Burmester Bass Cuts Out When Driving Over 60-70+ MPH

[HEA3]

Hi All!



I have a W205 2015 C Class with Burmester sound system and recently I have noticed the bass cuts out when driving on the motorway at around over 60-70mph. I have the bass in the equalizer setting set at 9 but as soon as I reduce any of the following variables: the bass below 7 or decrease the volume or speed drops below 60mph the bass returns.



This bass doesn't seem to cut out when listening to the radio, only when streaming through Bluetooth.



I've had this car for over a year and I dont recall this ever happening before. I have had the Burmester speaker covers changed to ambient lighting doors speaker covers to match the rest of the interior lighting, but I don't see how this would effect the bass cutting out over a certain speed.



I already reset the COMMAND Infotainment System and have the automatic volume setting turned off, but to no avail. Does anyone know what's going on?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

My first thought is that it might not actually be cutting out. You feel bass as much as hear t, and at higher road speeds the low frequency noise and vibration generated by the car whilst driving (engine, exhaust, and more specifically tyre roar and wind noise) mask the corresponding low frequency sounds in the music are masked - they’re still there, you just can’t hear or feel them as clearly as speed increases.

However your comment that it it doesn’t affect all music sources would blow a hole in that theory.

The other thought is that some Mercedes music systems automatically increase the music volume as speed increases, for the very reason I mention above. Perhaps when the EQ bass is set high and the volume automatically increases, then the bass is automatically limited to avoid unnecessary distortion. This may be relevant because some Mercedes music systems enable you to change the EQ settings differently according to source, so for example perhaps EQ bass set to 9 for MP3/iphone but only set to 7 for DVD and 6 for radio.

You could check to see if the the EQ settings are the same for all music sources, and if not increase one source which is not currently affected to match a source that is affected, eg set EQ bass to 9.

 

[Gnominateur]

I also don't think it's cutting out. The subwoofers in the w205 generation were not great to begin with (at least on my 2019 version), so if you had the sw level at 9 which iirc is the max, turning the volume up will cause the (i am assuming power management or limiting) system to lower the loudness of the subwoofer to avoid distortion (and to protect the subwoofers from literally blowing out).

The car tries to maintain a certain volume level, which means that as you speed up and road and engine noise increases, the car "secretly" raises the volume above the noise so you can still hear what you're playing, and that triggers the protection systems I've explained above.

This is easy to test , I think. While stationary, turn the volume up close to the max and you should notice a dramatic reduction in bass output merely from the fact that you're asking for more output than the subs can deliver.

This is a 570W combined system, which sounds good, but the subs aren't a superpower. Lots of people claim better performance from upgrading, and there are lots of plug-in exact fit upgrade kits available from Eton, Morel and Focal, but don't quote me on that

 

[Gnominateur]

Fwiw, I had my sub set to 4, as that allowed me to raise the volume up to a comfortably loud level for me without hitting any power limits. Combined with the 3D processing, it was enjoyable.

The W206 generation has a much better sound system with peak power bumped up to 700+ watts, so you get more bass output, but even that will do the same thing if you turn the bass up to 9 and turn the volume up to around 85% give or take.