Audio system question/thoughts?

[holdmybeer]

I sold audiophile gear in early adulthood. Small details mattered to me in those days. Despite being disciplined with hearing protection, decades of motorcycles and firearms now allow me to enjoy recorded music and not notice the small deficiencies!

 

[emax]

I was an audiophile lunatic as a young man.

Over the years, new devices came onto the market, new audio processing was invented and all that 5.1, 7.x stuff and I don't know what else started to annoy me, there was just no end to it.

Today I am very happy with my Sony STR-V 555 ES and an excellent pair of monitor loudspeakers - and that's it. I don't let the manufacturers push me around anymore, it's enough. And if you want to enjoy the smartness of audio processing, which sense does it make to have (e.g.) a sophisticated surround system which restricts you freedom to move around to less than half a square meter?

I tell you, cooking a good pasta sauce in the kitchen with a glass of white wine while listening to “Die Meere” by Brahms, sung by Gruberova/Kararova, is an experience for all the senses, where the perfection of the rendition and the ideal surround sound spot simply doesn't matter.

And that's how I see it when driving a car: the whole thing counts.

The absolute best audio experience is still a live concert, whether classical, jazz or rock. You should treat yourself to that every now and then. It's the most perfect setup and even at a few hundred Euros for a ticket it's still less expensive than the newest and so called "best solution".

I don't need that level in the car and there will always be a way to improve the equipment - you can literally invest thousands of dollars into it and there will never be an optimal solution - because it can always be improved. A source of never ending frustration.

My wealth of experience from earlier years as an audiophile helps me a lot to compensate for playback deficiencies: My brain simply “remembers” how it should sound and automatically improves the listening experience.

And getting older, silence is, by the way, a whole new world of experience.

 

[Cheshire cat]

I tell you, cooking a good pasta sauce in the kitchen with a glass of white wine while listening to “Die Meere” by Brahms, sung by Gruberova/Kararova, is an experience for all the senses,

And then the phone rings. It’s your old boss at International Intelligence. They have one more job for you. There is an evil dictator that needs taking out. You, 007, have been requested to execute the plan.

 

[McPharmer II]

That´s the reason why i´m into some cold beer while cooking ;-)

 

[ADVAW8S]

This video dropped. Who ever the person who owns this Grenadier, some serious cash was dropped. I wasn't going to watch a 10 min install video but the amount of work, was astonishing. 10 mins wasn't enough, I wanted more. We are talking about stripped Grenny, custom fiberglass work, 3 amps.

View: https://youtu.be/JngG4wjJ-tk?si=HqNuiRv4xxJMkxv0

 

[DenisM]

A BMW powered stereo system... that's a novel idea. Hopefully the owner isn't tone deaf!

 

[BD1]

I am probably in the minority here but after setting the EQ (and I think a gain setting and a few other audio settings) my premium sound system is fine for classic and alternative rock. Before I made the changes (in particular EQ) it sounded very flat. I actually think it sounds better than the new defender meridian sound system I came from.

 

[DoubleDoom]

This video dropped. Who ever the person who owns this Grenadier, some serious cash was dropped. I wasn't going to watch a 10 min install video but the amount of work, was astonishing. 10 mins wasn't enough, I wanted more. We are talking about stripped Grenny, custom fiberglass work, 3 amps.

View: https://youtu.be/JngG4wjJ-tk?si=HqNuiRv4xxJMkxv0

I watched the video yesterday. I then visited their website. They have multiple levels priced for Grenadiers. Their top package was £124k. I may pop in and see them as I had my Defender 90 (original) kitted out with speakers, sub, etc, and it was well worth it on a car being kept for the long term. I wouldn't go for £124k, but their middle packs look interesting in terms of cost vs outcome for an equestrian vehicle with relatively low mileage doing short distances. Although now that I have typed that, my head may have just seen the common sense that my heart was missing. Then again, if my head ruled my heart, I wouldn't have bought a Grenadier.

 

[Krabby]

£124,000 for a stereo. That’s insanity.

