[BrntRubber]

Originally Posted by EgemenComertoglu

nop mate i had no chance ..

Add and sub and tweak the EQ. My sub is going in tomorrow. I am hunting for the best EQ settings with an added sub.

[Fantastic 5]

I have my B&W tuned exactly right and it sounds great ….in my driveway. I get to highway speeds and the bass literally disappears….more than any car I've ever owned before. It's the only issue I have.

Anyone know how to calibrate it to lessen this effect? And no, I'm not going to get a sub…I lease and it's staying stock.

[subterFUSE]

Originally Posted by Fantastic 5

I have my B&W tuned exactly right and it sounds great ….in my driveway. I get to highway speeds and the bass literally disappears….more than any car I've ever owned before. It's the only issue I have.

Anyone know how to calibrate it to lessen this effect? And no, I'm not going to get a sub…I lease and it's staying stock.

Only option is to take out the full interior (seats, panels and carpet) so the interior is down to the bare metal, and then apply CLD (constrained layer dampener), closed cell foam and mass-loaded vinyl. You must isolate the exterior noise from entering the cabin. CLD reduces resonances in the metal structure of the car. Mass loaded vinyl is a noise barrier, and the closed cell foam is needed to act as a buffer between the MLV and the car's hard surfaces.

Besides that, nothing will prevent the outside noise from drowning out your bass.

The easier alternative is to buy a different car that has better sound dampening, like a Mercedes S Class.

[620turbo]

Originally Posted by Sabeto

Just joined the M5 club and went for the B&W system - WHAT a disappointment. Good clarity but no soundstage, no fullness and what little bass there is is ill defined and muddy. Can't believe I paid several thousand dollars for this. They completely dropped the ball. The HK system I had on my 2015 530d was better.

Agreed.

I have found a semi-solution though.

[620turbo]

So, massively dissapointed in the Bowers and Wilkins in my 2022 M5.

Had a G30 540i with HK before and this was better. I believe the issue is the complete lack of warm and substantial bass.

Started investigating subs and amps but had a mess about before I pressed the button as this is a new car and I don't want to be messing about, nor should I have to considering the expense of this option.

So, I have been messing around with the EQ and settings, a lot the last 2 months since I picked up my brand new car.

In EQ, obviously boosted 100Hz, the lowest frequency to try and address the woeful lack of bass depth. This seemed to make it worse or at least did not address the lack of warmth in the overall sound.

I therefore got some test tones on a USB stick, 40Hz, 60Hz, and 80Hz.

I was flabbergasted to see that when playing these test tones, my adjustment of the lowest eq band, 100Hz did absolutely nothing.

I then moved the Bass up and down and this changed the amplification of the sub 100Hz frequencies.

However, when you move Bass or Treble, it pulls up the other frequencies, which makes it sound crap again.

The solution is to therefore counter this effect of increased mid bass by the eq.

My eq setting are therefore as follows and have addressed the issue. It now sounds acceptable to me and has at least a decent amount of depth.

Set everything to middle (0), including bass and treble:

100Hz -3
200Hz -3
500Hz -2
1KHz -0
2KHz 0
5KHz 0
10KHz 0

Bass +10
Treble +2 to +6 depending on tune
Fader -2 to -3 depending on tune

Sound stage - Studio. Some of the other sound stages sound good but as other posts, seem to lose some of the already seriously lacking sub-bass.

Hope the above helps.

No idea why the system is like this in these cars. Someone seriously messed up. The above settings address this to a certain extent and make the system sound much more premium.

I will still consider getting a sub but at least now I can listen to it and smile, albeit more marginally than I would perhaps have liked.

[EM5C]

I think I'm probably in the minority who thinks it actually sounds pretty good 😎

[GTATX]

Originally Posted by 620turbo

So, massively dissapointed in the Bowers and Wilkins in my 2022 M5.

Had a G30 540i with HK before and this was better. I believe the issue is the complete lack of warm and substantial bass.

Started investigating subs and amps but had a mess about before I pressed the button as this is a new car and I don't want to be messing about, nor should I have to considering the expense of this option.

