I just got off the phone with Mitsu Customer relations complaining about the Rockford Stereo.

The problems that I have with the stereo are:

1) Very weak radio and sat output. Only certain songs on certain CD’s are better but still not the 650 Watt, $2,500 stereo that I was expecting. This has to be the weakest premium stereo available today regardless of manufacturer. If there’s a song on the radio (or sat) that I like, I cannot crank it up enough to enjoy it. I can still have a conversation with my passenger (without screaming) with the volume maxed out at “45”. There really isn’t any difference in volume between “35” and 45”. Chances are that whatever car you traded in for your EVO had a louder stereo. I did notice that the 2009/2010 Mitsu Rockford stereos are listed at 700Watts. Maybe they noticed themselves how weak the stereo actually is.

2) No Song/Artist Title or Radio call letters displayed. The standard 140 watt stereo does it but this one doesn’t! They must have some serious Morons doing product design at Rockford.

3) AM reception is weak (cannot be used). My last car picked up the AM signals just fine.

4) When turning up the Sub woofer setting, the stereo goes silent for about a ¼ second. If you wanted like say 3 more (or less) levels of bass, the stereo would mute 3 times, muting the sound for each increase (or decrease) in adjustment. Why mute the sound while tuning up/down the bass? It’s just stupid as hell and ruins the listening experience!!! At least they were smart enough to not do that with the Bass/Treble settings. Too bad that they weren’t smart enough to realize that the subwoofer level adjustment is essentially a Bass adjustment.

There’s much more but I’ll just leave it at that for the moment. The rep said to go to the dealer to have them look at it, and that my call will be logged.

I’m 1,000% positive that a dealer visit will not do anything except waste my time. This winter I plan on gutting the speakers/head-unit, amp and subwoofer. So I basically spent about $2,200 on the Mitsu Rockford Stereo (I adjusted the price because a got a good deal on the car) just for the wiring (I plan on using the existing amp and speaker wires when I replace the Rockford crap).


Rant over

Sorry

 

I've owned Acuras, BMWs, Toyotas, and tons of other cars that come with "premium" stereos in them, and they all sound like ****. I've owned 32 cars and not one of them has had a better sounding stereo in it than what you could put in yourself for $500 or so.

If I was going to pay an extra $2500 for a stereo, I would have listened to it first. The ONLY reason I got my car with it (and the aero package) is because it was the only X around that the particular dealer didn't let anyone test drive, and in the end they didn't make me pay for the SSS package or the aero package.

The best thing you can do with the Rockford system is take it out, and put something else in.

By the way - buying in to the wattage numbers is a huge mistake. There's no standard way for measuring wattage output on car audio equipment from any manufacturer. That's why you see these crap companies like Boss and Pyle with 4000 watt amps. Yeah, they make 4000 watts... at half an Ohm with 16V of audio input, while clipping, right before they explode. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the Rockford system in the X produces about 30W RMS to each of the factory speakers, and maybe 70-80W RMS for the sub, and thats it. The 650W "max" power output rating is total BS. The last system I put together was MUCH louder and clearer than this with 50Wx4 RMS and 150Wx1 amps. Quality of the amps, quality of the speakers, RMS output of the amps, sensitivity of the speakers, acoustics of the car, preout voltages of the head unit, sound processing in the head unit/amps will all dramatically change the way a system sounds (for better or worse).

 

Watts are confusing.

I've always wondered, which is louder, a 100w incandescent bulb or a 13w fluorescent?

It takes 10 times the power (all things being equal, including the speaker load, power supply, wiring, etc.) to double the apparent sound level.

It takes about 60 watts total of true RMS power through efficient speakers to equal the road noise of an Evo with a loud muffler at WOT (90 dB). If 60 watts is just enough to get over the sound of the car, it would take a true 600 watts to be twice as loud as road noise.

I would guess most manufacturers rate their amps upward at least a factor of 4 (conservatively) over their true, usable wattage ratings.

 

I laughed my freaking *** off after reading the subject, this sentence, then noticed the paragraphs of text below it. Dude, search.

 

I'm okay with the stock setup but, I'm no audiophile. The subwoofer did seem weak to me after seeing how big it was and the supposed power of the system... I was expecting more but don't care enough to pay money.

 

Been in a Subaru lately?

The Rockford Fosgate system in my Evo is light years ahead of the "Premium" sound system I had in my old 07 WRX Limited.

I do admit though that the amp in the Rockford system is weaksauce.

 

when you do replace the radio do not use a metra dash kit. i got one for free from crutchfield and the fitment is garbage. i am taking it off this weekend and fixing it.

 

wonder why people upgrade stock stereos, cause the factory ones are crap. Its common knowledge they just suckered you out of $2000.

 

The Rockford stereo only sucks in certain areas. It's not loud, but as for sound quality, it's got it.

 

Thanks! I was hoping to use the stock factory piece. Anyone know if that's possible? The factory radio is bigger than a double DIN.

 

Next time I spend some money I'll be sure to run it by you first

If the Radio performed as good as some of the option factory radios that I've heard in other cars, then I would be OK. That's what I was expecting when I spent the $2K. That isn't what I got.

 

Internal Web-Site search engines suck. This site isn't any different. I'd be better off using google with this website as a part of the search parameter. But your advice is taken.

 

Agreed. The stereo I installed in my Talon (35Watts X 4 + 75Watts x 2 ) destroyed the Rockford Stereo. The Irony is that I had Rockford Subs in the Talon!

Like I said in another reply. I was expecting it to sound at least as good as some of the factory stereos that I've heard in other vehicles. I paid $1,500 less than Invoice for my car. So I guess you can say I didn't spend anything on the stereo. I also agree 100% with the rest of your reply.

 

the $120 kenwood deck i got is hands down better sounding and louder than the stock non-RF system. it has a speaker option to specify oem. that heavily limits the distortion on the stock speakers. I would imagine the RF speakers would even sounder better, so for as little (maybe even less) than $120 you can get a new deck (/w usb & aux inputs) with a dash kit (****ty metra) and have a much better system imo

 

I bought an 08 Evo and an 08 Outlander at the same time and they both have the Rockford Stereo system.

The difference between the sound quality in the Outlander vs the Evo is insane. I believe it has to do with the openness of the Outlander and the fact that there is no deadening between the front and trunk.