Thoughts on the BRZ radio/gps/speakers - Should we upgrade?

[Spaceywilly]

Yeah I really hate this thing. I drove to wicked big meet and back (half hour each way) and it never found a satellite either direction. Then I drove back to providence and it had satellite the whole way, but it kept saying iPod error and pausing and unpausing the song. I thought I'd be able to live with it but I am definitely swapping it out ASAP. The actual sound quality is great though when it does work, I'll probably just add a sub. HD radio and xm is totally useless.

[MmmHamSandwich]

I'm a headphone and stereo nut, but I admittedly don't have any interest car audio. However the brief time I spent in the BRZ I found the audio to be pretty good.

I was also pleased to find it synced with my not very sophisticated LG android, you can even play music streamed from your Google Play account. Didn't mess with the gps much, but the display didn't look very modern. I am concerned about some of these reports about poor gps reception.

Does anyone know if you can play off an iPod and have your phone connected via bluetooth?

[Spaceywilly]

Originally Posted by MmmHamSandwich

Does anyone know if you can play off an iPod and have your phone connected via bluetooth?

Yeah that works fine. There is a separate source for ipod and phone (bluetooth). Another problem I'm having is that when my phone connects to Bluetooth it stops playing through the dock connector, so I have to change it back in the airplay menu every time. Just another little nuisance. I like my $350 cheapo Pioneer nav in my WRX a lot more, I might just swap it in.

[dcamco]

Originally Posted by Spaceywilly

Yeah that works fine. There is a separate source for ipod and phone (bluetooth). Another problem I'm having is that when my phone connects to Bluetooth it stops playing through the dock connector, so I have to change it back in the airplay menu every time. Just another little nuisance. I like my $350 cheapo Pioneer nav in my WRX a lot more, I might just swap it in.

FYI - I don't know what phone you're using but I experienced the same issue on my iPhone 4s but it ceased as soon as I upgraded to ios6. My iPhone 5 w/ ios6 also works properly in this respect.

I am, however, having an issue where my music stops playing after 30 seconds. I can only make it play again by "re-browsing" to either the same track or something different and then its fine for the rest of my time in the car. I haven't timed it yet, but it seems to be extremely consistent (~30sec). It happens every time the stereo resumes a track at startup. Anyone else experiencing this behavior?

[yankeelawdog]

I think the system overall is pretty subpar and needs improvement. I got some relief from adjusting the EQ settings . . . increase the bass and mids.

My wife wants me to upgrade the system but I'm not sure what would be involved.

I find that the Bluetooth music from my phone is a little thin and sounds more tiney than Satellite. Haven't listened to a CD yet.

[slizoth]

My old car has a full Infinity System Tweeters, 5x9 rear speakers, and a sub/amp combo with an aftermarket deck, the clarity and depth of the sound is much better than my BRZ. I don't expect the stock BRZ to compete with $1000 dollars worth of sound equipment thats also about 8 years old now. Im still trying to figure out the SCV and ACL controls and how adjusting those will improve my sound but after 90min of driving and tweaking, it doesnt come close.

Im planning on getting some replacement speakers but its one of those things I told myself I would do after I finished paying off the load for the car. In the mean time however I really want to quite down the road noise. Have you guys attempted any sound deadening? What were your results?

You know when you're driving on the highway and you hit new asphalt and everything goes quite... I want that, all the time. Trying to figure out how close I can get to that and what it takes.

[itsfun]

I'm coming from a 2011 Honda Fit (still own it for now) and I can say in comparison the speakers in the BRZ are utter crap. The bass is one note and the front stage seems to be lost somewhere in the dash. I can't comfortably listen to music and talk to a passenger in the car, add road noise at high speeds and you get a really disappointing result to someone remotely interested in quality sound reproduction. The Honda Fit, while straddling the line between car and "box with wheels", has a surprisingly clear and pleasing sound system. WTF toybaru?

Anyways, I'm already in the process of upgrading the door speakers to Dayton RS180-4 7" woofers (42Hz to 3.5kHz) and am contemplating the rest of my upgrade path. I plugged one dayton in my doors and it appears the amp is throwing full range to the door speakers??? I'll have to look into it more and maybe add a low pass (inductor) inline.

My plan is to add Dayton RS28F-4 1-1/8" tweeters w/ 4.13" flange (1.2kHz to 20kHz) to the dash and run a two way system (one 1-1/8" tweeter, one 7" woofer). I don't think there is a benefit of a three way especially in such a small car. Why complicate things and at the same time limit your tweeter location? The stock tweeter and midrange have capacitors built in which tells me the head unit is pushing full range to both speakers. I'm planning on crossing over at 1800Hz (recommended) since the woofer gets messy at 2kHz. As far as the stock amp, apparently it's around 30amps at 2ohms so with my 4ohm daytons I'll be pushing 15amps rms?? I'm looking at upgrading the amp to a small 50-80 watts per channel that I can hopefully hide in the dash or stock amp location. I would build a third order 1800Hz crossover (http://www.diyaudioandvideo.com/Calculator/XOver/) and push the front stage with the amp and remove the rear 3".

Price estimate:
RS180-4: $100
Door Spacers: $35
RS28F-4: $110
amp: $100
speaker wire/x-over/harness adapters: $100
total: $445 + sound deadening

I'll keep updating as I start this build.

beyond this build? 8" subs in the rear 3" locations? We'll see.

[infinite012]

Coming from a 2008 STI, the BRZ is quieter with a much better sound system.