The most important part is not the source but the speakers. That's where the most money should be spent and where the most difference in sound quality can be detected.

 

I originally said that you need to start at the speakers. I will agree with rotorygod that the head unit is the place to start, IF you are starting from the ground up.

If I could only change one thing about my base set up though, I would spend money on the speakers, and not the head unit.

I have heard "crap in, crap out" so many times, and I agree, and I think that the head unit IS very important. But in my experience with home audio, I get very noticeable results if I have a decent to good receiver, and try many different speakers. Versus results that are not as noticeable if I have one set of speakers and try many different receivers.

In my experience, when I have had to get a new receiver, the sound does change, but not nearly as much as when I get a new set of speakers.

I still stand by what I said. Look at your speaker set up if you want better sound from your 8's system, unless you are going to change everything including the head unit.

 

wow just yesterday...i met up my friend from school who had the base audio in his car. I always wanted to know if there was a MID in the base one. ANd there is was..MiD i wish the Bose had that. I was pretty jealous because his sounded way better then what i had...which is bose. =/ ohhh well...remember. Dont dwell on the things you dont have, VALUE the things you DO have. =) just a thought. heh

 

How about we all get on track--it doesn't matter which comes first; the speakers or the amps...let's just decide on which is best: The base, or the Bose...
I wouldn't know though, I haven't heard either, and don't have an 8(obviously)...but want to know which is best...might buy a rx-8 in a couple of months...

 

In my opinion the base system is better. I had a loaner for 3 days which had the base system in it. The loaner has 75 miles on it when I got into it so the speakers were not broken in and it still sounded better IMO.
Once again, this is all personal preference.

 

Yeah, what do I know? :o

 

I would respectfully disagree here. I think in terms of the kind of sound one prefers, the speakers are the most determining factor, unless of course, you're starting out with a $49 Audiovox unit left over from your Karmann Ghia, which isn't the case here. Like everything else electronic, you can buy a lot of great quality for not a heck of a lot of money these days. And besides, when you're on the road, and you're competing with wind, road and engine noise, aiming too high on sound quality in a car is a bit of a joke.

 

I have Bose 901's in my house. They ROCK! But Bose is good at home sound....I have heard nothing but bad reviews for auto. BOSE is all about the science of reflecting sound. The inside of a RX-8 is not the perfect auditorium, so direct sound systems sound better. I have the base system, added an Orion 200 watt amp, and ONE 10" Kicker sub-woofer. The sound is crystal clear and packs a healthy punch.

I read in another thread if you add tweeters to your existing Bose, it makes all the difference in the world.

 

I'm getting my new 8 tonight and it has the BOSE. To be honest, car audio isn't really that important to me, so they sounded pretty good when I did my test drive.

I also have a BOSE system in my Audi Allroad. In that car, it sounds great!

I don't pretend to be an audiophile, so take my opion with a grain of salt.

 

My test drive car had the base system and the Bose does have the main advantage of the power and clarity all the way to the top of the volume as I have found in my 8. However my 2000 Montero Sport had absolutely the best factory 6 speaker stereo I have ever heard. The crispness and clarity of that system makes the Bose sound muddy.

 

From all the stock systems I've heard, my Rx8 bose system is one of the worse sounding systems for the cost. Coming from another car with a bose system, the RSX Type-S, it definately sounded better although still poor compared to my custom system in the previous car. The good thing is that the engine sounds so good that I don't need the stereo. Hopefully the system will sound better when it losens up.

 

Funny you should mention that. I took my kids to Disney World and rented a Galant. I had taken about 20 of my own CD's with me to listen to- I thought the system in this rental car sounded damn good!!

 

i rented a ford focus in florida last yr and
wow the sound was great
as for the 8 bose i think you guys saying it sucks is because
your listening to the wrong music .lol

 

Has anyone tried an equalizer to get more warmth and presence from the mid-range, and to tone down the screechy highs and boomy lows?

 

I have had my base system for over half a year now, and I listened to the Bose on a few test drives. I thought the Bose sounded better. Not great, but better. It played louder more clearly, with better defined bass, I thought.

My base system has no bass to speak of. If you crank up a song that has any bass at all, the speakers will distort unless you dial the bass setting below 0, to maybe -1 or -2. Also, the base system is not very clear; it blends the sound together and doesn't differentiate among the vocals and instruments well. Finally, it is harsh and fatiguing.

I have a megabuck system at home (Dynaudio Contours, NAD Silver Series, Velodyne sub), and the difference in clarity is simply astounding. I can listen to the same CD at home and in the car, and it's like a whole different album.

I can't wait to upgrade the speakers in my car. I think they will make a huge difference. Maybe some Focals or Dynaudios.

 

What I don't understand about the Bose system is #1 there is no sub from the factory (ok, even the Hyundai Tiburon with Infiniti sound has a little 8" sub in the trunk) and #2 maybe my 8 is just the oddball--but the rear deck speakers are not Bose--and the best I can tell without taking them out they're just factory--so what are we paying for here?? To Mazda's defense, the little amp they put inbetween the rear deck speakers is Bose. I'm curious, though, to see if any of the other speakers in the car are Bose or not.

 

The base sounds better because you know you didn't spend extra $$ for a system that still doesn't do what you want. If you're a sound freak you'll probably want to modify regardless and the base is easier to do it with and you won't bitch about ripping out expensive components.

 

I agree with RG. If you put a crappy signal into the best speaker in the world it will still sound crappy. An audio system is a chain of components, and a chain is still only as good as its weakest link.

 

This statement is true, but in the case of the stock stereo the weakest link is NOT the source, it is the speakers.

If you want a *****-to-the-wall no compromise system, then sure...start with the source, or really start anywhere you want because you'll be replacing everything anyway. However, for someone who wants to take a generally crappy system and get the most bang for their upgrade dollar, you rip out the weakest link and replace it.

jds

 

Yeah, what he said.

---jps

 

Replacing the speakers WILL make a world of a difference. Go for it - I did and am much happier with the sound now.

 

Tamas, how did it impact the bass?

thanks

 

Bass is better, in a way that it does not distort like the factory paper cones. Still, it is definitely not enough, so a subwoofer is necessary to get the bottom fill.
Also, I'm currently using the factory receiver's amp, so adding an amp instead would be a very good idea too. Trouble is, in that case I'd want to replace the speaker wires too, and I have not seen yet an easy way to replace the ones that go to the door speakers.

 

To get the best sound out of my base system (not Bose) I did the following:

Put the fader all the way to the back speakers. The result was horrific no matter what you did with the bass, mid and treb settings. This was the first time I did this since I got the car 5 weeks ago.

Then I put the fader all the way to the front. The sound was way better (makes sense as that is where the tweeters are).

The best adjustment I could find was to put the fader at about F7, this is one bit back from all front. Turn the treble up all the way, turn the mid to about -2, or -3. Then put the bass at about 4.

At lower volumes, turn the bass up as needed, because if you are just listening passively, there is NO bass.

After making these adjustments, I seemed to get some of the clarity that I thought the base system was lacking, and lose some of the muddiness, that now I know, is the result of whatever crap speakers they put in the back...

 

The base speakers are absolute crap. I replaced them with Infinity's and it was a world of difference.