I think it is going to get harder and harder for aftermarket to make kits to install different decks in the car. The systems are such a main part of the car, it would be hard to just remove it. There are many settings for the car that you access on the touch screen. The reasons I would always upgrade the stereo is to get more options, like Bluetooth, USB, and MP3 support. This has all of that. The stereo does sound really good from the factory. I personally would like to see a sub in the back for some more low end. I do think maybe replacing the factory speakers would help a little. I do a lot with sound for my job and I will say, it sounds good.
Hopes for aftermarket stereos
I have a 2011 hatchback (upgrading to 2014 ST soon) and unfortunately there was never a double DIN dash unit for the 2011-2013 models. Unless you wanted to pay $500 to get a custom fiberglass one made. Since there is so much interest in the ST, do you think metra will actually created a double DIN unit for this car at some point?
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I'm noticing more Frankenstein cars, where people are adding a single DIN stereo to the car while retaining the factory display.
I love my subs though and really hate driving without them lol. It's possible to add them to the factory stereo but I've heard it doesn't sound that great because the aftermarket stereos have more equalizer options.I think it is going to get harder and harder for aftermarket to make kits to install different decks in the car. The systems are such a main part of the car, it would be hard to just remove it. There are many settings for the car that you access on the touch screen. The reasons I would always upgrade the stereo is to get more options, like Bluetooth, USB, and MP3 support. This has all of that. The stereo does sound really good from the factory. I personally would like to see a sub in the back for some more low end. I do think maybe replacing the factory speakers would help a little. I do a lot with sound for my job and I will say, it sounds good.
I guess you would consider mine a frankenstein car then cause I have a single DIN stereo with my factory display still attached up top lol. It still displays the date and time and you can get to the menu and all that. It also disables the sync when you install an aftermarket stereo. I really didn't care about losing it because I thought it was really annoying anyway.I'm noticing more Frankenstein cars, where people are adding a single DIN stereo to the car while retaining the factory display.
It is true that aftermarket decks have a lot more options for tuning your system than a factory system. The one thing to remember with a factory system is that some guy already did most of the eq for those speakers and that is set in the programing of the deck. With aftermarket they leave that open so that you can tune it for whatever speakers you use. After rocking the ST stereo for a few months now, it really does sound good.
If it was my car I would disconnect the rear speakers and wire that to the speaker level input on a mono sub amp, and put a 8" sub in a sealed box, tune the sub with the amp. Many amps today have good eq and filter options for the sub. I think this would really finish off the system. I personally don't use rear speakers in a car, only front. When music is mixed in the studio, they mix on a stereo set of speakers in front of them. With the rear speakers on, you can get some odd phasing problems. Most people never hear this, but drives me crazy on some songs.
If it was my car I would disconnect the rear speakers and wire that to the speaker level input on a mono sub amp, and put a 8" sub in a sealed box, tune the sub with the amp. Many amps today have good eq and filter options for the sub. I think this would really finish off the system. I personally don't use rear speakers in a car, only front. When music is mixed in the studio, they mix on a stereo set of speakers in front of them. With the rear speakers on, you can get some odd phasing problems. Most people never hear this, but drives me crazy on some songs.
Just came back from Geek Squad and installing a powered (Bazooka) subwoofer was a no go. Something about not strong enough of signal from the back speakers to move the woofer. Tried to install a back up sensor and also a no go unless he drilled some holes on the sheet metal. No thank you. The only thing I was able to do was change the rear speakers and the difference wasn't that great. The current speakers are pretty good quality. Crap.
That sounds like you got a defective geek. The ones I know would find a line level signal in the factory stereo if they had to, but my geeks are world class.
Corporate geeks tend to be that way. He said that the head unit was only pushing 3.6 ohms, allegedly not enough to feed the powered bazooka. If your geek thinks my geek is full of BS please let me know and I'll find another geek.
For me, a good exhaust system is all the music I need. Rarely turn on the radio, just all windows down, and the foot to the floor 
Perhaps one thought to help, might be to see if an EQ unit could be added into the loop?
Perhaps one thought to help, might be to see if an EQ unit could be added into the loop?
