Clarity Speaker Quality

Yes, you have to live with Power seats in the Touring, Homelink and XM Radio in the Base, and being to pick up a car on the lot vs. waiting 6 months!

 

Agreed "Eh!?!"

Any Canadian participants able to confirm or deny? I would actually love photos of the "factory" sub to see what they did as it may help with a retrofit or maybe there are some wire harnesses hidden somewhere? Anyway, just curious.

Cheers,

Cash

 

The stock system does sound pretty good but to doesn't go low enough for me to believe there is a sub larger than 6 inches. Maybe its similar to the one in the 2015 CRV under the passenger seat which was useless. I compared it to the CRV 330 watt system and the Clarity has a cleaner sound and very similar bass. For 8 speakers it does push out a great amount of mid- low bass at VOL 10-13 with attached android auto/carplay.

 

Really? A lot of negative speaker reviews. I am a musician and i think the speakers are the clearest and most balanced i have ever heard. If you like a drowning bass then i coild see adding a sub woofer. I listen to the coffee house acoustic channel and everything sounds so good and balanced. Maybe its just the eq is perfect for the sound i like. The bass is very clear and the volume level is perfect for my taste.

 

I too think the sound system is pretty good. I hope those searching for a new car don't reject the Clarity based on these comments. If they have concerns just get a demo ride and check out the sound system for themselves.

 

I own a chevy siverado double cab and the sound system is really great. It seems a little more dynamic in the bass especially. The clarity is a little different but fits the acoustics and quaility of the car very well. I am very pleased with it.

 

My Hyundai Sonata has a great sound system (I think it's called "Infinity" sound or something like that.) Test drove the Kia Optima in the top package and the Clarity Touring. Neither had a sound system as good as the Sonata, but the Clarity was definitely better than the Optima.

 

Interesting. Well as a musician you probably like your music pretty pure too. From what audiophiles tell me, people think Bose speakers sound great but they have unnatural equalization done to them.

Bottom line though, it's what you like hearing that counts.

As for me, I went to too many rock concerts in the 70s and 80s, so my high frequency hearing is shot and the tinnitus messes up a lot of the mid frequencies. :-(

 

I'm not much of an audiophile but the sound systems sounds pretty good to me as well.

 

Do you mind share your EQ settings? I listened mostly to the Top 100 on Pandora.

 

I checked and all eq's are set at mid range.

 

I listen to NPR and with no ICE drowning it out I can hear it great with the sound system. I stream music through Amazon and that comes through fine as well. Don't know what all the complaints are about.

 

So, looking at these reports, the sound system is either great or pretty mediocre, for an average of good. Hmm, I actually am on neither extreme and I'd put it at good. Are there better sound systems in some cars, most definitely. Are there worse, also most definitely. I'd say it is slightly better than average, though at the price point some people may expect more. It would be nice if the Touring had a premium audio package, that may have been enough to put it over the top for me (I bought the Base, but considered the Touring for the leather seats, leather wrapped steering wheel, and power seats). It is good enough so I doubt I'm going to put in new speakers.

 

I agree if only it had a sub to fill out the real lows. Otherwise mid bass and tweets are good .

 

The AM radio reception sucks (I'm probably the only poster who's even tried the AM radio, right?). I complained, but my dealer said there's nothing they can do to make our local sports station 10 miles away come in clearly.

Interestingly, I can use a tiny transistor radio inside our Clarity to pull in that station clearly with no RFI from the electric power systems. When I try that in my gen 1 Insight, it sounds like I'm deep within the Krell power-generators that occupy the entire interior of Altair 4, the planet in Forbidden Planet (my first and still favorite science-fiction movie--it's a take-off on Shakespeare's Tempest).

 

I agree reception is not good even for FM. First thing I noticed coming from the Lexus RX.

 

The window sticker on the fuel cell version states it has a premium audio system with 12 speakers including subwoofer. I've been very pleased with the sound, but like some other posters I like a clean, natural, acoustic sound. I play mostly classical and podcasts. The few times I've cranked up some rock I've been astonished at the bass. But if there's a subwoofer I sure don't know where it is.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Inside EVs mobile app

 

I finally heard the weakness in the system. I streamed Sail by AWOLNation and the bass was terrible. But that’s they only song that I’ve heard an issue with.

 

I think my speakers sound a bit better now after a month. Maybe they break in with use?

There are definitely issues with playing loud music. When I put the volume at 14-20 it sounds much worse compared to 7-12 levels. The tweeters sound shrill and the mids get muddled.

 

I added a few months back
A kicker 12 inch sub
Jl audio c1 all interior speakers
A Kicker cca600.1 amp
Jl audio sound processor
JL audio oem integration
Problem solved amazing “Clarity” and Bass
Boom