Awful Sound System On My New Civic

hicompb18c1

Senior Member
Joined
May 22, 2017
Threads
3
Messages
359
Reaction score
301
Location
San Diego
Vehicle(s)
2019 Civic Si Sedan, 2018 Accord LX (wife's)
Country flag
Thanks for the info, everyone. Yeah, the sound drives me nuts. Plus, I'm a musician and I listen to all kinds of music. It's all bad. I don't understand much of what everyone wrote here and I don't want to take apart door panels and do other major mods, and possibly void the warranty. I guess 'm screwed. Otherwise, the car is great !!
I was able to Hondahack my head unit last night and install the Viper4Android app, which has some nice equalizer settings, and it definitely made a difference. It's still not a great system (my crappy head unit "skips" every so often, really annoying), but I do have fuller bass and at least *some* control over different frequency ranges.
Sponsored

 

Yoda

Senior Member
Joined
May 31, 2019
Threads
5
Messages
109
Reaction score
33
Location
Chicago Suburbs
Vehicle(s)
2016 LX MT
Country flag
I've been in elevators with better sound systems than the stock Civic unit
 

SCOPESYS

Senior Member
First Name
Geoff
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Threads
68
Messages
2,505
Reaction score
1,550
Location
MD
Vehicle(s)
2018 Honda Civic SI Coupe. . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Maxima Wagon. . . . . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Pulsar NX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Maxima Wagon (2nd Donor Wagon for parts)
Country flag
The problem is with the DSP Processing in the Honda Amp, trying to make the pathetically Cheap Honda speakers sound better, to whatever stone deaf engineer at Honda who worked on this aspect of the sound system.

What is needed is some way to re-program the HONDA DSP,- something that it looks as if is possible, as Honda programmed it at the Factory to be the miserable performance that it . (it is programmed into EEPROM in the unit containing the AMP)

At least the non-premium system can have its DSP turned off, and set to FLAT.

So far, (as far as I know), nobody has figured out how to do this for the DSP in the Premium system's AMP, or better still, program it to a more desirable response.

Unfortunately, it will probably take someone like the Honda hack developer, to figure out how to do this, but whoever does, has the potential to make some good ( well deserved) money !!
 

xcivicx

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2016
Threads
69
Messages
933
Reaction score
490
Location
whycanogaparkofcourse.
Vehicle(s)
19 SI coupe in black
Country flag
so far i'm not un-happy with mine. have yet to spend a good long 8 hour drive with it to really form my final opinion. short drive impression is that it sounds ok enough, but lacking. if i can go 8 hours and not be fatigued by the sound, i'll be able to go some time before any up grades.
 

hicompb18c1

Senior Member
Joined
May 22, 2017
Threads
3
Messages
359
Reaction score
301
Location
San Diego
Vehicle(s)
2019 Civic Si Sedan, 2018 Accord LX (wife's)
Country flag
@SCOPESYS you're still running the OEM head unit, right? Do you play most of your music off the phone or USB?
 


SCOPESYS

Senior Member
First Name
Geoff
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Threads
68
Messages
2,505
Reaction score
1,550
Location
MD
Vehicle(s)
2018 Honda Civic SI Coupe. . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Maxima Wagon. . . . . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Pulsar NX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Maxima Wagon (2nd Donor Wagon for parts)
Country flag
@SCOPESYS you're still running the OEM head unit, right? Do you play most of your music off the phone or USB?
On the OEM unit ( and Eonon in the Maxima) 95% of the time I just play Mp3 files from a 32GB USB flash drive, with either Poweamp of Blackplayer ,

I the 2018 Honda Si, my wife plays music 95% of the time from a 32GB USB flash drive, using the Honda MP3 (File based) player,

Occasionally, we will use Spotify, (for something new) although with 32GB of music, it will take YEARS to play it all !!. Music tends to sound better direct from MP# on the head unit, rather than Bluetooth from the phone.

With the updated CENTER speaker in the SI, the overall sound is quite acceptable for most music that we play - we both still have good hearing (despite the numerous Rock Concerts we attended in our youth) !! - so we seldom turn the Honda up past about a Max of 15.
 

hicompb18c1

Senior Member
Joined
May 22, 2017
Threads
3
Messages
359
Reaction score
301
Location
San Diego
Vehicle(s)
2019 Civic Si Sedan, 2018 Accord LX (wife's)
Country flag
On the OEM unit ( and Eonon in the Maxima) 95% of the time I just play Mp3 files from a 32GB USB flash drive, with either Poweamp of Blackplayer ,

I the 2018 Honda Si, my wife plays music 95% of the time from a 32GB USB flash drive, using the Honda MP3 (File based) player,

Occasionally, we will use Spotify, (for something new) although with 32GB of music, it will take YEARS to play it all !!. Music tends to sound better direct from MP# on the head unit, rather than Bluetooth from the phone.

