OEM Audio Plus Reviews

[PhyrraM]

@oemaudioplusAs promised here is my experience.

First, the finished sound is as promised. It sounds really good. I listen to a wide variety of music and it suits it all so far. I am very pleased with the result. I have upgraded the stereo in ever car I've owned, from full custom installs back in the car stereo glory days to simple drop in speakers and headunits on throw-away cars. This is as good as any of them.

I really like how everything is OEM fitment, including the connectors. While I've never 'parted out' a car to bring back to stock, I can see the real appeal of it. Out side of the firewall pass-through and the minor trimming of the front speaker grills, there are absolutely no mods to the car itself. That is cool.

The harness was easy enough to install. All the OEM style connectors are great. After watching a few install videos I was prepared to struggle a little bit with fishing the last part of the harness up to the radio opening, but it went well with no real issues. Also, because of the '16+ changes I wasn't sure if the '17 Starlink would be correct and work out of the box, but it did without issue. My feedback would be...1, Provide more of the underhood loom so that yellow power wire can be long enough to follow the OEM loom under the brake booster. Only enough was provided to run right under the cowl over the booster and away from the OEM harness. 2, Provide a type of fuse holder assembly that allows you to install the terminal on the wire before shipment. A low profile pin could be used and passed through the firewall grommet and then 'plugged into' a fuse holder or connector. I only say this because I have seen more of the heat shrinked style of connector done wrong (by those without experience) than I have done right. 3, The provided ring terminal to the battery can be placed under the fuse holder instead of above for a cleaner installation. 4, Provide a few more wire ties, including some of a longer size. Not really complaints - as they are all minor - just some product improvement feedback.

The subwoofer is well designed and solid, as a subwoofer should be. On mine, both of the speed nuts used to secure the sub were the same length. No problem, but I did waste a few minutes comparing them when the instructions called for a long and short one. The only subwoofer related issues were 1, I have the factory rubber trunk mat. I had to trim off the vertical edge from behind the subwoofer for it to fit all the way back. 2, I had to drill out the rear mounting hole (closest to the seatback) to about 3/8 inch to get both mounting bolts installed. I could get one, or the other, but not both.

All other parts of the install went well. Any other issues are more on the vehicle side, such as one green kick panel pin that flew somewhere and could not be found.

A few pictures:
20170814_171558 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170814_192440 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170819_101052 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170819_104953 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170819_113538 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170819_125021 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170819_130109 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170819_140306 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170819_144607 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170819_150633 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170820_125541 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170820_125555 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170820_164136 by phyrram, on Flickr

20170820_164040 by phyrram, on Flickr

[oemaudioplus]

@PhyrraM Thank you for sharing your feedback and pictures. Awesome!!! We truly appreciate you taking the time. Your experience is our TOP priority. If there is anything we as a team can further do to make your experience unmatched, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly.

[finch1750]

Shoutout to @oemaudioplus. Had some lost hardware so sent an email about ordering new stuff. They had it to me the next day basically so I could have my sub secure once again. Great customer service

[sgh]

So I spent a couple of years going back and forth on if I should get OEM+, a custom build, or just leave it all as is.

I finally bit the bullet and went with OEM+.

I didn't take pictures of the install, and I won't do up a huge essay on it, but I'll give my short thoughts on things.

I went with the Reference 450Q with optional rears in Yuzu yellow. This would be matching up to the Pioneer AVIC-8201NEX that I had installed a couple of weeks prior. Immediately after ordering I had a phone call from OEM+ which was a nice touch and appreciated. It took a bit longer than I expected for the system to arrive, but this was only based on my expectation - nothing that OEM+ had promised or committed to me. When it finally arrived, the sub box had a hole in the side of it, but thankfully it was in a void area so there was no damage to the sub itself.

Installation went pretty well. I'd never done anything like this previously, but a helper and I didn't have a ton of issues with the exception of the sub mounting holes that seem to be a consistently reported problem. I had to extend the hole a quarter inch or so using a drill, but no big deal. While doing the install, I also installed Dynamat Xtreme through the cabin and trunk. Including Dynamat install, it took two people about 7 hours to complete. Very reasonable in my opinion.

I've had a month or so now with it installed and I have to say that I find the sound quality a bit "meh". Based on the 5 star reviews by so many other people, I guess my expectations were higher than they should have been. This isn't to say it isn't an improvement over stock - it is, but not by as large a margin as I expected or thought it would be. Overall I would have hoped that the lows would be a bit more rumbling and powerful, that the mids would be a bit less washed out, and that the highs would be a bit more crisp without the tinniness.

As I had mentioned a couple of years ago in a previous thread, I had a custom system spec'ed and priced out as the other option. If I had the choice to make again I probably wouldn't go with OEM+, but that doesn't mean I would go with the custom system either. Maybe my expectations were just higher than what would be reasonable and that even the custom system would have fallen short - just with a much greater impact to my wallet.

For product finish quality, I would give it a 9 out of 10 - paint was good on the sub and the rest of the system seemed to be pretty good for the price.

For installation I would give it an 8 out of 10 - the sub holes not lining up was a negative and judging by the others that have reported the same issue I'm surprised that OEM+ haven't made it a slot instead of a hole to solve the issue.

For sound quality I would give it a 7 out of 10 - as mentioned above, the bass doesn't have quite the power, the mids sound sort of washed out, and the highs sound a bit tinny and lack the crispness I was expecting.

Overall I would give it about a 7.5 out of 10 as I weight the sound quality higher than the product finish.

