Prior to my xB I had an old 92 chevy cavalier. Factory speakers, but an aftermarket CD player/head unit, and I thought it sounded great.

After a couple of days of playing with my new xB I am sadly coming to the realization that the factory setup just is not doing to for me. It sounds . . . well, flat, for lack of a better word.

I am not looking to spend a ton of money, but I would like it to at least sound good when I am driving. I do recall that the factory stereo in my old cavalier sounded like crap, and the change to an aftermarket head unit made all the difference in the world. Does anyone have experiences with simply changing out the Pioneer scion head unit with an aftermarket unit? Does it make a dramatic difference? Or am I looking at having to upgrade the stock speakers as well?

Thanks for any info you can share!

 

While we're on the topic, does anyone have any suggestions for simple, basic upgrades for the sound system? I am mostly looking for clean, full, rich sound at normal listening levels. I am not a bass head, and I don't need to blast the music loud.

 

Change the dash speakers first. I put in a good set of 4" speakers in place of the tweeters and it made a big difference.

 

have u tried changing the ssp to a different setting?? hold it down and change it to xA... that sounds the best in my tC imo

 

Yeah, and the tC setting in my xB sounds really bad. xA is the best in an xB, in my opinion. Check that first. I'm actually pretty happy with the factory HU for now, but will change in the future to get DVD playback for monitors. All I've done is add a sub & amp.

Anyway, do the HU first. Speakers are only as good as the signal you are sending to them. Upgrading speakers without upgrading your HU will not give you much gain if any.

 

Yeah, try checking the HU car setting(xA sounds nice). Thats one of the first things I did for my scion because they come from the factory set for tC. Funny thing is the guy at the dealer that sold me the car didn't know about the car stereo setting, so I taught him and now he sets all the cars to the right setting before giving it to the customer.

 

I had no idea i could do that! Thanks for the tip. I played with it a bit, and it does sound a little better, but really there is just not enough low end at low volumes. There also is not enough push coming from the rear (I personally don't like having all the sound coming from in front of me). If you crank it up, it does ok with bass, but I don't want to listen to it at that volume all the time.

I am thinking I will go with a new head unit and see what that does. I have a feeling the real solution is a small sub, but we will see. I don't know where I would put a sub, as I make good use of the "trunk" space.

 

i got a new HU and ive had a 12in sub...

 

Yeah, after a little research, I found some sub enclosures that can go under the seat - very appealing to me. I don't need the greatest sub, i just need it to be middle of the road. Still debating about blowing caution to the wind and just overhauling it all and being done with it though.