Complete guide of speakers in the B9 B&O system

**magikbaker** · 03-20-2020 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by SofaKingSlow

I had the exact same thing happen, and it sounds like the voice coil is bottoming out at a volume that is too low for me to believe the speaker would do that. I went ahead and installed an amp to try and solve that problem, but now I can't get music to play through the sub, even after adding some resistors to add a load to the stock amp outputs as suggested elsewhere.

I'm still working, so I haven't had to time to completely check my install and make sure I haven't just hooked something up wrong, but this is getting a little frustrating after going into this thinking I was just going to swap out the sub and enjoy some deeper bass. What's really weird is that before I added the resistors, the sub would occasionally make some noise, usually just thumps when turning the car on/off, but starting doing some weird stuff once when my daughter rolled her window down.

Yea it’s getting a little better as the sub is starting to wear in a little bit and the bass is definitely noticeably louder at the equivalent subwoofer setting. I had it running for about 2 hours since my post. I am almost at ~60% now and getting me a similar if not greater output at 75% with the stock. Just surprising that I couldn’t get the stock to pop ever.

I’m done here. Just wanted to upgrade the sound without complexity and understand the rabbit hole that comes with doing car audio. I have replaced about everything Bobby has and it is indeed a much more accurate experience.

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-21-2020 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by magikbaker

I’ve been following this thread for a while and am finally trying to take advantage of all the work put in to it and being locked in my house.

I will start off by saying I am a car audio amateur but very handy.

I have the Kicker sub all mounted up and polarity correct however at about half volume with 3/4 sub setting I am getting a pop from the sub with each coil individually as well as in tandem. The stock sub was able to handle this bass level. This seems to be a different result than I have been reading about. It does sound much better than stock at lower volumes.

I have the middle 2 wires from the harness going to one side and the outer 2 going to the other. Any help would be appreciated.

The kicker sub is 4 ohms and the factory sub is 8 ohms so the amp is putting out twice as much power. I was only able to bottom mine out playing bass boosted music however. If you want higher power handling the CompR is pretty much the same woofer, only stronger:

https://www.kicker.com/comp-r-10-4-ohm-subwoofer

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-21-2020 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by SofaKingSlow

I had the exact same thing happen, and it sounds like the voice coil is bottoming out at a volume that is too low for me to believe the speaker would do that. I went ahead and installed an amp to try and solve that problem, but now I can't get music to play through the sub, even after adding some resistors to add a load to the stock amp outputs as suggested elsewhere.

I'm still working, so I haven't had to time to completely check my install and make sure I haven't just hooked something up wrong, but this is getting a little frustrating after going into this thinking I was just going to swap out the sub and enjoy some deeper bass. What's really weird is that before I added the resistors, the sub would occasionally make some noise, usually just thumps when turning the car on/off, but starting doing some weird stuff once when my daughter rolled her window down.

I had major problems getting my amp connected and the only thing that worked for me was the AudioControl LC2i. I spent weeks with Kicker technical support trying to get that resolved and tried several things including resistors, and line converters.

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-21-2020 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by magikbaker

Yea it’s getting a little better as the sub is starting to wear in a little bit and the bass is definitely noticeably louder at the equivalent subwoofer setting. I had it running for about 2 hours since my post. I am almost at ~60% now and getting me a similar if not greater output at 75% with the stock. Just surprising that I couldn’t get the stock to pop ever.

I’m done here. Just wanted to upgrade the sound without complexity and understand the rabbit hole that comes with doing car audio. I have replaced about everything Bobby has and it is indeed a much more accurate experience.

Your bass is probably much deeper and tighter than the factory sub was too. I noticed the factory sub struggled below 35hz, but the kicker plays clean to 27.

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-21-2020 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by dkmesa

have you found a sweet spot as far as LC2i settings that you care to share?

Not really. I turned the little threshold screw all the way up and then set the first two dials to straight up and the bass knob to 9:00. That's pretty good so far. But I may tweak it. I tried setting it up with my microphone and speaker software but that actually sounded pretty bad afterwards.

