The problem with Honda/Acura sound systems (top end and ELS) is that the setup is very traditional. Tweeter up top. Door woofer are mid-range. And center channel is mid-range as well, but smaller.
The problem is that the sound is very DIRECTIONAL and side-bias. Whatever side you sit on is where you will hear more sound from that door. Sound stage is not very good because most sound comes from the tweeter/midrange that is closest to you.
And then the bass. Like traditional systems, bass is pushed all the way to the back cargo area. The front door speakers do not handle much bass at all.
Yes, bass is non-directional...but you have to crank the bass up quite a bit to even feel/hear it. And then the rear passenger will hear mostly bass because the rear door speakers are muted by design.
I have 2015 Acura MDX with ELS. Nice system but not all that good at staging and bass is hit or miss. The same goes for Acura KRELL...great sounding but bad staging.
This is why most high end systems now have tweeter/midrange in the dash pointing up at the windshield...this allows better dispersion of midrange and high frequencies thru out cabin...and also for far better staging. The front door woofers in these systems are for BASS only...small free-air subwoofers...to give more even bass to the front passengers...thus, front passengers get nice bass without relying on cranking up the sub in cargo area. Then the cargo area subwoofer is mainly for back passenger...and since the front doors handle bass as well, the rear cargo sub does not have to be cranked up. The rear doors in these systems are just muted full range speakers for staging for rear passengers.
Acura/Honda needs to adopt the newer setups.
The problem is that the sound is very DIRECTIONAL and side-bias. Whatever side you sit on is where you will hear more sound from that door. Sound stage is not very good because most sound comes from the tweeter/midrange that is closest to you.
And then the bass. Like traditional systems, bass is pushed all the way to the back cargo area. The front door speakers do not handle much bass at all.
Yes, bass is non-directional...but you have to crank the bass up quite a bit to even feel/hear it. And then the rear passenger will hear mostly bass because the rear door speakers are muted by design.
I have 2015 Acura MDX with ELS. Nice system but not all that good at staging and bass is hit or miss. The same goes for Acura KRELL...great sounding but bad staging.
This is why most high end systems now have tweeter/midrange in the dash pointing up at the windshield...this allows better dispersion of midrange and high frequencies thru out cabin...and also for far better staging. The front door woofers in these systems are for BASS only...small free-air subwoofers...to give more even bass to the front passengers...thus, front passengers get nice bass without relying on cranking up the sub in cargo area. Then the cargo area subwoofer is mainly for back passenger...and since the front doors handle bass as well, the rear cargo sub does not have to be cranked up. The rear doors in these systems are just muted full range speakers for staging for rear passengers.
Acura/Honda needs to adopt the newer setups.
