Finally got to see one in person...

[Chauntalei]

I ordered mine in DGM, Premium 6MT w/spoiler, and after seeing those pics of the DGM, I am VERY glad I made that choice! My local dealer only had a silver one in the showroom when I made my order, so I picked the color blind for the most part.

[Lighting Red]

Originally Posted by Subie

It's not all about power you know. The Subaru head unit appears vastly superior to the base Scion unit.

Oh god, not this again! It's enough we have to deal with it arguing over the chassis and drivetrain... SHEESH!

[Spaceywilly]

I had typed up a response based on my electrical engineering degree but I know it will set off a whole frs vs BRZ argument so I won't even bother.

Long story short: they will sound the same

[uspspro]

Originally Posted by Chauntalei

I ordered mine in DGM, Premium 6MT w/spoiler, and after seeing those pics of the DGM, I am VERY glad I made that choice! My local dealer only had a silver one in the showroom when I made my order, so I picked the color blind for the most part.

Haha, you ordered the same car as me (except the spoiler) and you live 5 min away (I am in San Mateo).

[MRZ415]

Originally Posted by uspspro

Haha, you ordered the same car as me (except the spoiler) and you live 5 min away (I am in San Mateo).

there will be at least 20-25 DGM BRZ in the area.

DGM here too.

[Oriental Life]

Originally Posted by Subaruwrxfan

I'm not concerned so much about the head unit as I am the actual speaker components. I'm not very knowledgeable about stereo stuff, so someone will have to enlighten me. Do the cars both have the same speakers? Will the Subaru sound as good as the Scion?

They do use same woofers size-wise, so should be the same speakers. But remember, Subaru always puts crappy speakers even with Premium sound. Literally, 1 inch neodymium magnets, very lightweight. In return, they are very sensitive, designed to output higher acoustic dBA with less power.

Look, the ones in the middle are Subaru speakers, vs aftermarket:


Soo, even with 4x50 Watt MOSFET amp Pioner unit in BRZ (which is on par with aftermarket, frankly), I plan to replace speakers with Polk (most likely) or better + amp to drive true components. Subaru 'components' usually use 1st-order high pass passive filters for tweeters (I expect similar in BRZ/FR-S, even with additional mid-'speaker'). I'll be replacing those with active filters at the line-output prior to amp. Thats what works for me.

Without the amp, you can still an drive true component speakers, but you need to pay attention to its sensitivity/efficiency. 91 dBA or better is what you want. These, for example, are good speakers to set the front stage with little money: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-DB6501-6-5-Inch-Component/dp/B000P0R6LQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336536712&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Polk Audio DB6501 6.5-Inch 2-Way Component System (Pair, Silver): Car Electronics[/ame]

Also, little RAAMatig goes a long way: http://www.raamaudio.com/products/RAAMmat-BXT-II.html and this: http://www.raamaudio.com/products/En...and-Stick.html

There is a discount for members of Subaru Forester club. You may want to review Sea-Scooby's threads, which are plenty descriptive on sound setups, including closed enclosure subs: http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulle...resters-29648/

[Subaruwrxfan]

Originally Posted by Oriental Life

They do use same woofers size-wise, so should be the same speakers. But remember, Subaru always puts crappy speakers even with Premium sound. Literally, 1 inch neodymium magnets, very lightweight. In return, they are very sensitive, designed to output higher acoustic dBA with less power.

Look, the ones in the middle are Subaru speakers, vs aftermarket:


Soo, even with 4x50 Watt MOSFET amp Pioner unit in BRZ (which is on par with aftermarket, frankly), I plan to replace speakers with Polk (most likely) or better + amp to drive true components. Subaru 'components' usually use 1st-order high pass passive filters for tweeters (I expect similar in BRZ/FR-S, even with additional mid-'speaker'). I'll be replacing those with active filters at the line-output prior to amp. Thats what works for me.

Without the amp, you can still an drive true component speakers, but you need to pay attention to its sensitivity/efficiency. 91 dBA or better is what you want. These, for example, are good speakers to set the front stage with little money: Amazon.com: Polk Audio DB6501 6.5-Inch 2-Way Component System (Pair, Silver): Car Electronics

Also, little RAAMatig goes a long way: http://www.raamaudio.com/products/RAAMmat-BXT-II.html and this: http://www.raamaudio.com/products/En...and-Stick.html

There is a discount for members of Subaru Forester club. You may want to review Sea-Scooby's threads, which are plenty descriptive on sound setups, including closed enclosure subs: http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulle...resters-29648/

Thank you for the very informative post. Just added those speakers to my wish list on amazon, lol. They're plug and play right? If the stock speakers don't impress me, this will probably be my first mod.

[Oriental Life]

Originally Posted by Subaruwrxfan

Thank you for the very informative post. Just added those speakers to my wish list on amazon, lol. They're plug and play right? If the stock speakers don't impress me, this will probably be my first mod.

If door speakers are 6.5" and do not require spacers, swap should be straight. I'd still add a little sound deadening material for lower mids quality.

I have no idea yet how dash speakers are mounted. If its like in other cars I used to have, it will be PITA to remove those if they don't use clippers. At the factory they put in the dash first, mount speakers and than glue the windshield in. Last resort will be to leave original twitters-high-mids, then, tune dash speakers to play everything above 5-6 kHz with pre-amp crossover.

I don't have a plan yet for rear speakers - it will depend on available space. I like my backstage to act as mid bass, with 8 inch speakers and sometimes add directional tweeters in the rear to give overall sound some space and clarity. But this will be hard to pull off in BRZ, and I'll have to settle for an upgraded 4" speakers. We'll see when the car finally gets here. Maybe by that time someone with FR-S or East Coast BRZ will get to it faster than I'll get a chance and we'll have more info.

[S2kphile]

Originally Posted by Oriental Life

I have no idea yet how dash speakers are mounted. If its like in other cars I used to have, it will be PITA to remove those if they don't use clippers. At the factory they put in the dash first, mount speakers and than glue the windshield in. Last resort will be to leave original twitters-high-mids, then, tune dash speakers to play everything above 5-6 kHz with pre-amp crossover.

I hope you are wrong about this because it'll be an expensive & time consuming bitch if people want to replace them with higher end components.

I wanna run some high end fronts like Audison, Hertz, Rainbow, etc, if the stock system isn't adequate enough for my taste.

[Oriental Life]

Looking back at dash speakers, they are very close to the windshield:

But its not the end of the world. Subaru used to put higher quality tweeters into its setups. Considering mids are going to be covered by quality door woofers, those high-mids in the dash are not really needed. As one of my former colleague, sound stage engineer, used to say "Those are tweeters, they 'tweet', there is nothing to it" Quality crossover should solve this small problem.

Between running errants and stock-like setup, I'll go with the later.