The quality of the stock sound system??

[Jruex22]

I ordered my Raven FR-S and it's scheduled to come in sometime this week. It also has the BeSpoke upgrade. I'm just wondering how any of you guys feel about the stock system? Does it sound any good? I've heard reviews that range from saying that the sound is utter crap to fairly good. I'm just looking for honest reviews.

[Gen]

Originally Posted by Jruex22

I ordered my Raven FR-S and it's scheduled to come in sometime this week. It also has the BeSpoke upgrade. I'm just wondering how any of you guys feel about the stock system? Does it sound any good? I've heard reviews that range from saying that the sound is utter crap to fairly good. I'm just looking for honest reviews.

Depends what kind of music you're in to, I think. I find it pretty good, but a lot of those in the electronics subforum dislike it. I think if you're into ghetto, base heavy music, you will find it lacking, otherwise, it's decent when set correctly.

[mashal]

For an OEM it's pretty good. But depends on your ear.. I listen to loud music but it has to be clear and the stocks obviously won't do that so I'm going with some focals

[DBacon1052]

First of all, your gonna love the bespoke system. The sound quality is great, but for me it needs a little work. Make sure you play with the settings when you get it. Im sure you'll be surprised by how good it sounds. Definitely NOT utter crap though!

[MY13FRS]

I have the $515CAD upgraded stereo and it sounds great with some adjustments. I have it set to "feel" and have the bass/treble turned all the way up. Also make sure you set the mode to "FR-S". Sound pretty good to me....when the car is parked anyway....

[CrazyWookiee]

I have the upgraded sound system and it sounds fine. The cabin is so small so I feel like there is enough 'oomph' and unless your an audiophile it sounds pretty good. I think people are complaining about the stock sound system too much for the type of vehicle it is. If sound is a audio is a priority, buy something else. I'm going to keep listening to revs.

[tnt]

make sure the setting is set to FRS and not TC

[YW-Slayer]

I had the stock system here which is a Toyota parts-bin special. I actually found it to be surprisingly good, but over the weekend I got an Alpine HU, upgraded the speakers, and added an active sub.

I found that at low volumes the stock system was actually acceptable. However, at high volumes, the new stuff beats the crap out of it, with no distortion, rattling, etc. (they did put in a BIT of sound deadening on the rear of the chassis, but not the doors), and it is generally slightly clearer. Obviously it now has more power, bass, and better imaging. The best balanced I've heard is still the stock McIntosh (nee Clarion) setup in my Legacy, but that's been burned in over several years.

Having said that, I think the stock setup is more than good enough for just driving around town. Since you've already ordered your car with the system installed, I'd keep it for a few weeks and see whether you like it. I upgraded almost everything as:

1. I thought I might as well break in the speakers while breaking in the car.

2. The Toyota parts-bin special stereo was good in that it could play MP3s off a hard disk. However it would read the files in whatever order they were written to the hard disk, so it went from Anvil to nursery rhymes to Roxette to Dire Straits within 5 button presses. You could only skip folders, and nothing else, which is a problem when you have 803 folders on it. Having said that, my Alpine HU divides MP3s into "banks" of 1000 which may be split over folders, so I think I may have to give in and buy a 6G ipod just for use in the car, which the stereo should be able to search directly by name etc. I got the Alpine (slightly older model) as the shop recommended it for sound, whereas they said the other brands had more features but not as good sound.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that hopefully #2 won't apply to you as I'm sure your stereo is better than the stock one we get here.

3. Since I was getting the HU changed I thought I might as well go the whole way and do most of the important upgrades at the same time.

[DatDudeLoso]

Originally Posted by Gen

Depends what kind of music you're in to, I think. I find it pretty good, but a lot of those in the electronics subforum dislike it. I think if you're into ghetto, base heavy music, you will find it lacking, otherwise, it's decent when set correctly.

