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Disappointed in B&O Unleashed

Knickell

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I find this thread interesting because I tried the 21’ RAM Rebel with the 19 speaker Harmon system and then tried the B/O 18 speaker in a Platinum. B&O is the superior system for sure. If the metric you measure a sound system by is *loudness* then you’ll find most high end systems disappointing. There is much more to sound systems than just how loud it goes. I find myself using 25% less volume to achieve better sound compared to my 18’ B/O system.
I know it’s all opinion , but

Ford F-150 Lightning Disappointed in B&O Unleashed A03FD734-89FA-40A7-A5CA-A801891BDAD1
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SonnyDigs

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Yeah, to me the music sounds better (fuller) on FM over satellite as long as it is a strong signal. Not problem in my area. About the only thing I listen to on Sirius is the comedy channels, I don't renew when the free is over. My wife has it and I have it on my phone from that account.
Guess I just never took the time to check it out..

I've got to take my truck to dealer on Friday, that's the soonest they can get me in..
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currybob

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For anyone wondering about their speakers working. Here is a diagnostic test you can run. Press and hold the two buttons circled in red, it will got to a individual speaker test with a tone out of each speaker.


Ford F-150 Lightning Disappointed in B&O Unleashed 1612031316753
 

SonnyDigs

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For anyone wondering about their speakers working. Here is a diagnostic test you can run. Press and hold the two buttons circled in red, it will got to a individual speaker test with a tone out of each speaker.


1612031316753.png
That's cool
 

daemonic3

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Ok NOW that I have my own, I have had more time to play plus use my phone as an audio source.

I love this sound system! I believe the one I test drove may have had some unique issues. I also sat in one at a dealership on a later date and did not get the muddy distortion on the front center speaker.

I found that I could tune it decently with just the tred/mid/bass to my liking, and I moved the fade one notch to the rear and it did not have any front dash or door speaker distortion at my highest comfortable listening volume (17). Beyond that hurts my ears anyway so I don't actually care what the limits are.

My phone is a superior music source to native SiriusXM on the tuner, as I have an EQ on my phone I already tuned. I do have the Sync set to "Surround" and I can hear sounds from the ceiling speakers occasionally. I haven't heard anything from the headrests yet though. I also have not tried HD radio to compare.

My phone just has automatically been connecting over Android Auto wirelessly, I wasn't even intending for that to happen as I hated Android Auto in my 2017 but man this is pretty nice. I don't know if the audio stream is higher quality than BT yet or whether it uses the same compression and bitrate. I am not using any premium source anyway (just YT music and SiriusXM from phone as it sounds better with EQ than my Sync unit).

Anyway, glad my initial test drive fears have gone away and the one I now own sounds awesome!
 

SonnyDigs

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Ok NOW that I have my own, I have had more time to play plus use my phone as an audio source.

I love this sound system! I believe the one I test drove may have had some unique issues. I also sat in one at a dealership on a later date and did not get the muddy distortion on the front center speaker.

I found that I could tune it decently with just the tred/mid/bass to my liking, and I moved the fade one notch to the rear and it did not have any front dash or door speaker distortion at my highest comfortable listening volume (17). Beyond that hurts my ears anyway so I don't actually care what the limits are.

My phone is a superior music source to native SiriusXM on the tuner, as I have an EQ on my phone I already tuned. I do have the Sync set to "Surround" and I can hear sounds from the ceiling speakers occasionally. I haven't heard anything from the headrests yet though. I also have not tried HD radio to compare.

My phone just has automatically been connecting over Android Auto wirelessly, I wasn't even intending for that to happen as I hated Android Auto in my 2017 but man this is pretty nice. I don't know if the audio stream is higher quality than BT yet or whether it uses the same compression and bitrate. I am not using any premium source anyway (just YT music and SiriusXM from phone as it sounds better with EQ than my Sync unit).

Anyway, glad my initial test drive fears have gone away and the one I now own sounds awesome!
HD radio sounds awesome.
 

Square_D

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Wow. You’re the first I’ve heard to say that about the Unleashed system. I’ve loved what I’ve heard from it so far. What don’t you like about it?
I had a 2017 limited 1500 sound system was 3x better than my 2021 B&O unleash. Is not loud enough
 

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daemonic3

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I had a 2017 limited 1500 sound system was 3x better than my 2021 B&O unleash. Is not loud enough
Man, that's crazy. I can't turn mine past 17 (FM or Sirius) or 19 (phone as source, with pre-EQ) without it hurting my ears. As long as bass or mid bass don't distort at those levels then I'm completely happy. Everything has been super clean sounding once I slid the mid down to about 1/5, and treble and bass up to just about 4/5 on the slider.

I have been loving it so much I haven't even gotten back to my podcasts or audiobooks, it feels like such a waste of opportunity for enjoying some sick beats.

One thing I wish it had was "EQ per source". FM and Sirius definitely need a little less mid for my ears (which I do already on my phone as source) but I don't want to constantly adjust the sound when switching sources. Or I don't want to turn the mid in Sync all the way down and turn off/on the EQ on my phone all the time. Anyway, just a minor gripe.
 

SonnyDigs

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Man, that's crazy. I can't turn mine past 17 (FM or Sirius) or 19 (phone as source, with pre-EQ) without it hurting my ears. As long as bass or mid bass don't distort at those levels then I'm completely happy. Everything has been super clean sounding once I slid the mid down to about 1/5, and treble and bass up to just about 4/5 on the slider.

I have been loving it so much I haven't even gotten back to my podcasts or audiobooks, it feels like such a waste of opportunity for enjoying some sick beats.

One thing I wish it had was "EQ per source". FM and Sirius definitely need a little less mid for my ears (which I do already on my phone as source) but I don't want to constantly adjust the sound when switching sources. Or I don't want to turn the mid in Sync all the way down and turn off/on the EQ on my phone all the time. Anyway, just a minor gripe.
Agree a 100%, generally 14-15 is max for me..
Love it...Can't imagine anything sounding better..
I've owned a lot of cars in my life and always with whatever was the best audio package available..
Not one compared with this..
 

SonnyDigs

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Holy cow, y’all are turning it up to 14-15 volume?! I’m like at 7, and happy. Man I’m getting old!
LOL...
I'm old I have to turn it up..
Too many concerts back in the day..
 

currybob

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Agree a 100%, generally 14-15 is max for me..
Love it...Can't imagine anything sounding better..
I've owned a lot of cars in my life and always with whatever was the best audio package available..
Not one compared with this..
Me neither, I only crank it up near that high when one of my favorite songs comes on and I'm by myself. This thing has tons of power.
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