Between Jaretr and demon I agree with both. I love everything about my car except the electronics. Some of the problems can be connected to softwear issues but the Nav. functions and the sound system performance can only be going cheep on Honda's part and the sad part is that it would not have cost that much more to make it right. It certainly isn't worth the bad publisity Honda is getting. I wonder how long Honda is going to take to correct these problems. My dealer is trying to get Honda to respond but nothing yet.

 

Has anyone made a complaint regarding sound quality and lack of volume? If so, please report on what the results were. I am thinking if calling Honda to complain without first going to a dealer since it seems I am not the only one with issue on the sound quality of the audio. My brothers 2000 Camry with the standard factory radio sounds better than the "premium" system in my Accord. Heck, my 1997 Camaro with the Delco 200 Watt stereo sounds better.

 

Jarter,
Yes, several including myself have made the same comments. If you get in the trunk and look at the rear speakers you can see that they are cheep plain paper cones. As I said before, I think Honda's definition of Prem. Radio is 7 cheep speakers instead of 4 and the 360 watt rating must be Peak - Peak instead of RMS because it has no power. The power rating of a quality amp will always be RMS. ( RMS is .707 X P-P )
To add insult to injury I got in my car this morning and had a problem I haven't had before. Started the car, when the radio came on it was so distorted I couldn't understand a thing. It was all across FM, AM, XM and HDD. When I got to work I turned the engine off and restarted it. Problem solved.
As for the chance that Honda will do anything to correct the sound quality and power. I would hope so but I doubt it. It appears to be that way by design which is very disappointing because that is not what I paid for.

 

I think its not so much the quality of the speakers as it is an electronics issue. The Premium system does use different speakers than the base model. I think there is some sort of issue with the amplifier and possibly even the noise cancelling technology and the way it is all tuned to work. In my fathers TL, which has the ELS system which is rated at 440, it is incredible loud and sounds awesome. 80 watts isnt that much, and our systems have absolutely no volume output. Other Hondas/Acuras with the same "Premium" system sound much much better.

I will be curious to know if Honda does anything. Please update this thread if you get anywhere with Honda.

 

bummer about the problems you all are having. i've always recommended not buying premium systems as they just make a true upgrade more difficult to achieve. sadly, you can't usually get the top end model with the amenities we all want and still have the basic audio system.

since the sound system isn't made by Honda, it's hard to blame them for anything besides letting Pioneer make something.

 

Unfortunately, not getting the Premium Audio system is not an option if one wants the V6 or leather in an Accord. I really think there is something wrong with the system perhaps in the electronics aspect. It does not just sound not good, it really sounds bad, about the worst I have heard in a car in the last 10 years from a factory system of any kind. There are no highs, no lows...just sounds like the whole system has a wet blanket over all the speakers. And the lack of volume is almost embarrassing. I cannot imagine any Honda engineer or product developer OK'd this system sounding like this. To advertise its a premium 360 watt system with all the connectivity options and then have it sound as bad as it does has to be a problem.

My guess is Honda is going to ask me to go to a dealer first, which I am hesitant to do as I dont simply need parts changed if the problem has not been identified by Honda.

 

I told my service manager about this forum and he thought it a good idea. He told me he is sure Honda is aware of all the reported issues and working hard to find a solution. He also told me he bets Honda is monitoring this forum and others but reporting the issues to our dealers pushes Honda to understand the magnitude of the situation.

By the way, I reported that I had only had my blu-tooth lock up while I was roaming, that is not true any more. It did it again in the town where I live, Wednesday.
My service manager also told me that when he reported my latest problems to Honda they suggested a re-entering of the software. I'm going to have that done next week.

 

This morning, I get in the car to go to work, and the sound is now coming out so distorted, I cant understand words. I think my units amplifier has bit the dust. Its happening on all sources. With the unit off, I can hear a buzzing sound now. I turned the car on and off, the radio on and off, and its the same. I guess I have no choice but to visit the dealer now. Maybe a new unit will solve the previously pathetic sound quality issue. I am hoping anyway!

 

I checked it at lunch, and it came back alive. I am perplexed.

 

Hi Jeretr,
As I posted earlier, I had the same distortion problem last week but it corrected itself the first time I restarted the car. You reported in one of your last post that you had very poor freq. responce and not much vol. You may be correct that your problem is related to the computer because my freq. responce and vol. are not great but I don't think they are as bad as what you are reporting and I listen to a lot of classical. I will be replacing my speakers and adding an amp but I want to get the computer issues corrected first. I agree with what one of the post suggested that we could have white noise canceling some of our fidelity.