Rank your car HiFi ;-)

[stuart_83]

weissn said:

System in my Exige 350 is a 0.5/10 and that is being generous.

Is that the Alpine double DIN and amp?

Worked for Alpine a number of years ago (IT), and I was genuinely surprised about how many different cars we had our kit in. Only about 25% of their business was aftermarket.

A lot of it was sold on and rebranded (Aston / B&W), so you'd be surprised just how many cars have an unbranded Alpine system in!

[coupe20VT]

I am very impressed with the standard stereo in my 2016 VW Scirocco R. The sound quality is excellent with a decent amount of bass and great clarity. Also I can't fault the bluetooth connectivity (I play most of my music through spotify on my phone). - 9/10.

[AdamIndy]

Standard, old Ford Focus system, utter crap, 2/10. Changed the HU for an alpine item. Still crap 3/10.

My other car doesn't have a stereo but it does have weber carbs. 12/10.

[Witchfinder]

2008 Ford S-Max Titanium ("High" 8-speaker upgrade) - 7/10. Not bad, although vibrated the door cards pretty badly when the volume was turned high. Better than the standard system.

2011 Ford S-Max Titanium X Sport (9-speaker standard system) - 6/10. Distorts very easily on anything bassy at anything more than moderate volume. Good connectivity though, with USB and Bluetooth audio.

2006 Audi S8 (standard Bose system) - 8/10. Sounded excellent, with only minor distortion at high volumes. Whisper quiet interior means you can hear it very well. No USB or Bluetooth audio without the AMI upgrade, which is a shame. Wish I could have found a car with the B&O though, which would score 9 or even 10.

[offshoreeddy]

Ferrari F430 "V8" sound system - 10/10. I've never turned the stereo on so I can't comment on that.

[Joe-2z6jw]

2009 Octavia VRS Limited Edition, brilliant system. Comes with a nice touch screen HU with 6 disc changer, aux in and an SD card slot (optional bluetooth and Ipod cable). Speakers are fantastic for saying they're standard, even at anti-social sound levels, never heard any kind of farting coming from the speakers. I'm not an audiophile, but in all my previous cars I've upgraded the speakers and HU, not this one though.

I'd give it 8/10 as everything can always be improved!

[stinkspanner]

2015 Mercedes V class with Burmester upgrade. 6/10, not very good at all. Sub under the seat does punch it out pretty well but the rest of the speakers just can't keep up and so the midrange and high frequencies sound really strained.
If you sit in the back, weirdly you can't tell there's a sub at all so you're just left with the crappy midrange and treble.
I used to have a 2001 Volvo v70, I don't know if the stereo was upgraded or what but it was very good indeed 9/10

[Limpet]

swisstoni said:

Lots of high end brands have effectively sold out for their names to be used in car systems. I don't blame them as it must be a tough market these days.
I was quite a HiFi enthusiast years ago, so to see these names crop up on crap car systems is still a bit of a shock.

Mark Levinson were the first I believe with their Lexus tie-in back in the 90s. Excellent as I am sure their in-car stuff is, it does seem odd that a company famous for producing amplifiers that cost the same as a car would put its name to a hi-fi in a car. I bet it's the cheapest thing they have ever put their logo on by some margin.

[Miles Hardy]

BMW e38 6/10 for its age, was pretty decent.
BMW e28 4/10
BMW e24 6/10 - again due to age n all.
BMW e3 - didn't work, but was 40 years old.
BMW e10 none fitted. Engine noise could be better once a stainless exhaust is fitted. 7/10 with room to improve.
Austin healey Sprite Mk2 (1961), no stereo - best noises! 10/10
Saab 9-3 2006, had a fusion??? Sound system as standard which was incredible. 7/10
BMW e90 - poo. 2/10
stroen DS5 2016 - wk 1/100
Ford Mongayo 2016 - okay 3/10
Ford Kuga 2013 - average 3/10 if you can use it, auto downgrade to 2/10 as interface is guff.

So overall, the car without one and a 948cc twin SU engine with a straight through mild steel pea shooter exhaust wins by a country mile.

[shep1001]

kritter86 said:

You've no made me fearful that my HK system in my 4 series will go pop also. Rate the speakers though worth the upgrade thats for sure.

Stay away from Deadmau5 & you should be fine

[whp1983]

Audi S3 B&O 9/10 best I've had in a car and since so much time is spent in the car listening to music, well worth it.

