Aston Martin DB9 turns it up with Bang & Olufsen
April 3, 2009 by Anthony Crawford
I have to stop myself pulling over every time I see one of those Bang & Olufsen showrooms, for fear of sliding further into debt if I was to finally give in and buy one of these astonishing sound systems. Its just that I’d like to do it before I’m too old and deaf to enjoy it.
But if you can afford an Aston Martin DB9 then you won’t ever need to visit a Bang & Olufsen showroom, if you tick this option box.
The two bespoke companies have teamed up and produced the BeoSound DB9, a 1000-Watt sound system, which has been perfectly matched for the DB9, both acoustically and physically.
Switch on the BeoSound DB9 and twin acoustic lens speakers raise silently out of either side the dashboard. These motorised tweeter units are a Bang & Olufesn patent and can disperse high frequency sounds throughout 180 degrees, so it doesn’t matter where you are in the car, the sound is just as good.
There are also five mid-range speakers, three further tweeters and three woofers, including a very serious 200mm subwoofer beneath the rear bench. All up there are thirteen speakers positioned at ten locations within the cabin.
And that’s just the back end. To run this highly advanced speaker network there is a Bang & Olufsen Digital Signal Processing unit, which manages all thirteen speakers for the perfect in-car listening experience.
But if you’ve had a particularly good month and are looking at the DB9 Volante (convertible) then that won’t affect the quality of the BeoSound DB9 in the slightest, the system has been modelled to account for changing road and noise conditions and that’s with the roof up or down.
What is “Its just that I’d like to it before I’m too old” supposed to mean? Doesn’t anybody proof read their work before posting it?
I noticed Audi also offer the system as a $13,000 option on the A5. What I wouldn’t give to experience the sound. I’m assuming the sound produced by one of these systems is the aural equivolent of watching a Bond movie on a Blue Ray dvd player mated to a large LCD tv.
thanks for the typo correction carl, but are you the least bit interested in the actual article, or do you purely exist as a grammar Nazi roaming the media galaxy?
A Porsche Panemera with the Burmester sound system would eat anything aston martin and b&o could do
Sorry to disapoint, but if I had the coin to splash out on an Aston the last box I’d tick would be for the sound system!! I mean one person spent how many hours making that engine sound the way it does??? Would be a shame to drown it out with any type of music…… B&O or Burmester for the house or the Family truckster (Panamera ;-)) sure but not when you can have all that rich music just under your right foot!
” I’ve had to stop myself pulling ” Lets just change this sentence around shall we ?? LOL
Frontman, they’re GT’s for a reason =)
Like you said, if you had the money, you wouldn’t tick it. However, at the same time, consider that, you’ve already spent $300 grand on a car, you’d expect the best of the best (to an extent) and when the sound system is sub-par, you’re going to be left wanting more.
Im with you Frontman………….turn up the volume under the bonnet. Theres a track you’ll never get sick of ;))
Anthony – even I’m not that anal – thanks for the article, certainly something to aspire to. Great marriage of two fantastic icons.
Haaaaaaaaaaa Carl got pwned !
Shane,
Not so fast buddy. Firstly, the audio system in the Veyron is from Dieter Burmester and even though it was also custom made like the BeoSound DB9, none of us at Car Advice thought it lived up to its reputation.
In fact, Alborz and I both reckon that the 700W Alpine system in the current V8 Vantage is the best sounding audio unit we have heard in any car and that is only a $2,650 option.
It means little that an audio manufacturer creates the best high end home systems, when it comes to cars. It might be a confined space, but there is very little packaging space in most sports or GT cars and this is an acoustic challenge.
Don’t go on brand alone.
Shane, notwithstanding my thoughts on the Burmester, I have to acknowledge the fact that its probably the only audio system in the world that can function flawlessly at speeds greater than 400 km/h.
One of my favourite car brands with my favourite audio/television brand. After ten years, I’m still happy to say that my house is well and truly decked out with B&O.
They are the Apple of sound systems – look great, work fantastically and value for money doesn’t even start to come into it. Just the way I like it :)
I’m glad to see that they are doing more car brands. I can only hope that they do the next Range Rover. The Harman/Kardon system is pretty good but could be a lot better. I hope they end up with a lot more car company clients as I have been in a Q7 with the Bang & Olufsen system and it was immense. Perfect. Better than any other car sound system I have heard and I’ve heard almost all of the top ones. The only one I can think of that equals or betters it is the Naim for Bentley system in the Continental Flying Spur and I think that’s only so good because the cabin is already so quiet.
I have had good pro logic systems in my last 3 cars, the most recent (and current) the 15 odd speaker B & W system that won the UK award (reported here). Come the end of the day, and while I would always get the optioned up one, I reckon the sound out of an ipod with standard cheapie earphones is better. Go figure, eh? I suppose you shouldnt drive with the phones in, though.