2019 Civic Coupe EX Stereo distortion

[JohnnyL]

Just got a new 2019 ex a few weeks ago. Stereo seems a bit distorted at times. Harsh/ scratchy, what ever you would like to call it. When I got the car I didn't listen to it until after I left the dealership. When I checked the adjustments the sub was cranked almost all the way up. Bass and treble also turned up a ways. The car was had from another dealership about 75 miles away. I'm thinking maybe some young kid transported it to the dealer I got it from and was pounding the crap out of the stereo on the trip. Maybe toasted the amp a little bit? Some people might not catch the harsh sound but I certainly can. This is an upgraded 450 watt stereo and should sound cleaner than it does. Just wondering if anyone else has this issue?
Can the stereo be checked by hooking up to the dealers computer? I'm a bit concerned they may listen to it and say nothing is wrong.

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[shoegazer]

I'm 10 days into my Civic Sport and I have the same complaints re: the audio. Of course, my system is the basic one. But there is an overall harsh and strident tone to it. I have scooped *all* of the midrange out and have been trying to balance the tone with the fader. It sounds better with the rear seats down to my ear. But I suspect that is just more usable lower end information from the rear speakers.

I have always been advised to dial out the rear speakers altogether and adjust the settings to benefit the front ones. But there's a harsh 2.5K - 5K boost in there somewhere that I can't EQ out without losing 10K and above.

My plan is to upgrade the drivers in the doors and hope for the best. I very well may disconnect the factory tweeters while I'm there and compare. Anyhoo... everyone else says that it sounds fine to their ears. Maybe I just have that Tinnitus/hyper sensitive to midrange issue from decades of everything turned up to Eleven.

I wish ya' luck with it.
-sw

 

[JohnnyL]

I'm 10 days into my Civic Sport and I have the same complaints re: the audio. Of course, my system is the basic one. But there is an overall harsh and strident tone to it. I have scooped *all* of the midrange out and have been trying to balance the tone with the fader. It sounds better with the rear seats down to my ear. But I suspect that is just more usable lower end information from the rear speakers.

I have always been advised to dial out the rear speakers altogether and adjust the settings to benefit the front ones. But there's a harsh 2.5K - 5K boost in there somewhere that I can't EQ out without losing 10K and above.

My plan is to upgrade the drivers in the doors and hope for the best. I very well may disconnect the factory tweeters while I'm there and compare. Anyhoo... everyone else says that it sounds fine to their ears. Maybe I just have that Tinnitus/hyper sensitive to midrange issue from decades of everything turned up to Eleven.

I wish ya' luck with it.
-sw

Interesting, sounds like the same problem. Seems the problem is in the same area as yours. I'm wondering if there is a break in period and things will improve.

 

[SCOPESYS]

Interesting, sounds like the same problem. Seems the problem is in the same area as yours. I'm wondering if there is a break in period and things will improve.

The 10th gen Civic door speakers are "Pathetic" !!!
And look at the pathetically small Magnet l !!

Compare with a typical "Mid price range" car door speaker

Upgrading the speaks has to make an enormous difference !!

 

[JohnnyL]

The 10th gen Civic door speakers are "Pathetic" !!!
And look at the pathetically small Magnet l !!

Compare with a typical "Mid price range" car door speaker

Upgrading the speaks has to make an enormous difference !!

Wow! They look like a $2 piece of junk!

 

[lightthief]

Read through the forms.
I’m not deep into audio but what your talking about reads along the lines of the typical complaints about the system.
Even to my pedestrian ears it’s just off in places you’d assume would be basic tweaks but seem to need outside hardware to overcome. Just the nature of the non-premium system they when with. And seemingly designed the software around masking its limits.

 

[SCOPESYS]

Read through the forms.
I’m not deep into audio but what your talking about reads along the lines of the typical complaints about the system.
Even to my pedestrian ears it’s just off in places you’d assume would be basic tweaks but seem to need outside hardware to overcome. Just the nature of the non-premium system they when with. And seemingly designed the software around masking its limits.

