Greetings fellow truck junkies. I apologize for posting this thread in here, but I believe it specific to the 2010 model year.

Bottom line, my 2004 Lariat had better sound. I'm pi$$ed. I paid a lot for this option. It has the same dynamic range as a cassette deck, without the hiss. It's all mid-range and bass.

This is the non-navigation, 6-CD, 700 watt system.

The factory sub seems OK, I am happy with that. I have more than enough bass. Sirius sound is not much better than FM radio. My last car, the Sirius sounded like CD quality. I'm sure my issue is specific to this system.

So, do the door speakers just suck, or is the actual in-dash system a P.O.S.??? My gut tells me that I'll be able to just put in decent speakers and it will sound 10X better.

I may have to nix my redneck exhaust plans, and make this my first priority mod...

 

Both the nav system and the premium system use the same speakers and amps as far as i know so it should sound as good as everyone Else's on here. You cant expect the speaker to function like after market speakers but they should still sound very good. I always change out my speakers and this is the only vehicle in the last 10 years i have not felt the need to change because of them being pretty darn nice for stock setup. Did change my sub though.

Sounds like it's a problem with your system to me.

 

I'll tell you the speakers suck *****.....but thats my opinion. Take one out and look at it.....paper cone.....very cheap. 35 watts max. I will opt for the lowest factory system next go around and change it out - I always do.....

Turn the system up past the half-way mark....you'll hear the bass decrease significantly......and it's "normal as its to protect the speakers from damage" - no freakin' way this system delivers 700 watts......

Off my soap box......

 

It is funny. Two Mustangs.....both have the "Shaker 500" systems. The new 2010 is so much better than the older one there is no comparison, even though they are supposed to be essentially the same. I think there is a lot of inconsistency in the Ford sound systems.

 

Thats has nothing to do with the speakers amp. It's the sub amp that does that. The speakers may suck ***** but they sound good for a factory system. There's no doubt. I have seen $4k speakers with paper cones so paper cones dont mean ****. If you think the 2009/10 system sounds bad then you need your ears tested. And truct me i like my audio. I have $5k B&W speakers so i know what sounds good and dont sound good. I would have already changed them if they were that bad. High end the system is not but great for a afctory system yes.

 

Go to the dealer and test out the Sony radio on another truck.

 

I was with you right up to this part. Sirius will never sound CD quality. Sirius is roughly the equivalent of a 96k MP3. If you listen to a system that has the highs turned artificially WAY up you may be able to trick your ears into thinking it sounds good but Sirius is simply, factually poor audio quality for music. Sirius makes it's money on talk radio and variety in music choices, not quality.

Most people with aftermarket systems jack the EQ curve way up into the 1980's V formation. This may sound good but isn't accurate to the music. People getting the Sony system for example notice the bass being significantly less and think it's a poor system. What it is actually is an accurate representation of the sound. The Doobie Brothers weren't meant to "hit" and shake mirrors.

Don't believe me?

Listen to some Akon or hell, even Tone Loc and you'll hear acceptable bass because the songs have bass. Asking songs without bass to have it requires jacking gains way up within the range. This is fine and I've done it for years, it's just not true sound.

Soo. To each their own, I as much as anyone understands going aftermarket for audio as I did it on my last system, but the OEM Sony solution does a decent job of ACCURATELY recreating the sound.

Oh, and to the guy saying "no way this has 700 watts". No, it's probably not RMS power levels. BUT.. 700 watts isn't that much.

 

Finally, someone that understands. I helped invent the V-Curve back in my college days. Well, at least that sounds good.

I'm just ticked because when someone like Rush comes on Sirius, the "crisp highs" of Neal's crashing symbols, are about as crisp as... wet toast.

Getting older, I listen to mostly country now days. I still like to jam from time to time though. Oh well. Honestly, if this is my biggest complaint for my new truck, thats not too bad. I would give the system an eight on the ten scale for STOCK systems. I just came from a Dynaudio system in a VW Passat though that was a perfect ten. I have just been spoiled. I still like my truck better than the VW. I liked that car, but always missed my '04 Lariat. Thus why I switched back.

I am convinced that I can at least get this up to a level nine with better speakers. I might put that on the Christmas list. It's not going to be a priority.