With the updated CENTER speaker in the SI, the overall sound is quite acceptable for most music that we play - we both still have good hearing (despite the numerous Rock Concerts we attended in our youth) !! - so we seldom turn the Honda up past about a Max of 15.
Good to know, thx. I haven't tried downloading files to a USB directly yet so I'll have to try it.

I did copy your center speaker upgrade (the JL) - it definitely sounds cleaner. Now I just notice my stock tweeters might need to go too!
 

SCOPESYS

Senior Member
First Name
Geoff
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Threads
68
Messages
2,505
Reaction score
1,550
Location
MD
Vehicle(s)
2018 Honda Civic SI Coupe. . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Maxima Wagon. . . . . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Pulsar NX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1987 Nissan Maxima Wagon (2nd Donor Wagon for parts)
Country flag
Good to know, thx. I haven't tried downloading files to a USB directly yet so I'll have to try it.

I did copy your center speaker upgrade (the JL) - it definitely sounds cleaner. Now I just notice my stock tweeters might need to go too!
I think the main improvement with the replaced center speaker, is that it is less sensitive, so it does not drown out the two door speakers.
You can now hear a better stereo separation, and the bass from the side speakers is significantly more than from the center one in any case, so the overall impression is that there is more bass, as you can tune the volume up a few levels, without the center speaker being the dominant speaker, with its lacking in bass.
 

Yoda

Senior Member
Joined
May 31, 2019
Threads
5
Messages
109
Reaction score
33
Location
Chicago Suburbs
Vehicle(s)
2016 LX MT
Country flag
[QUOTE}At least the non-premium system can have its DSP turned off, and set to FLAT.[/QUOTE]
How does one do this?
 

19redsi

Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2019
Threads
1
Messages
17
Reaction score
7
Location
Virginia
Vehicle(s)
2019 Si Sedan
Country flag
The problem is with the DSP Processing in the Honda Amp, trying to make the pathetically Cheap Honda speakers sound better, to whatever stone deaf engineer at Honda who worked on this aspect of the sound system.

What is needed is some way to re-program the HONDA DSP,- something that it looks as if is possible, as Honda programmed it at the Factory to be the miserable performance that it . (it is programmed into EEPROM in the unit containing the AMP)
So - to summarize:
you believe the signal going from the head unit to the amp to be full-range/good quality (and non-standard optical?)
you believe the DSP on the amp itself is what alters the signal and results in crappy sound
you don't think it's the crossovers built into the amp that is messing with the sound quality (unless the crossovers are programmed in with the DSP vs being a separate program or physical interface)

Does that seem fair?
 


kperalta

AluminiumCivic
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Threads
21
Messages
977
Reaction score
382
Location
Colorado
Vehicle(s)
2016 Honda Civic Touring
Country flag
So - to summarize:
you believe the signal going from the head unit to the amp to be full-range/good quality (and non-standard optical?)
you believe the DSP on the amp itself is what alters the signal and results in crappy sound
you don't think it's the crossovers built into the amp that is messing with the sound quality (unless the crossovers are programmed in with the DSP vs being a separate program or physical interface)

Does that seem fair?
There's wiring diagrams and all the speakers are active including tweeters.
 

19redsi

Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2019
Threads
1
Messages
17
Reaction score
7
Location
Virginia
Vehicle(s)
2019 Si Sedan
Country flag
There's wiring diagrams and all the speakers are active including tweeters.
Okay, so, the active crossover splits the signal and sends it to independent amplifier modules which then pass the signal on to the respective speaker. Is an active crossover a separate thing from the DSP or is it all intertwined?
 

kperalta

AluminiumCivic
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Threads
21
Messages
977
Reaction score
382
Location
Colorado
Vehicle(s)
2016 Honda Civic Touring
Country flag
Okay, so, the active crossover splits the signal and sends it to independent amplifier modules which then pass the signal on to the respective speaker. Is an active crossover a separate thing from the DSP or is it all intertwined?
...what?

A DSP is a Digital Signal Processor that processes the audio. It uses the software that splits the signal at the source and is either a) at the amp or b) before the amp. There are no "individual amplifiers". That doesn't exist. If it does, it shouldn't exist.
 

19redsi

Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2019
Threads
1
Messages
17
Reaction score
7
Location
Virginia
Vehicle(s)
2019 Si Sedan
Country flag
...what?

A DSP is a Digital Signal Processor that processes the audio. It uses the software that splits the signal at the source and is either a) at the amp or b) before the amp. There are no "individual amplifiers". That doesn't exist. If it does, it shouldn't exist.
The wikipedia article states that an "active crossover" is one that splits which is then sent to amplifiers/amplifier modules before sending the signal out. That's what I was going off of.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_crossover#Active
 

Mikeybc

Senior Member
First Name
Mike
Joined
Apr 15, 2017
Threads
3
Messages
402
Reaction score
187
Location
Northern Ontario
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Coupe EX-T, 2015 Nissan Murano
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
[QUOTE}At least the non-premium system can have its DSP turned off, and set to FLAT.
How does one do this?[/QUOTE]

Simply set bass treble and midrange to the middle position, or hit default.
Sponsored

 


 


Top