I am just wondering if anyone has a decent car stereo anymore?

My current Jeep Grand Cherokee is adequate sounding but not outstanding.
I have a new Genesis GV70 on order that has a "Lexicon" sound system in it. The test car that I drove sounded fine, but I wasn't really paying much attention to it at the time.

So what do you folks have, and how does it sound?

Is there a Audiophile approved vehicle out there?

Donnie,

I have generally found OEM car stereos lacking. Cheap components, especially head units with underpowered amplifiers and crappy speakers.

I found aftermarket installation with quality components with quality wiring and sound proofing doors to work well. I usually opt for a vehicle without a navigation system and simply use Waze on my mobile phone when needed.

My system consists of a top level Pioneer headunit w/ line level outputs to a JL Audio five channel amplifier. USB output to a 260GB Classic iPod filled with FLAC files for most listening, but the Pioneer has a CD player. I have some excellent 6 1/2" component speakers in the doors w/ separate 1" tweeters all mounted in stock locations (front windshield pillars and upper rear door panels) in my Subaru Outback. No subwoofer.

The first and most important step is reducing external noise. That means treating all the door panels and floors under the carpeting (if possible) with a quality sound deadening product. I used hushmat products for my last installation.

If you don't want to install yourself, find a good local installer. Just check out car audio forums for recommendations. Good luck. If you spend time in your car commuting or traveling, it's a very worthwhile investment.

HK

In my younger days I found much joy in upgrading the stock audio system in a couple cars I owned. HK’s commentary on sound deadening is spot on, I never did any flooring work but did address the doors and that made a big difference.

Then getting married changed everything. The joy of listening to an upgraded system went out tts window and became meaningless so I never bother with it anymore. The bitching, complaining, and otherwise nonsensical yappery kills all desire to bother with audiophilia in the car. In the home I have total control there since the doors are locked to keep the bs nonsense out of my intimate dedicated sound sanctuary that brings sanity and joy.

I think headphones would be a more practical way to provide quality audio and reduce noise.

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I've got a Subaru Crosstrek with a decent enough sound system, and while that makes sense as a practical matter it probably isn't going to happen. My thing is the music I listen to (mostly classical) just has too much dynamic range and I've been looking for software to compress it (what I hate in recordings I listen to at home) so it plays better on the road. I haven't found anything, does anyone know any music program that might do this?

I have a 2012 Caprice PPV (ex police vehicle) with a big Chevy v8 slightly massaged.  I kept the stock mufflers because I'm old and like to be able to have a conversation while driving.  The stereo in it has been nurtured by the police and a lot features that there are buttons for don't work.  It's a standard size but Donnie is correct that the heater controls require the stereo interface to work.  

I think for music my only solution is an A/B switch and use my phone for music.  The stock system is OK for NPR and isn't bad but doesn't sound anywhere near as good as my wife's GTI that has a Fender sound system.  It even has a subwoofer that is special shaped and fits over the spare tire.

The other option would be a 2021 Range Rover with active noise cancellation built in or there is a company Silentium  that adds active noise cancellation thru your stereo or your headrests

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yeah we know  [smiley=icqlite27.png]

every once in a while, i turn to that blasted channel to find out what the enemy is saying. the explicit lies are relentless, the manner in which they pompously and arrogantly project themselves is absolutely vile. literally god damn NPR, i want my taxpayer money that funds that bastard marxist gov't propaganda operation back, and i'm absolutely positive many of us here on this very board would agree.

I've also noticed that CD players in new cars are going the way of the dodo.

We were shopping around for my wife a new car the last few weeks and the only small SUV that had a CD player was a Lexus UX250H. Unfortunately she hated that car because she couldn't see over the dash.
The Jeep Compass didn't have a CD player, neither did the Hyundai Tucson that she ended up buying.

She used to have a Juke like Lon's and yes the stereo in it was just adequate if I remember correctly.
She seems to go through cars like shoes and purses.
I guess that is my first world problem.

I couldn't tell you the last time I listened to the radio. I have a 2Tb portable hard drive into the USB input of my Grand Cherokee set to random play. I think there is close to 50K songs on it! You have no idea of how random my music comes out. It might be Gospel followed by Thrash and then onto a 70's crap pop song.