**dkmesa** · 03-21-2020 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by Bobby Kinstle

Not really. I turned the little threshold screw all the way up and then set the first two dials to straight up and the bass knob to 9:00. That's pretty good so far. But I may tweak it. I tried setting it up with my microphone and speaker software but that actually sounded pretty bad afterwards.

Thanks. Looking forward to my enclosure arriving to start my install.

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-22-2020 08:07 AM

Also I set the Low pass filter on my amp to 50hz. Since I replaced my front door woofers, they play much deeper than the factory woofers did.

**magikbaker** · 03-22-2020 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by Bobby Kinstle

The kicker sub is 4 ohms and the factory sub is 8 ohms so the amp is putting out twice as much power. I was only able to bottom mine out playing bass boosted music however. If you want higher power handling the CompR is pretty much the same woofer, only stronger:

https://www.kicker.com/comp-r-10-4-ohm-subwoofer

Sounds like I shouldn't be overly concerned about it. It was just sorta shocking at first listen when you want to crank it some to see what you got. I'd prefer the extra 3/4" savings the CompC offers as I am often having to fit 3 sets of golf clubs in there.

Something to note that I did in order to essentially attach the sub around its entire circumference. I screwed the 2 holes against the window with shallow screws into the mdf spacer and then from underneath the deck eyeballed 3 points between the mounting holes on top and fastened the deck up into the mdf. Without this I had some small movement of the sub with moderate force.

Another thing I found helpful to drill the mounting holes was to use a very skinny sharp nail and a sideways hammer to make pin holes through the deck. I was able to do this for the front 6 holes and it allowed me to drill the mounting locations from underneath in the trunk. Made it a little bit easier without a non pneumatic angle driver.

I found some brackets today that might work with the front door woofers and the speakers you found. I haven't had any time to check but it looks like it's promising and I might order tonight and see how it lines up. Bobby I know you mentioned having some overlap with the sub and the upgraded door woofer but would you recommenced it even if I wasn't planning on getting an amp?

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-iKEBgR...-Brackets.html

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-22-2020 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by magikbaker

Something to note that I did in order to essentially attach the sub around its entire circumference. I screwed the 2 holes against the window with shallow screws into the mdf spacer and then from underneath the deck eyeballed 3 points between the mounting holes on top and fastened the deck up into the mdf. Without this I had some small movement of the sub with moderate force.

I pre drilled the spacer before putting into the car and then used self tapping sheet metal screws. I was able to get 6 of the 8 screws into it with my right angle screwdriver. Plus my spacer has a fuzzy side so it's in there really solid.

I found some brackets today that might work with the front door woofers and the speakers you found. I haven't had any time to check but it looks like it's promising and I might order tonight and see how it lines up. Bobby I know you mentioned having some overlap with the sub and the upgraded door woofer but would you recommenced it even if I wasn't planning on getting an amp?

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-iKEBgR...-Brackets.html

OMG! I want to see how this fits. That would be a billion times easier than what I did. Also for the non B&O folks with A4's too.

**vsaudi** · 03-23-2020 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by Bobby Kinstle

The MOST signal comes into the trunk on a fiber optic cable. You grab it there, feed it to your signal processor and then connect that to all of your amps. From there you can either wire them into the factory harness or run new wires to every location. I have a pinout of the factory harness on my guide at the beginning of this post.

This is best way to go. I got really clean sound from using MOST to a Zen V NavTV to Mosconi DSP to Amps. Had some issues at start but firmware upgrade to Zen fixed it.

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**vsaudi** · 03-23-2020 10:28 PM

Originally Posted by gotstocks

I hope this isn't a stupid question, but I've never messed with a MOST enabled vehicle. How do I wire the speakers to the amp? Where do I tap back into the factory speaker wires? Is there a harness adapter available? I Also, have a B9 RS5. Thank you.

I ran new wires to the front doors and tapped into the harness at rear by connector for the rear doors. I used three way active crossovers for front and two-way passive for rear doors.

