OEM Audio Plus Reviews

[ajcarson11]

Originally Posted by Astral Abyss

It's honestly no better than the 2-way, maybe a lititle worse.. I blame the stupid location of the mid and tweeter in our car. With more sound coming out of the door mid-bass on the 2 way, it avoided some of the nasty reflections off the glass that makes some of my music just sound wrong with the 3-way and I can't EQ it out.

The sound also changes when you have the visor up vs down... annoying.

After I got the upgrade I had one of those eureka moments where I thought, "so that's why they went with a 2-way in this car." And then, "too late now".

This is definitely not a knock on OEM. Their kit and support is top notch. Its just something to consider before anyone thinks more is better.

Thanks for your input. I suspected this may be the case, and why I was shying away from the 3-way upgrade. I already had to EQ out a lot of the shimmering highs from the standard setup due to windshield.

[dinoniel]

Originally Posted by ajcarson11

Thanks for your input. I suspected this may be the case, and why I was shying away from the 3-way upgrade. I already had to EQ out a lot of the shimmering highs from the standard setup due to windshield.

I wanted to clarify something though.

I am also sensitive to the harsh highs and do my best to tune them out with the EQ in every car. With that said, adding the front dash speakers made a very noticeable difference in cleaning up those highs. Almost as if less pressure was being put on the tweeters.

I was really happy with the speaker upgrade, but for me the 2-way tune sounded better than the 3-way tune so I actually went back to a 2-way with my current set up.

To reiterate (since this is a review thread) the OEM audio plus reference kit is a fantastic upgrade over stock and personally, I found the dash speaker replacement to be worth my money particularly in terms of clarity and reduced harshness. And of course customer service second to none.

My current setup is:

-Reference with 4" dash and rear speaker replacement
-Ca-Fi Dashlinq 4 radio

Probably good for a new thread, but maybe we should compare EQ settings if people are interested.

[l0aded]

Originally Posted by Astral Abyss

It's honestly no better than the 2-way, maybe a lititle worse.. I blame the stupid location of the mid and tweeter in our car. With more sound coming out of the door mid-bass on the 2 way, it avoided some of the nasty reflections off the glass that makes some of my music just sound wrong with the 3-way and I can't EQ it out.

The sound also changes when you have the visor up vs down... annoying.

After I got the upgrade I had one of those eureka moments where I thought, "so that's why they went with a 2-way in this car." And then, "too late now".

This is definitely not a knock on OEM. Their kit and support is top notch. Its just something to consider before anyone thinks more is better.

My initial impression is exactly as describe. Some songs are more punchy (especially the light thumping of edm songs) and directional from the glass which may be messing with the staging. At first I thought something was installed incorrectly but reading your impressions I guess it is normal. It is by no means bad but not sure if it's better or worse than the normal Reference.

I'll give it some more songs and time though.

FYI, I am on the Full setting (middle of balanced and robust). I might go back in and have it set to balanced if I can't figure it out. Unfortunately I am on BeSpoke so there is very little EQ settings available.

[Astral Abyss]

Originally Posted by l0aded

My initial impression is exactly as describe. Some songs are more punchy (especially the light thumping of edm songs) and directional from the glass which may be messing with the staging. At first I thought something was installed incorrectly but reading your impressions I guess it is normal. It is by no means bad but not sure if it's better or worse than the normal Reference.

I'll give it some more songs and time though.

FYI, I am on the Full setting (middle of balanced and robust). I might go back in and have it set to balanced if I can't figure it out. Unfortunately I am on BeSpoke so there is very little EQ settings available.

Full setting here also. I use the Natural setting in the stock Scion head unit. Also, I have my head unit set to tC as that was how it was supposed to be for the Reference system and didn't see anything saying to change that now. Tried FR-S for the heck of it and it sounded wrong, like I remembered.