So, I have been messing around with the EQ and settings, a lot the last 2 months since I picked up my brand new car.

In EQ, obviously boosted 100Hz, the lowest frequency to try and address the woeful lack of bass depth. This seemed to make it worse or at least did not address the lack of warmth in the overall sound.

I therefore got some test tones on a USB stick, 40Hz, 60Hz, and 80Hz.

I was flabbergasted to see that when playing these test tones, my adjustment of the lowest eq band, 100Hz did absolutely nothing.

I then moved the Bass up and down and this changed the amplification of the sub 100Hz frequencies.

However, when you move Bass or Treble, it pulls up the other frequencies, which makes it sound crap again.

The solution is to therefore counter this effect of increased mid bass by the eq.

My eq setting are therefore as follows and have addressed the issue. It now sounds acceptable to me and has at least a decent amount of depth.

Set everything to middle (0), including bass and treble:

100Hz -3
200Hz -3
500Hz -2
1KHz -0
2KHz 0
5KHz 0
10KHz 0

Bass +10
Treble +2 to +6 depending on tune
Fader -2 to -3 depending on tune

Sound stage - Studio. Some of the other sound stages sound good but as other posts, seem to lose some of the already seriously lacking sub-bass.

Hope the above helps.

No idea why the system is like this in these cars. Someone seriously messed up. The above settings address this to a certain extent and make the system sound much more premium.

I will still consider getting a sub but at least now I can listen to it and smile, albeit more marginally than I would perhaps have liked.

System overtime will get better. Keep the base at highest. Same settings on my f90 but this is f96. Also stage or lounge 3D gives the best bass and sound to me. Thx

[AuZZZie]

I don’t see many people mentioning their source. I had an android using Bluetooth and was pretty disappointed as well, the HK Logic 7 system in my Rover sounds significantly better, and that’s with garbage Bluetooth.

Some systems really emphasize bad source material and I feel the B&W is one of them, not that unlike their home speakers.

I switched to an iPhone literally just for CarPlay and it sounds significantly better. I’d suggest anyone who is unhappy, toss some lossless flac files on a usb and see if it still sounds bad to you.

Also break in period is a real thing, especially with bass. Mine has gotten better with time.

[JetAV8R]

Originally Posted by 620turbo

I set everything to middle (0), including bass and treble:

100Hz -3
200Hz -3
500Hz -2
1KHz -0
2KHz 0
5KHz 0
10KHz 0

Bass +10
Treble +2 to +6 depending on tune
Fader -2 to -3 depending on tune

Sound stage - Studio. Some of the other sound stages sound good but as other posts, seem to lose some of the already seriously lacking sub-bass.

Hope the above helps.

No idea why the system is like this in these cars. Someone seriously messed up. The above settings address this to a certain extent and make the system sound much more premium.

I will still consider getting a sub but at least now I can listen to it and smile, albeit more marginally than I would perhaps have liked.

Thanks so much for sharing this. I was kind of disappointed in the system and hadn’t bother fiddling with the eq settings at all. Previously, the sound was very harsh to me and I wasn’t enjoying the same material I like on other systems. After trying your settings, it is actually decent up to a moderate volume, beyond which it starts sounding muddy to me, but that’s ok. Big improvement as far as I am concerned.

[Pzl1nz00]

