MR2 basic stereo sound? Advice Please....

[Anonymous]

Hi there i know this has probably been talked about before but i would like to get an up to date opinion on the matter!!

I am going to be picking up a TFI300 on the 28th   s:D s:D   and was wondering how the sound system sounds? Is it any good or not? Are the tweeters and speakers any good and if not which ones and what size should i get, because i can get a mate to get the bits and bobs ready for when i get the car.

Does the head stock really need changing!

I have got a pioneer TS-WX22A (amp) that has come out of the old smart roadster but i dont know if it fits behind the seats yet.
any feed back would be cool !!!   s8) s8)   Thanks in advance guys.   s:P s:P

[Anonymous]

upgrading frt speakers and tweeters would be a good start but if its sound quality and money is not an issue, then change the lot all in one go rather than do what i did and do a bit at a time.
you dont realise how much the difference in sound quality is until u have had the stock stereo upgraded to an aftermarket unit.

[Anonymous]

Stock system is all right - nothing more. If you just listen to the radio and odd CD it's perfectly passable I feel, certainly better than the systems on my old peugeots (this does not , however, say very much!)

At higher volumes sound quality falls and speakers distort at lower frequencies.

If you enjoy your music and have higher standards then it is likely you'll want to upgrade.

[heathstimpson]

Moved as requested.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Moved as requested.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

thanks heath  s:D s:D

[Anonymous]

ok not a huge responce but some thank you. i know that the head unit can take a 6 disc c d changer is it possible to get the right leads and plug it into that port and then in turn put an i pod cradle in the glove box and get it to work???

daft but not a stupid question   s:? :? s:?

[Anonymous]

Do yourself a favour and get rid of the stock stereo and speakers ASAP if you want any kind of decent sound in there. I'm not talking about BOOM BOOM BASS IN YER FACE YEAH kind of sound, just something a bit quality you can actually hear.

After that, you can pick any CD mulitchanger you want to go with it.  s;) s;)

[spit]

Heath (or was it Dan?). Another Alzheimer moment.....

At the post-dyno meal one of you was raving about a certain brand of speaker to replace the stockers .... can you remind me what they were and where to get 'em?

[Anonymous]

Rainbow's I reckon. That's what Stu has and they're bleedin' brilliant.

[heathstimpson]

Heath (or was it Dan?). Another Alzheimer moment.....

At the post-dyno meal one of you was raving about a certain brand of speaker to replace the stockers .... can you remind me what they were and where to get 'em?

It might have been me Ste as I have Boston Acoustics which are very nice indeedy  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Liz]

I was going to go for rainbow, but bought Marks Infinity Kappa ones- only wired in the big ones for now as I have no clue about crossovers etc - my wiring is really pikey as well  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:    Defo change the stereo, when I changed my head unit it even made the stock speakers sound ok!

[loadswine]

The answer to that one is going to be subjective Ste. There are a reasonable number of candidates for decent speakers at not to much cost.
Have a listen to a setup on someones 2 that you like is a good starting point. I'm not going to add fuel to the fire here and say a certain speaker is best, as that won't be answering your question. Just wanted to say there a number of decent options, as I'm sure you've already discussed.
For anybody with a Fisher Price kind of headunit, sell it! Pop it on ebay and you'd be amazed at the head start it gives you to finance new kit.
Got over a ton for mine yesterday!  s:) s:)

[heathstimpson]

The answer to that one is going to be subjective Ste. There are a reasonable number of candidates for decent speakers at not to much cost.
Have a listen to a setup on someones 2 that you like is a good starting point. I'm not going to add fuel to the fire here and say a certain speaker is best, as that won't be answering your question. Just wanted to say there a number of decent options, as I'm sure you've already discussed.
For anybody with a Fisher Price kind of headunit, sell it! Pop it on ebay and you'd be amazed at the head start it gives you to finance new kit.
Got over a ton for mine yesterday!  s:) s:)

Got less for mine a couple of weeks ago  s:? :? s:?  You are totally right about different people like different sounds. That's why they always say listen to any HiFi gear first even if it has 5*'s in What HiFi as we all have our unique tastes  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[rtbiscuit]

my long term goal is for rainbow speakers, heard good things about them.

headunit wise at the mo, i can't decided what to go for,

i like doulble din, but want a screen.

but if i have a screen i want it in the nav pod. if i go this route does this mean i'm forced to build a navpod. cos then i'll want to add satnav etc.

so for now i'm leaving as standard as this will get expensive, cos i'll want to add an amp as well

[heathstimpson]

Too many different options eh lads  s:? :? s:?    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[filcee]

Defo change the stereo, when I changed my head unit it even made the stock speakers sound ok!

Agreed - change the source of the sounds first, because the world's best speakers cannot re-create any sound that was not sent there by the head unit in the first place.