The sound system is DEFINITELY lacking IMO and many others on the forum. Although it does depend on what you listen to i find hard pressed to say that only too ppl who like "ghetto, base heavy *its spelt bass*, music" are the only ones who complain. Can't it be that ppl just want quality sound while driving their FR-S/BRZ?? Not everyone uses their FR-S as a track car. Many of us use it as their daily driver. I dont know about you, but i like listening to music, and not my door rattling full retard. So lets be careful of the words we use in post next time. PLEASE??

I sold my Bespoke system btw. Personally i didnt feel like it was what I wanted. No nav, and very lacking in other features. Some like it, some dont. To each their own.

[JoeBoxer]

I think some well placed sound deadening will help the factory system, I was just going to add some 8's but i'm thinking about doing the front speakers now too.

[Gen]

Originally Posted by DatDudeLoso

The sound system is DEFINITELY lacking IMO and many others on the forum. Although it does depend on what you listen to i find hard pressed to say that only too ppl who like "ghetto, base heavy *its spelt bass*, music" are the only ones who complain. Can't it be that ppl just want quality sound while driving their FR-S/BRZ?? Not everyone uses their FR-S as a track car. Many of us use it as their daily driver. I dont know about you, but i like listening to music, and not my door rattling full retard. So lets be careful of the words we use in post next time. PLEASE??

I sold my Bespoke system btw. Personally i didnt feel like it was what I wanted. No nav, and very lacking in other features. Some like it, some dont. To each their own.

You're right, it's bass. I've been testing pH all day, so Freud won out. BTW, it's "it's spelt/spelled" if we really want to play that game.

Stereo is fine for stock and daily driving for the majority of people, which is what the OP was asking. It's pretty comparable to the stereo in my IS250 imo, but that's something that is fairly subjective. It's decent for a stock stereo for mids and highs, bad for lows. Sorry if calling it 'ghetto music' offends you.

[Subie]

I have a BRZ but the majority of the components should be the same as those of the FR-S. I find the sound to be average at best. It's definitely not "crap," but I've also heard much better in similarly priced cars.

[DatDudeLoso]

Originally Posted by Gen

You're right, it's bass. I've been testing pH all day, so Freud won out. BTW, it's "it's spelt/spelled" if we really want to play that game.

Stereo is fine for stock and daily driving for the majority of people, which is what the OP was asking. It's pretty comparable to the stereo in my IS250 imo, but that's something that is fairly subjective. It's decent for a stock stereo for mids and highs, bad for lows. Sorry if calling it 'ghetto music' offends you.

Spelt- the past tense and participle of "spell".

And no worries on the "ghetto music" thing. I just hate when ppl use that term in the way you put it. As if a specific genre can only be defined by a certain word. Just wanted to point out that ppl DO get offended and we as a society should try to avoid certain little idiotic things.

No hard feelings??

[rikdrt1]

Kinda Crappy. Thats the first thing i upgraded . and im in the 45+yr old category and i say it doesnt cut it. its not that i wanted ghetto bass or anythign i just needed something nice to enjoyin this car and felt that scion just had something not too impressive ..

alot of people went to alot of work to try to fit a decent subwoofer, figure out how to add an amp and tap into the power, get the right deck that would fit ust right and being a 'veteran' on this topic - and having installed Alpine and/or Kenwood in all my previous commuter-family cars i can tell you its alot easier to me to pay someone that did all the homework on this topic.
http://www.oemaudioplus.com/
OEM+ Audio did just that and for a price and some engineers put together something that plugs right in doesnt need that much modifications and is tuned to the accustics of the car. its just well worth it for me. it included everything that this was lacking.. the power, bass, amps and subwoofer enclosure that fits this car. i would of spent the same amount to do it all and probably sounded just as good but would have drilled and cut and soldered alot into this new tiny car. so instead, i chose to look at this company and paid the premium to have it sounnd much better than stock. If you are interested and put the math together and think u will spend over 800 for all that you want to do i highly suggest look at OEM Audio. I did, and i am very very happy with the results. ( bbok, im a little of an audiophile.. I have my DolbyDigital THX at home too and enjoy a nice clear soundtrack.. at normal levels )