Dimension Audio Quality

[titaniumskull]

The one in Miami Kendal has a fair selection of speakers, then again I haven't been there in like 6 or 7 years, things could have changed. BestBuy scared me away when they started jacking prices to the point that it was almost twice the price. My friend can get things for me at employee cost but I dont bother him with that.

I have spent the past few years using Crutchfield. Good service and warranty, fair prices.

[sam27]

What I should have said but did not (probably because I was half asleep) is that car manufacturers have been trying to cut in on the after market action by offering systems actually made by some of the electronic manufacturers, but they charge a premium and really and truly you seldom get what you pay for. It's not that hard to add a little sizzle and some bass to make the system appear to sound decent but when you stop hearing and really start to listen the details or lack thereof become apparent, but the killer is when you hear a modestly priced after market system at a fraction of the dealer's cost. We are not talking competition systems , we drive family sedans, just something that you can really enjoy your music while on the road. For some of us though, once it's not factory installed, we want no part of it. I'm not sure that we are addressing the original question in this thread though. Anyway nice posts Uilleann, and Titaniumskull if you really like the Pioneer brand, I hear that the D-series are pretty good TS-D1720C or TS-D1602R if you prefer coaxials. I also did read somewhere that the system tuned by Ken Pohlmann is pretty good as well.

[big_ol_meat]

The Dimension sound is very flat as uillean has mentioned. The lack of sound deadener could contribute to a lot of white noise. I don't think dynamat is going to help with that issue. You might need a little bit of foam installed to help tame it.

For the people who say the highs might not be bright enough if you looked at A pillar mounts I'd definitely look into silk tweets. Most of the on axis sounds will be pretty shrill. If you're replacing the dash speakers I don't think a metal tweet will be as bad as along as the crossover boost is set flat.

I think the mix up is what people are expecting. If you want a true sound (flat) this stereo is better than most competition SQ vehicles a few years ago. It's not peaky at all. However if you're wanting boom and screeching highs you're going to be disappointed. And lol @ saying this makes another stereo "sound like Bose". Because Bose is such an awesome sound. I guess that gives the nature of what people are expecting.

[titaniumskull]

Mentioning Bose, I have Bose Companion 5 for the pc and Companion 2 at work in my tool box. The 5 gives me more room to adjust with the add on software EQ it gets better. The acoustimass gives me more of the sound I like.

I think one of the things I have to do is something with the woofer and a box, That being an open woofer is probably where I am not to happy with the bass. Since bass is where I have lost the ability to hear it as well as everyone else and why I keep the volume down because too much flutter and distortion in the stock woofer with me having the bass tuned up and the treble tuned down. And I really Really dont like the dash speakers, it's not the quality but the highs. I dont hear bass that well so I tune it up to thin the treble and keep the treble from making me cringe. Concert sound setting brings me too much treble and normal setting brings too much sound up front for me. Dang if I aint gettin a little to finicky. Music is an art, regardless of which genre. My choices are matched to my mood and fast paced music keeps me working at a fast pace

[uilleann]

TS - what you mention about the different pre-set sound fields in the Dimension system really has me wondering. If anyone has an hour or so some day with a Dimension system in my neck of the woods, I'd really like to map it's response as well, and see if I can figure out what's happening with that eq environment.

[titaniumskull]

2,510 mi, 41 hours
In current traffic: 41 hours

If I win the powerball I will drive from east coast to west coast and back, lol. Heck, if I win I will be moving to north Midwest. Truth is I haven't taken a vacation in 16-17 years. Last time I went anywhere was a couple months ago to pay BigMerf a visit, one day trip.

Last time I had a ride that far was when I was 5 and my dad moved us to the US and he drove from South Carolina to Colorado (went the southern route) . I remember bugging him for a Giant lollipop (6 inch wide) and I left it on the seat without the wrapper while in New Mexico in the middle of the day in the middle of the summer. This was back in those days when A/C was a super luxury, hence the lollipop didnt come out of the seat, all I got was the short end of the stick lol and the belt, ouch.

[uilleann]

If you make that crazy drive all the way out here, I'll buy you any size sucker you want! WOW! I remember some crazy road trips with my folks when I was a kid as well. Ours usually ended up with the RV broken down in the middle of nowhere. Meeeeemmmmorieeeeeesssss LOL

I guess I could come down that way too...but you'd have to introduce me to Dexter.

[titaniumskull]

Dexter?

This morning I was drinking coffee and eating a croissant
I had two advertising cards in the console. I put one on top of both dash speakers and now the sound sounds more balanced to me. Not so heavy in the front and the bass does not sound as flat and I can start to hear the separation from lows and mids better. I am going to the drawing board and cut me some stock to fit between the dash speakers and covers.
Next I have to pinpoint the rattle in the doors and add felt to stop it.


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com App

[Stevereno]

Resurrecting this thread again. I have a new Sonata SE with Nav/Sunroof package and I came on here to find out if others were as disappointed as I am with the Dimension sound system. I had to wait a few days for my car to be delivered and in the meanwhile I drove a loaner SE w/o the Nav package. That system actually sounded much better regardless of the source material (FM/XM/iPod) except for the lack of the sub-woofer. So did my 2003 F-150 that I traded in and it had low end stock speakers with an aftermarket radio and no additional amps or anything else.

What I have read here jives with my own impressions in that the main problem is with the dash speakers which sound pretty awful to me. After playing with the EQ settings, the only way I can get a somewhat satisfactory sound is to set the Fader to where the line is over the backseat and as mentioned by others that's just not appropriate for an accurate sound field reproduction. When the Fader is in the neutral (default) position the dash speakers dominate the sound (seemingly all you can hear) and they just don't sound good at all for most music. I guess it's a combo of poor speakers in the dash and maybe the crossover pushing too much to those speakers over the front door speakers.