Will spending only $200-250 on speaker upgrades be worth it?
 

I've had BMWs the last four years and just recently came from an 07 335i with "Logic 7" sound system. I'm not much of an audiophile at all. I mainly listen to the radio and 128kbps mp3s from my phone via AUX. When I started listening to my music in my BRZ though, it's entirely obvious the whole setup is below average. Even my dad's 2005 Accord sounds better! (IMO)

I read over some threads here and it seems a lot of people are going all out on their setups spending $1000 or more. The OEM Audio + seems to just add some new tweeters and a sub, so are the stock speakers not that bad? If I'm only looking to spend $200-250, is there anything in that range that will improve the sound quality?

I'm mainly looking for an easy replacement using stock wiring and head unit and amp.

Maybe your ears are off because I'm coming from a same generation accord as your dad and this is phenomenal in comparison.

Are you sure you have it set up right? Mine sounded like shit (I almost didn't buy the car because of it) until I read the manual and took the time to set everything correctly. It's not the best stereo system I've ever had but it's really not bad for a factory base system, especially with MP3s. I also spent a little time with the MP3 equalizer making a few adjustments. All in all, I'm very happy now.

Try adjusting the EQ settings if you haven't already. It makes a noticeable difference.

Here's my hypothesis.

Maybe the sound system in the FR-S is better at pointing out the shitty MP3 quality you're listening to. I'm not saying you have to run everything FLAC, but try 320kbps and see if it's any better.

I think the FRS/BRZ stock audio actually sounds pretty good. It lacks some low end, but overall the speakers are good for being stock. If you're going to add $250 in speakers I would go ahead and add a small sub in the trunk area.

Having said all that I did upgrade my entire system and am loving it. I've spent a total of about $1000: $150 JL Enclosed Sub, $200 RF 4-Ch Amp, $520 Pioneer X8500BHS head unit, $130 MB Quartz 6.5" Components, plus wires etc.

Definitely need to mess with the equalizer. I thought the stereo was bad at first, but now that I have the equalizer set, it's not so bad. Good use a dedicated sub woofer in the trunk rather than all the bass coming from the bottom front of the doors. Just my $0.02.

i think this thread is going to be way too subjective to be meaningful.

i have heard prolly 1000 stock systems in my time, and also aftermarket types from good to unbelievable.

i would put the FR-S system somewhere in the middle on the stock system chain, maybe a 6 out of 10 if 1 is worst and 10 is best. but again, all that is meaningless really, the key is how much does the OP appreciate good sound and what type of listener he is and what are his experiences in other kinds of car audio systems.

i do think in many ways, the FR-S system is better than the L7 system he came from :)

it's not just the mp3s, the radio is pretty sub par. perhaps it's how loud the entire car is but i do have somewhat of a very low grade headache after getting out of the car after listening to music.

i currently have the EQ setup to the recommended settings from this thread too: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15696

trying to find some higher bitrate mp3s to test.

I don't think speakers alone would be worth doing in this car. The head just really doesnt have the power to drive them cleanly.

I would say pick up Alpine KTP-445U Power Pack(its pretty simple to install vs a larger amp and has enough power for most components).

Then Rockford Fosgate POWER T165-S(they have a great tweet plus you can biamp it off the powerpack).

It would cost you 290$ and would sound quite good.

I really like my BRZ stock setup. I'd only change if I could find dedicated subs for the doors, or the HU for better EQ settings.

Agreeing with cruzingbill once again. Even though I have a really good SQ system now (thanks for Bing, Joey, and SimplicityinSound! :party0030:) When I was waiting for my install to happen, I upgrade my headunit first, and immediately with the more powerful output from the aftermarket unit driving the OEM speakers, the car sounded immediately better. The factory speakers are not that bad at all if you are on a budget, but you need to up the power thats going to them. You could get an inexpensive headunit and maybe have some leftover money to do some sound deadening (DIY though haha), or just go with a higher end aftermarket headunit and upgrade to more components later when you are ready.

Why not improve your car's environment accoustically? Will do a bigger improvement than speakers alone will tbh, and if then you feel you need to upgrade, you'll get the most improvement with resonances reduced.

Deadening should always be the first thing done, this car car has terrible resonance problems. Most people tho, dont seem to want to invest the time or money to do it.

I tried 128 and 320bit rate mp3s and honestly can't tell the difference much if at all. Since I plan on keeping the car for a while, I'll gradually improve upon it.ilk take everyone's advice and go with sound deadening the environment first.Time to check out that large sound deadening thread haha

I can give you a tip on how to improve audio quality on the BRZ head unit. Try this before you start stuffing insulation in your speakerbox. Nobody else says the shit that I'm about to tell you, instead throw money at the problem or mess with the mix, which will totally screw with the sound. But trust me I'm the motherf**n truth when it comes to audiophile shit so read:

The problem is that the source volume control (SVC) levels are too high on the factory settings; bluetooth and satelite radio are being gained too high on their input. This makes all the levels, especially treble, way too high. The stock settings are like a guitar with a Boost Pedal overdriving the amp, for easy comparison. I first noticed these dynamics when listening to Willie Nelson on satelite radio, his vocals were coming through distorted. This told me the input levels were too high.

CD, bluetooth, and radios all have their own SVC, source volume control, found in the audio settings on the stock BRZ head unit. You can adjust the SVC, starting at +/-0dB; I put bluetooth audio around -10dB for instance and cut the volume levels on the device (aka bluetooth device). The BRZ manual has more info about these settings.