Edit:
I should add here that if anyone in the Vancouver, BC area is thinking about going with OEM Audio Plus but wants to hear it first, I would be more than happy to let you hear my system at a time and place that is mutually convenient. Feel free to send me a message on here to arrange.

[oemaudioplus]

Originally Posted by sgh

Overall I would give it about a 7.5 out of 10 as I weight the sound quality higher than the product finish.

Thanks for choosing O+ @ sgh and above all sharing your feedback!

We would like to invite you to contact our Team by phone or direct message to address your concerns regarding sound quality. Based on what you’re describing it sounds as though your System may not be performing as intended.

Your satisfaction is our TOP priority and we would love the opportunity to further serve you!

Direct number: 855-636-6346

[Clipdat]

Definitely sounds like something isn't quite right. The highs are extremely crisp and clean on mine. Maybe your DSP needs a reflash.

Originally Posted by sgh

For sound quality I would give it a 7 out of 10 - as mentioned above, the bass doesn't have quite the power, the mids sound sort of washed out, and the highs sound a bit tinny and lack the crispness I was expecting.

[ajcarson11]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Definitely sounds like something isn't quite right. The highs are extremely crisp and clean on mine. Maybe your DSP needs a reflash.

^^ This. When I originally received my system the tune was incorrect -- There was a gap in the mids, harsh highs, and I was able to max the system's volume at 25-30 on the headunit (didn't make sense).

OEM+ made it right and things were much more balanced. You do have an aftermarket HU, and therefore you might just need some tweaking by OEM+ to get the sound you want. In my case, 6 months after running with the OEM headunit, I switched to a Joying HU and sent my amp back into OEM+ for retune. It took a good bit of time to get the tuning done to my spec (the guys there were swamped with growth at the time) but the end result was much improved.

As far as the lows are concerned, you really need to play with the EQ to squeeze out the low end extension. I had to spend a few hours with Viper4Android (drivers for total control of audio spectrum) and a parametric EQ to adjust things to my taste.

OEM+ advertises a well balanced system, and most folks would consider 'well balanced' to be lacking in terms of bass (even if you selected the robust option). This is a common reality, especially if the music you listen to is not already filled with low end. With that being said, with some adjustment I am able to boost the low end considerably (the 8" sub is impressive for its size).

[sgh]

Thank you for the comments, I will try to call in the next few days.


To give a bit of information on what I hear, it seem that when there is very little complexity the sound is pretty good - for example Foo Fighter's All My Life intro guitar is very good, adding the vocals is still pretty good, then when the sound stage becomes more complex it seems to fall apart with the muddled mids, etc.


Another tell I found is at the 2:49 mark of Theory of a Deadman's Crutch where the bass slide is almost imperceptible.


I've found it to be fairly consistent that when the sound stage gets complex things seem to get poorer as far as clarity goes. It's possible to pick out individual instruments of course, but if I focus on a particular instrument or vocal, I can pretty easily tell it's not as clear as it could be.


All music is FLAC, played from SD Card mounted directly in my head unit, but the same thing occurs when playing music using CarPlay. I've used the same SD Card (and by extension the same FLAC's) in my home system without the same sound issues.


For comparison, my home speakers are Dali Rubicon, and I also use Denon AH-D7000 headphones.


That's an interesting comment about the volume level on the head unit. I did specify the AVIC-8200NEX when ordering, and I do notice that getting up to about 17/40 is very loud and I've never really gone above that.

[czechm8]

From your description, it sure sounds like there is a voltage mismatch between the amp inputs and the head unit's outputs. I.E. the gains are set too high on the amp and you are clipping the crap out of the signal.

[Chimera]

I agree, sounds like a little too much gain to me, you have the loudness setting off if your pioneer has that? I have a pioneer and in my custom setup 16-18 is "normal" but up to 25 is where loud is. I noticed on my nex4100 that the bass does seem to have a slight parabola.. Or maybe that is just my perception, but it picks up bass faster past20 on my head unit. I tuned my gains using a dmm 0db 1000Hz and 63Hz on30 vol for reference.

Edit: also make sure sound retriever is off, it's a pioneer eq built in, you can find it in the play menu by swiping past the track controls, if you have flac you don't need or want that on. Its cool for mp3s though

[sgh]

I had a look and there doesn't appear to be a Loudness function on the 8200/8201.


I did confirm that the sound retriever is off. I don't think I mentioned it, but for the sake of being complete, the EQ is of course flat. I can make adjustments to the EQ and I want to say that it can help very specific frequencies, but as I "improve" one frequency, others seem to suffer. When I improve other frequencies, then the already tuned frequency seems to then deteriorate. Not sure if that makes any sense. Please note that I'm only adjusting the EQ as troubleshooting and understand that it should be flat as the system is already pre-tuned for flat.


I checked the gain on the SD Card and it's 0db. The entire head unit is pretty much default settings.

[Wise]

Do OEMAudio have any suppliers on the ground in Australia and do they sell a package that doesn't include the sub and just replaces the stock speakers?

[oemaudioplus]

Originally Posted by sgh

Thank you for the comments, I will try to call in the next few days.

We just wanted to follow up on this and ensure you were able to connect with our team to get your sound reproduction sorted out. It is of the utmost importance to us that you experience your O+ sound solution as intended.

[oemaudioplus]

Originally Posted by Wise

Do OEMAudio have any suppliers on the ground in Australia and do they sell a package that doesn't include the sub and just replaces the stock speakers?

Unfortunately we don't have an active reseller (that stocks the products) in Australia at this time. However we actively ship directly to AUS on a regular basis. Let us know via PM how we can best be of service!