Upgrading the B&O Sound System

[exm]

I did the same center speaker upgrade and it’s a noticeable difference in sound quality.

Awesome!

Sponsored

 

[AZ_Ryan]

Has anyone here upgraded their center to the Kenwood eXcelon KFC-X3C? I am looking for the center upgrade, plenty of information. But this is what caught my eye on on the Mach-e forum:

“
I'll add my two cents to this thread. I just changed out the center speaker on my B&O premium system and I'm really liking the results, but first, a little disclaimer is in order. I'm a home high-end audio two channel guy and definitely not a car audio expert. I've been a senior associate editor for www.positive-feedback.com since the early 90's and the sum total of my car audio reviews equals zero. I do, however, know a thing or two about audio and particularly what sounds good to me. So take the rest of this with the appropriate grain of salt.

I've ordered a subwoofer to install in the back deck, but as I'm waiting for a few parts to come in, I decided to order a replacement center channel and do the very quick and easy installation. I ordered a pair of the Kenwood Excelon KFC-X3C from Crutchfield for a modest $79 and recieved them in two days. Why did I choose this one, you might ask. Well, there were some very definite reasons. Crutchfield says it fits perfectly, the sound quality of this two way is well regarded and it features a silk dome tweeter ( I have usually found silk domes to be friendlier to my old ears), but the big reason is 4 ohm resistance with a very low 83db sensitivity (1w/1m). The low sensitivity is really the key here. The stock B&O one piece paper cone driver is undoubtedly a higher sensitivity (I looked but couldn't find the spec on it) given the simplicity of its design. The problem I heard with the B&O system (besides the lousy bass) is that the center speaker is playing just too darn loud in surround mode, such that it spoils the center imaging and doesn't blend well at all with the rest of the speakers. Even in stereo mode it's still playing, albeit at a slightly lower level, and again the classic two channel center imaging suffers.

Here's where the low sensitivity Kenwood Excelon comes in and saves the day. Installation was a breeze. I swapped out the stock speakers cable attachment so that I could plug the Excelon into the stock wiring. I used the included foam tape to dampen the top and bottom edges of the speaker basket so that it fit snugly in the stock hole with no vibrations. I even added some dampening compound to the back of the magnet and to the basket frame to kill any stray vibrations. I buttoned her up and gave it a short break-in period (just a few hours playing fairly loud in surround mode) and then did some critical listening. Oh, just a note on what I listen to and what a difference it makes in my overall enjoyment - I stream Qobuz using a wired usb connection to Andoid Auto. This gives me better sound then using bluetooth and If I'm not mistaken, the wired usb mode with Qobuz may allow you to exceed AA's default down sampling to 16 bits and 44.1 khz (although certainly not 24 bit 196khz). My other source is a usb flash drive that has very high resolution FLAC files. This is another small step above the Qobuz feed, but nothing major. Using either of these sources sounds waaay better than Sirius XM or the built in FM reciever and takes the stock B&O system from sounding very ho-hum, to not too bad.

I'll cut to the chase. The Excelon speaker blends incredibly well with the dash tweets and the other stock speakers. It has a similar tonality with a considerably more unfatiguing definition. It is no longer overpowering. I can now listen comfortably to surround mode and there is a good spread across the front stage. The center channel no longer stands up, waves it hands in the air and says listen to me. It's now subtle and blended. The surround mode is now quite immersive, the way it should be. Stereo mode now has a lot more seperation left and right as you would expect with the center channel playing at a much lower level. I think I know why B&O mixed in the center channel even in stereo mode. They may have had the right idea, but overshot the results by a big margin. When you mix in just a little center channel with stereo mode, you get a nice arc with the front stage and a little less of the headphone effect that often seems to plague the car environment. There is definitley more going on in Surround mode than just boosting the center channel, but I won't get into that now. I do have a full-on test mic and REW software on my laptop, but I feel ill-prepared to use it in the car audio realm. Suffice it to say, the surround mode that was formerly unlistenable is now quite possibly my favorite listening mode. I've had to change my Beosonic and Equalizer settings to dial it in, but by golly, its really sounding good. “

A 2-pack sells for $99. More than happy to share a purchase, and even share shipping to your house, if someone wants to take this leap of faith with me.

source: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/center-audio-sounds-horrible.35993/page-2

Can you post a link to the center speaker attachment you used?

 

[exm]

Can you post a link to the center speaker attachment you used?

I don't have my car yet, but am purchasing items in advance. Not sure what you mean with attachment, but this one should fit perfectly and require no soldering since it comes prewired.

Maybe @Jeff Ross can share some more details since he has it installed.

 

[Jeff Ross]

I don't have my car yet, but am purchasing items in advance. Not sure what you mean with attachment, but this one should fit perfectly and require no soldering since it comes prewired.

Maybe @Jeff Ross can share some more details since he has it installed.

Check this video.

Sponsored