Audio quality of rear speakers?

[StoBro2]

I drove my new SE home last night listening only to the car doing its thing. Today I decided to mess around with the audio controls and I discovered that the sound coming from the rear speakers is AWFUL. I'm hoping there's a malfunction somewhere and it's not the way it's supposed to sound. What is your opinion of the sound quality from the rear speakers?

 

My C-Max has the 202A equipment group, which is the MyFord Touch and Sirius package. When I set the fader to the rear, the sound is extremely muffled and quiet. The front speakers aren't particularly hi-fi, but they are full range and have a reasonable volume. With the balance and fader centered, I have a hard time hearing any output from the rear while I'm in the drivers seat.

 

What's the verdict? "They all do that"?

[StoBro2]

Well, to answer my own question, apparently they do in fact "all do that". I stopped by the dealer this evening and listened to another similarly equipped C-Max they had on the showroom floor. It sounds exactly like mine. So at least now I know mine isn't defective. But I will be in the market for a speaker upgrade in the not-to-distant future.

[dtorres]

Been driving Fords for years and the factory speakers have always been junk. On an '04 Sport Trac I owned I spent an extra $600 for the upgraded Audiophile system and it still stunk. Turned out the $600 bought me a tiny external amp and better front door speakers, the rears were the usual junk. Replacing the factory speakers is high on my list with all my new cars. Unfortunately from looking at some Focus forums Ford integrated the door speakers into the mounting bracket so changing them is not easy without cutting up the old speaker to reuse the bracket portion. So I'm to patiently wait for the aftermarket speaker brackets to become available.

Edited November 6, 2012 by dtorres

[HotPotato]

I drove my new SE home last night listening only to the car doing its thing. Today I decided to mess around with the audio controls and I discovered that the sound coming from the rear speakers is AWFUL. I'm hoping there's a malfunction somewhere and it's not the way it's supposed to sound. What is your opinion of the sound quality from the rear speakers?

 

My C-Max has the 202A equipment group, which is the MyFord Touch and Sirius package. When I set the fader to the rear, the sound is extremely muffled and quiet. The front speakers aren't particularly hi-fi, but they are full range and have a reasonable volume. With the balance and fader centered, I have a hard time hearing any output from the rear while I'm in the drivers seat.

 

What's the verdict? "They all do that"?

 

(First: I feel ya...The sound in my SE certainly isn't as good as in my old Passat with Monsoon sound, but it's acceptable with the treble turned up.)

 

So re your issue: My local car audio shop tells me that for proper soundstage you shouldn't have rear speakers at all; or should fade them completely out; or at the very least should have ones without tweeters. In other words, your barely audible rear speakers may actually represent "good" car audio principles...

[dtorres]

I've noticed that on all the Fords I've owned. First the rear speakers were usually lower quality than the front. Second the rears always sounded muffled. But HotPotato's answer may have explained why.

 

I almost always swap out the factory speakers for better aftermarket ones. Unfortunately no one has made the necessary adapter kits yet to switch the speakers on a C-Max without having to do cut the factory speakers out of the integrated brackets.

[darrelld]

Sony HD system in my SEL is not the best I've heard. No comparison to the Fender Audio in my Passat.

[StoBro2]

I guess I'm used to cars with 8,9,10 or more factory speakers. Separate mid-bass and tweeters in each door, plus a center channel in the dash and a subwoofer in the cargo area.

 

I can see where a single pair of speakers would be preferred in a home environment where everyone has a roughly equal chance of hearing the music, but how can the rear seat passengers hear anything close to what the front seat passengers hear when the sound has to travel around the front seat passengers (and the seats) or up from the lousy sounding speakers aimed at their shins?

[Jus-A-CMax]

Sony HD system in my SEL is not the best I've heard. No comparison to the Fender Audio in my Passat.

 

Damn, I am missing out, I luv my Sony.... ;) 

[darrelld]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Jus-A-CMax" data-cid="7435" data-time="1359244971"><p>

Damn, I am missing out, I luv my Sony.... ;)</p></blockquote>

 

In fairness to the Sony nothing in the class tops the VW Fender.