 

Well said Barritia, I couldn't agree more. I have two sound systems in my home, actually three if you count the Bose 3-2-1 in the master bedroom. One is with the Bose Acoustimass 10 speaker system in our living room. The other is in my "Man Room" and it uses the older Paradigm 5.1 Monitor Series Surround Sound System with an Ultra Cube 10, 1500 watts Dynamic Peak / 650 watts RMS Sustained. Trust me I know good stereo too, and I'm not going to mess with this Sony system in my truck. I have better things to spend my money on than to fix something that's not broken. I guess some people think it's chic to **** away money, so they can rattle off some speaker names and then everyone says "Oh-Awe, Oh-Awe".

Off my soap box..................

Good stuff Justi, your right on. One thing you did leave out though, is the convenience of having a familiar station no matter where you travel. I was under the impression that XM-Sirius radio was at least digital, since it was bounced off of a satellite. You are spot on about the the use of bass in most playback situations. Some people will tell that Bose suck (or maybe suck *****) but in reality it's probably one of the premier systems ever made. Bose does not have the tennis shoe in the dryer bass sound like many of the leading brands, but it reproduces music in it's purest form. Most people don't like that and want to "Flower up" the sound and call it a "Good, or Better system". But that's cool too, just don't kid yourself into believing that.

If you really want to hear what a good sound system is capable of, people that know will tell you to play some classical music on it while shopping for it. It may not be your cup of tea, but it will tell you a lot about the system. I remember when my wife and I were shopping for the Bose system. We were listing to some classical music and both my wife and I heard a woman in the woodwind section draw a breath during a quite portion of the piece. She looked at me funny, and said did you hear that? I asked her what she thought she heard because I wasn't quite sure if I had heard what I thought I heard or not. She said that woman's breath, and we both started laughing. Needless to say we bought the system on the spot.

OK, Now I'm really off my Soap Box.................

Bob

 

The audiophile system in my 06 sounded much better than the Sony. I am not saying it's a bad system for factory....what I am saying is they advertise this system as a "Sony 700 watt" system/upgrade. With the Sony amps that are in the truck, it doesn't come close to that.

And as far as the door speakers being cheaply made.....take one out and look at it.

 

Until you mentioned the man room with the Paradigm's, I was gonna laugh my a$$ off at you. Bose is crap, and extremely overpriced crap at that. No audiophile would ever use Bose as a reference standard for premium sound unless it is 1982, and even then it wasn't the best. Still, a home environment is much different than a car environment. There is a lot more ambient noise in an auto, and the size constaints for the speakers is much more stringent than in a home setting. The Sony system probably puts out 700W peak, which is likely less than 50W peak per channel, with 200W peak to the sub. (Most aftermarket CD decks will put out 50W peak)

There isn't much you can do. You CAN change out the speakers, but that will change the timbre of the music, but not the frequency curve that is sent to it. You can try running an equalizer to adjust everything more to your liking, but again that's gonna be a pain. I agree w/above about buying a low-end system and simply replacing everything with superior audio components, but then you lose that factory look/functionality (like the hvac controls on the nav).

 

Well i have heard a few "audiophile systems" and to be honest they sound ok but not as nice as the 09's. They seems to be boomy more than detailed which is great if you aint worried about SQ but crap if you are.

 

That is true - IIRC, there were members that stated their audiophile sounded like doo-doo where other members would rave about theirs.....

 

See, I told ya. Hey Sooner Truck, you've never heard of Bose 901's, or for that matter 601's? They were legendary, as a matter of fact, even the 301's were phenomenal for a lower priced bookshelf speaker. You call them “crap, and extremely over-priced crap at that”. Hmmmmm. Furthermore, I don't remember saying the were the best, or a reference standard. I wouldn’t be so fast to bash something, just because they might be out of your price range. Just an opinion.

Bob

 

Bob, I am quite familiar with them. They aren't the infamous "cubes" that Bose now peddles, but it still doesn't make them great. Bose has the luxury of one of the best marketing ideas I can recall in recent history. Fact of the matter is, you can't deny physics. Believe what you want, but independant testing ranks the modern Bose systems ($1200-1500) right up there with the budget HT in a Box ($400) from any major manufacturer in terms of value.