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**ambesolman** · 03-24-2020 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by vsaudi

This is best way to go. I got really clean sound from using MOST to a Zen V NavTV to Mosconi DSP to Amps. Had some issues at start but firmware upgrade to Zen fixed it.

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The zen website doesn’t provide much info to explain things very well. What is it for/what’s it do that the MOST and dsp alone can’t achieve?

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**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-25-2020 01:18 AM

I'm really blown away at how poorly documented a lot of the enthusiast grade audio products are.

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-26-2020 11:19 AM

I spoke with Kicker technical support about the subs bottoming out and they said that in free air applications, it only takes about half of the rated power to bottom out the sub. The spec ratings assume a box enclosure which acts as an air spring cushioning the back side of the woofer.

**magikbaker** · 03-27-2020 05:47 AM

Originally Posted by Bobby Kinstle

I spoke with Kicker technical support about the subs bottoming out and they said that in free air applications, it only takes about half of the rated power to bottom out the sub. The spec ratings assume a box enclosure which acts as an air spring cushioning the back side of the woofer.

By that thought would it actually bottom out easier as it wears in? When a sub wears in does it make more sound because it can move further for a certain sound or does it not need to move as far to produce the same sound.

Also I finally received those new brackets for the front door woofer and nothing about them fit. The only good thing they can be used for is as a solid base to make a custom mount. I had to cut ~9” mdf rings to make it wide enough to work for the door and the 6.6” screw diameter of the aurum cantus 165’s was slight too big I had to screw into at an angle and use metal caulk to mount. A standard 4 hole 6.5” pattern speaker would worked a little nicer.

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-27-2020 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by magikbaker

By that thought would it actually bottom out easier as it wears in? When a sub wears in does it make more sound because it can move further for a certain sound or does it not need to move as far to produce the same sound.

It means it will take less power to bottom out the sub once it breaks in, but it also means it will take less power across the board to achieve the same volume level. Sub output is determined by how much the driver moves, not how much power it takes to move the driver if that makes sense.

Also I finally received those new brackets for the front door woofer and nothing about them fit. The only good thing they can be used for is as a solid base to make a custom mount. I had to cut ~9” mdf rings to make it wide enough to work for the door and the 6.6” screw diameter of the aurum cantus 165’s was slight too big I had to screw into at an angle and use metal caulk to mount. A standard 4 hole 6.5” pattern speaker would worked a little nicer.

Did you take any photos? How much smaller than the factory opening were they?

I've been using locktite construction adhesive to glue the woofers into my custom brackets. Man that is some strong stuff. But you better hope you like it when it dries because it's not coming off.

One downside to the home audio market is that there are no "standard" hole patterns. Sometimes you get lucky but usually not.

**dkmesa** · 03-27-2020 11:58 AM

I installed my subwoofer yesterday. LC2i, Alpine MRV-M500, and Alpine 10" Type S D4. I found these LC2i settings to work best so far. Accubass around 10 o'clock with the side dial turned to about 75% (no idea what frequency cutoff that approximates), middle knob (surprised to find this does anything when only using the bass output) at 8 o'clock (all the way down), and the right knob at 8 o'clock (all the way down). This way I was able to keep the gain on my amp at about 33% and LPF at 80 hz. Turning the bass knob on the LC2i at all resulted in way too much bass. I have returned the MMI dials to 12 o'clock for treble, bass, and subwoofer, focus = front, surround on 3rd lowest setting, and the 3d effect off. It played a 30 hz test note cleanly.

image0.jpg

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-27-2020 03:06 PM

Nice!

**magikbaker** · 03-27-2020 03:15 PM

Here is how it ended up looking:

https://www.audizine.com/gallery/sho...hp?photo=95572

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-27-2020 05:46 PM

Oh that's a lot smaller than I imaged it would be.

**Tatge** · 03-29-2020 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by magikbaker

I had to cut ~9” mdf rings to make it wide enough to work for the door and the 6.6” screw diameter of the aurum cantus 165’s was slight too big I had to screw into at an angle and use metal caulk to mount. A standard 4 hole 6.5” pattern speaker would worked a little nicer.

