Bass On Sony Entertainment System

[ayrshiredude]

Hi

I have the ST-3 with the Sony system installed. I had the standard Ford System in my previous ZS. I have the bass set to max on the Sony but find it lacking in oomph compared to the Ford system. Is this just the way it is or is there anything I haven't tried?

[MarksST]

Have you tried one of the equaliser settings? Rock, pop etc. I also use the setting to focus the sound on the driver not the centre of the car. Oh and try the auto sound compensator too.

[Phil 87]

Hi

I have the ST-3 with the Sony system installed. I had the standard Ford System in my previous ZS. I have the bass set to max on the Sony but find it lacking in oomph compared to the Ford system. Is this just the way it is or is there anything I haven't tried?

Yes it seems the same for me, I had the standard Ford stereo in my old Titanium and it seemed to give more bass while driving, but I think this could be because the road noise from the ST drowns out some of the bass and mid range. Try it when not driving and you'll see what I mean, there is loads of bass. I also have the bass on full when listening to my own music, and that's the only option I changed (adaptive volume is on by default).

[Shadows Entity]

Have a play with all the settings, has to be better than standard system

[Phil 87]

Have a play with all the settings, has to be better than standard system

I think it is better which is noticeable when playing music in the car when not moving. As I said I think it's down to the road noise, this is just my opinion but I'd think the harder suspension and different tyres which are lower profile and wider can drown out some of the sound. It would be good to get a car with each stereo side by side to compare.

I'm sure the bass is ok though, I've tested it by just sitting in the car when there's no outside noise to interfere, and the bass is pretty powerful, almost like there is a sub in the car :)

[Shadows Entity]

Maybe some sound deadening on the inside of panels may improve it

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Ford OC mobile app

[MattDRX]

Standard is just better for quality, DAB is much better obviously.

I find this works best,

Press sound button.

Bass +2

Mid + 1

Treble +1

If using bluetooth for tunes turn the equaliser off as they reduce the sound level too.

Think a lot of ST's will have 10" subs in the boot in a few years.

[Phil 87]

I just noticed my mistake mentioning the tyres - they are the same on the ZS (same size at least). So maybe it's just the harder suspension, and maybe the engine noise is different so it drowns out lower frequencies.

[MattDRX]

Sony Speakers from experience are just poor quality imo, anyone ever get the old Xplod 6x9s and Subs back in the day? were crap but cheap.

Does wonders changing the Speakers though, carried my old Rockford Fosgate ones from the Clio over to this, made it much better but still the poverty spec HU is far better.

[ayrshiredude]

how easy is it to change the Speakers? Front door cards off? what about the rears?

[MattDRX]

The rear covers just pop off, mine now fall off after snapping the clips so be careful. Easiest job though, changing a headlight bulb on this thing is harder lol

[ayrshiredude]

Ah ok, what about the front? is that a full door card off?

[MarksST]

Yes, there's a guide on YouTube by Nathan off here.

[ayrshiredude]

ok might take a wee look and think about changing them. What kinda connectors do they use?

[MarksST]

The ford loom will have a plug with 2 female spade type terminals.

The ford accessory catalogue has pioneer Speakers that are supposed to be a direct replacement, so should be plug and play, the similar ones for a clio were.

http://www.ford-accessories.co.uk/GB/en/7/27/552#

Although everyone has their own preference for Speakers

[ayrshiredude]

Ok might have a look at them, Always used to have Pioneer Speakers when I did change my Speakers. Needs to be simple though and I don't want to have to take door cards off to have them rattle afterwards.

[Phil 87]

Ok might have a look at them, Always used to have Pioneer speakers when I did change my speakers. Needs to be simple though and I don't want to have to take door cards off to have them rattle afterwards.

I watched Nath's video on that and I don't think you would have a problem. Even if it did rattle you could take it to Ford and complain, hopefully they wouldn't notice the new Speakers though unless you put the old ones back.

[MattDRX]

they don't rattle, quite a good fit and door cards are pretty solid for the first time on a Ford, don't bother with Pioneer stuff though, to make a real difference you do need to invest in some decent ones, a pair of Rockfords / Alpine I think S or R Class are around £90 a pair, but they are very very solid decent quality Speakers, none of this stuff you can push in easily and flexible cones, you want decent thick rubber cones and a good weight to them. but don't get any with an RMS rating of over 45W, max power irrelevant as RMS is the key figure, if they don't match it wont sound great at all.

And some with the largest range of Hz on them, you want it to go as low as possible ( this is the bass ) and as high as they'll go, generally the top figure is the same and the human ear can't even detect the top ranges on most Speakers anyway.

[ayrshiredude]

So how much room is there at the back for the magnets? Do they just screw out?

[MarksST]

The OE Speakers will come out after taken 3-4 screws out, I think most 6.5" component Speakers will fit, I will be getting some JL audio C2s the dealer said they won't be any fitting issues but was going to mount them on an MDF ring to improve the sound.

[Phil 87]

I wonder if anyone has tried replacing the spare wheel with a sub of equal size, that would fix our bass problems ;)

[ayrshiredude]

The OE speakers will come out after taken 3-4 screws out, I think most 6.5" component speakers will fit, I will be getting some JL audio C2s the dealer said they won't be any fitting issues but was going to mount them on an MDF ring to improve the sound.

Thinking that if it is easy I might go along this route. Also wondering if just changing the fronts would be enough as the back is kinda lost in the front

[MarksST]

I wonder if anyone has tried replacing the spare wheel with a sub of equal size, that would fix our bass problems ;)

Some of the under seat subs are very good for adding a bit more bass.

[Bob_thebaldie]

Ive got a Titanium with the Sony system, and i think its pretty bassy. Have you tried going into the stereo menu and optimising it for `Driver` rather than all occupants? That helps a lot.

Ive just noticed somebody has suggested that, so sorry for repeating it. My mrs says she knows when im nearly home as she can hear the stereo thumping before i pull up. so ive got bass :D

[ayrshiredude]

Had a look at the rears and the grills seem to be part of the side wall panel. Couldn't see a way to get them off without taking the whole sidewall off.