[Jason]

Featured on BIMMERPOST HOMEPAGE.

The BMW 6-series Coupe Concept features Bang & Olufsen's highly acclaimed High-End Surround Sound System's latest iteration. With the debut of BMW's newest concept car, B&O has announced its partnership with BMW cars and provided some more background to the 6-series coupe's audio system.

Per Bang & Olufesen's website:



Bang & Olufsen High-End Surround System for the BMW Concept 6 Series Coupé

Bang & Olufsen announces the latest incarnation of its highly acclaimed in-car sound system, the Bang & Olufsen High-End Surround Sound System featured in the BMW Concept 6 Series Coupé.

Two brands, one customer

Bang & Olufsen and BMW have the same type of customer – dynamic people who like performance, high quality and unique, dynamic design. Customers who like the BMW brand are likely to be attracted to the Bang & Olufsen brand and vice versa. With this new partnership, the two brands have been brought together in a single package, giving BMW customers the ability to experience the excellence of Bang & Olufsen home audio while sitting in their favourite car.

The future, now

The Bang & Olufsen High-End Surround Sound System featured in the BMW 6 Series concept car was developed under a veil of secrecy. After many months of intensive research and development carried out at Bang & Olufsen’s research facility in Struer, Denmark and BMW’s Research & Innovation Centre in Munich, the new sound system began to take shape. The result is a sound system that seamlessly integrates the clean Danish design of Bang & Olufsen with BMW's dynamic three-dimensional style and the flowing, sporty interior lines of the BMW 6 Series concept car. The new sound system shows the way forward for this exciting partnership.

A symphony of sound

The Bang & Olufsen High-End Surround Sound System consists of 16 fully active loudspeakers delivering an outstanding sound performance.

In the centre of the dashboard, the tweeter and mid-range drivers deliver a symphony of clear sound, while the four pairs of tweeter and mid-range drivers by each seat, plus two additional pairs behind the rear seats, combine to create a highly balanced listening experience that will envelop you and your passengers in a crystal-clear sound stage. Finally, the two subwoofers under the front seats produce an even base performance throughout the whole cabin.




Design matching the concept

The sound system featured in the new 6 Series concept car includes several unique design elements, such as the hand-crafted Acoustic Lens positioned in the centre of the instrument panel, which, when activated, opens up to reveal the lens inside.



An established and highly-acclaimed Bang & Olufsen car and home audio technology, Acoustic Lens Technology (ALT) maximises the sound stage in front of the unit, providing a greater sense of space and realism than the focused beam of sound produced by traditional baffle-design loudspeakers.

The solid aluminium grilles covering the 16 high-performance loudspeakers also complement the design of the interior space while creating a sense of uniqueness.

Finished in a stylish anodised 'Perl Glanz' colour with laser-engraved Bang & Olufsen logo, the grilles appear to float above the interior surface, accentuating the dynamic and sporty feel of the concept car.

The hole patterns of each grille have been meticulously drilled, so no matter which angle you look from, the holes are perfectly aligned – a design feature unique to the Bang & Olufsen car sound system portfolio.



Impressive as the loudspeaker grilles are on paper, it’s only when you step inside the 6 Series concept car that you really appreciate how striking and integral to the overall interior design they really are. As you cast your eyes around the cabin, the amount of high-quality aluminium adorning the various surfaces is truly impressive.

Value in collaboration

Even though the Bang & Olufsen High-End Surround Sound System featured in the BMW 6 Series concept car signals the start of a real cooperation between the two companies, Bang & Olufsen and BMW already enjoy an active global teamwork on a number of levels. Whether it’s presenting Bang & Olufsen televisions and sound systems in BMW showrooms or displaying video and images of BMW cars on Bang & Olufsen televisions at large international car shows, it is clear that the two global brands have already formed a solid partnership.

[c0nstant]

this is music to my ears

[jibaholic101]

B&O?! Damn, thats awesome! I hope they will be able to equip it across the model board

[///M3Lover]

Originally Posted by jibaholic101

B&O?! Damn, thats awesome! I hope they will be able to equip it across the model board

+1

[MrHarris]

Let's hope they do in the future.

[positiveions]

FINALLYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheAcAvenger]

This news is fantastic. Even their lower end stuff for cars (ex. S5 option) is mindblowingly better than what BMW offers

[BMWI6]

YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!! I hope it makes it down to the entire model range.

[numba1guju]

Originally Posted by jibaholic101

B&O?! Damn, thats awesome! I hope they will be able to equip it across the model board

+1

[chris719]

Too bad it's not a real speaker company like Dynaudio, B&W, etc. B&O is like an upscale Bose, more marketing than substance.

[immiketoo]

Tell you what. The sound my S5 had blows the M3 away. My only complaint was the bass response, and thats way easier to fix than everything else. I'm just pissed my current car won't get it

[warmtoes]

Yeah, I'd love to have a Dynaudio or B&W as well but at least B&O car systems are far superior to any Bose or Harman system if the Audi products are any indication.

[chris719]

Yeah, I have never been in a BMW car with an HK system that sounded good. The problem might not lie with HK though, the parent company develops a ton of high end gear under the Revel brand among others. Sometimes I wonder if the system in a particular vehicle is even designed by these companies or if the system gets designed by BMW engineers and then "blessed" by, say, Harman.

In the end it probably doesn't matter who makes it, I'm sure the end result is only strongly correlated to the amount of money BMW shells out. Maybe one day the stupid number-of-speakers race will end. I'd rather have 6 good drivers than 16 cheap paper cones.

If nothing else the B&O grilles will look better.

[Oregano123]

I never heard of B&O. What happened to HK?

[Los Angeles]

Originally Posted by bmwhype

I never heard of B&O.

What?

They make Harmon Kardon sound like cell phone speakers.


You will be glad they made this switch.

[crackberry]

wow, this synergy sounds like it can really work out for both companies.

[E39hijinks]

LOLOL .....













you're kidding me....

















right?

Originally Posted by bmwhype

I never heard of B&O. What happened to HK?

[Mu Mu]

Its about time!

[D_o_S]

Wish they had gone for B&W or something better... like McIntosh? But B&O will do... not that I would buy it anyway, I much prefer the sound of the engine to having your car weighed down by a hundred speakers... and hearing outside noise too...

[bluewater328]

Originally Posted by chris719

Too bad it's not a real speaker company like Dynaudio, B&W, etc. B&O is like an upscale Bose, more marketing than substance.

yeah, a shame that Jaguar coaxed B&W to it's end. Would have love to hear a customized 8 series in a 3 or 5 series :P Still B&O is nothing to completely sneeze at.

[zaheer]

im saving up for the 6 now

[sneaks]

B&O makes some very interesting looking products.... that tend to look dated within 2 years.
At least they focus a lot on sound quality.......i love the sound of overprocessed audio