I changed the head unit only, but kept the stock speakers.  The sound is good enough for my needs in a car.  I would also recommend looking at MP3 or similar capable head units, and iPod or similar attachment kits to save the bother of an autochanger.  I have both, and again, the sounds are good enough for me plus I got to keep the maximum amount of luggage space.

[roger]

Defo change the stereo, when I changed my head unit it even made the stock speakers sound ok!

Agreed - change the source of the sounds first, because the world's best speakers cannot re-create any sound that was not sent there by the head unit in the first place. I changed the head unit only, but kept the stock speakers.  

Whilst I can't argue you are both wrong, just to add to the mix, I changed the speakers and the sound was much better. On that basis my conclusion was that the stock speakers were not able to cope with the HU output.

Also, the stock "tweeters" are only fed from the same wires as the main speakers. IMO not a tweeter at all, just another speaker.

[Jigwar]

.....
i like doulble din, but want a screen.

but if i have a screen i want it in the nav pod. if i go this route does this mean i'm forced to build a navpod. cos then i'll want to add satnav etc.....

Why in the navpod? I have a double-din touch-screen replacing stock and given that it tilts up a bit is fine for viewing and touching while resting hand on gearstick. Also reclines horizontally for loading CDs/DVDs no probs too. For me, I'd be worried about advertising my kit to thieves if it was up in the navpod - mind I haven't found a cover for the screen where it is yet.

IMO of course.

Steve

[filcee]

Defo change the stereo, when I changed my head unit it even made the stock speakers sound ok!

Agreed - change the source of the sounds first, because the world's best speakers cannot re-create any sound that was not sent there by the head unit in the first place. I changed the head unit only, but kept the stock speakers.  

Whilst I can't argue you are both wrong, just to add to the mix, I changed the speakers and the sound was much better. On that basis my conclusion was that the stock speakers were not able to cope with the HU output.

Probably because the stock speakers are harder to drive, whereas better quality ones will be made of better components therefore will be easier to move backwards and forwards.  Speaker control is all about delivering current to move the magnets backwards and forwards - this can be achieved with a better amp or better speakers.  Properly controlled speakers will always sound better, because they will vibrate more precisely for a given frequency.  My conclusion would be that the amp in the stock head unit isn't very good at supplying well-controlled current, therefore cannot make best use of the supplied speakers.

Having said that, neither an amp nor a speaker will be able to re-create anything that the source didn't extract from the software.  If your LP/CD/MD/Cassette reading device is of poor quality, or your LP/MD/CD/Cassette is damaged in some way, then the sound will be poor quality.  Ditto MP3/AAC/WMA - if your choice is to encode at low bit rates, expect worse sound than when encoding at higher bit rates.  Why is this?  Because poor encoding, poor quality readers or damaged media result in inaccurate data being passed to the amp/speaker combination, or no data being passed at all.  Thus, if the source either doesn't pass the information to the amp, or the data is 'wrong', then that won't get passed to the speakers as a/the correct current, so the speakers won't vibrate to produce the correct noise, or maybe won't make any noise at all if the data isn't there.

Also, the stock "tweeters" are only fed from the same wires as the main speakers. IMO not a tweeter at all, just another speaker.

The wires feed all frequencies to both the tweeters and the main units, therefore they will try to vibrate across the entire range - despite being "engineered" to vibrate only at certain frequencies.  Thus, they will sound bad when operating out of their proper range.  A better bet would be to install a crossover to filter out the frequencies not required for reproduction by the tweeters/main drivers, and wire the speakers in from there.  (The same technique that is used in any decent speaker supplied for home equipment.)

[roger]

Thanks for the lesson, Phil   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[spit]

The wires feed all frequencies to both the tweeters and the main units

Surprises me. Surely there's a passive crossover/high-pass filter somewhere in the stock setup for the tweets?

Hmmmm ... learned something new today  s8) s8)

[filcee]

The wires feed all frequencies to both the tweeters and the main units

Surprises me. Surely there's a passive crossover/high-pass filter somewhere in the stock setup for the tweets?

Hmmmm ... learned something new today  s8) s8)

Sorry, that should read:

"My assumption is that the wires feed all frequencies to both the tweeters and the main units".

The truth is, I've never taken anything apart to look behind there  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:   If there's nothing installed in the path from HU to speakers, then I think my assumption is correct.

[spit]

The truth is, I've never taken anything apart to look behind there  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Neither have I  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  . Not saying you're wrong Phil, just saying I'm surprised  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

learning loads guys loads of diff opinions  s8) s8)  
good speakers and a crossover sounds the way to go first .

but can the 6cd changer imput at the back of stock head unit be used for i pod conector???

[kanujunkie]

but can the 6cd changer imput at the back of stock head unit be used for i pod conector???

not as far as i'm aware, unless connects2 have released something

btw go listen to a set of Rainbow speakers