My S550 gets retired soon and I'm zeroing in on a new SL. I drove one with the standard Harman/Kardon and didn't care for it much. It sounded very thin with over saturated mids and not much punch at the bottom. This was with the top up. (I'm kind of picky about my car audio. The S550 has a Harman system I despised so much I replaced most of the cabin speakers and then wrote a blog about it.)

I was relieved to see there was an optional B&O system available albeit for a serious premium. Then I read a couple of articles that suggested the B&O was less impressive than the HK.

Here's what I'm looking for:

Punchy, authoritative lows that don't get boomy or loose in the mid bass. (I've heard a lot about the Frontbass set up but I had Bass on full in the car I took out and there was very little Frontbass, back bass or any bass.) Smooth mids that are clear without being overly brassy or harsh. Tight clean precise highs. I don't just want to hear the hi hat. I want to hear the stick tip striking the hi hat. Decent power with some headroom. Some DSP capabilities to widen the soundstage,

I listen primarily to classic rock, pop and some jazz fusion. Typical artists are Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Rush, The Police, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Euge Groove, Paul Brown etc.

Just wondering what the consensus is from actual owners about the two systems. Will I regret not dropping the $6400 on the BO, or will I regret not going with the "free" H&K. Thanks!

 

I have B&O in my S class. It was worth the money. You are in your S class cocoon And ...

I have HK in the SL And it's better than the HK in the S, perhaps because of the smaller interior space And the huilt in bass at the front near your feet.

Most of the time when I drive with the top down, I turn the music down And listen to the sound of the car and Enjoy the scenery. I have no regrets that I have the HK in the SL.

 

I have the B&O in my SL, not any better than the HK in my opinion, maybe even a little worse as the base is rather weak, I suggest you sit in both and listen at MB dealer, to each is own

 

That seems to be the consensus. Haven't found an SL locally with the BO, seems to be fairly rare. I already know first hand from my S how to improve a Harman system. The SL uses the same 8" dual coil subwoofers and the same 4" Alumaprene cabin speakers and tweets.

The front subs are likely choked back by the factory EQ and I know I can get plenty more out of them. Bass won't be problem. Those things are stout as hell.

I'm wondering if I'd have more flexibility if I wasn't trying to overcome the inherent shrillness and brassy-ness of the Alumaprene speakers in the HK.

Then again $6400 buys a lot of nice cabin speakers. Does the BO have more tone controls and DSP settings in COMAND or just the basic bass/treble/fade and surround toggle?

 

I believe the B&O has the same commands as the HK, one aggravating problem is you can't control front to back volume

I would not spend the money on the B&O

 

The good news is that Focal makes drop in replacement speakers for the 4" midrange 2 ways and 8" subwoofers specifically to address the Harmon's shortcomings. Connectors are OEM BMW but that's an easy fix.










Sub

 

I just picked up our 2015 SL, designo Cardinal Red, 19-inch multispoke alloy wheels, B&O BeoSound, etc car. Compared to our 2013 SL with H&K sound and my tin ear, the B&O system is slightly better than the H&K system, could be the source material, but my tastes seem similar to the OP.

The software could be the same now, but what I found different about the B&O system, it has a "reference" setting that is pure unequalized with treble and bass control. It has a seating position bias for the sound, left, right and center, it has a B&O equalized surround setting. Tweeters are conical and light up at night, very cool. Midrange is nicely finished, kind of a chrome finish grills and bass is very distinctive. I think it has volume balance, front to rear, but can't be 100%. Of the 12 active speakers, I have only found 7, not looking too hard though. There are 900 watts of power, but I just don't feel that punch in the bass, again could be source material and my tin ear. Is it worth the $5,400...If money is an issue, I'd say no, spend it on some performance options, if it isn't, then get it.

MB

 

Thanks. That was the info I was looking for. Money is an issue in the sense that I don't mind spending it but I don't want to throw it away either. I'm getting the sense that the BO isn't close to being a night and day upgrade like it is in the S Class. Seems like it's either fractionally better, the same or possibly a little worse, notably in the lack of bass.

 

Ok, I found the specs on the SL HK system. It shares all of its components with the system in my W221 S Class, however the S gets a pair of 6.5" two way components in the rear doors.

You've got the strangest array of tweeters I've ever seen. A total of six surround the cabin. There are no woofers. Instead the entire mid bass to low bass range is handed off to two 8" shallow mount dual coil subwoofers located in the firewall and facing into each footwell.

These actually work well as low end, hard hitting subs but they struggle with the mid bass. When you feed them enough signal to wake them up, they get a little loose and boomy. Putting them in the firewall (MB calls it FrontBass) essentially turns them into transducers on the shell of the car itself, so it seems like the bottom end is covered theoretically, albeit with less than ideal mid bass.

There are three nasty Alumaprene 4" midrange speakers, one in the center dash and one in each door. The center dash (and four extra tweeters) can (and should) be disabled by toggling off Logic 7 in COMAND. For the two in the doors, and these are the main speakers in the car, they can be easily and I expensively replaced, and anything you put in there, from $20 Goldwoods to $50 MTX Coaxials to $600 Focals will sound fuller, warmer and less shrill. See the link in my sig for some options.

The B&O gets a more powerful amp and more digital signal processing options beyond "surround", but it's hobbled by the same physical constraints of the SL's tight cabin. No woofers here either. Same size 8" subwoofers in the firewall, same size 4" mid ranges in the doors and more in the center dash and between the seats in the rear.

"B&O puts 12 fully active neodymium loudspeakers:
2 x 19 mm tweeters – acoustic lenses with built in lighting (front)
2 x 25 mm tweeters (front centre, rear centre)
2 x 100 mm midranges (front centre, rear centre)
2 x 100 mm midranges (front door)
2 x 100 mm midranges (side)
2 x 220 mm subwoofers (front)"

It's impossible to develop precise mid bass in a small space with no mid bass speakers (woofers). Adding more midrange drivers just gets you more midrange. Based on the comparative specs I can see why there's not a lot of daylight in terms of sound quality between the $5400 B&O and the standard H/K.

One last observation on those cool looking, illuminated "acoustic lense" tweeters. They're just your basic off the shelf car audio tweeter but mounted horizontally and firing into a diffuser. Great looking pieces but nothing magical.

I guess I answered my own question. Basically whether or not I spend the extra money I'm going to have to find other reasons to love the SL than premium audio.

 

Nice write up, as I said before, not much daylight, so I'd take the savings, add a ECU upgrade and increase the power to SL63 levels. About $1,100 in my area by a reputable tuner. Maybe the punch in the pants will be a better than the punch in the ears with big bass.

MB

 

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