[Hammerhead]

Bowers & Wilkins in my XK. Very good for a car system, solid, crisp bass rather than 'phat' bass. Clear mid and upwards. Only gripe is that the original owner didn't tick the DAB option. Don't often listen to it much though, prefer the music being played out of the exhausts!

[anonymous-user]

Z3M sound system was 1/10.

AshBurrows said:

Harmon Kardon in my M3 is absolutely rubbish. 3/10.

Which generation? E90 H&K is pretty good.

[AdriaanB]

Never owned modern cars with modern sound systems, but my XJ8's premium (Alpine) system was pretty decent, 7/10 with plenty of headroom and speakers. Good big cabin as well to play music in. Saab 900NG Turbo standard system had good switchable base, 7/10. Drove a Smart ForFour rental and the sound system looked fancy (touchy screen!), but sounded awful, 4/10. Fiat 500 Convertible had a half decent factory unit, 6/10.

Current cars (Triumph Herald, TVR Chim, LR 110 and Ford Galaxie 500) all score between 0.5 and 1 / 10 for audio equipment

[Tin Hat]

zebra said:

weissn said:

System in my Exige 350 is a 0.5/10 and that is being generous.

That's 0.5 better than mine. I have to make do with an electrical cut off and fire extinguisher release, neither of which is overly musical.

You are better off without it- I stripped mine out about an hour after I collected the car, it is utterly useless, not helped by a 1990's user interface

iPod and in ear headphones allow an instant upgrade to high quality music and you can save a couple of kilos!

[griffin dai]

Saab 9-3.....by far the worst I've ever heard even with the full 13 speaker system. Pants

Getting sorted this week 4 way active system to go in, almost finished

Tons of sound deadening throughout.

Pioneer DEX-P99RS Head unit
Denon DCA-800 6 channel amp (fronts)
RF Punch 40i 2 channel amp (subs)
Mix of focal & infinity 3 ways up front (My Sinfoni 3 ways are waay too much hassle to fit) ££££
Genesis p69 subs in the shelf

Then around 2 years to tune the sod

[callahan]

Cotic said:

ExPat2B said:

I used to build top end custom Hi Fi systems.

I got out of the business, mainly as so much is completely subjective and un-measurable.

My comments are that a bad system is easy to spot - nasty tinny treble, and distorted bass.

However the difference between good systems are harder for untrained listeners to spot.

Things like seperation and soundstage, warm midrange without booming or muffling from bass, a clean treble without harshness.

Most people are utter peasants, and just want a fat bass line and no distortion when turned up really loud. However a great system can give you goosebumps on demand, but people have no idea why it can do that.

Sooo.... which car systems do you rate? I've had a succession of JLR products and the B&W & Meridian systems sound great, considering the environment. And this, in my opinion, is the issue; a car is a dreadful place to put a decent hi-fi, so any attempt to make it a pleasure to listen to is fine by me. And if that comes as standard, rather than the four-figure sums proposed by the likes of Audi then all the better.

That would be interesting to know, I work in the industry too and have heard some great sounding car systems, notwithstanding the fact that they have to work in a tin box that is moving quite quickly.
I have an XE with the Meridian upgrade and it is very good (8/10), previously drove an Evoque for a month on loan which had an excellent Meridian system (8.5/10).
As so many others have said, I had the mid range system in my old Volvo V60 and it was excellent for the money - 9/10. The Bose system in my C32 AMG is mostly rubbish, although better on CD than radio, as you would expect - 5/10. It would be less, but the car before that was a Subaru WRX (blobeye) and the standard system was awful - 1/10.

[zebra]

Tin Hat said:

zebra said:

weissn said:

System in my Exige 350 is a 0.5/10 and that is being generous.

That's 0.5 better than mine. I have to make do with an electrical cut off and fire extinguisher release, neither of which is overly musical.

You are better off without it- I stripped mine out about an hour after I collected the car, it is utterly useless, not helped by a 1990's user interface

iPod and in ear headphones allow an instant upgrade to high quality music and you can save a couple of kilos!

In the previous Exige I just had a Larini fitted and binned the stereo; much better soundtrack to drive too.

[HughS47]

Subaru GB270.

Nil points.

[CrgT16]

2007 S3 with Bose - 5/10, lacked definition and clarity
2009 Z4 with BMW Professional was better but wasn't fantastic probably 6/10
2014 C Class with Burmester 9/10 it's an excellent sound system, would recommend.