Originally Posted by mitch65

After several attempts to find good equalizer settings for the Bowers & Wilkins system in my 2019 M5 I asked a friend of a friend who is a very well-known recording engineer to take a shot at it. He has helped designed sound for multiple home theaters for his friends and is very well versed in acoustical settings. I really enjoyed the Bang & Olufsen system in my 2016 M5, so this Bowers & Wilkins system has been very disappointing as we all know, especially the Bass. I told him about the B & O system so I suggested we also have him listen to my friend’s 2015 M5 with the B & O. Then I contacted another guy I know who has a 2020 M5 Comp with the Harmon Kardon, so we had all 3 there for him to try out. (Can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the 3 together??) I played him some music I have on my ITouch (which is all downloaded from CD’s using Apple Lossless) on all 3 cars and let him play with the settings. We both heard a big difference between all 3 cars as did my friends. We all agreed the 2015 M5 with the B & O was better overall than the B & W with the HK being the worst of the 3. He brought out his RTA and started playing some kind of pink noise. He then made some adjustments and played some more music on my ITouch (some of which he actually engineered himself) in all 3 cars. He said we really need to change the EQ settings when we change the music style Jazz/Rock/R & B etc…… His opinion was BMW gave Bowers & Wilkins specs of what room they had in the doors and Bowers delivered the speakers with very little testing in the 5 series, which is not a very good acoustical environment and would be a challenge. I have been noticing the F90’s doors seem much lighter than the F10 M5 so was wondering if that is changing the sound a bit. He also questioned whether the Subs buried in the floor boards below the front seats are weak or being held back due to power constraints, or that BMW did not use amps that had the power Bowers wanted. We all agreed the Bowers speakers did present better accuracy & detail for voice and instruments than the B & O, but thought the B & O system was a much better overall setup in the F10 than we have with the Bowers & Wilkins in the F90 with the HK at the bottom of the 3. All of us left with better settings than we had, so that was great. This is my 4th M5 so hoping the next generation has a better sound system in it. Are you listening BMW ??

B&W doesn't suck; it is actually one of the best in car systems on the market IF you know how to set it up!

[Pzl1nz00]

Originally Posted by JetAV8R

Thanks so much for sharing this. I was kind of disappointed in the system and hadn’t bother fiddling with the eq settings at all. Previously, the sound was very harsh to me and I wasn’t enjoying the same material I like on other systems. After trying your settings, it is actually decent up to a moderate volume, beyond which it starts sounding muddy to me, but that’s ok. Big improvement as far as I am concerned.

These EQ settings are NOT good!

Look at the analysis done with real data and frequency sweeps!

[Pzl1nz00]

Originally Posted by EM5C

I think I'm probably in the minority who thinks it actually sounds pretty good 😎

No, you are actually correct and it is one of the best sounding systems in any vehicle if you are smart and set it up right!

[EM5C]

Originally Posted by Pzl1nz00

No, you are actually correct and it is one of the best sounding systems in any vehicle if you are smart and set it up right!

Can confirm - with the settings you suggested, much better sound. Overall very happy, thanks for posting this!

[JetAV8R]

Originally Posted by Pzl1nz00

These EQ settings are NOT good!

Look at the analysis done with real data and frequency sweeps!

Not sure if my 19 settings should be the same as the LCI, but I tried your settings and like them even better. I think part of the problem I originally had was that I didn’t have studio set and everything was flat. No loss of fidelity now when you play it a little louder. I just don’t understand why the studio flat setting wasn’t more like this. I guess manufacturers tune stereos based on what they think people want, rather than an accurate sound.

[jm490]

Any new updates on the best EQ settings for the B&W system?

I really like mine but could use a bit more bass when on low to medium volume.

If anyone has discovered a better setting let us know!

[MikeFish]

I used the setting as posted above in the youtube video. I had them printed out on collection day and sat on the BMW forecourt plugging them in before driving off. And I haven't touched them much since.
Thank you for posting the video (and I think there was a thread about it too somewhere). I'm quite happy with the sound for a factory system.
It's been 2 months and I've already fitted a subwoofer in the boot, took the opportunity to feed the underseat woofers from an aftermarket amp too which allowed by to cross them over at about 90hz (still kicking out a fair bit of bass though). I would have normally had aftermarket amps driving a fully active front end with aftermarket speakers by now but I think I will stick with the B&W for now.

[M5_1of400]

Originally Posted by GTATX

These are my settings and I am happy with every kind of music with this. I have posted it here before too. Give it a shot with this or the other setting another gentlemen posted. Main thing is u have to break it in for it to open up. Thanks

Wife disapproves, so I guess these are really good settings.

[MikeFish]

Originally Posted by M5_1of400

Wife disapproves, so I guess these are really good settings.

Hahaha, my wife said she could hear mine too when I was messing around with it in the garage.

[S EyeLand]

For me, the dead B&W ended up being due to the dead mids in the doors. i replaced and its now comparable to the B&O in my X5M which is the best sound system I've ever heard in a car.