[jazziz]

I just bought an xB today. The sound of rear speakers is horrible when fade turned all the way to rear speakers only. Nowhere near the sound quality of front speakers which is just awesome for standard/non-aftermarket car stereo.

I didn't play around with the speakers sound during the test drive. I'm just wondering if this is normal or there's something wrong with my rear speakers.
(I have the standard stereo.)

Thanks

 

[boblamb58]

Are you listening from the front seat? There's a pair of seats between you and the speakers. Try sitting in back..

 

[Shancopp]

welcome to the site and congrats on the new xB!! what color did ya get??

 

[Frostwolf]

You might want to check and see if the dealer programmed your radio correctly.

The radio has a setting to tell it what model of car its in. They may have not set it. I think you turn the key to on, and with radio off your hold the menu key until it turns on then scrool through the menu's for the model setting.

I'm not sure thats applicable to all the radios though.good luck

 

[boblamb58]

You might want to check and see if the dealer programmed your radio correctly.

The radio has a setting to tell it what model of car its in. They may have not set it. I think you turn the key to on, and with radio off your hold the menu key until it turns on then scrool through the menu's for the model setting.

I'm not sure thats applicable to all the radios though.good luck

DOH! Good call, Frostwolf... the factory setting is for the tC environment, the instructions for changing it to the xB or other models are in the radio manual (last page)

"Press and hold the SSP button until you hear a beep, and the current Equalizer setting is displayed. Turn the VOLUME knob to change the vehicle type. Car Type tC-Car Type xB - Car Type xD"

Why can't people read their owner's manuals?

 

[jazziz]

Thanks, Shancopp. I picked Blackberry Crush. I had to order the 5-sp man. with no options except the alarm and it took 2 weeks.

Frostwolf, I already checked the setting before posting here. It was already set at xB. I played around with the different car-model settings. It didn't make a difference as far as front speakers/rear speakers sound quality.

I made some recordings with Olympus DS-30 to illustrate the condition.

Front is front speakers only with recorder held at the height of the head unit between the two front speakers.
Rear is rear speakers only with recorder held at the height of the head unit between the two rear speakers.
Front Right is recorder held at about 12 inches in front of front right speaker.
Rear Right is recorder held at about 12 inches in front of rear right speaker.

Volume level (35), Bass level (0), Treble level (5), and SSP (Feel) settings are all the same during the four conditions. Fade is all the way front during front speaker recordings and all the way rear during rear speaker recordings.

From listening to and comparing these recordings, I think the rear speakers lack the bass and the 'boom' feeling and a bit too much mid-range compared to front right speaker. And I think the rear speakers are positioned too low. The sound quality sitting at the middle of rear seat is nowhere near the sound quality sitting at either the front seat.

I don't know why Scion makes front speakers sound so much better than the rear speakers. That was why I posted the question in the first place, wondering if there was something wrong with my rear speakers.

Make sure you turn down your treble level when you listen to these recordings, treble is very sharp. I have also included a clip of the actual mp3 music file for reference.

Front Speakers
Rear Speakers
Front Right Speaker
Rear Right Speaker
The actual mp3

 

[yanges]

Thanks, Shancopp. I picked Blackberry Crush. I had to order the 5-sp man. with no options except the alarm and it took 2 weeks.

Frostwolf, I already checked the setting before posting here. It was already set at xB. I played around with the different car-model settings. It didn't make a difference as far as front speakers/rear speakers sound quality.

I made some recordings with Olympus DS-30 to illustrate the condition.

Front is front speakers only with recorder held at the height of the head unit between the two front speakers.
Rear is rear speakers only with recorder held at the height of the head unit between the two rear speakers.
Front Right is recorder held at about 12 inches in front of front right speaker.
Rear Right is recorder held at about 12 inches in front of rear right speaker.

Volume level (35), Bass level (0), Treble level (5), and SSP (Feel) settings are all the same during the four conditions. Fade is all the way front during front speaker recordings and all the way rear during rear speaker recordings.

