Aftermarket Audio
 

This isn't really a question about the 8, since the stock HU kind of restricts what we can do. But I recently upgraded me Imprezza's HU, and I know that there are a lot of car audio experts here that can give me advice.

I replaced the Imp.'s HU with a Sony Xplod. It has 3 preouts, plays CD, MP3, wav, etc... I don't recall the model number, but it's pretty plain (no movies and not motorized).

The very first thing I noticed was that the radio signal reception was WORSE than the stock HU.

I bought it at Best Buy, where there was no radio signal (in the store) to test this function. My wife and I primarily listen to the radio, so this is a big deal. Anyone know if this is a bad HU, if the Sony's are all this way or what. I'm thinking I need to take it back.

All advice appreciated.

Thanks,
MP

i've got a Sony unit (not in an RX8 tho). I find the radio signal to be quite good, but it will depend on your area. Do the simple things, check the unit is seciurly connected to the cars antena, yo might what to wrap some insulating tape round the connection to make sure. If you still have problems you might want to take the car to a specialist ICE installer, they'll be able to find out if there's a problem with the HU or whether it's something else.

(i'm sure they'll be more than happy to sell you a more expensive unit too!)

ive noticed that sony does alot of things but sounding good or picking up reception is not what they are known for. i am a car audio specialist. its what i do for a living. and i can tell you from experience that if you moswtly listen to radio, go buy an alpine HU it will perform better. and even look better.

My wife took the HU back to Best Buy (we had to buy it there due to $120 in rewards points that we can't put to any better use at BB) and the guy told her that the antennae was bad. Well, we brought the car for install with the reception working perfectly. They removed the HU and played with the antennae, the told her the tried different HUs and said they had the same effect (playing with it changed the reception). When they put the HU back, reception was even worse. They told her that Subaru would have to fix it, as it is a problem "behind the dash" and not of their doing.

I can tell you what Subaru is going to say (bought the car in July, by the way)... "you broke it, waranty doesn't cover this. I'll have to get it fixxed at over $75/hour. We're taking our stocker back to them today. I'll have them re-install the stocker, try to get Subaru to fix it, then never buy anything from BB again (except for the $120 I still have to spend there). We'll go to Good Guys and get an Alpine.

Any further advice? Something I can tell the BB installers to get them to fix it right?

here's my advice, never go to best buy. they do the worse job ever in car audio, go to circuit city or ultimate electronics

Bah... you don't do car stereo at fry's do you? Would you get your teeth worked on by an a brain surgeon? Come on, when you want your car audio done right go to a car audio shop with a decent reputation. You wont pay anymore, but you will get a hell of a lot better installation.

Slavearm

good girls is a choice, but they are only an upscale fry's and as far as where you should take it to. wellthat all depends on where you live but personally i would shop around and check out the installers first. see how knowledgeable they are about your problem. Personally it sounds like BB unplugged your antenna from a different location other than your HU and didnt bother to check. an antenna just doesnt go bad from one day to another. especially after being tampered with. butin any case good luck with that.

Not that I would do this or anything (wink wink). i'd put everything back as it was then take it over to u'r Subi dealer. they'll fix it, u'll be happy, they'll get paid by Subi and everybody is happy. The only loss would be by Subi...the company making millions and millions of dollars anyway.

I took it back to BB, with the stocker. They toyed with the Sony some more, replaced the stocker and found out that the antennae and stocker work fine, it was the steaming pile of Sony crap that was the issue. I exchanged the Sony for a sweet Pioneer (1 less preout, but 30 less $$. I'm not building a performance system here and will only upgrade speakers and put in small amp at some point). It now works great. I don't know if it was that my unit was bad or all Sony's are. The tech said that Sony's have weak tuners. I won't be buying any other Sony car audio components, no matter how cool their speakers look.