I recently bought a Mazda3 sGrand Touring 5-door with the technology package and a supposedly 9-speaker system. There is little to no audio coming from the rear pillar speakers when bass/treble is set to neutral. In a possibly separate problem, I've had endless trouble with the satellite radio system, and the car has been to the dealer 5-6 times already for the satellite radio problem. They finally fixed that after replacing the entire head unit part by part. However the dealer, the dealer's "regional representative", and a so-called mediator from Mazda corporate all insist that because the speaker puts out a tone during a "self-test" that the speakers are working correctly. I can not believe that Bose would put it's name on a system that works this way, where the tweeters don't "tweet" lol. The service dept.'s fix was to turn the trebble up to the max such that the system sounded like a tin can. This is obviously unacceptable to me. It is important to note that I had to go back several times before the service department even discovered that there was such a thing as a self-test that could evaluate whether any sound at all was getting to the rear pillar speakers. Once they found that, they declared that the system is working "satisfactorily." without regard to the fact that there are many ways that it could be malfacturing in the distribution of the audio to the various speakers which would not show up in a self-test that sends a single tone to each speaker. When I went in (again) to the service department to get them to show me the so-called self-test, they could not find the code to reproduce the test. I only had an hour to waste so i left in further disgust. I then get a call from the Mazda corporate rep declaring that my car has been fixed and that there was nothing else I could do.
I have requested some sort of verifiable and objective proof that the speakers are performing up to factory specs, and Mazda claims that no such measurement exists, and that they have no such specs available and so they can not do anything further. On my last visit, the regional rep sat in the back seat with me and insisted that he heard sound coming out of the rear pillar speakers when there was actually none, it was coming out of the door speakers in the back. Hence, my insistence on some sort of measurable/objective verification of the performance of the speakers. My concern is that whatever frequencies are supposed to be delivered to the rear pillar tweeters are not being correctly distributed or are not being correctly amplified, or for some other reason i have no sound coming out of the rear pillar speakers unless it is cranked all the way up. I don't think Bose would have designed a system to work this way, and i certainly would not pay for nine speakers to hear only seven of them at normal settings. I am so tired of dealing with the incompetent and inept representatives at Mazda, and being told nonsense (I was a sound engineer earlier in my life). I am extremely frustrated because I paid a premium for a Bose sound system with nine speakers, two of which are not even remotely working as I would expect.
So after my rant, is anyone else experiencing this audio problem (rear pillar speakers putting out little to no audio at normal settings)? The dealership claims that they have compared my car against other cars of the same make and model, and they all "sound the same" and this is supposed to be proof that the system is working correctly as opposed to the possibility that they have a widespread problem that they are not interested in fixing. Furthermore, I do not trust the ears of the servicepeople, especially based on the demonstration I saw of how they evaluated the sound in my car.
Unlike some other drivers, I love music, all kinds, I value good sound and bought the best sound system available for this car. I have now discovered not only that it is not working well, but that I can't even "upgrade" with an aftermarket sound system, apparently because of the way the amplifier modifies the sound. I am so angry at the way Mazda has failed to address this issue, and has made it as difficult as possible for me to get even the most basic information about this car, that I want to take the car back. Unfortunately I have leased the car, and am told that it's essentially the same thing as buying it.
What can I do about this? I know that somewhere Mazda and Bose got together and decided what the audio should sound like. I'm pretty sure that they didn't just listen to it and say, "yeah, that sounds about right." They had to use some sort of measurements. I am also sure that they must have tested the audio output of those rear pillar speakers at some point, so it should be easy enough to measure the sound pressure level in my car to see if the speakers are performing as designed. I do not, however, know how to get hold of this information as Mazda has given me a stone wall. Failing that, I would like to create better sound in some way using after market improvements -- anybody figured out how to do this? I am actually ok with the front speakers, I just want to hear sound coming from the rear as well, and want the separation of treble that should be coming from the tweeters. If I can't accomplish this, I'd like to get the money back that I paid for this so-called premium sound that is far below my expectations of a system with the Bose name on it. Has anyone successfully done this? I see a lot of complaints about the Bose sound system in the Mazda3, but not the specific complaint about the lack of output from the rear pillar speakers.
Thanks for any ideas. And if people know, what compact car delivers the best sound?
I have requested some sort of verifiable and objective proof that the speakers are performing up to factory specs, and Mazda claims that no such measurement exists, and that they have no such specs available and so they can not do anything further. On my last visit, the regional rep sat in the back seat with me and insisted that he heard sound coming out of the rear pillar speakers when there was actually none, it was coming out of the door speakers in the back. Hence, my insistence on some sort of measurable/objective verification of the performance of the speakers. My concern is that whatever frequencies are supposed to be delivered to the rear pillar tweeters are not being correctly distributed or are not being correctly amplified, or for some other reason i have no sound coming out of the rear pillar speakers unless it is cranked all the way up. I don't think Bose would have designed a system to work this way, and i certainly would not pay for nine speakers to hear only seven of them at normal settings. I am so tired of dealing with the incompetent and inept representatives at Mazda, and being told nonsense (I was a sound engineer earlier in my life). I am extremely frustrated because I paid a premium for a Bose sound system with nine speakers, two of which are not even remotely working as I would expect.
So after my rant, is anyone else experiencing this audio problem (rear pillar speakers putting out little to no audio at normal settings)? The dealership claims that they have compared my car against other cars of the same make and model, and they all "sound the same" and this is supposed to be proof that the system is working correctly as opposed to the possibility that they have a widespread problem that they are not interested in fixing. Furthermore, I do not trust the ears of the servicepeople, especially based on the demonstration I saw of how they evaluated the sound in my car.
Unlike some other drivers, I love music, all kinds, I value good sound and bought the best sound system available for this car. I have now discovered not only that it is not working well, but that I can't even "upgrade" with an aftermarket sound system, apparently because of the way the amplifier modifies the sound. I am so angry at the way Mazda has failed to address this issue, and has made it as difficult as possible for me to get even the most basic information about this car, that I want to take the car back. Unfortunately I have leased the car, and am told that it's essentially the same thing as buying it.
What can I do about this? I know that somewhere Mazda and Bose got together and decided what the audio should sound like. I'm pretty sure that they didn't just listen to it and say, "yeah, that sounds about right." They had to use some sort of measurements. I am also sure that they must have tested the audio output of those rear pillar speakers at some point, so it should be easy enough to measure the sound pressure level in my car to see if the speakers are performing as designed. I do not, however, know how to get hold of this information as Mazda has given me a stone wall. Failing that, I would like to create better sound in some way using after market improvements -- anybody figured out how to do this? I am actually ok with the front speakers, I just want to hear sound coming from the rear as well, and want the separation of treble that should be coming from the tweeters. If I can't accomplish this, I'd like to get the money back that I paid for this so-called premium sound that is far below my expectations of a system with the Bose name on it. Has anyone successfully done this? I see a lot of complaints about the Bose sound system in the Mazda3, but not the specific complaint about the lack of output from the rear pillar speakers.
Thanks for any ideas. And if people know, what compact car delivers the best sound?
