Hello All,

As you may or may not know, the bass in the Q5 with the B&O system is terrible. This is due to the subwoofer, 6.5’, being located under the cargo area in the well of the spare tire. In an effort to get more bass, I contacted the stereo shop who installed the stereo system for my 2005 Acura RL. I had them take a look, and we tossed around some ideas. One option would be to build a sub enclosure where the pull out tray is located next to the spare tire. The other option would be to build it inside the well of the spare tire. They pulled out all the gear in my RL, kept the spare tire n tray to do some measurements. A couple weeks go by, and I haven’t heard from them. I roll around to the shop one day, and find the place is completely empty with an eviction notice hanging on the door. Obviously, I get a little worried. Not so much of the loss of my equipment, but I’m out a spare tire, which for this car, is gotta be expensive to replace. I do some research, and finally track these guys down. Turns out, the partners split, and are both in the midst of starting their own shops. Thru the breakup, my phone number was lost. I get my equipment back and I’m assured by both, they will build me a custom enclosure once the shop is ready.

A week goes by, and I’m staring at this equipment in my garage. I start thinking why not install this stuff myself instead of waiting. First, I will give these guys credit, the equipment they installed in my RL was quality stuff from the speakers to the amps all way down to the wiring.

For information on how to install an amp, and subwoofer to the
Q5, see “Subwoofer Upgrade Project” by Sleater_Kinney_Rox. His thread is about eight pages from the most recent posts. Great info on how to perform this install.

The first thing I installed was an ARC audio 2 two channel amp rated at 100 watts per channel. I, initially, ran it to a Fosgate 12 I had in a previous car. To my surprise everything worked. It was great to hear actual bass coming from the back of the car. About a day later, I decided why not throw the sub I had in my RL, and hear how it sounds compared to the Fosgate. This is a JL 10 with an enclosure custom built to fit in the trunk of the RL. This sub sounded awesome! It, actually, sounded much better in the Q5. Even though it sounded great, I knew it wasn’t going to be a long term solution, since it was very bulky, and wasn’t designed to fit the Q5.

With that in mind, I started researching subwoofers that would be a better fit for the car. After a week of looking at options, I honed in on the JL 10W3. This is a shallow mount subwoofer designed to fit in a small enclosure. This is a brand new product from JL just being shipped out to their retailers. I could only find two shops in the greater Sacramento area that had the subwoofer in stock. To my surprise, and the owner who just came back from vacation, they had the speaker + it was housed in the enclosure designed by JL. After looking at my amp install, the Owner allowed me to audition this speaker as well as the ported JL 8 box, and the Kenwood 10 box in the back of my car. The Kenwood was okay. The JL 8 was more efficient, but the JL 10W3 sounded warmer, and had a more low end kick. It was comparable to the JL 10 that came out of my RL. I bought the sub which retails for $299. With the box, JL only increases the price to $349.

On the way home I had a chance to listen to it under normal driving conditions. I was, actually, disappointed in the overall sound, and really thought I made a mistake. When I got home, I disconnected it, and plugged in the JL 10 from my RL. As confirmed, the old JL sub hit much much harder than the new one. I remembered the stereo shop recommened I check the gain on my line output converter (the green unit next to the amp) as he thought it may be turned down. This did the trick. The new 10 came to freakin life! I tested it again with my old JL sub. It not only matched its sound, it didn’t distort during a tough part of a song where the old one did.

As you can see from the pics, the JLW3 takes up very little space, and provides a couple of mounting options. It fits perfectly under the cargo area where the removable tray is located. However, if you install in this area, the spare tire will not fit.

Next for me will be to install a smaller amp I have on order which will, most likely, be installed under the driver seat. Then, I can run the sub stealth, or if I’m taking a long trip, have it in the cargo area, and put the spare tire back where it belongs.

Take Care,

 

Pics of the other two subs I tested in my car plus the JL10W3 I purchased.

 

I'm looking at this one....
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...?itemid=229185

Wanting the slim fit to minimize the space it takes up as I am reluctant to drive around without a spare wheel - even though I hope I never actually have to use it. This can be paired to a reasonably small mono amp for a similar set up to yours.Jst waiting on the local dealer to receiv stock, due any day now.

 

Hmmmm ... "Terrible"(?) ... Ours sounds fine ... it's all there, crisp without being boomy ... Are you sure there's not some other reason?

 

+1

I wonder if the B&O system has been revised, because ours sounds great too. Definitely has more bass than my S4, which had the B&O system as well.

I do think though my taste has changed in the last few years. My first car (20 years ago) had various amps and 18 speakers (including 2 10" subs). I could be heard from blocks away. Now I'm more into hearing the accuracy of the music which I think the B&O really impresses.

With all that said, I'm impressed with the work the OP is doing and following the thread. We all have our own taste in music/sound.

 

I too consider myself an audiophile, 60+ but still with good ears, so I followed the original thread with some interest ... even to research where such compatible woofers could be purchased in Canada. However, when our Q5 finally arrived, and I had the chance to put 250+kbps M4As on an SD card, I quickly came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with the bass. The last thing I would play with is possibly screwing up a professionally designed combination of amplifiers and speakers.

Still, I have to imagine the OP must listen to different types of music, and only wanted to call him on the term "terrible". Still, if Tom Petty sounds good on my B&O, it's difficult to imagine what he's listening too. It's his prerogative, money, and his Audi.

my CA0.02

 

+1

I think the B&O system sounds great. It's balanced and not bass heavy.

 

Not trying to add fuel to the fire, but the 2012 we test drove was equipped w/B&O and its bass was a little underwhelming to me. I ended up ordering the option anyway... and maybe it's due to more seat time to adjust things to my liking... but my 2013 B&O does have much better low end than seemed possible in the 2012.

I was all prepared to be doing some subwoofer work, but I'm likely going to be leaving it stock...at least for now. :-)

 

It seems like the complaints about the bass on the B&O are most likely from people wanting loud bass, whereas the B&O setup is geared towards a more neutral, accurate sound (which is great for those of us who don't want to have the bass overwhelming everything). Doesn't mean that the B&O is terrible, just it's not aligned with your personal desires. It's good info to have out there, though, so people can intelligently choose between the two options for what meets their needs better (regardless of the B&O being objectively better, if it doesn't tick the correct boxes from someone's wish list then it's not appropriate).

 

for me, I only changed my sub just to have a solid bass than to have a muffle hollow sound. Happens to different songs.