Factory Installed Economy Car Audio Systems

[MJS]

I love music and am currently in the market for a new economy car, so I've been listening to a few factory installed audio systems. I would like a system with quality I can live with....perhaps just adding a subwoofer. Here are my impressions:

1. Honda Fit Sport: This is the best sounding system I heard...I'd rate the sound as "good" (for a factory-installed system on a budget car). The display and controls are simple but limited. The system could not read/access more than 30 tracks in a single album/folder.

2. Hyundai Accent SE (and Elantra GLS): The display and controls are better than the Honda, but the sound was a bit worse IMO....I'd say "fairly good."

3. Mazda 3 with Bose Premium Audio upgrade: This system lacks a USB port and the salesman would not let me play my audio CDs unless I first committed to purchase the car (but he let me drive the car!). He also said the bluetooth audio streaming was too complex to set up for a demonstration. so I had to try to judge sound quality via the FM radio. I found the sound quality to be worse than the Hyundai....I'd say "fair."

4. Ford Focus: This system has a very complex, irritating, and buggy user interface which requires you to listen to a voice nagging you to pay attention to the road. It seemed nearly impossible to navigate between folders and tracks on a flash drive. I'd would describe the sound quality of this system as "crappy."

Please share your opinions on these systems or other economy car audio systems! Are my opinions off-base?

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[zako 10+ year member]

If you're looking for a good sound, look for a car that does not get on your way of replacing the factory sound with aftermarket. I bet any of the cars you sampled would sound a million times better simply with JBL MS-8 installed and factory speakers simply running off MS-8 internal amplifier. And with a good dedicated amp, speakers, and sub, there would be no comparison.

When I look for my next car I will definitely look for these things:

1. How hard is it to install JBL MS-8 or similar processor

2. Whether there is a center channel speaker

3. Whether it's possible to use at least 5-1/4 inch speakers in front (hate those cars with 4inch speakers), with reasonable mounting depth. Will prefer a car with 6.5 or 8 inch midbasses in front.

4. Alternator output

 

[MJS]

"I bet any of the cars you sampled would sound a million times better simply with JBL MS-8 installed and factory speakers..."

I thought sound quality was mostly determined by the speakers. Have you heard the 2012 Honda Fit Sport sound system? I think it sounds good and could be very good with just an added powered sub-woofer. I believe the Honda and Hyundai systems have amplifiers that produce about 170 watts. You think this is inadequate for a small vehicle?

 

[zako 10+ year member]

"I bet any of the cars you sampled would sound a million times better simply with JBL MS-8 installed and factory speakers..."
I thought sound quality was mostly determined by the speakers. Have you heard the 2012 Honda Fit Sport sound system? I think it sounds good and could be very good with just an added powered sub-woofer. I believe the Honda and Hyundai systems have amplifiers that produce about 170 watts. You think this is inadequate for a small vehicle?

First of all, you would be surprised how cheaply the factory speakers are made, even today. The good thing about them now is that they were designed to produce the best possible sound for the least amount of money, even with a weak factory amplifier. 10 years ago, OEM speakers were cheap and sounded as you'd expect. No thought was put into making them sound good at all. Today, factory speakers are a lot better than they used to be. You can certainly buy aftermarket speakers that will decidedly beat factory speakers for $150-$250 a set, but most of them really do need 50 to 100watts RMS running per side to sound to their full potential.

Next, I want to address the belief that the speakers alone make a good sound system. No they don't. Perhaps this works in a home audio environment with properly placed speakers. But in a car, without additional processing you will always have screwed up staging and imaging. For example, among the cars that you have tested how many actually had a properly centered sound stage? To me this is a bigger concern than whether there is enough bass or highs, etc. Next is the issue of frequency response. Unless the car manufacturer took an extra step to ensure that the frequency response is flat from the listeners position, you will have a non-flat frequency response. To fix it, you need a multi-band equalizer and a lot of tuning skill. If you drop a JBL MS-8 into your car, it will take care of time alignment (for better imaging) and equalization. MS-8 even has a processor, called Logic7, for surround sound, so your rear speakers can be used for surround sound effects instead of merely reproducing what the front speakers play. It also has built-in amplifier. It's quite weak, but most factory speakers have pretty good sensitivity. This is why I mentioned that simply dropping an MS-8 into a car will take the sound to the next level, even if the original sound was terrible. Adding MS-8 and subwoofer could be a sensible "budget" solution to improve the sound of any factory speaker system (as long as 8 channels is enough). Adding speaker amps and better speakers could take the sound to a whole new level.

Note that the more expensive luxury cars come with a better sound system, if you pay for premium sound option, than a car like Honda Fit. A typical new compact luxury sedan can come with a 3-way front stage with a center channel, subwoofer, and a surround sound processor (some even use JBL's Logic 7). If I was buying one of those, I'd think twice about upgrading their sound system, beyond the subwoofer. However, it's relatively easy to improve upon the sound system of a budget car.

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

First I'm going to address "upgraded sound systems". These usually cost at LEAST $1,000, and usually just add a bunch more speakers, and cheap, grossly overrated amplifier. When in reality, all you need is a good 3 way set and processor, which could easily be obtained for $1,000 or less... and be had at much better quality.

Second, I'll address the factory system of a Hyundai Elantra GLS.... No, they don't have any built in amplifier. I own a 2009 Hyundai Elantra GLS. I'll say I was pleasantly surprised by the stock system. Bass was adequate, distortion was minimal. I really really enjoyed to UI, screen controls and what-not. It was sleek, and not overly flashy. Granted, this was all at the very beginning of my car-audio addiction, so I didn't know much at all then. Now from an after-market stand-point, I'll say it's pretty friendly. Door panels just take 2 screws and then pop right off. The dash is super easy to pop-off to swap out the HU. It's so easy, I've done it a couple times while driving. Speakers are 6.5" front and rear, with tweets in the sails. Speaker mounting depth isn't terrible, I've got some 2.5" DEEP mids in right now, and tweeters in the stock location (sail panels). The doors are already sealed up well, so that takes some deadening work out of the way. The enormous hassles I had to face were.... factory speakers are riveted onto the door, so either drill them out, or cut the speakers out with a sawz-all. And the door jamb wiring harnesses..... I don't have words to describe what a nightmare they were to run new wiring. Absolutely dreadful. Maybe it was due to my inexperience, maybe their design, maybe both. Maybe I just missing something quite simple that would have simplified the whole process. Regardless, it was the single-most frustrating process I've ever gone through on my car.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

In my (limited) experience, it's ease of upgrading that matters. A major factor is the way that the factory installs front speakers. My Buick had a plastic box that the front mids mounted to and it's been a nightmare to make improvements. Also stay away from premium systems with factory amps because they almost always hipass the front too high and direct midbass to the rear "subs". All other things being equal, I would prefer 6.5's in the front doors. Dash speakers are unacceptable.

Just my opinion..

 

[MJS]

'stay away from premium systems with factory amps because they almost always hipass the front too high and direct midbass to the rear "subs".'

Is this something that the JBL MS-8 or another signal processing unit could correct?