PDA

View Full Version : 06 Stock HU Specs



queens49
07-07-2006, 10:50 AM
Hi,
Does anybody know the stock specs for the HU, such as sensitivity, THD? Last night I purchased a pair of Kaption HD Series 5x7 coaxial speakers and am anxious to hook them up. I\'m upgrading in pieces, so I only got the front ones to see how they sound with the stock HU. I like the look of the stock HU, so I don\'t want to replace it with an aftermarket deck. I\'ve noticed quite a few people have used LOC to use external amplifiers. Is there any way of getting the lineouts without having to use a LOC. The way I see it, unless I want more volume, there isn\'t a point to getting a high quality amplifier because all the signal processing has already been done by the stock HU, and the external amp is just amplifying that signal.

bluntman
07-07-2006, 11:01 AM
I\'m not sure about the specs, but you can always buy an amplifier with speaker level inputs.

TheProfessor
07-07-2006, 11:10 AM
Originally posted by queens49
The way I see it, unless I want more volume, there isn\'t a point to getting a high quality amplifier because all the signal processing has already been done by the stock HU, and the external amp is just amplifying that signal.

While that is technically true, buying a crappy amp will certainly not help the signal. Also, a good quality amp will not only provide un-tainted audio, but will also feature better thermal dynamics, more flexibility in terms of wiring, crossover networks/filters, lower distortion, etc.

What I\'m trying to say is don\'t go out and buy a crappy amp simply because it will be fed a signal from the stock H/U. You\'d be surprised just how good a system is capable of sounding from the stock Mazda unit ;)

queens49
07-07-2006, 11:44 AM
Originally posted by TheProfessor



Originally posted by queens49
The way I see it, unless I want more volume, there isn\'t a point to getting a high quality amplifier because all the signal processing has already been done by the stock HU, and the external amp is just amplifying that signal.

While that is technically true, buying a crappy amp will certainly not help the signal. Also, a good quality amp will not only provide un-tainted audio, but will also feature better thermal dynamics, more flexibility in terms of wiring, crossover networks/filters, lower distortion, etc.

What I\'m trying to say is don\'t go out and buy a crappy amp simply because it will be fed a signal from the stock H/U. You\'d be surprised just how good a system is capable of sounding from the stock Mazda unit ;)

Sorry, I wasn\'t very clear when I said there wasn\'t a point in getting a high quality amplifier. What I wanted to say was that there wouldn\'t be a need to get an external amplifier at all because I\'m not looking to increase the volume output from the stock. Right now, I only play the stock unit at the 10 setting at the most, and I don\'t do that very often, I usually play it around 6. I believe the highest setting is 25 (thought I read that somewhere on the forums). My main concern is the sound quality, not so much about the loudness. The only way I would get an external amp, is if after installing the speakers, the stock unit doesn\'t have enough power to drive the Kaptions or if I could somehow get the line level signals from the HU.

bluntman
07-07-2006, 12:55 PM
Just remember that your stereo is only as good as its weakest link. The fewer \"weak links\" you have the better the sound quality.

TheProfessor
07-07-2006, 01:07 PM
Originally posted by queens49

Sorry, I wasn\'t very clear when I said there wasn\'t a point in getting a high quality amplifier. What I wanted to say was that there wouldn\'t be a need to get an external amplifier at all because I\'m not looking to increase the volume output from the stock. Right now, I only play the stock unit at the 10 setting at the most, and I don\'t do that very often, I usually play it around 6. I believe the highest setting is 25 (thought I read that somewhere on the forums). My main concern is the sound quality, not so much about the loudness. The only way I would get an external amp, is if after installing the speakers, the stock unit doesn\'t have enough power to drive the Kaptions or if I could somehow get the line level signals from the HU.

I believe that your Kaptions will like sound \'alright\' with the Mazda H/U, however there is no doubt that by adding an aftermarket amplifier they will sound better, even at low volumes.

bluntman
07-07-2006, 01:08 PM
Originally posted by TheProfessor

I believe that your Kaptions will like sound \'alright\' with the Mazda H/U, however there is no doubt that by adding an aftermarket amplifier they will sound better, even at low volumes.



