Bang & Olufsen vs Meridian vs Harmon Kardon

[Swanny73]

I will be buying a car sometime over the next few weeks and need some advice. Comfort and MPG are important but the main thing for me is the in-car sounds. My budget is £12,000 and i'm thinking of either a 2013ish Jaguar XF with meridian or Audi A4 or A6 with B & O as both have similar MPG with the 2 or 2.2 engines. The main problem is I don't have the ability to visit dealerships to listen to the stereo systems and there seems to be little information or comparisons online so advice?

...i've heard the BMW stereo upgrade is not worth having but it's also an option if this is wrong.

Thanks.

[SteBrown91]

Good luck finding an a6 with b&o (or a 5 series) on the audi it was a 6k option

[Crumpet]

I've got a Meridian 825w system in my Discovery and have used the lower powered 350w (ish) system they also install in the new Discovery.

I was rather disappointed with the lower powered system but couldn't really say why, it's just a bit underwhelming.

The 825w in mine is weird as it sounds absolutely incredible if you watch a 5.1 movie DVD on the rear seat entertainment but can be hit and miss with music.

I'm not a hi-fi buff so can't explain it very well but it doesn't sound as bright and clear as the Bose systems I've heard in Audis and whatever they fit for the high end Mercs. It does sound to me a like a much fuller sound, though and it's sodding loud! I really enjoy listening to it.

[Swanny73]

Thanks for the replies...

SteBrown91 - A quick look on Autotrader narrows it down to an A4 or XF. Do you know if the B & O in the A6 was a different setup or was it 6K in the A4 too?

Crumpet - Both 825w and 380w systems appear in the car listings i'm looking at but i'm not sure how accurate the dealerships are being. 'Sodding loud' sounds good to me!

I find it strange that there's no direct comparison review online for this kind of thing, the only ones I can find are for extremely high-end luxury cars on US websites. There appears to be very little information on stock car stereos in general, for those of us with a long commute, the sound quality of music matters.

[catso]

I've got a 2014 Audi S4 (A4) Avant with Bang & Olufsen; 14 speakers, 10 channels, 505w. Sounds pretty good, will go nice and loud but could do with a little more bass IMHO.

The music source makes a big difference, i.e. a CD will sound much better than an MP3 (ripped from the CD) or music 'blutoothed' from a phone. It has CD/DVD, Jukebox (hard drive), SD cards, AMI port - can connect to USB/Ipod, bluetooth and Wifi connectivity.

Download a pdf for the system here; http://www.bang-olufsen.com/car-audio/car-models/~...

Edited by catso on Sunday 13th August 22:14

[crazy about cars]

Got Burmeister system in my C Class. It's pretty good, very solid reproduction across different genres of music. Could use a little more punchy bass but that's just me... Rather impressed by the bass technology from the article below.

https://www.whathifi.com/features/burmester-surrou...

[hyphen]

Aren't Volvo's upgraded systems supposed to be good too (dynaudio?), regarded as very comfortable too.

[hyphen]

catso said:

I've got a 2014 Audi S4 (A4) Avant with Bang & Olufsen; 14 speakers, 10 channels, 505w. Sounds pretty good, will go nice and loud but could do with a little more bass IMHO.

The music source makes a big difference, i.e. a CD will sound much better than an MP3 (ripped from the CD) or music 'blutoothed' from a phone. It has CD/DVD, Jukebox (hard drive), SD cards, AMI port - can connect to USB/Ipod, bluetooth and Wifi connectivity.

Download a pdf for the system here; http://www.bang-olufsen.com/car-audio/car-models/~...

Edited by catso on Sunday 13th August 22:14

How do you find it with radio?

On my Bose, iPod/SD card both sound ok (not tried cd as prefer the quantity of former), but radio is a definite step down which is annoying.

[SteBrown91]

Swanny73 said:

Thanks for the replies...

SteBrown91 - A quick look on Autotrader narrows it down to an A4 or XF. Do you know if the B & O in the A6 was a different setup or was it 6K in the A4 too?

The A4 is a budget setup really using B&Os name - it was only a 6-700 quid option and was standard on A4 black editions

I'm not saying it's rubbish but I doubt it's a patch on the 6k system on the a6/7

[catso]

hyphen said:

catso said:

I've got a 2014 Audi S4 (A4) Avant with Bang & Olufsen; 14 speakers, 10 channels, 505w. Sounds pretty good, will go nice and loud but could do with a little more bass IMHO.

