Hi,
Took delivery of a 2014 GL earlier this month. The vehicle came with the B&O speakers. I noticed that there was a white light coming from the front tweeter. After googling it I noticed the newer models have multiple colors. While getting to know the various settings I found the ambient light setting of only 3 colors (solar, neutral and polar). The newer models have more ambient colors for the interior and the tweeter. Is the B&O of this generation also only limited to one color vs the multiple colors of the newer models? I'm not sure if I might be missing a setting somewhere.

For those shopping for a used GL and debating about the B&O option (maybe not so much the price on the used market but more for finding a car with all the preferred features), I would say that acoustically I can't say it's notably better than the HK system. You have to play the volume louder to appreciate it but then that can be tiring. Keep in mind you loose the spare tire but you do gain the silver speaker grills if you prefer your speakers to stand out visually.

Thanks in advance for any insight about the B&O lights.

 

White is the only choice on the tweeters!

 

Yes, white is the only color in the tweeter. If you aren't noticing a substantial difference in the B&O compared to the HK, then you're listening to the wrong types of media. Sirius sounds crappy on any stereo system due to the signal being horribly compressed. Same goes for some over the air FM stations. But if you put in a decent quality CD or stream a decent MP4 or MP3 from your phone via BT or through the connection in your armrest box, the quality difference is extremely noticeable. I was recently listening to some old Bob Marley that I downloaded to my phone and played through BT. I was able to hear instruments that I had never heard before on any car stereo. Not even the Mark Levinson reference system in my old Lexus GS460 could pick up those instruments directly from the CD.

 

There's also a big difference from a Bose car system too, Bose sound is very muffled comparing it to the B&O sound, its like being in a live concert. Having an good icoming source is what makes B&O shine, its well worth the cost if you're a big audiophile. As for the white light, it doesnt bother us at all at night either, its actually a nice suttle clasic touch. Out of all of the bells and whistles from the GL, the white light is what we always get complements on...

 

First - yes the tweeter lights are always on and only white (i've searched all the menus myself!) but having lived with the truck for 3 years - they are the perfect ambient light intensity at any darkness level.

If you can ever find one used with the B&O, and you appreciate good audio - I think it's WELL worth it - I believe it was a 6 large option new, and it doesn't seem to hold any more than a grand (maybe?) in value on the used market. They are very rare to see, in my searches for used.

The B&O system, to me is night and day, vs the other Bose or HKs that I have heard. I'm a bit of a audio guy (won't say audiophile!) and a professional musician in my past. As stated above - source quality is key - FM Radio is volume compressed (meaning they mess with the mix of his and low sounds, in order to broadcast it in the allotted bandwidth) by nature, and Sat radio is even more horribly compressed with significant actual compression artifacts - listen to the high frequency sounds like hi-hats, cymbal hits, etc. on sat and it sounds broken up, in simple terms, for example. Won't ever listen to sat radio on the B&O - nowadays it's just easier to stream or download than it used to be.

Playing a high quality stream from a Bluetooth phone (I use Apple Music currently) or a CD is what you need to do for sure to bring out the magic!

When I got the B&O i was fascinated by it, so I experimented with all the sources and inputs. I even compared a song on the radio, to a CD, to playing it off the phone via bluetooth (Switching back and forth while the radio song was on (supremely annoying my wife and kids when that moment was able to happen). Radio as I mentioned was compressed and less dynamic (as expected) - but I couldn't hear any significant difference between my bluetooth source and the CDs. With a good recording, yes it's loud, but the clarity and dynamics are truly amazing.

I listen to everything - pop to country, jazz to classical, to dance - if you want to hear a system workout, even if you don't like the genre, play just about any modern dance track on the charts, and turn it all the way up look out when the bass drops! ha!

That said, we just had a 3 hour drive from Michigan to Chicago - played the Chris Stapelton catalog all the way, and loud the whole way (just the wife and me returning from a date weekend... Got out after the drive and my ears were ringing like I was at a concert, but the whole way we were remarking how clear, crisp and balanced those vocals sound on those records - amazing!

The B&O is the number one option on the car for me! Makes me smile every time I turn it up, or give friends a ride and they DJ some of their music and they hear it differently for the first time on that system! (Active Curve is a strong #2 for me, but don't get me started on the novelty and waste of time "Night View Assist" is - ha!)

 

^^ Great review! And spot on.

 

some japanese company i forget where i saw it, maybe the GLE section is offering a multicolored B/O tweeter (package 811) and Ambient lighting package (876) if you wanna change..
i'll look up the thread and paste it here, they didnt say anything about the cost though

In terms of the sound quality, i have the HK7 on my ML and to date its worth every cent, not to take away from the B/O system, but i love the output and base you get from it

 

Thanks everyone for your replies. Agree, the B&O is a huge step up from the Bose in my old Audi.

GBike's summary in someway supports my observation. When played at higher volumes the speakers do demonstrate their strengths. My old ears can't say it's remarkably better than the HK. Maybe the HK was such a nice step up from Bose that I was hoping for a similar level of difference. A lot like horsepower I guess, you pay exponentially more for a smaller incremental increase in improvement. For us we primarily use the GL when we are traveling with our 2 and 4 year old. So playing Moana at concert level is something we don't routinely do. Hence playing at volume compatible with holding a conversation with the back seat makes the B&O overkill.

Completely agree with the lack of utility of the night view assist ;-) Pleasantly surprised how helpful the soft close doors are the times I've had my arms full with the kids and grocery and I didn't shut the door all the way.

 

It's more than the speakers that are part of the B&O option. It's also the receiver, amp, sub, power, software, etc. If you are playing high quality media, the difference between the B&O and HK is night and day. If you are listening to AM/FM or Sirius, then what you hear won't make much of a difference.

I had the HK system in my S600. While it was fine for listening to Sirius, which I usually do on short jaunts, it sucked at trying to get the proper sound out of a high qualify CD or DVD where you really want to listen to something nice. The HK needed a separate EQ to split the signal better to exploit the power and make good media sound OK. MB doesn't offer that. Doing this required going to an after market installer and dropping a large chunk of change. But it still didn't really help with FM or Sirius.

If the regular sound of FM and Sirius is OK with you, then don't consider spending the money on the B&O. If you have high quality media and want to be blown away and how good a car stereo system can sound, then by all means give a listen to the B&O. There's a reason that it was a $6400 upgrade over the HK.

 

How about a curveball for the group: Why did MB dropped HK and B&O for Burmester on the newer cars? Anyone experienced the difference between B&O and Burmester with 3D sound?

 

If there was not something new for people to pay money for to differentiate themselves from the riff raff then there would not be a mercedes left! :-)

 

The HK7 was and still is the base sound system in the GL550 and GLS550 & 63. It is an $850 option on the GLS450 & 350 (that base system must really suck if HK7 is an upgrade). Burmeister is not an option on any of the GLS vehicles. B&O is still the big sound upgrade.

 

Sorry, I meant to say the new MB cars with the new updated interior. C,CLS,E,G,S class. The GLS unfortunately did not get the updated interior for 2018, which is good for current GL owners (myself included).

 

The GLS did get the new COMAND system with the large screen, touch pad mouse, and better controller that are found in the newest sedans. Who the hell knows what will be up for the redesign in 2020. Perhaps an interior as gorgeous and the new Navigators?

 

True MB needs to hit a home run once they update the interior of the GLS but, I don’t think they're going to have a problem since the new interior language has been a big hit.

I'm not sure about the Navigator's new interior colors, I'm not a fan of the blue yacht club, it reminds me of a 95 Lincoln town car signature interior.