But what is Ironic, is that they call it a Premium Audio system !!

But by putting in cheaper speakers, Honda saved $300+ which when multiplied by the number of cars sold, is BIG BUCKS.

But look at it this way .. they put in "adequate" speakers, and kept the cost down.
For many that's OK.
For those that want better, or MUCH better, they are able to go out and fit better speakers, as good and as expensive as they want, and the original Honda speakers, being so cheap, when they toss them, its not throwing away so much.

So there is an argument, that Honda got it right --- for everyone !!! ( Go figure !!)

 

[JohnnyL]

But what is Ironic, is that they call it a Premium Audio system !!

But by putting in cheaper speakers, Honda saved $300+ which when multiplied by the number of cars sold, is BIG BUCKS.

But look at it this way .. they put in "adequate" speakers, and kept the cost down.
For many that's OK.
For those that want better, or MUCH better, they are able to go out and fit better speakers, as good and as expensive as they want, and the original Honda speakers, being so cheap, when they toss them, its not throwing away so much.

So there is an argument, that Honda got it right --- for everyone !!! ( Go figure !!)

If it is a speaker issue Honda could probably buy much better speakers for $150 for the whole car. Make a much better impression. Get almost zero complaints and charge $300 more for the car. The upgraded stereo was one of the selling points of me getting the EX model.

So I just shifted all the balance to the front speakers and almost threw up it was so bad sounding. This is a lease car for me so I'm not sure I want to invest in better door speakers.

 

[shoegazer]

I went through this with my Del Sol and RSX. In both cases I went with an inexpensive aftermarket unit and it made all the difference. Ironically... the RSX had a Bose premium sound split amp system and it turned out to be worse than the non-premium. It was way more complicated to change out too. I'll certainly keep reading the forums (thanks for that suggestion, btw). But my past experience says that, while a speaker upgrade will make *a* difference; there's no substitute for a nice-sounding, punchy amp with enough headroom to spare.

 

[lightthief]

I went through this with my Del Sol and RSX. In both cases I went with an inexpensive aftermarket unit and it made all the difference. Ironically... the RSX had a Bose premium sound split amp system and it turned out to be worse than the non-premium. It was way more complicated to change out too. I'll certainly keep reading the forums (thanks for that suggestion, btw). But my past experience says that, while a speaker upgrade will make *a* difference; there's no substitute for a nice-sounding, punchy amp with enough headroom to spare.

Yeah you can upgrade the speakers but there are issues with the underlying way the headunit processes the audio that can’t be fixed without also adding the thinigie that would bring the audio source back to neutral. Sorry I’m blanking. And there isn’t a straight source from the back as some other cars have so you need an external unit to bring the audio back to neutral and that runs hundreds and then new speakers.
And yeah. That’s when I decided to just live with it. Because min all in to fix the problems is around $1500 it seems. And given the cabin noise it’s just not worth it.
I settled for getting rid of the sub woofer rattle of my touring.

 

[JohnnyL]

Yeah you can upgrade the speakers but there are issues with the underlying way the headunit processes the audio that can’t be fixed without also adding the thinigie that would bring the audio source back to neutral. Sorry I’m blanking. And there isn’t a straight source from the back as some other cars have so you need an external unit to bring the audio back to neutral and that runs hundreds and then new speakers.
And yeah. That’s when I decided to just live with it. Because min all in to fix the problems is around $1500 it seems. And given the cabin noise it’s just not worth it.
I settled for getting rid of the sub woofer rattle of my touring.

So good or bad idea to replace the door speakers?

 

[lightthief]

You can read the improvements and what didn’t change in the forums far better than I could ever say.
But I think certain frequencies will drop out or just be missing regardless because of the processing.

So it’s a limited improvement I believe.
DSP is what I was looking for earlier.
You need and external DSP to make the audio neutral and then re-equalize from there if you want really really great sound.

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