I've had the B&O in my Audi A3, and before that a Nissan QQ with standard radio.. in my XK I have the Premium option, which is the '07 one.. and I have to say.. playing CD's or just listening to the MP3 I have no complaints.. ok.. I bought my car second hand, and thus not THAT expensive.. i'm fairly sure it's not worth the premium cost when bought new.. (audi B&O was a whooping 3500 euro's) but it fits my needs.. and i'm not annoyed by it..

 

Mitchumgroup who started this subject has an '07 which is an Alpine design. Later models have the B&O system, which is entirely different. I don't think anyone is recommending that Mitchumgroup spend the big $$$ to convert to B&O. What he is asking is how to upgrade the Alpine.
I have an 'O7 and have upgraded the door, tweeter and rear speakers to Focal, nothing more. This is definitely an improvement, but I think the Alpine system needs a better amplifier. I have not done this, and wonder which is the best amp. for the money?. While I had the car interior apart for the rear speakers I installed sound deadener (like Dynomax) everywhere I could - doors, floorpan, etc. This did not make a huge difference, but it helps. Tire noise is a big problem, particularly with the rear tires being so close to ones ears.

 

I thought that with the B & W unit it is only the speakers that are B & W and the head unit is still an Alpine. I've had 2 B & W systems, as I mentioned, and I cant tell you that if you "upgraded" to it you'd be throwing money away. They are better than the standard, but not much. Ultimately you'd get a much better sound sticking some ear buds in and listening to music on your iPhone, though that is probably true of any system.

 

I thought I'd chip in since I started this thread. I now have an 09 XKR with the B&W system and I have no complaints at all. To my ears, it sounds really good. The 07 XK that I had when I started this thread had the 160W Factory stereo. What I ended up doing was changing the front door speakers and tweeters. I added a mono amp (Kenwood 600W) to drive a subwoofer which was mounted in a box in the trunk. The result was acceptable given what it sounded like before.

The B&W system in the XKR sounds better than the mods I made in my XK. It's not louder, and it doesn't have more bass, but the sound is cleaner and more precise. I'm not sure how the Alpine system would have sounded if it was the premium 525W version in my 07 XK - but I do stand by my original thoughts that the 160W base system in what was an $80K car was just unacceptable.

 

I swapped out the standard tweeter and front door speakers with Focal 163 AS components and a Focal 2.350 amp. I haven't done anything to the rear speakers yet. I have an 07 XK convertible and it sounds incredible at any speed with the top down.

 

Here is part of the problem. The subwoofer for the B&W is smaller than the rest of the speakers.

 

My 07 has the premium sound system - which has the option of 3 different configurations (stereo, 3 channel, Dolby - and the sound is quite different on all 3) and the sound quality - bass and treble - is really excellent on CDs - variable on FM - but that is a matter of signal strength. Perhaps the standard system was not up to modern expectations (don't know - I haven't heard one) but the Premium system is just fine.