JBL Review

[Anonymous]

I finally picked up my RCZ after 5 months of waiting and am enjoying the car thoroughly. When first ordering the car I ordered the JBL system. The dealer was trying to convicne he not to bother as he had not heard any difference between the standard and JBL. He did not have a car with the system on display but I ordered it anyway as I like my sound.

As a point of comparison I had the chance to play with the standard stereo on 2 occasions - first when I test drove the car, and again after ordering the car and wanted to test out some functions. The dealer let me play withthe car for over an hour. I had about 1 1/2 hours total with the standard stereo. I had the ability to bring my usb stick playing mp3 with most ripped at 320 kb. Furthermore I had ample opportunity to play with the stero settings (bass/treble/volume).

I found the standard system to be ok but not completely clear with distortion at very loud volumes.

I found the JBL system to be superior. The I have found no distortion on high volumes. Bass levels were turned right up and treble was 3/4 up. There was no vibrations in walls/doors/surfaces that I could detect. I found the deep bass a littel lacking. Music with very deep bass sounded tinny as it had trouble reporducing these sounds. I think the door speakers should have been larger, or 7by10's used for the rears (or both). Or an addition of a small sub would have added that little bit more bass.

As a summary - JBL - very good - no distortion, very clear - needs a little more bass. And superior to standard.

 

[Anonymous]

But is it worth the extra premium that is costs? I decided that the standard stereo was very good and there was no point spending an ADDITIONAL £650ish for the upgrade as I could not hear any difference in the sound reproduction. It becomes a very expensive stereo when the price of the standard unit is added to the JBL additional premium! I would most certainly be expecting to be hearing a very noticeable difference for a stereo costing that sort of money?

 

[Anonymous]

The dealer threw it in for free so I woudn't walk out. I dont know what the cost was.

I could hear a sound difference which is why I thought I would write a little review. However I agree it could have been better.

 

[Anonymous]

I tested both the systems side by side when I was looking for my car and there is quite a difference in sound to me. The standard unit is good but it does suffer from distortion at higher volumes, some of the separation between pitch/instruments/vocals can be a little muddy and left/right separation got a little lost in the mix - this was on FM Radio and CD, I didn't try MP3s due to the bit rates etc. Don't get me wrong I think the standard unit is very good and I'm just being picky.

I've found the JBL to have a cleaner, clearer sound with good separation and better left/right differentiation and no distortion. I agree with Kpac77 on the bass end it does need an extra sub or different speakers may have been a good change. But the whole bass thing does depend on what your listening to (and how you like it to sound) I listen to a lot of Rock/Metal/Blues/Soul and although the bass is important it's not dominant as it is in some music so it's not really that noticeable.

The thing, I think, is that it's a very subjective area and different for each persons ear (esp as we get older we lose the ability to hear certain frequencies). My wife cannot spot any difference between her standard car stereo and the JBL, to me there is a difference. It's the same at home I have separate speakers for music and there is a big difference to my ear but not my wife's. I also think part of it depends on how you listen to music - I'm a musician and a bit of an "anorak" with it all as well so I do tend to dissect what I'm listening to!

Is it worth the £650 upgrade - this is subjective, if you can hear the difference and think it's worth it then yes it is. If you cannot hear a difference then nope stick with the good standard system.

 

[Anonymous]

If its distorted at loud volume cheaper solution is turn it down a bit simples. Or u like ur drum and bass at window shattering loudness I've never had mine past 8 :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Lol if the driver of the car behind cannot hear it clearly...... It's too quiet!

 

[Anonymous]

If its distorted at loud volume cheaper solution is turn it down a bit simples. Or u like ur drum and bass at window shattering loudness I've never had mine past 8 :lol: :lol: :lol:

This is not an option. I'm going to have to add a small sub which will also mean a new amp.

 

[Anonymous]

Hearing aid :dance: :shock:

 

[Anonymous]

My thought is that...

If you only listen to radio...standard audio is good enough.

If you do listen to USB/CD, then JBL shall be the one to go for. Upgrading later is NOT an option.

 

[richard.au]

hope i'm not being a downer, but, as someone who enjoys pumping music in the car, the jbl system or speakers just don't cut it.

i'm disappointed that I have to possibly spend the next x years listening to this sound system. I'm thinking an upgrade of the speakers themselves will probably make the difference. but this going to be a process to truley clarify where the let down is.

it would seem the jbl head and amp may be all very nice, and for 90% of people they'll be happy. but for people who work with music, somewhere there is something lacking. the mid range distortions are sad for one example.

i'll spend time trying to tweak and tune the sound, but i dont expect much improvement. frankly, the factory system in my 10 year old beemer is a league ahead. i'll have to upgrade, i can't drive the next 100,000 klms listening to second rate sound.

as an added note, bluetooth audio is ok, but a compromise. the best sound will be a cd, next, ipod/usb. i'd recommend BT only for telephone. even with my iphone sitting in the console i could hear data errors and timing/sync issues. songs i know very well would slightly alter tempo, probably to catch up on packet loss. generally, BT is narrow bandwidth and prone to inteference, not the best conduit for music.

i maybe picky, but that's part of good music and a great driving experience. imho.

 

[richard.au]

ok, i'm back with a revised impression of the stereo after some tweaking.

my previous issue was related to audio break down once around level 20 was reached.

two things help correct this (at least). turn off loudness, and turn off auto-volume.
i then went to eq of 'none' and pushed treble up and adjusted bass to something that suits my ear.

then went for a drive and played my current fave cd. things seem a lot better, i hit level 30 for a moment and the system was more predictable then before. easing back into the low 20s was still nice and loud and the system now handles that well.

so at last, i'm happy with the sound. 3 band eq would have been a smidge better (and almost expected for that 'head').

onto another feature of the car audio.. the usb port.

i had thought to get an i*** nano. but seeing the price i thought no.. not really.

then i saw a sony 8GB stick on sale for $10. i figure it was worth a try.

got home, plugged it into my pc, copied over 4GBs of music (mp3) as a sample test (didn't seem to take too long). Then plugged the stick back into the car and choose it as a source.

random selection worked very well. mp3 meta-data was all displayed whereever a track had details. the total numbers of tracks were displayed. and the clarity was great. almost CD quality (depends on how well you ripped your CDs).

so i'm sold. no $150 nano required. just a 4-8GB stick. plug it in and bang. (and all your management is done on the pc, not in the car).

uh.. i feel much better now with the sound system

(on drawback, the stick extends outward in the compartment. so i'm going to get a very short USB lead to try to take away that chance for breakage).

 

[RCZ1]

I'm pleased to hear that you have resolved your stereo issues and that you are happy with your revised settings

 

[richard.au]

Lol if the driver of the car behind cannot hear it clearly...... It's too quiet!

Yes

Anyway.. I drove a bit more today and I still have to say there are some artifacts in the sound, while listening around level 21 (and probably above).

Playing "THIS IS A CALL - FOO FIGHTERS" is one song I noticed it on.

I'm not trying to have a dig at the system, but I'm simply mentioning what I hear.

It'll be something I may look futher into and ask some speaker people what their thoughts are.

Still, it's a very nice system, the software has performed exceptionally well. Everything has just worked in that respect. And the sound quality is certainly high. But for my picky ears, just not quite right.. certainly liveable though if no better configuration comes along.

Nice power levels too. Just on the edge of uncivilised But not totally.