Sount set: "Driver" "Front" "Full"
GALA On/Off
Surround Level

I've had mine on "Driver" (the way it was set from the dealer) for 3 months now and am only now starting to play with it. The "Driver" focus is a bit punchy, but Full is a bit hollow and sharp. It seems like I want to use "Full" and cut the Treble and boost the Bass each one click, but it seems cheesy to mess with the sound this way, knowing that B&O probably spent tons of time equalizing the system precisely for the car's interior.

I guess it would help to hear an audiophile's take on what are considered optimal settings.

Also, I expected GALA to be doing much more manipulation of the volume based on the car's speed/road noise, but it doesn't seem to do much. Anyone else?

db

...envelopes; however, you are correct, one needs to cut that killer treble some. Treble is always difficult to deal with in a glass-enclosed cocoon. It is worse on the ears over time anyway, especially at higher-than-average volumes. The vehicle could really use some more bass. I have been diappointed when playing pieces that had five-string-, six-string-, or upright basses only to not get all of the sound, as I do at home. However, I acknowledge it is difficult to find good, clean, tight bass for a car that is deep enough, yet "fast" enough to keep up with demanding, dynamic pieces. Many subwoofers for cars are simply boomy.

But you are leaving out a very, very important factor: What type of music do you listen to? That is the wild card here. That will help determine what you do. No settings are perfect for all types of music at all times. The folks at B&O attempted to optimize the system so that one can get the most out of the music one listens to, regardless of the type of music, so the settings are there for that purpose. You can use the settings to enhance your music experience without going to the extreme of changing the artist's musical intent.

treble -2

bass +3

surround fx OFF (starts to make me dizzy after a while)

gala OFF (yeah, it works, but volume changes can go up or down when u least expect it - like when u r playing music really loud on the freeway and u stop at a tollbooth still talking very loudly to yr passenger - the music suddenly goes all soft on ya! making u look like an idiot!)

looks like i don't have presets like 'driver' on my symphony system.....

all hear differently so choose the setting that works best for you. It is also very dependent on the recording quality. On bright recordings I have to turn the treble down, on others I turn the bass up. Nothing cheesy about it, but it can be irritating.

Pure audiophiles rile against "tone" controls with the argument that they distort the sound and the system should be able to replicate the recording as accurately as possible - at the very least they say, leave the controls flat. That is fine if all recordings were equal, but they vary greatly, and if it is important to you, you may have to adjust the controls from time to time.

I find the tone controls on the B&O system pretty good as long as you don't go too far in any direction (for me, not more than 3 clicks either way). Go too far and it starts sounding unnatural.