If your speakers are 3.6 ohm, that sounds perfectly normal for car audio but "pushing 3.6 ohms" is a statement that means nothing.
Your geek is bunk.
A couple of my geeks graduated from the Stanford university electronic music program (more about electronics than music) so brain surgery on a factory head unit is one of the less challenging things they can do.
Pro tip: good geeks don't work at big box stores.
Your geek is bunk.
A couple of my geeks graduated from the Stanford university electronic music program (more about electronics than music) so brain surgery on a factory head unit is one of the less challenging things they can do.
Pro tip: good geeks don't work at big box stores.
It's hard to find people that really know what they are doing with car audio, and Best Buy is not the place to ever take you car unless you want a hackjob of wiring. I wouldn't personally ever leave my car with anyone to do audio stuff with it.
I'd love to continue this anti establishment rant but could your Stanford geeks provide any tips I can pass on to my underground Dominican Papis regarding installing this Bazooka.If your speakers are 3.6 ohm, that sounds perfectly normal for car audio but "pushing 3.6 ohms" is a statement that means nothing.
Your geek is bunk.
A couple of my geeks graduated from the Stanford university electronic music program (more about electronics than music) so brain surgery on a factory head unit is one of the less challenging things they can do.
Pro tip: good geeks don't work at big box stores.
It'd be better if you either did it yourself or found some better geeks. Trusting Best Buy installers to do it is just a terrible idea. They likely won't listen to your ideas on how to do it since you're taking it to them to do them work...
First, look at what you are trying to do and what you're using to do it.
From what I've seen Bazookas are low cost all-in-one subwoofers and that means that they work OK in certain situations and not so well in others.
First read the manual to see what it has but I imagine it has a circuit designed to shift a speaker level signal to line level, then an opamp "preamplifier" used to buffer the signal and adjust gain, then finally an amplifier and speaker. There may be an RCA jack to feed a line level signal directly to the pre-amp but maybe not.
Again read the manual to be sure.
Next figure out what the problem is. It could be crummy electronics in the level shifting circuit or an incorrect installation.
If the electronics are not suitable for your application, you need to reverse engineer it and fix it. That's out of my depth but that's what some geeks are really good at. The alternative is to find something with electronics that will work, if your sub has an RCA jack, you could buy a box that does the level shifting but then you need to understand the problem and buy something that will work.
If its an installation issue, just install it correctly.
Lastly, I think Kicker made or was going to make a drop in Fiesta sub. I suggest finding a copy of their instruction manual to see how theirs works and is installed. Some times generic instructions miss the details on some OEM car stereos.
From what I've seen Bazookas are low cost all-in-one subwoofers and that means that they work OK in certain situations and not so well in others.
First read the manual to see what it has but I imagine it has a circuit designed to shift a speaker level signal to line level, then an opamp "preamplifier" used to buffer the signal and adjust gain, then finally an amplifier and speaker. There may be an RCA jack to feed a line level signal directly to the pre-amp but maybe not.
Again read the manual to be sure.
Next figure out what the problem is. It could be crummy electronics in the level shifting circuit or an incorrect installation.
If the electronics are not suitable for your application, you need to reverse engineer it and fix it. That's out of my depth but that's what some geeks are really good at. The alternative is to find something with electronics that will work, if your sub has an RCA jack, you could buy a box that does the level shifting but then you need to understand the problem and buy something that will work.
If its an installation issue, just install it correctly.
Lastly, I think Kicker made or was going to make a drop in Fiesta sub. I suggest finding a copy of their instruction manual to see how theirs works and is installed. Some times generic instructions miss the details on some OEM car stereos.
I don't consider the geek squad experts at anything. Most of them don't know shit about electronics. I work in IT and went to school for it and every time I go in there and look at computers and accessories they try to help me and I just ignore them lol
is there an external amplifier in the ST??
Would like to know that also david
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Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
ok so form what ive seen there is no amp .. i ended up plugging a converter right behing the radio and ran rca cables to my amp and it works fine but bass control is just horrible on this radio .. there is too much bass at low volume and not enough at high volume
Hopefully you can install a crossover app on MFT in the future lol wishfull thinking eh...
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Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Hopefully you can install a crossover/eq app on MFT in the future lol wishfull thinking eh...
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
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