+1

queens49
07-07-2006, 01:52 PM
Originally posted by TheProfessor



Originally posted by queens49

Sorry, I wasn\'t very clear when I said there wasn\'t a point in getting a high quality amplifier. What I wanted to say was that there wouldn\'t be a need to get an external amplifier at all because I\'m not looking to increase the volume output from the stock. Right now, I only play the stock unit at the 10 setting at the most, and I don\'t do that very often, I usually play it around 6. I believe the highest setting is 25 (thought I read that somewhere on the forums). My main concern is the sound quality, not so much about the loudness. The only way I would get an external amp, is if after installing the speakers, the stock unit doesn\'t have enough power to drive the Kaptions or if I could somehow get the line level signals from the HU.

I believe that your Kaptions will like sound \'alright\' with the Mazda H/U, however there is no doubt that by adding an aftermarket amplifier they will sound better, even at low volumes.

I guess people have different tastes when it comes to sound quality, similar to some people prefering tube amplifiers over solid state. Bluntman said that the system is only as good as the weakest link. Not knowing what the actual specs for the HU are, I can\'t say that the HU is the weakest link with 100% confidence, but I believe it would be if going for a good quality aftermarket amplifier. I don\'t believe the speakers will sound any better with an external amplifier just louder. The reason I say this is because the sole function of an amplifier is to amplify the input signal, without changing the signal waveform, just the amplitude of it. Since to hook up an external amp on the 3, would require using the speaker outputs, any deficiencies the stock HU has injected into the signal would just be amplified by the external amplifier.

I\'m not saying I\'m an expert in this field, but I\"m pretty knowledgeable on how these things work. My friend and I are both Electrical eng, and have an interest in audio equipment. My friend has gone as far as designing and building his own power amplifier from scratch and it sounds amazing.

majic
07-07-2006, 02:10 PM
Originally posted by queens49



Originally posted by TheProfessor



Originally posted by queens49

Sorry, I wasn\'t very clear when I said there wasn\'t a point in getting a high quality amplifier. What I wanted to say was that there wouldn\'t be a need to get an external amplifier at all because I\'m not looking to increase the volume output from the stock. Right now, I only play the stock unit at the 10 setting at the most, and I don\'t do that very often, I usually play it around 6. I believe the highest setting is 25 (thought I read that somewhere on the forums). My main concern is the sound quality, not so much about the loudness. The only way I would get an external amp, is if after installing the speakers, the stock unit doesn\'t have enough power to drive the Kaptions or if I could somehow get the line level signals from the HU.

I believe that your Kaptions will like sound \'alright\' with the Mazda H/U, however there is no doubt that by adding an aftermarket amplifier they will sound better, even at low volumes.

I guess people have different tastes when it comes to sound quality, similar to some people prefering tube amplifiers over solid state. Bluntman said that the system is only as good as the weakest link. Not knowing what the actual specs for the HU are, I can\'t say that the HU is the weakest link with 100% confidence, but I believe it would be if going for a good quality aftermarket amplifier. I don\'t believe the speakers will sound any better with an external amplifier just louder. The reason I say this is because the sole function of an amplifier is to amplify the input signal, without changing the signal waveform, just the amplitude of it. Since to hook up an external amp on the 3, would require using the speaker outputs, any deficiencies the stock HU has injected into the signal would just be amplified by the external amplifier.

I\'m not saying I\'m an expert in this field, but I\"m pretty knowledgeable on how these things work. My friend and I are both Electrical eng, and have an interest in audio equipment. My friend has gone as far as designing and building his own power amplifier from scratch and it sounds amazing.

bingo.. i\'m not an audiophile per se but \"garbage in = garbage out\" having said that, most of the folks here have been \'satisfied\' with the stock HU output (coupled with an amp and new speakers).. but having said THAT a lot chose to go with an aftermarket system and THEN added the amp and speakers..

if you can\'t get your hands on the specs (see if Joe can hook you up with some info) ask a fellow TM3er to meet up and let your ears decide (yah i know, they might not be as good as the expensive digital oscilloscopes ;) you have at skule) and if your ears are happy, your wallet could be even more happy :D

btw.. i\'d assume u went to queens? what year?

TheProfessor
07-07-2006, 02:20 PM
You guys are missing a key piece of info: yes an amplifiers sole purpose is to amplify a signal, but let\'s not forget that your aftermarket speakers were designed to work off of more power (watts) than your stock Mazda head unit is capable of producing.

