every room, and you have to adjust to equalize out your sound to that paticular room. Some gigs will project way too much deep bass, so Ill have to dial them back a bit and boost mids. Some have natural bass traps and Ill have to boost bass. They key is listening to how the frequencies interact within the environment and adjust accordingly. Same goes with a cars cabin.

[SwankPeRFection]

Look you stupid dog. I get it, you don't like surround and DSP. Good for you. I didn't buy the B&O to not use it how I want to and while you don't agree with my settings, you'll need to learn to deal with me not liking your settings. About the only settings we seem to agree on is BASS and my old Treble setting which was also at mid. What I don't like is all the sound coming from the front and center channels. If I wanted 2.1 sound I would have got the regular stereo. Deal with it.

[mdgrwl]

Classy response Swank. Stupid? Certainly not and you know it.

Set up your system however you want... I don't know your nor do I truly care how you listen to your music. I have no personal agenda with you.

I'm simply correcting your blatantly wrong statements for the benefit of others reading. If you read the OP's first post, he said he listens to a wide range of music... my settings are more neutral for his application, and as you even stated yourself your settings are good for one genre... that blended melody of rhythm with subtle whatever the heck your talking about, lol.

[SwankPeRFection]

Doesn't really matter. I posted my settings NOT for the benefit of the OP, but anyone who wanted to try them. If they don't work for you, then good for you. Go play with your knobs and set them the way you like. Take care now... bye bye then.

[mdgrwl]

For the benefit of those who want decent sound, take this from a musician who knows sound focus, and a bit of studio EQ:

Balance - center
Fader - 3-4 clicks forward (The best way to set this up is put it all the way forward, then dial it back slowly until you can hear just a touch of rear "fill").
Treble - 12 o'clock (flat)
Bass - anywhere from 2-3 o'clock (don't go overboard otherwise you distort the subwoofer)
DSP Focus - FRONT (Puts sound facing you. Better then Driver, driver scoops out low mids and bumps bass. Front is more full and round sounding).
Surround - 0 / OFF (unnecessary sound processing)
GALA - Inactive (unnecessary volume and EQ changing depending on what speed your driving)

[KarimS3]

What is GALA??

Graduated Audio Level Adjustment

[BrianV]

mdgrwl is right, as someone who is somewhat familiar with audio, I tend to agree with his line of thought. Audio is meant to be in stereo, period. Any processing to try and create "surround" is doing more damage than good. While I have a very nice 5.1 setup at home, it's solely used for movies that were recorded in 5.1. When I go to listening to music, it's straight stereo into my bi-amped bookshelf speakers.

I always run this experiment with my friends. I take the Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged concert. Song 1 is Nutshell, great song. I have people sit in my couch, which is a perfect centered triangle from the two speakers. I tell them to close their eyes and picture each band member, it's obvious where each instrument is (since this was a live performance, I can also show them a picture of the stage setup, it helps the novices). They see three speakers, the stereo and a perfectly centered Polk LSiC center channel. At the end, I ask them if they heard how clean it was and how well the center channel speaker sounded. They always say yes. I have them listen again and during the middle of the song, the second time, I have them go up and put their ear next to the center channel speaker. Nada, no sound. Minds blown. Anyways, a good stereo setup with great sound stage is just amazing. Running sound through my center channel (or rears) butchers the experience.

My bookshelf speakers aren't great (LSi9), but they're decent enough and with a discreet Rotel stereo bi-amp amp, it sounds pretty good. Anyways, I'll try his settings as I trust he knows what he's talking about.

Cheers,
Brian

[Schadenfreude]

For the benefit of those who want decent sound, take this from a musician who knows sound focus, and a bit of studio EQ:

Balance - center
Fader - 3-4 clicks forward (The best way to set this up is put it all the way forward, then dial it back slowly until you can hear just a touch of rear "fill").
Treble - 12 o'clock (flat)
Bass - anywhere from 2-3 o'clock (don't go overboard otherwise you distort the subwoofer)
DSP Focus - FRONT (Puts sound facing you. Better then Driver, driver scoops out low mids and bumps bass. Front is more full and round sounding).
Surround - 0 / OFF (unnecessary sound processing)
GALA - Inactive (unnecessary volume and EQ changing depending on what speed your driving)

Thanks for the above settings, mdgrwl. I tried them yesterday across several genres of music and I think they work pretty well to my admittedly untrained ear. As a bonus, the settings got rid of an annoying shrill sound I would get sometimes on phone calls.