I'm not a fan of Bose but my Navara came with a Bose premium package as standard (£1600 upgrade) and the original owner spent another couple of grand or so on dealer provided upgrades to the audio system and it actually sounds pretty good albeit there is quite a bit of EQing to give it a "premium" sound which is hard to undo.
Audiophile grade car audio?
- Thread starter AndreWright90
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Going over the top in a car is worthless unless you have Rolls Royce level of sound deadening material added.
The best systems I've heard are factory installed... like the B&W systems in McLarens & the Naim system in Bentleys.
You can install some very high quality equipment in other cars... but you have a big issue to contend with; noise! Both road & wind...
You can get improvements however on other vehicles by replacing the head unit & speakers... but don't spend too much as the gains are not available.
But then your reference point was the standard MK3 Meg stereo, which is the worst one I've ever heard!
Still miss my Cup-S though
This was all so much easier when cars had a standard single DIN head unit. 20 years ago I have the best part of £3k ICE centered around Pioneers CD OLED preout only head unit, diamond audio components up front, rear fill provided by diamond audio 5inch rears and a 10inch diamond audio sub in a custom glass fibre enclosure. It was absolutely immense.
Now, I literally couldn't be bothered as most cars you can't change anything and adding an amp has to be done inline from the speaker outputs which is pathetic for sound quality.
Now, I literally couldn't be bothered as most cars you can't change anything and adding an amp has to be done inline from the speaker outputs which is pathetic for sound quality.
Yea, things have gone backwards in terms of audio tbh. There are much less options than there were (except for the few cars which do sensibly still use din fittings).
A lot of cars have integrated systems where the manufacturer has just gone "that'll do", to save money with everything on it. So you're stuck with a bang on average system which you can't improve.
A lot of cars have integrated systems where the manufacturer has just gone "that'll do", to save money with everything on it. So you're stuck with a bang on average system which you can't improve.
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Soldato
A lot also have a range of sound systems, so if you pay extra for the higher end ones they are pretty damn good. Ones in my cars is always very good as the Meridian system with Apple Music a decent bitrate. Just need to get round to getting higher rate onto USB but that’s more faff and the premium experience for me of connivence and voice control no meddling with laptops and USB pens. The loss of CD in car is the bigger hit to anything sound quality related!
I have the feeling you like neon headunit and 6x9s on a parcel shelf.
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You’re paying for the brand name first and foremost but to be honest any option on a new car is overpriced for what it is, like alloy wheels and non standard paint colours.
you want more than 256kb/s aac or 44.1/16 flac ?
I'll have to look - were meridian involved in the designs or do they manufacture ?( in the UK ?) Linn was in trouble.
Is there standardisation on digital protocol/format so that, even if you can't plug in a double din (on your tesla, say), you can hook an alpine/other amp+eq into the loom,
or are the manufactures locking it out, unless it gets reverse engineered.
Soldato
Just higher than 192 that Apple Music through wired CarPlay streams.
As I understand they are the branded system and processing calibration sold as the “product” on upgrades, Meridan system, Meridian Surround and then Meridian Signature Surround which is incredible. Amps, speakers and the sub are from various other suppliers such as Alpine.
I do need to get some high quality music files just for those demonstrations
Soldato
There loads of options, depends if you want to actually find out and research and share to either:
a) stop you popping to Halfords
b) not aligned to the usual vitriol spouted.
As someone already said, you can't simply plug an amp in and it just work like you can with a din unit. You can add an in-line one or maybe swap some speaks but it won't sound as good. It's a ballache and a bodge.
It's like trying to upgrade a console vs a PC...
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Soldato
Nothing of the sort.
I’ve just looked at MINI and Range Rover etc and there’s a whole heap aftermarket kit available, even Android head units for the Evoque.
You can stop ranting on now about the same guesses if you want.
I’ve just looked at MINI and Range Rover etc and there’s a whole heap aftermarket kit available, even Android head units for the Evoque.
You can stop ranting on now about the same guesses if you want.
Soldato
Many moons ago, I put some half decent speakers and a Pioneer head unit into a MK2 Granda and it made a huge difference as the car had decent sound deadening and the 10 year old factory fitted tape deck and speakers.
Moved the same parts into a 1.6L Cavalier a couple of years later and it was only a moderate improvement as due to it being a rattling tin can with a fair bit of wind noise.
Moved the same parts into a 1.6L Cavalier a couple of years later and it was only a moderate improvement as due to it being a rattling tin can with a fair bit of wind noise.
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When frequenting the car audio forums a few years ago the number one rule for a decent setup was the quality of installation. You could have the bestest most expensive equipment in the world, but if the installation was crap the end result would be crap.
Id imagine that’s why so many of the premium audio upgrades you can have as an option in modern vehicles sound so good.
Id imagine that’s why so many of the premium audio upgrades you can have as an option in modern vehicles sound so good.
So they will either be a din fitting in disguise, or really expensive bespoke units. The Mini looks like a 1 din unit with a separate screen...
I found my standard none Bose speakers in my mazda6 MK2 to be very good, and I heard that the Bose were not much of an improvement. I have heard the standard speakers in mercedes c class and compared to the burmester upgrade they are quite poor as standard.
I used to gravitate to 6x9 infinity speakers in my car's, and when I put them into my primera GT it was such a good choice. The rest of the speakers were already quite good as standard and this just got things right. The same speakers in my first car (MK3 astra) were no where near as good.
I used to gravitate to 6x9 infinity speakers in my car's, and when I put them into my primera GT it was such a good choice. The rest of the speakers were already quite good as standard and this just got things right. The same speakers in my first car (MK3 astra) were no where near as good.
Soldato
DIN. Go back to the 90s m8