MS3 Sport ready for audio upgrade

C

CHICO2003

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MSP & MS3
So ever since I picked up my new MS3 this past Saturday, I've been contemplating how best to handle the 'audio issue'. You see, I'm coming from a car with a pretty badass setup. Though I don't listen to nearly as much music in the car as I used to (lots of sports talk, audio books, etc.) I still want a halfway decent setup.

So I thought about getting an aftermarket indash nav system like an AVIC-D3 (What I had in my MSP) As much as I like that system though... I just don't think it would look right in the MS3. Say what you want about the sound quality of the stock system... I dig the look of it and don't really wanna mess with it unless it makes no sense not to.

I've also come to realize that I don't really need the nav functions nearly as much as I thought. I guess I was relying on it a bit too heavily... even for times when I didn't need it. So I'm gonna get myself a portable unit and perhaps mount it over the 'passenger side airbag light' next to the cig lighter. As long as it works down there, I think I can wire it up so that it's powered by the cig lighter in the center console.

So yeah... back to my main question.

If I'm gonna leave the stock (btw... I've got the Sport) HU... I'm naturally gonna upgrade everything else I can starting with the speakers. That said, with a high quality aftermarket HU make THAT much of a difference in sound quality? It's going to sort of suck to buy some kick ass components... only to realize that they're not reaching their full potential due to the bad stock HU.

If by chance the HU's up to the task... is it possible to wire it up to power a sub? I don't care how high quality your speakers are... music just doesn't sound right without a little bass.

So hopefully I can get by with the stocker... along with some new speakers and a sub... I'm hopeful it'll be adequate.


Sorry for the stream of conscienceless here. It's late and... yeah, that's my excuse.

Thanks guys
 
I would wager to guess that as long as you retain stock parts, they will always be the weak link. That being said, I'm sure replacement speakers will sound much better.
 
I believe that putting in some quality speakers the system will sound much better. As it is my stereo (stock) sounds good its just when it gets louder like past 40 or 45 that it starts to get distorted becuase the crappy paper speakers. Like Defman said the stock HU is always gonna be weak but I think for a basic sound system it should be good enough. The only way to find out is do it tho lol.

As far as putting a sub with the stock deck... Yes its doable. They make kits to do it that are usually around $50 or so at an audio store. The downfall is, with not having a specific "sub" setting all of your bass will be directed to the sub. So even when people are talking the sub will pick up the bass. I have never heard how it sounds but I'm sure it would be decent but not the best.

You could always get speakers, sub, amp and see how it sounds and if you don't like it all there is left to do is get a new deck after you already have everything else.
 
true2blue92 said:
As far as putting a sub with the stock deck... Yes its doable. They make kits to do it that are usually around $50 or so at an audio store. The downfall is, with not having a specific "sub" setting all of your bass will be directed to the sub. So even when people are talking the sub will pick up the bass. I have never heard how it sounds but I'm sure it would be decent but not the best.

You could always get speakers, sub, amp and see how it sounds and if you don't like it all there is left to do is get a new deck after you already have everything else.
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As long as its setup and tuned properly a sub with the stock deck doesnt have to distort talk radio. I went with a 8" sub in the trunk with a 200w amp everything else stock and think that setup worked great for me and sounds great even up into the 40s without distortion.
 
CWPspeed3 said:
As long as its setup and tuned properly a sub with the stock deck doesnt have to distort talk radio. I went with a 8" sub in the trunk with a 200w amp everything else stock and think that setup worked great for me and sounds great even up into the 40s without distortion.
Click to expand...

Nice! I was just going off of what I've been told by some people at the audio store. They're always trying to sell tho so they were trying their hardest to reccommend me away from that so I would buy more. Maybe I'll have to try it out now tho.
 
I can confirm that replacing the speakers and adding an amp/sub in the trunk area will transform the sound completely, and be quite usable without replacing the stock HU.
 
If you're not going to run an amp for your speakers, i probably wouldn't spend high $$$ on speakers that can handle 100-150 watts RMS. There's no way the stock HU is producing that and its worse to underpower a speaker than overpower it. I would probably get the best speakers you could afford that handle around 55 watts RMS.

As far as the sub amp, you could either use a LOC or get an amp with speaker inputs.
 
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Ok, I have the sport as well.. I replaced all the door speakers, made a huge difference, sounds great. I need to replace the tweeters as well though. When shopping for speakers I shopped for speakers with lower power handling since I know the stock HU doesn't put out that much. (using speakers designed for high power would make you have to turn the volume up more to get the same level volume you would with lower power speakers at a lower volume) That idea worked great for me, nice, loud and clean. As for a sub, the stock HU does cut out some of the lower frequencies to be friendly to the stock speakers.. this made my sub sound not so great and couldn't really get any of the low bass hits using a LOC spliced in to the back speakers. What I did eventually do is buy the MTX RE-Q. Use that instead of a LOC to connect the amp. It's designed to restore some of the bass that some stock HU's remove, that little doodad made a huge difference in the bass quality on my sub. Alot of people are happy using just a LOC, but trust me, MUCH better with the RE-Q. If you're an absolute audiophile, look in to the JL Cleansweep, and a 4 channel amp for whatever door speakers you want. More expensive route to go, but good to know there are options for turning a system with a stock HU in to a killer system.
 
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I replaced my sport speakers with Infinity coaxials. They sounded WAYYYY better but wouldn't get very loud at all. I broke down and instlaled a Pioneer deck and now they sound fantastic!

Of course, I rarely listen to music in the car these days (drive2)
 
DaleNixon said:
I replaced my sport speakers with Infinity coaxials. They sounded WAYYYY better but wouldn't get very loud at all. I broke down and instlaled a Pioneer deck and now they sound fantastic!

Of course, I rarely listen to music in the car these days (drive2)
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That's why you don't want to get high power speakers for the stock HU, just can't get the volume out of them without more power. At first I was gonna go with a aftermarket HU, but with the piano black trim in my car, I just couldn't convince myself to do it with the dash kits available.
 
DaleNixon said:
I just dealt with the ugliness that ensued. It was worth it to me but I only have a Sport!
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I hear ya. Mines a Sport too, but it's the 08.5. If someone came out with a dash kit that was that piano black, I'd be all over it. Curious though, were you able to get the steering wheel controls going with the new HU? I know there's kits to make that work, just never had any first hand experience with it.
 
mordant80 said:
I hear ya. Mines a Sport too, but it's the 08.5. If someone came out with a dash kit that was that piano black, I'd be all over it. Curious though, were you able to get the steering wheel controls going with the new HU? I know there's kits to make that work, just never had any first hand experience with it.
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Yep, Crutchfield sells a kit that can make most steering wheel controls work with aftermarket headunits from Pioneer, Kenwood, etc. The only problem is programming them is a pain in the ass. Once programmed, there is a bit of an input lag from the steering wheel control but it's livable and you get used to it.

One user review said programming those things is harder than calculating a moon landing with an abacus.
 
TheRealDefman said:
Ummmmm.... No. A speaker's power rating has nothing to do with how loud it gets.
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Ummmmm... Sorry but it does. Run the same power at the same volume level to a speaker with low power ratings and one with high power ratings, the speaker with the lower ratings will be louder. Why do you think DaleNixons infinity's wouldn't get that loud??? Other variable that would affect that is the impedence of the speaker.. considering 4ohm is the norm, I doubt they were 8 ohm speakers which would be cause them to not be as loud. If they were 2 ohm, they would be louder.. but would be hard on the HU, say like over heat.
 
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