I guess we\'ll just have to agree to disagree, but I\'ll leave you with this:

I have installed three stereo\'s thus far in Mazda3\'s (a 2004, a 2005 and a 2006). In each and every case the aftermarket speakers literally came alive when fed by an aftermarket amplifier as opposed to the stock head unit. In addition, a fairly crappy Kenwood amplifier was swapped out for a higher end Eclipse unit (on the 2004) and again an improvement in sound quality was noted. Also, all three cars were equipped with LOC\'s (two with Navone Engineering units and one with a Soundgate unit).

bluntman
07-07-2006, 02:23 PM
Originally posted by TheProfessor


You guys are missing a key piece of info: yes an amplifiers sole purpose is to amplify a signal, but let\'s not forget that your aftermarket speakers were designed to work off of more power (watts) than your stock Mazda head unit is capable of producing.



+1

queens49
07-07-2006, 02:47 PM
Hey Majic, I\'m Sci \'03 :)

queens49
07-07-2006, 03:00 PM
Originally posted by TheProfessor


You guys are missing a key piece of info: yes an amplifiers sole purpose is to amplify a signal, but let\'s not forget that your aftermarket speakers were designed to work off of more power (watts) than your stock Mazda head unit is capable of producing.


I\'d have to disagree with this. Aftermarket speakers are NOT designed to work off of more power. The stock speakers say 25W, 4ohm impedance. The Kaptions for example are 140W, 4ohm impedance. What this means is that the Kaptions are capable of handling 5x the power as the stock speakers. The important thing is the load impedance, if the speakers were 2ohm impedance, than the stock HU may not have enough power to drive the speakers. But since the load impedances are the same, the stock HU will have no problems powering the Kaptions. They will just be severely under-utilized. Sending 10W out of the stock HU to the speakers will show up as 10W to both speakers. The Kaptions will probably sound louder b/c they are most likely better designed and are a more efficient speaker than the stock speakers. The higher the wattage, just means there is more power to drive the speaker cones, causing more air movement (sound waves) which leads to higher volume.

TheProfessor
07-07-2006, 03:10 PM
If we had two identical speakers, one fed by 10 watts the other by 50, I can tell you that the latter will sound more dynamic, will play louder without distorting, and thus will sound better.

I actually forgot to mention earlier that, in my opinion, the \'06 Mazda head unit (designed by Sanyo) actually sounds quite good.....much better then my previous Mazda/Honda head units.

queens49
07-07-2006, 04:17 PM
Originally posted by TheProfessor


If we had two identical speakers, one fed by 10 watts the other by 50, I can tell you that the latter will sound more dynamic, will play louder without distorting, and thus will sound better.

I actually forgot to mention earlier that, in my opinion, the \'06 Mazda head unit (designed by Sanyo) actually sounds quite good.....much better then my previous Mazda/Honda head units.

I\'ll agree with that. We don\'t live in a perfect world, and the speakers will not react identical to the different power levels sent to it. The system that you have in your car most likely sounds really great. I just want to experiment first to see if a external amp is required in my case. I\'m going to install the speakers without an external amplifier to start off with and see how they do. I don\'t listen to music that loud, (already don\'t hear that well :p , so no point in making it worse)

TheProfessor
07-07-2006, 05:27 PM
Oh yeah, I would start off without the amp as well, I was just simply stating that depending on how crazy you are about sound quality, you would likely end up wanting to put one in. Good luck with it all and be sure to let us know how it turns out!

queens49
07-08-2006, 09:26 PM
Well, I spent the afternoon with my friend installing the front speakers, and it was so easy. Couldn\'t believe how easy it was to remove the door panels. The install went really quick. Installed one speaker first and gave it a test, changed the fade between left and right and noticed a major difference in sound clarity. The stock speakers were really muddy sounding, and the Kaptions were so clear. Finished the other side and I\'m pretty happy with the speakers. I have to turn the volume higher, since right now I have the Fade to the front only. With the rear speakers on, it sounds really bad, so I need to upgrade the rear speakers now. I think the volume will be fine, I have to play the HU at 12 now, but hopefully that\'ll go down once I can use the rear speakers again. So, I don\'t think I\'ll be getting an external amp. What I may end up getting is an active subwoofer, just to add a little warmth to the music. The mids and highs are really good, but I think a nice sub would add a lot.

AXCL
07-10-2006, 01:30 PM
I\'ve receintly upgraded my doors with a set of 6x8 pioneers. It sounds great, but the bottom end just isn\'t there. I\'d think I would get a lot more with an amp. With a higher rated speaker, it will generally require more power to produce the same frequency at the same volume. On songs with heavy bass, even at lower volumes I can tell the speakers just aren\'t getting the power they should be.

I think I\'m getting the amp before the SUB.

TheProfessor
07-10-2006, 01:33 PM
queens49, glad it all worked out for you!