spijun

Yes I agree and on other forums I found that people are much more satisfied and happier with Bose system than with B & O. When I went to the Audi service and compared the Audi sound system with B & O and they are surprised by the Audi sound system louder by 30%.

jperryrocks

As an old a6 4.2 owner with Bose & now an 11 Avant with b&o, I was a bit underwhelmed with the lack of volume in the the a4.

But I've grown to get use to it. The b&o simply can't handle a lot of bass, either. I'm riding all my settings @ middle. Except the bass. I have to back off a couple notches and anything over mid level on the bass adjustment causes lots of problems. Lots of vibration & it just can't seem to handle it.

The b&o is better suited to clarity & crispness.

But there's has always been a difference in the a4 & a6.

The a6 is hands down louder & better than the Bose system on the old body 08 & down a4s. So it's not just about Bose vs b&o.

The old 2008 Bose system on the a4 is lacking in volume as well.

spijun

The problem is that Audi audio system, power 180 Watts and louder playing of the B & O, which has a 505W. It has the distinction of 325W or 280% and to me it's not normal that the Audi sound system louder than the B & O

quality_sound

Just because the amp is capable of more power doesn't mean it's producing that much, especially if that power is directed to speakers that will never need it such as the tweeters, midranges, and center channel.

spijun

It is as if my 2.0TFSI Audi Q5 S-Tronik with 211 HP was faster than the Audi R8 5.2 FSI with 525 HP
Power relationship is very similar (180wati to 505 watts)
(211 HP to 525 HP)

quality_sound

Not really. Say you have a "500 Watt" amp. When does it make 500 Watts? Only when you turn up the volume enough that it's sending enough Voltage into the amp so that it will output 500 Watts. So in short, your listening habits. However, another very important factor is speaker efficiency. Really efficient speakers will get louder with less power. A lot of "high end" speakers are very inefficient. Dynaudio and Morel are two very good examples.

It could also be this. Think about this VERY simplified example.

"500 Watt" amp. 100 Watts to a pair of tweeters, a pair of mids, and a center channel.

"300 Watt" amp. 150 Watts to two channels, a mid and tweeter on each, no center channel.

Guess which one will be louder. In most cases, the 300 Watt setup will be. Typically more efficient "low end" speakers and more power to the drivers than actually need it. Tweeters and small mids, like the B&O setup, don't need much power at all. Like 25 Watts max.

spijun

OK but to me it still is not normal that the system of 180Wati playing louder than the system with 505Wati
Audio Sound System: 6 channel amplifier, 10 speakers 180 total watts
B & O Sound System: 10 channel amplifier 14 speakers 505 total watts

The G Man

That kind of tells me that the amp, or the speakers or the sound processor is higher quality in the A6.

ELEVENS

Until we know the number of channels, load (ohms of resistance), amount of total harmonic distortion, and tested frequency bandwidth, wattage wars are apples and oranges.

quality_sound

It could easily be that the base system has much more efficient speakers. Power claims, for the most parts, are useless for anything but marketing.

To determine estimated volume, all we really need to know is impedance, efficiency, and power at the speaker. Freq. response and THD don't factor into this as all. We're not debating if one sounds better, just which is louder. Well, now we are. Also THD is pretty much useless for anything. There are other, better, distortion specs we can use.