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Disappointed in Upgraded Audio System

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I just picked up my 70D yesterday (6/6/15). I ordered the upgraded sound without ever hearing it. When I pickup up the car, I played with the audio controls. I was surprised that $2500 only gets you a 3 channel equalizer and L/R, F/R fader controls. The front speakers sound full, but when I pushed the sound to the back, it literally sounds like a cheap transistor radio is playing in the trunk. I looked at my DS and asked him if something was broken. He said he didn't think so. I'm no audiophile, but I think the sound is decent if I set the fader in the front or middle. Any comments from the group? Is this normal? Is my audio system broken? I've search the web but can't find any discussion on this. Frankly, I'm disappointed.
 
I just picked up my 70D yesterday (6/6/15). I ordered the upgraded sound without ever hearing it. When I pickup up the car, I played with the audio controls. I was surprised that $2500 only gets you a 3 channel equalizer and L/R, F/R fader controls. The front speakers sound full, but when I pushed the sound to the back, it literally sounds like a cheap transistor radio is playing in the trunk. I looked at my DS and asked him if something was broken. He said he didn't think so. I'm no audiophile, but I think the sound is decent if I set the fader in the front or middle. Any comments from the group? Is this normal? Is my audio system broken? I've search the web but can't find any discussion on this. Frankly, I'm disappointed.

Exactly my experience - but to my ears the standard audio is really bad. Wish I had opted for the upgraded audio even with it's mediocre sound.
 
Agree on the 3 band EQ and the paper cone speakers on the premium sound. To me it seems the system is a bit too bright so I turned down the 1 kHz by 3 dB. Still puzzled by the Dolby Surround decoder as that is used for movie/TV content (which it doesn't play), not music.

Seems that the XM radio trial period was just two weeks. Will have to add the radio to my account today.
 
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I'm not an audiophile, but I'm more "into" music that your average person and I love the upgraded system. You just have to play with it enough to suit your tastes. Right now I think I have my Bass at +7, Mid at +6 and Treble at +7. I came from a Tahoe LTZ package with the Bose system and the Tesla system eats its lunch with no problems. Even with Slacker (compressed audio) it sounds awesome.

One time after a couple of weeks I noticed a few tracks didn't sound as awesome as I thought they were going to. I had gotten used to the bass and deep sound of the system, I would pull up songs that I just knew would sound awesome and they fell flat. So I started to get those feelings of, "Man, this high def audio system isn't as great as I'd hoped." Then I realized that somehow my EQ levels had reverted back to 0 0 0 (I think with a software update? Reboot? Dont' know for sure) Then I adjusted them back up, replayed the song and the smile came back to my face.

Yes, it's probably not as good as what $2,500 could get you on the aftermarket....but as factory installed, I think it's incredible.
 
Reus comes to town from time-to-time. People seem to like the Reus systems. I heard one once, and I thought it was decent.

No doubt the UHFS isn't all that impressive, but it beat the standard system (I did back-to-back test using a FLAC version of the MFSL edition of Dark Side of the Moon on a USB flash drive).
 
I just picked up my 70D yesterday (6/6/15). I ordered the upgraded sound without ever hearing it. When I pickup up the car, I played with the audio controls. I was surprised that $2500 only gets you a 3 channel equalizer and L/R, F/R fader controls. The front speakers sound full, but when I pushed the sound to the back, it literally sounds like a cheap transistor radio is playing in the trunk. I looked at my DS and asked him if something was broken. He said he didn't think so. I'm no audiophile, but I think the sound is decent if I set the fader in the front or middle. Any comments from the group? Is this normal? Is my audio system broken? I've search the web but can't find any discussion on this. Frankly, I'm disappointed.

Turn off Dolby, fade the sound to the back to about 6 seems to sound the best.
 
Evannex only has the sub for $1k, right? Or do they have speaker upgrades too?

Reus, from what I read here, it's about $4k for hardware + installation costs?

[I've only done home audio, I'm a n00b with car audio]

Evannex only has the sub and amplifier package. I am getting mine installed in a week by them (they are just north of LA). I have the standard sound will report back.
 
Evannex only has the sub for $1k, right? Or do they have speaker upgrades too?

Reus, from what I read here, it's about $4k for hardware + installation costs?

[I've only done home audio, I'm a n00b with car audio]

yep NVX is just 1 speaker.
Yes reus is pricey but quite high end.

Good thing I value silence more than anything else.
 
yes, it sounds to me like you have dolby turned on - turn it off.
if your not happy then you should hear the std sound. there is much less bas. my sec model s was also ordered with upgraded audio....you would deffently not like thet std audio as it lacks bas.
 
yes, it sounds to me like you have dolby turned on - turn it off.
if your not happy then you should hear the std sound. there is much less bas. my sec model s was also ordered with upgraded audio....you would deffently not like thet std audio as it lacks bas.

I ordered it but tried it with different sources. Like all cars, it sucks when listening to Sirius/XM as all cars have a muffled type spectrum with that source. Slacker was ok but still not as good as lossy MP3s/etc. Those are almost the best and can sound pretty clear and decent, followed by Bluetooth (not quite as clear). Finally, haven't heard anything lossless yet but should be similar or better at least - but just not convenient. Hoping LTE in newer cars now provides a more clear Slacker experience on higher bandwidth channels.

Overall, it is a fine system to me - doesn't distort too much from what I heard turning it up but doesn't give you the oomph and surrounding type sound that I've had in our other cars. It beats our X5 standard audio, beats the VW Touareg we had, not our Lexus Levinson systems though we've had in the past - those sounded better...
 
I'm not an audiophile, but I'm more "into" music that your average person and I love the upgraded system. You just have to play with it enough to suit your tastes. Right now I think I have my Bass at +7, Mid at +6 and Treble at +7.
...
Then I realized that somehow my EQ levels had reverted back to 0 0 0 (I think with a software update? Reboot? Dont' know for sure) Then I adjusted them back up, replayed the song and the smile came back to my face.

That's not really accomplishing much, if anything, though. That's nearly identical to the stock configuration (what you have is effectively +1, 0, +1). If the speakers were able to handle some additional volume with the volume setting maxed out uniformly pushing up the EQ could arguably get you that, but they struggle as-is.

It is a common mistake, though. By pushing up those sliders you increased the volume, which improves the sound balance in many speakers. You'd be better off zeroing, setting the volume to where you usually listen, and then tweaking the sliders so they normalize around 0. Notably, you'd need a higher volume setting relative to the +7 EQ baseline you had been using previously.

What I'm getting at is you're basically using the EQ as a second volume knob, not that it matters since you configure so flat. If you normalize you'd be able to tweak the parameters farther apart, though.
 
This is why I chose the base system and will add a Level 2 Reus package. For the net extra $1500, every indication is that it will be money well spent.

I don't need loud. I want audio that is at least somewhat similar to what I experience at home (rather than the muddy, shapeless dreck that so often emanates from the base system).

Another point of reference, no pun intended, would be certain Etymōtics earbuds with custom inserts. Listening to good source material through those can be an almost religious experience.