Lon +1

I drive an 82 Honda civic wagon, stock right down to the am/fm tuner and paper cone 4” dash speakers. There’s only 2 stations here: NPR news, and NPR classical. I’ve thought about upgrading the sound system but the road noise is so horrendous in that car it wouldn’t be worth it. Luckily I have about a 2 minute commute. When I am ready to really listen my hifi is always waiting. I’m thankful every day that I live in a (mostly) stable country, I have a car, a job, a crazy good hifi, a loving wife, and two great radio options.
It never ceases to amaze me how good people are at creating their own problems.
Then blaming those problems on others.

Donnie,
I found a few portable cd units with usb outputs designed to overcome the lack of oem layers. So there is at least a workaround. I was looking at last year's Honda Ridgeline and they offered a cd as an accessory upgrade…maybe they feel that demographic has a need. I've been using usb thumb drives with mp3s now for a while mostly because the road noise overcomes subtle details.

I just wanted to know about what cars had a nice sound system in it and somehow it has degraded into some sort of political diatribe between two opposing sides.

I don't care what side you all fall on, we all need to meet somewhere in the middle in order to move forward.

My recommendation is that we all start by agreeing on the fact that better sounding music is superior than crappy sounding music.

With that being said, what cars have a nice sounding stereo in it?

BTW, whatever sound system you all have in your cars, PLEASE don't drive with headphones on.  

I saw that mentioned in this thread.

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Like as keeps happening on a regular basis for over a year now. Are you telling us you're surprised? Disappointed? Aggravated? I'm with you on the last two, but at this point I'm certainly not surprised. I'm reading through a nice discussion and various chit chat about people's systems and their experiences with that- then, out of the blue (or out of the septic tank, more like it) comes this flaming blast of feculent foolery, having nothing whatsoever to do with the topic, or anything to do with audio at all. I'm tired of it, and it's obvious that most here are tired of it.

The only 'side' I'm on is that, this being an audio forum, I'm one the side of discussing audio. Period. There are over 6 million sites out there which welcome that political crap with open arms, for those interested in such discussion.

If someone lacks even the most basic reading comprehension skills to be able to understand what

  - Discussions / questions on all audio related topics -

means, then someone needs to find himself  a grownup (or any smart 10 yr. old, even) to explain it for him.

Lon wrote on 02/28/22 at 03:11:54:


Lon,
I'm thinking that my wife had the SL trim, the highest trim level they had available at that time(2012 I think)
It was a cool little car, but she wouldn't let me drive it! The real downfall for it was that it had a real small gas tank and didn't get anywhere near the gas milage that you would think something that small would get.
And hers had the subwoofer in the back but I don't think that it was the system that your car has.

The worst thing about my concern about the stereos in cars is how little I really drive anyway.
My '18 Grand Cherokee has 32,000 miles on it and I'm ready to get rid of it. My wife's '18 Compass that she got rid of last week only had 10K miles on it.

Like I said before, First world problems.

Donnie wrote on 02/28/22 at 13:01:54:

Yes, first world problems. My NISMO has a 12 gallon tank, which is not large, but I get 32 mpg and I can go over 350 miles on a tank, so I'm happy. It's a 2015 I bought new off a lot when the 2016 were out and I have 34,000 on it. Love it!

My wife lets me drive her Honda. I'd rather drive my Nissan!

A two hour commute in LA could mean significant time stopped bumper-to-bumper!

I drive a '68 bug and while I did put in speakers and such (it came with just one), I mainly hear a few things while driving:
- The 1904 with dual carbs working away just a few feet from the back of my head
- Other drivers honking at me in either appreciation or aggression while I putter down the freeway
- My Wife constantly asking me "Why"
As for the "sound system" - eh, it does provide a good distraction in the summer months when the oil is running as hot as lava and I question why I still drive my beloved Betty around.

Donnie…. What I have noticed is that foreign cars specifically German and British seem to do a better job with their stereo systems in general.  I have a 27-year-old Lotus Esprit that came stock with a JVC system that was actually pretty decent.  

After I started modifying my car with all sorts of upgrades including a cat bypass pipe, ram air, blow off valve, etc. etc.… The stereo system didn’t cut it.  