Did you end up using 1/4" MDF to make the rings? How is your clearance between the woofer and the door?

I bought the same woofers and mounts and am now contemplating fabricating a mount out of several layers of MDF...

**magikbaker** · 03-29-2020 02:02 PM

I actually used particle board because it’s what I had handy. It was 5/8” but I had to plane it down to something close to 1/4” to clear the grills. If you are building the entire thing out of a few layers of mdf you shouldn’t have any problem. In fact I thought about doing that even having this brackets to get a better fit. Just went with the brackets since it would be faster.

**Bobby Kinstle** · 03-29-2020 08:36 PM

How do you like the sound of that Aurum Cantus woofer?

**Bobby Kinstle** · 04-03-2020 09:19 AM

If anybody is sub amp shopping, this amp I've been following for a while is now shipping:

https://www.kicker.com/key-5001-1-ch...mart-amplifier

It has a DSP and you play some test tracks and it adjusts the sub output to provide the best bass experience in your car. I'm hoping it can accept the speaker level inputs from the B&O directly so if anybody tries one, please let me know how it works out.

**SickAWD** · 04-14-2020 09:52 AM

I just wanted to help out anyone else that is trying to connect an aftermarket subwoofer and amp to their Bang and Olufsen system. I connected the Posi-Taps to the LOC for a cleaner install since I didn’t want to do any cutting or splicing of the OEM wiring. I then opened up the grill to the subwoofer on the driver's side back seat. In there you can find the cable that connects to the subwoofer. It is a pain to get off but there is a little red clip on the bottom of the harness that you have to pull out to unplug it from the subwoofer. Once you get that harness out, you can then use the Posi-Taps on the LOC to connect to the speaker cables. After that, you can then go into the truck area and remove (2) plastic dowels to gain access to the truck side panel area. I fished my cables down a little precut hole by the subwoofer and ran them down to the opening of the truck. I then fished those cables under the liner into the spare tire location. That is where I installed my amp. My amp was the perfect size to put on the left side of the battery and still had clearance to fit the spare tire. I didn’t strap it down or anything because the spare tire kept it from moving. There is a ground wire by the right side of the spare tire that is perfect for connecting your AMP since you may not want to drill holes down there. I also connected the power cable to the huge red power cable connected to the side of the battery. It is underneath the one that is labeled DSG4 125 amp.
*
Parts:

(1) SCOSCHE LOC2SL Car Stereo 2-Channel Audio Adjustable Amplifier with Add-On Adapter and Remote Control Knob, Black
(7) Lockitt POSI-TAP 6 pack wire connectors 20-22 awg
(1) Rockford Fosgate Single In-Line AGU Fuse Holder for 4 AWG or 8 AWG Wire
(1) Rockford Fosgate 60 Amp AGU Fuse, 4-Pack
(2) Harmony Audio HA-WR48 Car Stereo Power or Ground 4 to 8 Gauge Wire Reducer - Nickel Plated
(1) Rockford Fosgate Prime R500X1D
(1) TruConnex TC4KIT-4B by Metra
(1) Belva BBIC5
(1) Rockford Fosgate P2-1X12 Punch P2 12" Enclosure

Wiring:

LOC
Yellow = Power on AMP 12v
White = Left +
White/Black = Left -
Grey = Right +
Grey/Black = Right -
Blue/White = Remote wire on AMP

RCA
Red = Right Channel
White = Left Channel

Audi Speaker Wiring
Brown/Green = +
Red/Green = -

Brown/Purple = +
Blue/Yellow = -

Combined
White = Left + > Brown/Green = +
White/Black = Left - > Red/Green = -
Grey = Right + > Brown/Purple = +
Grey/Black = Right - > Blue/Yellow = -
Blue/White to Blue Remote Wire
Yellow to Red Power Wire20200408_170342.jpeg 20200408_170818.jpeg 20200408_170851.jpeg 20200408_171529.jpeg 20200408_172117.jpeg 20200408_185107.jpeg

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**Bobby Kinstle** · 04-15-2020 10:21 AM

Thanks for the update. I added that LOC to the list on ones that are known to work and added the wiring colors to the subwoofer guide.