My settings are: music player's (android phone) volume is 50-60%. With the SVC levels cut to -10dB, it rounds the levels perfectly. I can crank the BRZ audio unit all the way up without distorting, giving me good volume and good clean audio headroom.

note, I do not believe in changing the EQ settings. My music was already mixed professionally in a recording studio, why would you want to mess with that? Adjust your SVC and volume output, and you can find the sweet spot to flatten out the sound and power from your radio. Leave the EQ to the recording industry professionals. No need to cut trebs or boost bass levels, they're already baked into the track.

will give that a try. i only listen to music around volume level 20-25 i think. i don't crave too much bass or loudness.

This will change your radio dynamics. It will cut all input levels by -10db, therefore you can turn up your radio more and still have clean headroom.

I have my radio cranked 100% and you can only hear the music a few feet from outside the car, not too loud at all.

My equation: low input gain + radio cranked = good classic sound with flat levels across treble, mids, and bass.

I was gonna make a similar thread.

I'd like the stereo to be a just a bit louder, but I don't really want to upgrade the whole system. I usually have the vol around 90% and its just not doing it for me. If I can hear myself sing, something's not right. I'm a terrible singer, too! :lol:

I've never been a "system" guy. Love music, but have always found stock to be sufficient. I just drove the wife's Altima today and 17/30 on her volume nearly shook my teeth loose.*I'm just surprised at how soft the stock setup on the BRZ is considering how small the cabin is.

Guess I'll adjust the EQ and see if that improves things.

From what I just wrote in my reply above your comment, the stock stereo doesn't have clean headroom at high volumes, often distorts due to the level of input gain, which is controllable via source volume control.

I think if you want to go louder, you'll want cleaner headroom. the stock stereo system settings only goes about halfway up before the speakers start to distort, so you'll probably want speakers with a higher rating. However, pay attention to what I said about SVC and you'll be able to limit the amount of distortion you get at high power.

Good advice here, but as far as music already mixed professionally in a studio not needing any more equalization, would that not require a studio-quality soundstage as well? Surely the car's inherently less-than-perfect audio environment could benefit from some EQ tweaking.

in the bespoke version there is a setting for "natural" and "feel" select feel

IMO, the only thing wrong with the system's sound quality is the input gain levels from SVC. In a less than perfect setting with road noise, I suppose you might want to compensate by changing frequency response, but that changes the way your music sounds, and that's even further less than perfect.

Most of the music I listen to was made to be listened to in a car, so called "trunk bangers" where the bass is perfectly mixed and aren't distorted. Changing the EQ settings turns a crisp bass thump into a booming fart in this case, ruins the producer's vision for how these frequencies were supposed to sound.

You do realize that with the eq flat in the car the response is not actually flat..... I wouldnt really say it has a crisp bass thump from the factory anyway. Its more of a muddy mix of midbass while it tries to produce sub bass as well.

I agree, what I mean is I'm normalizing the sound by reducing the gain (again via SVC) and upping the wattz, it gives a flatter, clearer response than simply running the radio stock at 50% volume. This keeps high amplitude stuff, bass, from jumping out too much and banging the speakerbox, also keeps trebs from jumping. My ears don't feel like they're going to bleed anymore.

( [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_normalization"]Audio normalization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] )

Stock speakers are garbage. Replace them and you will get the sound you want.

That is a very misleading statement, especially if you are leaving everything else "stock". Higher-end speakers are usually more power hungry, and underpowering a set of speakers will not give you the result you want.

Now, if you do install an amp to power these new speakers, you will have to deal with issues such as resonance and such, and at that point, sound deadening becomes more critical.

Agreed, if it wasnt for having to deal with not having xovers on the oem speakers, I would say adding a small amp and deadning is all most would need to make the car sound good. Well and a small sub.

You are correct. I replaced my speakers with a component set added a sub and amp and couldnt be happier. I did dynomat the doors around the speakers and the trunk also. I had the car like 2 weeks before I replaced everything. Stock system was so horrible it was driving me crazy. But now it sounds so nice. Didnt even have to go crazy on the amp. I got a 600 watt 4 channel pushing the sub and the doors.

I replaced the dash and rear speakers with some 2-ways and the door subs with some low profile 6.5 subs, everything else is stock.

I wouldn't say it improved anything other than the fact that sound is now Crystal clear all the way up to max volume.

It's the factory amplifier.
 

As most of you know, the factory amplifier only amplifies the door speakers. The amplifiers input comes from the front speakers. The amplifier is wired in parallel with the front speakers. I disconnected my factory amplifier and installed an aftermarket amplifier with the factory door speakers and the sound was way better than with the factory amplifier. I'm assuming that the factory amplifier boosts the bass but I found it overwhelming and not clear at all. Even with the bass turned all the way down on the EQ.
I was still not satisfied with the sound from the aftermarket amp and stock speakers so I decided to try Kenwoods 7" component speaker (KFC-XP184C) According to crutchfield they don't fit but they fit perfectly with the included speaker adapter. As the name suggests, they are way bigger than a standard 6.5 speaker and therefore the bass is deeper. I tried them with my Sony amplifier and then with a Kicker amp and they sounded good but I realized that I always had to turn the gain all the way down. I then tried them with only the factory head unit and they sound great.
I made a amplifier bypass harness, disconnected the 3.5 speakers in the dash and it sounds great. The bass is clean and deep. I don't recommend running the door speakers with just the head unit as the door speakers are only 2 ohms and I don't recommend running all three, dash speakers and door speakers, off the head unit because that would lower the ohms and could damage the head unit.
Here are some pics of the 7" speaker for comparison and also installed in the door. Also a pic of my amplifier bypass harness.