I agree with you l0aded...It's not bad at all with the 3-way setup and the new tune on the amp/DSP. I upgraded from the 2-way Reference setup. I didn't get the rear speakers as I don't feel like taking apart my car again. My opinion of the upgrade is: some of my music sounds better, some worse, but there's definitely some issues with the sound stage. There's less output from the door speakers, for one, and because of that and it does mess with the bass positioning as the crossover point on the sub is now very obvious. What I mean is the sub is no longer an invisible part of the system and I now hear the bass coming from the back of the car on a lot of songs... but then on others its fine. It's almost like they've upped the level of the sub to compensate for the lack of amp power available for the mid-bass door speakers.

I'm curious how they're powering the extra set of 4" dash speakers and perhaps it's pulling power away from the mid-bass? Just to confirm, I've unplugged the bypass cable to switch it over to a 3-way system as instructed, so it's not that. It's always possible my reprogram on the amp isn't quite right... maybe someone else can confirm or refute what I'm hearing is normal or not on this system. Although, it sounds like l0aded is hearing what I'm hearing.

I'm not sad about the upgrade, I'm just not overly excited either. If I could say anything to anyone on the fence, it would be, "If you're happy with your 2-way setup, just keep it and enjoy it. It's already a great system and you aren't missing out on anything."

[l0aded]

Originally Posted by Astral Abyss

Full setting here also. I use the Natural setting in the stock Scion head unit. Also, I have my head unit set to tC as that was how it was supposed to be for the Reference system and didn't see anything saying to change that now. Tried FR-S for the heck of it and it sounded wrong, like I remembered.

I agree with you l0aded...It's not bad at all with the 3-way setup and the new tune on the amp/DSP. I upgraded from the 2-way Reference setup. I didn't get the rear speakers as I don't feel like taking apart my car again. My opinion of the upgrade is: some of my music sounds better, some worse, but there's definitely some issues with the sound stage. There's less output from the door speakers, for one, and because of that and it does mess with the bass positioning as the crossover point on the sub is now very obvious. What I mean is the sub is no longer an invisible part of the system and I now hear the bass coming from the back of the car on a lot of songs... but then on others its fine. It's almost like they've upped the level of the sub to compensate for the lack of amp power available for the mid-bass door speakers.

I'm curious how they're powering the extra set of 4" dash speakers and perhaps it's pulling power away from the mid-bass? Just to confirm, I've unplugged the bypass cable to switch it over to a 3-way system as instructed, so it's not that. It's always possible my reprogram on the amp isn't quite right... maybe someone else can confirm or refute what I'm hearing is normal or not on this system. Although, it sounds like l0aded is hearing what I'm hearing.

I'm not sad about the upgrade, I'm just not overly excited either. If I could say anything to anyone on the fence, it would be, "If you're happy with your 2-way setup, just keep it and enjoy it. It's already a great system and you aren't missing out on anything."

So I spent about 40 minutes in my car trying out different songs and settings. For BeSpoke, tC mode and natural are a must IMO and shouldn't be changed so that leaves the bass, trebble, and retriever(which is subjective).

With the car OFF (haven't played with it on enough yet), I find that turning down the treble one or two notches and bass up one or two depending on the song makes it sounds better. My gf and I both agree that the 3-way sounds "cleaner", if that's the right word, and the old system felt more deep bass heavy. I'm definitely no expert but I'm guessing this is because all the other frequencies are now right up front which makes the bass seem less dominant. I also feel like the door speakers are doing less.

Playing around with the settings made the 3 way sound pretty damn good, but again this was with the car off. When the car is on and you have an aftermarket exhaust this probably further drowns out the low frequencies. Gonna tweak it a bit more tomorrow and see if I can find the sweet spot.

[chaoskaze]

I have a reference 400 series so there are no rear speakers nor the new dash speakers. Overall I love the sound quality very well thou I don't understand why I would get very little bass from the sub listening to MP3 or M4A but I do get a nice crisp bass while listening video/music off music/video apps. But I love the system when everything clicks. The only upgrade I'm seeing is maybe the 2 dash speakers by the 2 twitters. :3

9/10

Sorry for my shitty review.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[l0aded]

So I think OEM forgot to include a very important part of the instructions for the 4" dash speaker upgrade. Or maybe I missed it but either way Daniel e-mailed me and reminded me that I need to remove the Reference adapter and reconnect the 10-pin female from the Quick-sync harness to the 10-pin factory male. Basically if you are upgrading from the Reference series you need to revert the wiring back to the System 400+.