FYI The amp power input really needs it's own fuse. You appear to have it wired through an existing 125A fuse and the amp has to share that with whatever is also connected through that fuse and may cause nuisance trips.

**SickAWD** · 04-15-2020 02:00 PM

Sure thing.

Would you suggest I just connect it to the side of the battery instead? It has an in-line fuse for the subwoofer power cable.

Originally Posted by Bobby Kinstle

Thanks for the update. I added that LOC to the list on ones that are known to work and added the wiring colors to the subwoofer guide.

FYI The amp power input really needs it's own fuse. You appear to have it wired through an existing 125A fuse and the amp has to share that with whatever is also connected through that fuse and may cause nuisance trips.

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**Bobby Kinstle** · 04-15-2020 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by SickAWD

Sure thing.

Would you suggest I just connect it to the side of the battery instead? It has an in-line fuse for the subwoofer power cable.

Yes that's what I did. I took off the nut that tightens the battery + cable and slpped the terminal onto that stud and retightened the nut back down.

**SickAWD** · 04-15-2020 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by Bobby Kinstle

Yes that's what I did. I took off the nut that tightens the battery + cable and slpped the terminal onto that stud and retightened the nut back down.

Understood, I'll switch it over that way since it will be easier to access in the future anyways. Thank you for the advice.

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**SickAWD** · 04-16-2020 09:03 AM

I moved my power cable to the side post of the battery so hopefully that helps. I know it's messy compared to everyone else but it's gets covered by the spare tire and fits under it perfectly.

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**Bobby Kinstle** · 04-16-2020 10:30 AM

Looking good. One last thing is that you don't want the amp to bounce around so maybe put some high density foam under it and between the amp and the tire (don't cover all of it or it may overheat) Just enough to keep it from banging on the bumps. Cars really are ferocious environments for electronics. I mounted my amp in the space between the battery and the trunk latch onto a sheet metal plate I cut from some scrap at work and then put rubber feet under the plate and a couple of those really thick furniture sliders for hardwood floors on top so that the tire would hold it down firmly.

**SickAWD** · 04-16-2020 10:50 AM

Great idea, thank you. I wish I had the ability to know how to make custom mounts but I don't. I'll get some high density foam since that's easy. Thanks again!

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**Bobby Kinstle** · 04-16-2020 11:17 PM

Originally Posted by SickAWD

Great idea, thank you. I wish I had the ability to know how to make custom mounts but I don't. I'll get some high density foam since that's easy. Thanks again!

It's easy. Just take a sheet of wood or metal and drill some holes in it to mount the amp to. Look in the back of your amp manual and it usually has a picture for the hole pattern. I used the big plastic screw that the spare tire sits on to hold down the metal sheet to the bottom of the car.

**SickAWD** · 04-17-2020 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by Bobby Kinstle

It's easy. Just take a sheet of wood or metal and drill some holes in it to mount the amp to. Look in the back of your amp manual and it usually has a picture for the hole pattern. I used the big plastic screw that the spare tire sits on to hold down the metal sheet to the bottom of the car.

Okay, I'll give that a try

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**bruce_miranda** · 04-22-2020 12:28 PM

Could someone who has replaced the A pillar tweeter please measure the DC resistance of the tweeter in the B&O system. I'm just trying to check if the tweeter in the B&O is a 4ohm or an 8ohm tweeter. You will need to measure the resistance after the capacitor i.e. not at the main plug of the speaker but at the speaker terminals themselves.

**Marc R** · 04-23-2020 07:01 AM

Hi Guys,

Need some help here, I want to fully take out the B&O system out of my SQ5 b9 so far so good, could anybody give me some definitive answers about the parts to use to get a signal of the Most bus and which (6 channel amp) to use for the system?

I want to use aftermarket speakers front and rear incl an aftermarket sub.

any input is appreciated since there is not much to find about this specific subject.