Premium Stereo v normal...Help needed
Discussion
I test drove a V8 Vantage on Friday and am absolutely loved it. The main dealer has the exact spec I want apart from one thing; it doesn’t have the premium stereo. Now I now that shouldn’t matter as one of the reasons I loved it was the noise from the engine but I do love my music and every car I have had has the upgraded stereo i.e. HK with BMW, BOSE with my Audi and my present Porsche.
Is there much difference between them? Opinions would be much appreciated...
Is there much difference between them? Opinions would be much appreciated...
I have popped a link to one of four pages on audio - from the Aston Guide, hopefully that will help......
http://www.astonmartinreview.co.uk/Vantage%20audio...
If it proves useful there are another 249 pages on all aspects of the cars......
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Hope this helps
http://www.astonmartinreview.co.uk/Vantage%20audio...
If it proves useful there are another 249 pages on all aspects of the cars......
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Hope this helps
If you love music in your car then the premium system is a "must have". I too love to listen to good quality music and I found the standard system really terrible and the premium system really surprisingly good - quite a bit better than the Bose system I had in my 911 before.
There are lots of people on this forum however who will tell you that they cant tell a difference between the systems and that you should be listening to the engine instead - I am not one of them however. I suggest you buy a car with premium otherwise I suspect you will regret it.
There are lots of people on this forum however who will tell you that they cant tell a difference between the systems and that you should be listening to the engine instead - I am not one of them however. I suggest you buy a car with premium otherwise I suspect you will regret it.
When I bought my car, the sales particulars didn't say it came with premium audio - we found out when the sales guy was talking me through all knobs on collection and wow what an unexpected bonus. This wasn't on the list of priorities at that time but having experienced the premium audio for over a year, it will now be fairly high on the priority list as it just adds that much to a wonderfully packaged car. If you're really into your music, then I'd say get one with the premium.
Is a premium sound system really so important in a car??
Engine noise, tyre noise, wind noise, noise from other traffic..... Is the human ear that sensitive to noise quality?? Or is it a case of it costs £££ therefore It must be good, therefore I need it...
The only reason I ask is that when I'm playing ACDC, on my bogo cheapy standard system, it sounds ok to me
Engine noise, tyre noise, wind noise, noise from other traffic..... Is the human ear that sensitive to noise quality?? Or is it a case of it costs £££ therefore It must be good, therefore I need it...
The only reason I ask is that when I'm playing ACDC, on my bogo cheapy standard system, it sounds ok to me
Lunablack said:
The only reason I ask is that when I'm playing ACDC, on my bogo cheapy standard system, it sounds ok to me
ACDC can ONLY be played on the cheapy bogo standard system. I think any better system would refuse to play such s
te 
You can tell by the set up in the car if it is the premium system - it is a good level - not sure I'd pay any more for the B&O system but I'm more than happy for someone else to spec it
Lunablack said:
Is a premium sound system really so important in a car??
Engine noise, tyre noise, wind noise, noise from other traffic..... Is the human ear that sensitive to noise quality??
I agree. My home system cost well into 5 figures, but the standard system in my V8V is perfectly adequate. A car is far from the ideal place to listen to music, and once on the move....Engine noise, tyre noise, wind noise, noise from other traffic..... Is the human ear that sensitive to noise quality??
It may be just me but, if I play music in the car at a volume that drowns out extraneous noise, it becomes a distraction from driving on anything other than motorways, at a cruise.
Dad & daughter time in the Aston.
Daughter "Can you put some decent music on please"
Me "of course sweetheart", Cue roll down the windows and accelerate hard. "How wonderful is that sound"
Daughter Daaddddddd!
Why anyone would want to listen to anything other than the engine and exhaust note is lost on me.
Daughter "Can you put some decent music on please"
Me "of course sweetheart", Cue roll down the windows and accelerate hard. "How wonderful is that sound"
Daughter Daaddddddd!
Why anyone would want to listen to anything other than the engine and exhaust note is lost on me.
everything is relative to the ear of the owner
I have the standard stereo and have felt no need to upgrade it over the last 5 years/60K miles
but then if you listen to a £20k hifi at home and expect the same in your car, you may feel it lacking
if I found the perfect car and it was just the stereo that wasnt called "premium" Id buy it....if you do feel the need you can upgrade later ...its only a pair of rear speakers and bigger amp + DSP rather than a plain old equaliser...its not life changing
if you are really into car audio, youd rip the lot out and spend £20k on a custom install......
the single thing that you may wish to change if buying an early car with standard stereo, is to add an ipod interface, if thats how you consume your music these days
I have the standard stereo and have felt no need to upgrade it over the last 5 years/60K miles
but then if you listen to a £20k hifi at home and expect the same in your car, you may feel it lacking
if I found the perfect car and it was just the stereo that wasnt called "premium" Id buy it....if you do feel the need you can upgrade later ...its only a pair of rear speakers and bigger amp + DSP rather than a plain old equaliser...its not life changing
if you are really into car audio, youd rip the lot out and spend £20k on a custom install......
