Factory speakers, good bad ?

[Shockwave199]

and a slight lack of clarity vs. proper separates

This is exactly what I'm finding too- in the bass region. It's a bit mushy. A lack of even a modest multiband eq [4-6 bands] isn't helping either. Only having bass and treble boost/cut makes it somewhat of a challenge. You can get a pretty decent sound stock though, no doubt. Certainly very good for the average listener. The radio sounds great, as do cd's. I would just like more eq control. What I appreciate is my daughters ipod in the usb connection, as opposed to my mp3 player being rendered to using the aux jack. There is a significant difference in volume between the two, as well as sound quality, I believe. When you use the aux jack, you're stuck relying on your mp3 players DAC to go out from the headphone jack, and then the fits ADC on the aux jack, which together puts a bit of a hurt on the sound quality. Using the usb hookup takes out the converters from the equasion and the audio remains in the digital realm and thus- immediately better sound. At least I think that's what's going on. I must get a compatable usb unit, for sure. Until then, I'm gonna go back to doing serious monitoring from cd's, in the car.

Dan

[Wopasaurus]

Originally Posted by Shockwave199

This is exactly what I'm finding too- in the bass region. It's a bit mushy. A lack of even a modest multiband eq [4-6 bands] isn't helping either. Only having bass and treble boost/cut makes it somewhat of a challenge. You can get a pretty decent sound stock though, no doubt. Certainly very good for the average listener. The radio sounds great, as do cd's. I would just like more eq control. What I appreciate is my daughters ipod in the usb connection, as opposed to my mp3 player being rendered to using the aux jack. There is a significant difference in volume between the two, as well as sound quality, I believe. When you use the aux jack, you're stuck relying on your mp3 players DAC to go out from the headphone jack, and then the fits ADC on the aux jack, which together puts a bit of a hurt on the sound quality. Using the usb hookup takes out the converters from the equasion and the audio remains in the digital realm and thus- immediately better sound. At least I think that's what's going on. I must get a compatable usb unit, for sure. Until then, I'm gonna go back to doing serious monitoring from cd's, in the car.

Dan

I know with the Aux input you can mess with the EQ on the iPod itself more in depth than you can with the car's 2 choices.

Does the EQ selection make itself present when it's plugged in through the USB input?

[Lyon[Nightroad]]

I think a part of the problem you are having is that you replaced it with a cheap coaxial speaker. If you want serious sound quality just drop the $150 now instead of later and get you a pair of infinity kappa 'COMPONENT' speakers AND an external amplifier (another$100-$150).

If you look at that pioneer speaker you will see that there is a hole in the mid-woofer to acomodate the shaft for the tweater meaning less surface area on the woofer. Combine that with the fact most manufactures use cheaper materials in their coaxial speakers and of course you are going to get poor sound from that. The fit is SO perfect for component speakers because it already has an excellent mounting place for tweeters in the dash.

Bottom line is that you pretty much have to get an extrernal amp and better speakers if you want to do it seriously. Anything worth doing, is worth doing well.

[Lyon[Nightroad]]

Originally Posted by Shockwave199

This is exactly what I'm finding too- in the bass region. It's a bit mushy. A lack of even a modest multiband eq [4-6 bands] isn't helping either. Only having bass and treble boost/cut makes it somewhat of a challenge. You can get a pretty decent sound stock though, no doubt. Certainly very good for the average listener. The radio sounds great, as do cd's. I would just like more eq control. What I appreciate is my daughters ipod in the usb connection, as opposed to my mp3 player being rendered to using the aux jack. There is a significant difference in volume between the two, as well as sound quality, I believe. When you use the aux jack, you're stuck relying on your mp3 players DAC to go out from the headphone jack, and then the fits ADC on the aux jack, which together puts a bit of a hurt on the sound quality. Using the usb hookup takes out the converters from the equasion and the audio remains in the digital realm and thus- immediately better sound. At least I think that's what's going on. I must get a compatable usb unit, for sure. Until then, I'm gonna go back to doing serious monitoring from cd's, in the car.

Dan

You might be stuck with getting a proper dedicated subwoofer to solve most of that. You dont have to go crazy and get 2 12s and a (2000/1000rms) huge amp if you dont want to. Sometimes I wish I would have just bought a single 10 and built a compact sealed box instead of building a monster 4.4 cubic foot ported box to piss of the neighbors... 3 blocks away. A single 10 with a small box will give you quality high impact bass. Just dont expect crazy low frequency extension (whch most listeners dont like much anyway) You could easily do this for under $200 if you aren't picky about brands and can do the wiring yourself.

[polokid69]

I got hold of a larger set of speakers and changed out the 5 1/4's with :
Pioneer TS-G1643R 6-1/2"/6-3/4" 2-way Speakers
They seem better but I'm still leaning toward putting the factory rear ones back

[Occam]

Hmm... They sound pretty low budget to me. Better than my first car though!
(EDIT: and my second. Definitely my third. Way better than the fourth. About even with the fifth. Not as good as the sixth. Yes, the FIT is lucky #7. I'm promiscuous with cars; I keep them 2-3 years on average, always convinced that my latest is the one I'll keep to 100K miles. Never happens!)

Biggest thing about them is that they sound terrible if you try to turn up the bass. Keep it centered at 0, and they sound pretty nice. Try to cheap and get more bass, and it muddys up both the bass and midrange. The highs sound decent.

Add a small sub under the rear seat if really 'need' extra bass.

(My Element had an integrated sub in the dash - I usually kept the bass at -2, and turned the sub output higher)