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What's the Verdict on the Stereo?

J

Jerome81

Autocross Newbie
Location
USA
I apologize if this should go in the electronics section, I figured it was more of a general question.

Anyway, seems I hear a lot of griping about the stock stereo on the GTI. When out driving cars, I came away feeling the GTI was actually on the better end, if not the best of the ones I was looking at. The Ford Mustang 500 watt was very nice, but not as crisp as I like, the Bose in the Miata again just didn't have enough punch, period. The GTI seemed to have a really good balance of pretty rich lows and crisp highs, which is just the way I like it.

However, I have a Kenwood aftermarket unit in my current Miata, and it sounds really great, so I think I'm a bit spoiled.

I know there are complaints about the soft clipping, but as far as sound quality, how happy or unhappy are you? Do you consider yourself an audio snob? Sometimes that matters too :)

Just looking for opinions.
 
V

vDubr

myfastismycopilot
Location
South Florida
Car(s)
2008 Audi TT
Unless the manufacturer offers a "premium" audio option, i.e. Alpine, H/K, Logic7, B&O, Infinity, Bose, etc., stock stereo systems will always sound like crap. I do consider myself an audiophile and I actually sell high-end audio equipment for personal and business use (see www.magnoliaav.com), I can live with the stock system... for now.
 
S

scsuh

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Auf Wiedersehen! said:
Unless the manufacturer offers a "premium" audio option, i.e. Alpine, H/K, Logic7, B&O, Infinity, Bose, etc., stock stereo systems will always sound like crap. I do consider myself an audiophile and I actually sell high-end audio equipment for personal and business use (see www.magnoliaav.com), I can live with the stock system... for now.
Click to expand...


Not true. The stock system in the Acura TL sounds a LOT better than the "Premium" Bose Sound system in my G35. Hell, the TL's system sounds better than most any sound system offered by any manufacturer.
 
V

vDubr

myfastismycopilot
Location
South Florida
Car(s)
2008 Audi TT
scsuh said:
Not true. The stock system in the Acura TL sounds a LOT better than the "Premium" Bose Sound system in my G35. Hell, the TL's system sounds better than most any sound system offered by any manufacturer.
Click to expand...

I've heard the TL's sound system. What's so great about it? :iono:

And Bose might have been a bad example :redface:
 
E

exS4

Autocross Champion
Location
San Tan Valley, AZ inDaHouse!
Car(s)
`06 GTi
Bose... Not "premium"
No-matter what the car co's say!
 
bilbos

bilbos

On the Kop
Location
Pennsylvania
I used to have the BOSE system in my old TT Roadster and I thought it was pretty good.

It was noticeably better than the stock unit in the GTI, although that is not to be unexpected.

I have never bothered with aftermarket units in any of my cars. I don't really spend long enough in them to be too worried about it.
 
Vivid

Vivid

Formula 5000 Driver
Location
Atlanta
Bose is about as premium as the toliet paper at a gas station...

Bose is great at marketing but terible at making audio equipment...

but back on topic... The stereo in the MKV is average for the car's price point, its not great but there are a lot worse out there too.
 
C

car

Autocross Champion
Location
Central Illinois
I think I must be the only GTI owner that thinks the stereo sounds great. Crystal clear treble and nice, round bass. The eq takes a little tweaking to reach it's full potential, but I think unless you are listening to bass-heavy music (rap, hip hop, whatever they're calling that stuff these days...) you won't even see soft clipping. Personally, 90% of what I listen to is acoustic and I think aftermarket components would be a waste of money.
Just my opinion....
 
K

Kirium

Go Kart Champion
Location
Canberra, AUS
It'd be nice if VW offered the Dynaudio system from the Eos in the Golf GTI... That's an option box i'd tick... And Dynaudio and "premium" can certainly be grouped together in the same sentence... (unlike some other brands)

I read that the Mark Levinson system in the Lexus RX330 is about as good as OEM systems get, but i've never heard it... I'll be keen to hear the Dynaudio system when it arrives in the Eos here in Australia in a few months. Might be worth retrofitting...
 
B

big papa

Oval Newbie
Location
Queen Creek, AZ
After adding a 10" sub and amp to the stock system, I am happy. Usually the stock radio comes out the first night, but I liked the in dash 6 disk and steering wheels controls. I was supposed to get the soft clipping removed, but after adding amp and sub, I don't notice it at all. Now that the radio does not have to push low frequencies, the clipping went away?
Not pretty, but effective.

 
Last edited:
ewoo

ewoo

Rally Car Newbie
Location
Ken~tucky! Wahoo!
I'm pretty anal about sound too. (I used calibrate my home system using software on my laptop and a decibel meter.)

But I can totally live with the stock sound system on my GTI. It really wasn't as bad as everyone said.

Gone are the days pouring money into car audio. Besides, I often turn it off---just to listen to the sweet sound of the engine. Really.
 
Vivid

Vivid

Formula 5000 Driver
Location
Atlanta
car said:
I think I must be the only GTI owner that thinks the stereo sounds great. Crystal clear treble and nice, round bass. The eq takes a little tweaking to reach it's full potential, but I think unless you are listening to bass-heavy music (rap, hip hop, whatever they're calling that stuff these days...) you won't even see soft clipping. Personally, 90% of what I listen to is acoustic and I think aftermarket components would be a waste of money.
Just my opinion....
Click to expand...

And that's the great thing... we all have different ears, hear different things different ways... And the stereo is not bad at all and if you compared it with other cars in the same price range I think it would fair very well...

But if you compare it to the best in automotive Lexus's Mark Levinson system or other top names such as Logic 7 (Lexicon) there is no comparison, but those systems cost 10- 20% of the total cost of our cars.
 
Whafrodamus

Whafrodamus

Walnuts, bitch.
Location
Andover, MA
Car(s)
2010 MK6 GTI
I love the stock stereo. My previous car was a 1985 Cabrio with 4 4" speakers. I had a little CD player, but once you went speeds above 40 the music was inaudible.
 
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