maximumsp

Hello,

My new, to me, 2011 A8 with B&O has developed a very annoying rattle in the center speaker, behind the MMI screen, and also a rattle in the rear shelf, haven't correctly identified the speaker(s) in the rear at the time of writing this yet.

What is the size of all the B&O speakers?
Does the B&O system run at 2 or 4 ohms for the speakers?

Based on the cost estimate detailed in other forum post about the rattle which I would like to piggyback in this new post, I believe it would be much more cost effective and also for audio quality purposes to replace the damaged/blown speakers with aftermarket options but I am unsure of the size/ohms I should be shopping for.

Also the rear shade is stuck inside and will not pull up and on. I wonder if that caused or effected the speakers in the rear or that the rattle I hear in the back in not actually the speakers fault but rather the auditory reaction to something broken with the rear shade

BASARAB

Bump, I also wonder what Ohm speakers does B & O use

maximumsp

After experimenting with the source of music, it seems the bluetooth for the 2011 year is crap. CD the audio quality is amazing and I do not hear any issues with the speakers when using a CD. Its 2017 so who uses CD's anymore? I just bought the AUX adaptor to 3.5mm. Direct connection is always better right!

I know bluetooth degrades quality but I had no idea how much. Maybe because we are spoiled by current bluetooth versions that are major upgrades from whatever version the receiver is in the 2011 A8.

KnappAttack

I have no trouble with the bluetooth music quality in my 2011 and iPhone 6 thru the B&O.

Its no better or no worse going thru the aux adapter. No difference at all.

MP4.2+6.0

What bit rate are your tracks and what was earlier source? I can hear the difference on an A:B compare. Can't hear it from CD original to hard cable same track, but can hear it from hard cable to A2DP. And can way hear it for those vs. same track on Sirius. 320kbps AAC for me, all directly from CD's. Lots of other posts on various boards that say you want to be at least to 256kbps to avoid audible difference.

KnappAttack

I'm not sure the language you are speaking MP4.2, but I have the same music on my iPhone I use thru bluetooth as I have on my iPod and run thru my hard cable, there is no difference between them listening to the same songs and music is what I am saying. I know I have put CD's into my itunes and placed all that music into my apple devices, I also know my kids have also bought from the itunes store as well. I suspect that music is not as good as what I have pulled from the CD's and put into them.

Sirius and/or XM (not sure what I have) is nowhere near the quality and I never listen to that.

Ngerstman

Xm and Sirius are one company now. They compress the music streaming, lower quality sound but acceptable on a good system. iTunes is also compressed MP3 files. CD higher sampling rate and much better dynamics, sounds better. Better sounding sources can make even mediocre sound systems sound decent. Unfortunately the B&O sound system is mediocre, poorly designed, muddy, veiled sound, no midrange detail, muddy bass, especially mid-bass. It will play loud and reasonably distortion free if that's your cup of tea. Regards. Ned.

MP4.2+6.0

The language I speak is digital recording, bit rates and compression algorithms, coupled with available commodity iTunes settings if you just exploit them. But if you don't know the bit rate or compression, those are clues. Many, many a post by lots of folks over many years of differences once you get to at least 256kbps. Mediocre in, mediocre out below.

You have to set the bit rate higher to get the best quality on iTunes for CD dubbing--the default is lower. There are also algorithm choices. The bit rate on store stuff has changed over the years from poor to acceptable, and copies of something then put into iTunes as yet another scenario where it is (at best) going to go to lowest bit rate that was used in the chain of copies. Underneath the compression was driven by available memory on commodity devices. The differences in turn acoustically may be masked by the compression in your copies. Try original CD vs. bluetooth on an A:B comparison of same track for some music you would use for an acoustic demo and then see what you hear. FWIW, nothing on my iPod/equivalent device is other than what i personally copied from an original CD, for exactly these reasons. Back when 320 AAC came out for iTunes, I doubled back and redid the dubs. Bluetooth aside, if you aren't at (least at) high bit rates, you aren't maximizing performance with any underlying system.

FWIW, see iTunes Preference settings in screen shots below; second screen shows the compression choices. In turn you have to use one compatible with the Audi system; 320 kbps AAC is where I found a common high bit rate intersection that worked for me. As I pushed well past 2000 tracks, I had to upgrade to a 64G device as the dedicated player instead of my prior 32G one--both themselves hand me downs/used. That's the cost of high bit rate. Also possible BTW in your transfer settings if you are doing the one size fits none toaster oven approach to iTunes...pardon my French...you may also have the downstream copies throttled down bit rate wise even if your source tracks are higher. In other words, if you set it to stuff 2000 songs into a device with only 15G available given photos, videos, apps, whatever, it is going to compress them yet more as needed to fit. Actually what happens by default IIRC. Lots of ways to either get best quality, or mediocrity.

MP4.2+6.0

Returning to OP's post BTW, while not D4 here at least is a prior D3 generation thread starting point from recent days that has gone down a similar path of B&O speaker modding: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-...5-a8l-2914186/ B&O (or Bose) works for me in general, but those ideas may help as a jumping off point. Across the various boards, I expect someone has done more on D4 era but you would need to do a focused search. B&O is also similar in the whole C7 group of cars (current A6/S6/A7/S7/RS7), so there may be more practical advice there on the electronic side, putting aside speaker fitments specific to each vehicle.

MP4.2+6.0

You have been posting on B&O a lot with the same general disappointed themes. But given the other discussion here, let me double back on specifics. I asked you previously exactly what source/bit rate you are using on one of your earlier B&O reports, but don't remember seeing a response. If not using CD directly, was an original source store bought CD used to record your copy, or what source itself a copy? Your compression algorithm? Bit rate? Are you sure when you transferred it to a device you didn't compress it further if device didn't have enough capacity? And if you are following nuances BTW, you don't have to be on MP3 either for Audi's system.

Or, very simple path, have you just put an original CD of choice--let alone a demanding one--into the drive slot in the car and tried that material directly?