 

[ADVAW8S]

£124,000 for a stereo. That’s insanity.

Imagine what it would have been if it was a euro? Just kidding ppl.

 

[unimogfrog]

I am in agreement, I feel the audio system is quite Sub-Par. I have the sub-woofer option too and have made some adjustments to it, but generally feel this Ineos sound system was more of an afterthought.
Has anyone else noticed that the sound sytem EQ changes on its own? I am still investigating but when I set the EQ to anything other than FLAT, I noticed that if the volume goes above 10, the EQ seems to
change dramatically. I am continuing to do more testing, but when it's set to FLAT, the EQ doesn't seem affected by the volume settings. So my experience is, the EQ settings change when the volume is cranked
up, its VERY annoying actually, and as was previously stated by another poster, on many songs I play with the windows down, I can barely hear the audio.
Personally I feel it's a lame audio system with a lot of compromises.

 

[DaBull]

I am in agreement, I feel the audio system is quite Sub-Par. I have the sub-woofer option too and have made some adjustments to it, but generally feel this Ineos sound system was more of an afterthought.
Has anyone else noticed that the sound sytem EQ changes on its own? I am still investigating but when I set the EQ to anything other than FLAT, I noticed that if the volume goes above 10, the EQ seems to
change dramatically. I am continuing to do more testing, but when it's set to FLAT, the EQ doesn't seem affected by the volume settings. So my experience is, the EQ settings change when the volume is cranked
up, its VERY annoying actually, and as was previously stated by another poster, on many songs I play with the windows down, I can barely hear the audio.
Personally I feel it's a lame audio system with a lot of compromises.

Hi unimogfrog, I don't have the sub-woofer. I did change the settings on the EQ and after doing so quite enjoy my sound system.
Yes, speak upgrades would be nice, until then you might want to consider changing up the EQ settings. This is what I did and previously posted. DaBull

SOUND SYSTEM EQUALIZER TUNING FOR THE GRENADIER

SOUND SYSTEM EQUALIZER TUNING FOR THE GRENADIER I am no stereo or sound system expert other than knowing what I like to hear. I have found the existing Grenadier sound system including speakers to produce very nice sound/music, however it sounded a bit flat. I went to the equalizer settings...

www.theineosforum.com

 

[unimogfrog]

Hi unimogfrog, I don't have the sub-woofer. I did change the settings on the EQ and after doing so quite enjoy my sound system.
Yes, speak upgrades would be nice, until then you might want to consider changing up the EQ settings. This is what I did and previously posted. DaBull

SOUND SYSTEM EQUALIZER TUNING FOR THE GRENADIER

SOUND SYSTEM EQUALIZER TUNING FOR THE GRENADIER I am no stereo or sound system expert other than knowing what I like to hear. I have found the existing Grenadier sound system including speakers to produce very nice sound/music, however it sounded a bit flat. I went to the equalizer settings...

www.theineosforum.com

For me, the issues is that the EQ settings I custom made "change" if the volume goes about 10, I can hear the EQ settings that I made, during a song drop out when driving.
To me, this is very annoying. When the EQ is Flat, there are no perceivable EQ changes at any volume up to 14.
Anyone else notice this oddity?

 

[parb]

I used to work as a sound engineer many, many moons ago. I worked mixing stations for events big and small both music and voice (think political events where someone is talking to a crowd). Indoors and outdoors. Had to plan speaker placement for the event, crowd size, echo and reflections etc etc.

This is what I do. It may be useful for you or not.
When I took delivery of my gren the sound was awful. I had the subwoofer option.
I got a tech at the dealership bring a screwdriver and adjust it for me as I was sitting in the car.
I set all tone control at the head unit to flat, in the mid point.

First thing, I like to start with voice. Ideally a voice I know well. I'm allergic to hissing 's' sounds, a hallmark of either shitty eq or shitty speakers. I usually listen to news from the BBC news broadcast (beats US News imho) and I downloaded that hourly podcast. I think BBC mixes their broadcast well.