From listening to and comparing these recordings, I think the rear speakers lack the bass and the 'boom' feeling and a bit too much mid-range compared to front right speaker. And I think the rear speakers are positioned too low. The sound quality sitting at the middle of rear seat is nowhere near the sound quality sitting at either the front seat.

I don't know why Scion makes front speakers sound so much better than the rear speakers. That was why I posted the question in the first place, wondering if there was something wrong with my rear speakers.

Make sure you turn down your treble level when you listen to these recordings, treble is very sharp. I have also included a clip of the actual mp3 music file for reference.

Front Speakers
Rear Speakers
Front Right Speaker
Rear Right Speaker
The actual mp3

the rear speakers do not sound as good as the front to me either - i am going to eventually pick up several pair of better speakers and replace the stock ones - but i am going to add sound deadening material first....

 

[callmemrbill]

I know my stereo sounds good if I have the settings to xB and the SSP to the "FEEL" option. Anyhting else I have found does not sound that good.

 

[eviljack]

I actually found that some of my songs, usually the ones that don't really have bass. Sound better on Hear then Feal. Usually though it stays on Feel.

 

[memebag]

"Feel" distorts the EQ way too much. I use "hear" since it fixes the phase problem in the default setting and cut the treble and bass a little so I can "hear" the mids. And I have a 12" sub to fill out the bottom.

 

[callmemrbill]

I am sure I will being switching between them once I get the subwoofer put in.

 

[ScionSOS]

I've had my xB since August and never knew it was set to tC sound until I joined this forum and read this post! THANK YOU!!!!

 

[SlimShady1]

I had the same problem, the only way i resolved it, was to set it to Hear for the SSP. than after that change my treble to 3, bass 2 and i set the FAD to R-2 or 3. this will send more to theback of your car, equalizing it a bit more, sounds better in the back, sounds quite good in the front, and it really is pleasing to lsiten to, at least from my point of view, test it out if you want.

 

[MPToaster]

I had the same problem, the only way i resolved it, was to set it to Hear for the SSP. than after that change my treble to 3, bass 2 and i set the FAD to R-2 or 3. this will send more to theback of your car, equalizing it a bit more, sounds better in the back, sounds quite good in the front, and it really is pleasing to lsiten to, at least from my point of view, test it out if you want.

Did you read the 5th post? Make sure you set the SSP Car type to xB... it comes set to tC from the factory which doesn't have the same rear speaker setup as us.

 

[SlimShady1]

Yea... typo buddy, sorry. not ssp, but the EQ or whatver, where u can change to bass, hear, and so on.... and its not Auto set to tC, mine was already set to xB, i guess it jsut depends on where you get your care from. but w/e.

 

[joemader]

I had this problem with my new xB2 as well. I even took it back to the dealer worried my speakers were broken. They said they were fine, thats how they all are. The rear speakers are just weak. The saleman even said that because most scion owners are expected to add/change speakers, scion doesn't put super expensive nice ones in to begin with.

I just added my Kicker to take my passengers mind off things.

 

[L0stS0ul]

I've also been hating the sound that comes from the speakers. In my case I dislike the fronts as well as the rears. I've been using the EQ on my Ipod to control the sound. That's helped but man the stock setup sounds bad.

I'm planning on picking up some of these Polk speakers for the box.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DB651/Polk-Audio-db651.html

They have the buy one get second set 1/2 off and they will fit in both the front and back. Crutchfield even sends the adapter to put the speakers in so you don't have to build one yourself.

My only worry is I'll get them in and will find out that I'm going to need a 4 channel amp to really get the sound I want. I've got the premium head unit BTW.

 

[captain_chuck]

I'm planning on picking up some of these Polk speakers for the box.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DB651/Polk-Audio-db651.html

I had those in my Highlander and they were sweet. Great sound and easy to install...

 

[ullimc]

I replaced the rear speaker with some Alpine SPS 600s this weekend. Still not really happy with the sound though.

 

[thrustinj]

The front sound better because you have two tweeters in the doors.

I plan on picking up a cheap pair and installing them in the back plastic, maybe even in the hatch so that it points to the front of the car.