e-boxer dreadful sound system. Upgrade?

[Otto von]

Hi - bought my new shape Forester in June this year (second hand - it was one of the many pre-registered ones from December 2019).   It's a brilliant car.  Apart from an ocassional squeek from the dashboard around the binacle, my only complaint is the dreadful sound quality from the sound system.   I thought that new speakers would bring it into the realm of acceptable but it has made little difference. For obvious reasons, I'm wary about interfering with the head unit, especially given that it also controls a lot of the car settings (locking/lights etc) and not just the audio.  I've also got just over 3 years of warranty remaining and i don't want to lose that.

Anyone else tried to do anything about this?

cheers 

[Justin Time]

21 hours ago, Otto von said:

Hi - bought my new shape Forester in June this year (second hand - it was one of the many pre-registered ones from December 2019).   It's a brilliant car.  Apart from an ocassional squeek from the dashboard around the binacle, my only complaint is the dreadful sound quality from the sound system.   I thought that new speakers would bring it into the realm of acceptable but it has made little difference. For obvious reasons, I'm wary about interfering with the head unit, especially given that it also controls a lot of the car settings (locking/lights etc) and not just the audio.  I've also got just over 3 years of warranty remaining and i don't want to lose that.

Anyone else tried to do anything about this?

cheers 

Hi Otto Von.  I can't answer your question directly, but if you don't find a solution on here, and you've also tried calling a few Subaru dealers, it might also be worth contacting. http://customerrelations@imgroup.co.uk   directly (they're responsible for importing Subarus to the UK and managing the dealership franchises, etc.).  I've found them to be helpful in the past with some queries I've had.

[jimboy]

On 9/12/2021 at 1:29 PM, Otto von said:

Hi - bought my new shape Forester in June this year (second hand - it was one of the many pre-registered ones from December 2019).   It's a brilliant car.  Apart from an ocassional squeek from the dashboard around the binacle, my only complaint is the dreadful sound quality from the sound system.   I thought that new speakers would bring it into the realm of acceptable but it has made little difference. For obvious reasons, I'm wary about interfering with the head unit, especially given that it also controls a lot of the car settings (locking/lights etc) and not just the audio.  I've also got just over 3 years of warranty remaining and i don't want to lose that.

Anyone else tried to do anything about this?

cheers 

Hi Otto, when I got my Forester e-boxer this March I thought the same about the Sound system. So after a while of trying some of my past usual equaliser settings I let Google do a search on the problem. Soon found on other Subaru forums that I (like you now) thought the sound was crap. One or two suggested forgetting your usual settings and go for somethink like the attached, which now I find quite acceptable. I like all sorts of music from 60s 70s 80s 90s now and Club, all sound OK now.

Hope that helps in some way. 

 

[Otto von]

Thanks Justin and Jimboy.Very useful stuff.  I had been faffing around with the settings anyway but i think that your suggested settings are not bad at all- certainly better than what i had before.  I'll still get in touch with Subaru UK though and see what they say, although i've a feeling that acceptance is going to be the route to happiness in this instance!  I'll let you know how I get on.  In the meantime thanks very much to both of you for taking the time to respond.

 

cheers

[jimboy]

👍

[Otto von]

Hi there.  Meant to say - I got a response from Subaru UK which I've copied below.  Doesn't really take me further forward.  I have driven a few e-boxers and they all had the same iffy sound system so it's certainly not a problem unique to mine (I did think it would be easy to sort, mind you!)  Hey ho!

Noting your comments, we are sorry to hear that your head unit’s sound quality is not meeting your expectations.

 

Whilst we are not aware of any latent or inherent manufacturing related issue in this regard with the Harman head unit fitted to this model, we can only suggest that you make an appointment with your Subaru dealership so that they can then investigate this concern on your behalf and no doubt in the course of this, will be able to undertake a comparison sound test with one of their own Forester eB models.