From there I picked a segment with both male and female voices, adjusting the subwoofers cutoff until voices sounded good. You really shouldn't get voice through a sub. I had the sub send voice through it and it sounded awful. Increased volume to make sure it sounded right at higher volumes.

Moved over to a music track. I picked one I know well with decent amount of both fast bass and long rumbling bass. I like snappy attack in my bass as well as good rumble. First thing is to get phase right. Just turn the knob for phase on the sub until you get full bass. Then coarsely adjust volume on the sub so the output blends with the speakers using the gain knob on the sub. Don't overdo it, to can fix gain with the head unit for taste, right now the task is to get the sub to blend with the speakers. Then play with the cutover knob on the sub until music sounds natural, this should be very minor changes. Head back to the BBC to verify you didn't screw up voices.

Finally adjust bass boost to your liking. I had to reduce mine a lot to make the sound natural. Back to BBC and verify voices are still good. Over to music and make final adjustments to gain. When you're happy, crank up the volume and make sure it sounds good at high volumes. It should be clean and natural all the way up.

Then go to the head unit and adjust to taste. I adjust the sub for realism with everything flat and then use tone controls for taste.

And that's how I do it. If I would still work in the field I would have used a calibrated microphone and a display to tune to flat (essentially integrating the system and compensating for room modes). These days that's all automated and the cool guys add digital processors with deep filters for handling room modes and vibrations in the audio field in ways we can't do by ear. But I don't have access to that stuff anymore so I'm doing it by ear.

In the future I might change speakers but but I'm pretty happy with it as is.
I'm a fan of Hertz and focal speakers. Good stuff, put Hertz in my viper and I'm really happy with it.. If I change speakers I would look long at those brands. Money no object then model. I think jl audio also make a high quality product.

 

[parb]

This video dropped. Who ever the person who owns this Grenadier, some serious cash was dropped. I wasn't going to watch a 10 min install video but the amount of work, was astonishing. 10 mins wasn't enough, I wanted more. We are talking about stripped Grenny, custom fiberglass work, 3 amps.

View: https://youtu.be/JngG4wjJ-tk?si=HqNuiRv4xxJMkxv0

The fiber glass pods glued into the the a pillar trim scares me. They put that right in front of the airbags. Yikes getting that in your face if there is a collision...

The sub in the trunk was done nicely. They should have covered it with a more premium material IMHO but the construction was nice. I assume they did a sealed unit to avoid having to calculate that box shape for a port. Should sound nice.

 

[Trialmaster]

I was more interested in the driving light replacement with Lazers and the light bar arrangement
!

 

[Baron von Teuchter]

I’m pretty happy with it, miles better than my 2019 Transit or 2018 L200 that my Grenadier has replaced.

 

[Bradysdad]

Does anyone else find that the audio system feels a bit half assed? For example, no amount of adjustment I can make to the EQ using presets or otherwise affects much of anything. On some songs it’s just terribly bad but you can’t get rid of the horrible bass no matter what adjustments you make. I like good bass, but it’s not setup well. Has anyone tried any third-party solutions such as replacing the bass head, amplifiers, etc.? I see that many people commenting they don’t care about the electronics and bought them for the off-road. But damn I need good tunes and sound when I’m off-roading.

In addition, I often find that the loudest sound possible still doesn’t carry any serious volume on many songs. Like when I’m cruising with the windows down and the tops up the audio just is not loud enough when I’m driving at speed. In comparison my Targa has amazing sound even with the top pulled back and road/wind noise.

Thoughts?

I just picked up my new Fieldmaster yesterday and it came with the JBL Mini Sub under the passenger rear seat. The Gain and Bass Boost was turned up all the way and it just sounded horrible. A mini regular screwdriver and flashlight fixed the awful Booming issue.

That being said, the overall noise which comes out of the audio system, leaves a lot to be desired. I usually listen to talk radio anyways and once in a while fire up a playlist from my CarPlay, so audio quality isn't that important to me. Definitely room for lots of improvement coming from the factory.