The music source makes a big difference, i.e. a CD will sound much better than an MP3 (ripped from the CD) or music 'blutoothed' from a phone. It has CD/DVD, Jukebox (hard drive), SD cards, AMI port - can connect to USB/Ipod, bluetooth and Wifi connectivity.

Download a pdf for the system here; http://www.bang-olufsen.com/car-audio/car-models/~...

Edited by catso on Sunday 13th August 22:14

How do you find it with radio?

On my Bose, iPod/SD card both sound ok (not tried cd as prefer the quantity of former), but radio is a definite step down which is annoying.

Sounds fine to me. I don't listen to radio much, musically sometimes Planet Rock on DAB, can't find any faults. The only thing I'm considering is a subwoofer upgrade to get more bass without having to turn the volume up too much.

[catso]

SteBrown91 said:

Swanny73 said:

Thanks for the replies...

SteBrown91 - A quick look on Autotrader narrows it down to an A4 or XF. Do you know if the B & O in the A6 was a different setup or was it 6K in the A4 too?

The A4 is a budget setup really using B&Os name - it was only a 6-700 quid option and was standard on A4 black editions

I'm not saying it's rubbish but I doubt it's a patch on the 6k system on the a6/7

Indeed mine is a black edition so was standard setup. I have no idea how different it sounds to an A6 but I seriously doubt there's £6ks worth of difference/value though?

[craigjm]

They are all compromised by speaker position and the sound proofing in the car. The Meridian setup in the XF is even bigger compromise because it replaced B&W system in same locations. However, as with most real hifi the more it costs as an option the better it is. Key as said above is source as the usual adage applies... out crap in get crap out

[Alucidnation]

I think that all manufacturers design the speaker and acoustics specifically for the existing positions in the car.

All of the ones I have heard sound superb whatever the make.

[hyphen]

Alucidnation said:

I think that all manufacturers design the speaker and acoustics specifically for the existing positions in the car.

All of the ones I have heard sound superb whatever the make.

I think some have more of a collaborative approach/are involved earlier than others. Also some audio manufacturers try to be more innovative to overcome the obstacles - I think the S8 tweeters were motorised and came up out of the dash, ceiling/wall speakers often have the tweeter tilt-able to the listener so assuming they were using the same proven principles rather than being obstructed by the dash.

[craigjm]

Don't forget a lot of these systems are not B&O etc in reality it's branded speakers, often made under name licensing rather than by the company themselves. They are then connected to Alpine / Sony / Bosch etc electronics and all this can create variations never mind when you add speaker wire etc into the mix.

[Alucidnation]

Are they?

Dynaudio in the VW range is connected to Dynaudio electronics.

Naim in Bentley as well.

But as said, they do come at a premium.

I suppose the cheaper speaker 'packages' are connected to generic equipment, albeit uprated a tad.

[craigjm]

Alucidnation said:

Are they?

Dynaudio in the VW range is connected to Dynaudio electronics.

Naim in Bentley as well.

But as said, they do come at a premium.

I suppose the cheaper speaker 'packages' are connected to generic equipment, albeit uprated a tad.

It's true in the two you mention but in Jaguars for instance everything behind the speakers is Alpine and Mark Levinson in Lexus use Pioneer bits. That's what I mean there are to many variations to say one is good and one is not. All you can say with any certainty is that the upgrade will be better quality than the standard system.

[Alucidnation]

Yes indeed they are.

Mind you, I have found that some manufacturers standard systems are very capable, but as always, it depends how one defines 'capable'!

[Craikeybaby]

craigjm said:

Alucidnation said:

Are they?

Dynaudio in the VW range is connected to Dynaudio electronics.

Naim in Bentley as well.

But as said, they do come at a premium.

I suppose the cheaper speaker 'packages' are connected to generic equipment, albeit uprated a tad.

It's true in the two you mention but in Jaguars for instance everything behind the speakers is Alpine and Mark Levinson in Lexus use Pioneer bits. That's what I mean there are to many variations to say one is good and one is not. All you can say with any certainty is that the upgrade will be better quality than the standard system.

Not exactly the case anymore, the suppliers have been jiggled around a bit now. I'm retty sure that it will be virtually the same system in VW and Bentley. Naim/Dynaudio may have been present when the system was tuned.

FWIW I spent a lot of time in cars developing the system in the 2013 XF and it does sound good.

[craigjm]

None of the "systems" are 100% built and designed by the name on the speakers as no company that is present in that market makes all their own components down to stuff like speaker wire etc