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/08/2012-vw-passat-fender-stereo-a-welcome-surprise.html

[Jus-A-CMax]

Thanks for the link darrelld  :) 

[SBGrad]

I've got the Sony and while I wish my speakers went to 11 (or even 12), it comes across very well compared to my previous car,  a 2006 Focus ZX5 with just the standard 4 speaker factory radiio.

[Jus-A-CMax]

I've got the Sony and while I wish my speakers went to 11 (or even 12), it comes across very well compared to my previous car,  a 2006 Focus ZX5 with just the standard 4 speaker factory radiio.

 

It also compares well to my 2006 Jaguar Vanden Plas with the Alpine and that was top notch at that time. Is it me, or do I just prefer the "Driver" setting on my Sony, anyone else? Also, my "Rear" did not work, did nothing when I pressed it.

[StoBro2]

My non-Sony MFT audio display also has a "Rear" setting that doesn't do anything. If I have passengers in the car, I have the control set for all seats, otherwise I keep it on "Driver".

[darrelld]

Speaker test reference material

 

[Jus-A-CMax]

My non-Sony MFT audio display also has a "Rear" setting that doesn't do anything. If I have passengers in the car, I have the control set for all seats, otherwise I keep it on "Driver".

 

I think the driver mode sounds better, imo. 

 

 

darrelld, very interesting. I'll have to try it and especially on my Krix. I use this, it's a bit older but its still my fave for testing the amps, speakers et al. I use to have the LP which sounded much better than the CD but alas...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYur1NCL6xc

Edited February 1, 2013 by Jus-A-CMax

[darrelld]

I think the driver mode sounds better, imo. 

 

 

darrelld, very interesting. I'll have to try it and especially on my Krix. I use this, it's a bit older but its still my fave for testing the amps, speakers et al. I use to have the LP which sounded much better than the CD but alas...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYur1NCL6xc

 

 

That's one is good for low mids to highs, but my fav for tuning eq's (its now available through iTunes digitally remastered) is U2 "The Joshua Tree".

 

This selection especially, I would take my iPod classic to different models and play it through the sound system. I believe the C-Max is limited by the 5(1/4" in?) drivers in the fronts  doors, they get overwhelmed easily with deep bass and synths.

 

If you are ever around a VW dealer, drop by to check out the Fender audio, make certain whatever model you try has the soft dash material. All the speakers have their own enclosure and the front/rear door drivers are 8".

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnD6ojjA0OA

Edited February 1, 2013 by darrelld

[Jus-A-CMax]

I will, Galpin has a VW lot so now that you perked my ears with the Fender system, I will have to check it out next week. Joshua Tree is always a classic - in fact, aside from the last decade music, any music earlier can be a good choice because they actually used actual musical instruments - as crazy as it sounds. I didn't list it here but I have a recording of Vivaldi that would test any system, especially the lows to the hilt. As I visually describe, one section of Vivaldi its like a blanket of frost rolling in like the ocean waves, super, super low. 

[darrelld]

I will, Galpin has a VW lot so now that you perked my ears with the Fender system, I will have to check it out next week. Joshua Tree is always a classic - in fact, aside from the last decade music, any music earlier can be a good choice because they actually used actual musical instruments - as crazy as it sounds. I didn't list it here but I have a recording of Vivaldi that would test any system, especially the lows to the hilt. As I visually describe, one section of Vivaldi its like a blanket of frost rolling in like the ocean waves, super, super low.

If you want some technical specs on the system check out this video discussion with the engineers.

 

Edited February 2, 2013 by darrelld

[HotPotato]

Yes, the rear speakers sound like they're playing from the bottom of a deep well. But that's mostly a result of the factory sound processor, not the speakers. Although the rears just have a whizzer cone rather than being coaxials, the muffled sound persists even when they're replaced with audiophile components! I replaced all 4 speakers with very high quality speakers in my car, and added an amp, and the rears were still muffled. Ran my ipod directly into the amp, bypassing the factory processor, and BAM! the rear speakers came alive with clarity and volume. Am trying to maintain Sync functionality though, so alas, back to the muffled rear sound I must go.