This might be a weird question, but what do you folks think about the stock head unit's fidelity? After I was advised to not just upgrade the speakers in my base stereo system, I'm starting to think about some serious sound system upgrade with a good separate 4-channel amp and eventually even go with some expensive Focal separates in the front. Maybe even Focals in the back.

Now the question is: knowing that the stock unit has no pre-amp outputs (and that it can not be replaced), is it worth to start with such a project and use speaker-level inputs on the amp? Is the sound quality of the stock head unit good enough for such a thing?

Thanks for your input.

Actually, we have found that there are in fact pre-amp level wires that an amp can be tapped into. It has been mentioned a recent thread at that.

The fidelity of the stock head units are actually quite good nowadays, and the RX8 (the same unit in the Mazda 6) is no exception. It will be more than sufficient for 99% of the listeners out there.

---jps

Originally posted by Sputnik
Actually, we have found that there are in fact pre-amp level wires that an amp can be tapped into.
Are you sure about that? This is the non-Bose system, which has no external amp. The head unit powers the speakers. Does the unit still have the same wires?

According to the schematics I've seen, the wires come from the same pins in the connector.

Good speaker-level/pre-amp-level converters aren't expensive, and good range and fidelity can be acheived using these with aftermarket amps and speakers. Your results should still be good enough to be worth the effort and cost. A truly pre-amp signal from the head unit itself would be the best, but well installed, with good enough equipment, it should be hard to tell the difference. It is not going to be near as noticeable as the difference between say, radio and tape.

---jps