the single thing that you may wish to change if buying an early car with standard stereo, is to add an ipod interface, if thats how you consume your music these days
bogie said:
everything is relative to the ear of the owner
I have the standard stereo and have felt no need to upgrade it over the last 5 years/60K miles
but then if you listen to a £20k hifi at home and expect the same in your car, you may feel it lacking
if I found the perfect car and it was just the stereo that wasnt called "premium" Id buy it....if you do feel the need you can upgrade later ...its only a pair of rear speakers and bigger amp + DSP rather than a plain old equaliser...its not life changing
if you are really into car audio, youd rip the lot out and spend £20k on a custom install......
the single thing that you may wish to change if buying an early car with standard stereo, is to add an ipod interface, if thats how you consume your music these days
I was thinking of just going for the car and upgrading later but the dealer says you are unable to do this. Also how easy is the ipod interface as that is exactly what I have my music on.I have the standard stereo and have felt no need to upgrade it over the last 5 years/60K miles
but then if you listen to a £20k hifi at home and expect the same in your car, you may feel it lacking
if I found the perfect car and it was just the stereo that wasnt called "premium" Id buy it....if you do feel the need you can upgrade later ...its only a pair of rear speakers and bigger amp + DSP rather than a plain old equaliser...its not life changing
if you are really into car audio, youd rip the lot out and spend £20k on a custom install......
the single thing that you may wish to change if buying an early car with standard stereo, is to add an ipod interface, if thats how you consume your music these days
On another note Bogie are you the chap who used to have the black & gold Elise with the menatl engine? I went on a trackday with you to Bedford many moons ago...
Jockman said:
ACDC can ONLY be played on the cheapy bogo standard system. I think any better system would refuse to play such ste
You can tell by the set up in the car if it is the premium system - it is a good level - not sure I'd pay any more for the B&O system but I'm more than happy for someone else to spec it
Well we can't all be bay city rollers, boyzone, Gareth Gates and step 7 fans now can we.....te You can tell by the set up in the car if it is the premium system - it is a good level - not sure I'd pay any more for the B&O system but I'm more than happy for someone else to spec it
I also have Rage against the machine, red hot chilli peppers, thin lizzy, led zep, black sabbath, and other such greats to listen to
Lunablack said:
Jockman said:
ACDC can ONLY be played on the cheapy bogo standard system. I think any better system would refuse to play such ste
You can tell by the set up in the car if it is the premium system - it is a good level - not sure I'd pay any more for the B&O system but I'm more than happy for someone else to spec it
Well we can't all be bay city rollers, boyzone, Gareth Gates and step 7 fans now can we.....te You can tell by the set up in the car if it is the premium system - it is a good level - not sure I'd pay any more for the B&O system but I'm more than happy for someone else to spec it
I also have Rage against the machine, red hot chilli peppers, thin lizzy, led zep, black sabbath, and other such greats to listen to
RHCP, Lizzy, Zep et al are a whole different matter
Though I can honestly say the premium audio on both my cars has been on for no more than an hour in total in 3 years
So I'm not sure why I felt it was important
I've got the standard system in my Vantage and whilst I'm no audiophile I think it is fairly poor to the extent I thought there might be something wrong with it - especially as there was no sound coming from the rear speaker grilles, only to discover that the grilles didn't cover any speakers 
. I certainly wouldn't call it a deal breaker and I haven't heard the premium system but the sound from the standard system is way off the quality of the standard system in my 5 Series.
. I certainly wouldn't call it a deal breaker and I haven't heard the premium system but the sound from the standard system is way off the quality of the standard system in my 5 Series.I've had both the premium and standard, and I can't tell a huge difference between them. I've got high-end Musical Fidelity gear at home so it's not that I've got insensitive listening. I think the Premium system takes an awful lot of fiddling with to get the settings right. Also, synthesized Dolby surround sound is just another form of interference between the source and the output; for a hi-fi buff that's a no-no.
Lunablack said:
Well we can't all be bay city rollers, boyzone, Gareth Gates and step 7 fans now can we.....
Classics.Throw Erasure into the mix and you have the perfect popular beat combo.
I never felt the need to be trendy
BTW, I think Bogie's correct - buy a car for many of its attributes, but not just for the sake of a stereo.
WHUFC said:
Also how easy is the ipod interface as that is exactly what I have my music on.
If you've got all of your music on an iPod, most likely ripped at 128Kbps (compared to an audio CD which is 1400+ Kbps), then you've already lost a whole lot of fidelity anyway, before you factor in the USB / AUX interface into the integrated unit and the associated cable quality etc.In that case, if the rest of the spec is perfect, my advise would be to buy the car (then post a pic on here!) and put your six favourite albums in the stacker *if* you happen to get bored of Gaydon's Greatest Hits
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