I replaced all of the speakers with Boston acoustics, new wiring, a high output Alpine CD head unit, and added these low profile Pioneer mini subs behind each seat that were perfect for filling in the bass.  

I also did insulate behind the engine compartment to help with noise.  I then wired in an iPod charging dock to play Flac files from my fifth generation iPod.  As technology advanced ..I decided to replace that with my dragonfly red USB DAC tied into my iPhone which allows me to play my Hi-Res files streamed through TIDAL and Qobuz.  That was definitely a big step forward now getting audiophile sound in my car.

With my home construction project totally consuming my life these days… I have not had a chance to use my car for almost 8 months, but I can say that even with my roof off and cruising on the highway… I still get good sound….that’s until the car backfires and shoots a flame ball.  

Unfortunately it seems like head units are a thing of the past… And most of the aftermarket head units out there are now double DIN integrated NAV systems.  

For the brand new cars out there…it makes it very hard to make upgrades to the audio system.   The biggest bang for your buck now may be to buy an audio quest dragonfly and send it through an available audio jack if your car has one.  

Dom

I'm not laughing--I bet your system sounds good.

Well this car thing for me keeps getting weirder and weirder.

There are no '22's available so now I am on the top of the list for a '23, due early fall.
Sounds strangely familiar doesn't it?

Hopefully the old beater Jeep keeps going, 32K miles in a Jeep is playing with fire!

Anyway I will have the full boat 18 speaker Lexicon sound system.
Hopefully I will be able to shut all of the DSP crap off.

 
I've been having a similar but different problem. All I want is a decent cassette deck for my '72 Monte. NOS is no good, the belts will be shot.  Chinese replacement belts are as expected, worthless. So it leaves me thinking a new, shaft mount, with two knobs, head unit with a cassette deck that can do CO2 tape. Not likely to happen.  Speaking of keeping things all analogue...

Every year about this time when it heats up and my Monte looses some zip I research fuel injection. It's almost a ritual. This year I came closer than ever to actually doing it but then the car started pulling a lot harder. I got the message. Me and this car go back to when I was 15 years old so by now there is a line of communication between us.  Like how it always runs twice as good after a car wash and shit like that.  Anyway, since I got nowhere with the NOS Sony Cassette Deck with the replacement belts... I decided to tune the car. I dialed in the carb nice and tight and set it up for hot weather. Boy did it like that! And so did I, as the money saved and the pride of analog continue to rule. The car is pulling harder and has more snap than it ever has. I got this message too. Plus it wouldn't have been as satisfying to make that Dodge Hell Cat work so hard for it.

I wouldn't have been able to say you almost got your ass kicked by a 50 year old carburetor : ). (Did actually get his ass kicked up until 130 mph).

Seriously, how hard can it be to find a high quality cassette deck for the car? I guess it's no less difficult than trying to find a new toilet that actually has more than an inch of water in the bowl.

Steve

Yeah Steve I remember the Yamaha cassette deck I had in my first new car, a 1982 Mercury Capri RS 5.0, the fastest car a 21 year old kid working in a machine shop could afford.

The Yamaha was extremally well made and great sounding. The Capri was a little less good. In the 4 years from new I owned it, the body rusted through from Illinois winters and everything else either rattled loose or stopped working. Quality control was a lost art in those dim days of American cars.

While it was "fast" in it's day a stupid little modern 4 cylinder car would eat it for lunch.

Time marches on.

Break down and put a Holly EFI on your Monty, you will gain a easy 75 HP and the car will pull harder and cleaner all through the range.

Carburetors are just semi controlled leaks! The EFI will make you kick yourself for waiting so long to do it.

I think it might be worthwhile to get a top notch head unit with preamp inputs and hook up a Nakamichi cassette tape deck with a AC/DC converter, if you can find the space under the dash. Not a perfect solution by any means, but should result in a good sounding system.

HK

None of my Nakamichis would fit into the dash of any car I've ever seen.

I did have van once with built in AC power and I carried around a Sony cassette player. Never wanted to subject my best to the road. The one I did that to was in a rack mount, making it too much of a pain for double use like that.

If I had taken out the air conditioner in my 63 Dodge Custom 880, it would probably fit, but them's fightin' words.
Factory air from that era was huge, but living in south Texas, you choose A/C over most else.