After fixing the wiring, the feeling of frequencies not meshing together and harsh notes coming from the dash was GREATLY improved. It feels like more sound is coming from the 6.5" dash speakers now as well (before I could barely feel the vibration).

Thanks as always Daniel @oemaudioplus

@Astral Abyss Not sure if you did this but your symptoms were similar to mine when the Reference adapter was plugged in. Make sure you have the wiring setup correctly.

My initial impressions, after fixing the wiring, is it definitely brought back the O+ tuning sound I enjoyed on the Reference and it is probably better than before. After a few more sessions I will redo the review.

[Astral Abyss]

Originally Posted by l0aded

@Astral Abyss Not sure if you did this but your symptoms were similar to mine when the Reference adapter was plugged in. Make sure you have the wiring setup correctly.

My initial impressions, after fixing the wiring, is it definitely brought back the O+ tuning sound I enjoyed on the Reference and it is probably better than before. After a few more sessions I will redo the review.

Initially, I hadn't done that, but I talked to Daniel and he got me fixed up. I still think the bass from the doors sounds a bit weak compared to before the upgrade.

[oemaudioplus]

@CruiseZen, @lbroskee, @B T so sorry for the the long wait as your Reference 450Q kits were built!! We hope this reply finds you enjoying your O+ sound solutions. If there is anything we can do to add to your experience, don't hesitate to contact us.

@Agent 86 unfortunately we didn't make it out to BoxerFest.. how did your local demo session go?

@sdemo so sorry to learn of the difficulties you experienced during your installation. Is everything fired up and performing as intended?

@memo90061 if you haven't already had a chance to experience the O+ system we would like to invite you to one of our upcoming events and/or a session at our Anaheim location.

[whataboutbob]

I was able to upgrade to the OEM Audio+ kit late last year.

Previously I had upgraded the door speakers to some HiFonics 6.5 and 1 in tweeters with a passive crossover. In the trunk I had 2 12s in parallel being fed off a 150W mono amp. I had upgraded the deck to a Pioneer AVH-4400BH. All in all it was in improvement over the OEM setup, but I didn't really have a usable trunk any more with 2 12 back there.

The OEM Audio+ kit far exceeded my homebrew setup. The clarity and fidelity of the system is fantastic. The sub in the trunk produces plenty of balanced bass to go along with the upgraded speakers throughout. The upgraded amplifier bolts right in where the stock one was located.

Overall the kit is just perfect in my opinion. Plug and play throughout, minimal footprint for the sub in the trunk, and fantastic sound. This is a complete solution for your audio upgrade.

[Twinz]

Ordered the System 450Q yesterday.

It was a tough call because I don't drive the car that much and I could almost tolerate the factory system....almost.

Really looking forward to this upgrade!

[Twinz]

Another happy OEM customer!

Just installed my System 450Q last night and it has lived up to the hype. It sounds great!

The instructions need to be updated, (now uses gain compensation jumper rather than a connector from the main harness) ..but their customer service is so awesome that a simple call (at 7:30 at night) cleared everything up.


After a lot of testing, I'm pretty sure that FRS "natural" is the correct setting. (The instructions say tc natural...I will verify with OA+ tomorroew.) Tc natural has a great sound stage, but no bass, tc powerful has bigger than life low end extension but seems to turn every bass note into 808 kick drum tones.

FRS natural sounds, well, natural. Boom tracks boom, but delicate bass insturments come through like they should.

[Twinz]

So my wife was not particularly excited about me spending $1200 on a sound system when, in her view, the stock system "worked fine".

....then she listened to a few songs on the system 450Q last night..

We just ordered the Refrence 450Q for her FRS today!

[oemaudioplus]

Reviews posted by "Project BRZ" on YouTube

[ame="http://youtu.be/ZLK7vK-P8LI"]Subwoofer Video[/ame]

[ame="http://youtu.be/RL6sezIkw10"]Subwoofer Video[/ame]