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IMSMRT

How-To: Turn on Sound Upgrade

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Having added 6x9 speakers to the tailgate in addition to the front speakers and turning on the sound upgrade, I am quite please with the result, even at HWY speed.

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I have owned my smart pulse cabrio since Jan 15, 05. It has the sound upgrade from the factory. I have an audio in cable so that I can listen to my MP3 player. I have found the sound OK but never blew me away. No highs. I decided today to try turning off the sound ON to see how it sounded.

Imagine my shock when I pressed and held the notes, turned on the radio and waited for the beep. The display said SOUND ON

Shit. I have been using my car for a year with it off. The dealer probably disconnected the battery for something and never turned it back on. The sound is SO different. I was only the second smart they delivered.

I had been trying to figure out why my wife's 2005 Suzuki Swift+ sound system was so much better. Easy, my tweeters were turned off.

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The factory speakers (no sound package) will sound worse if the crossover is activated. It sounds boomier, but not in a good way, and articulation diminishes.

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Most of the many posts about dissatisfaction with smart's Grundig radio are probably because the "sound" setting was set off when the car was delivered. Smart and Grundig should be concerned about all the bad publicity. Why should be necessary to have such an option at all? Why would anyone want a radio to run with "sound off"? Sound is what a radio is all about. I think most owners will be happy with a properly set up original Grundig with the sound upgrade option. The smart organization allowed this problem to fester, not unlike others such as the A/C upgrade. My smart came with a temporary radio manual, with a note that a permanent Canadian manual would be sent "shortly". Well, it's been seven months, and I still haven't got it! I sent an email to smart about two months ago, and was told that they are still working on getting them out.

The company suffers from a lack of organization ... they ran out of engine warmers after announcing that they'd be standard on 2006 models ... power steering is available, but not on option lists ... the manual doesn' t mention things (eg. front plug for a/c cord) or contains inaccuracies. If they seriously want to market the car in the US, they had better implement a lot of improvements in their operation before then!

Edit: spinner explained the reason for SOUND ON/OFF before I completed my post ... thanks

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I knew when I jumped into smart as one of the first that there would be some rough spots.

My knowledge of the smart keeps improving, and I do love the car.

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I replaced the grundig radio, so i can't try it - BUT to smart 65's comment - i didn't replace the gurndig beacause of the common complaint of poor sound, i was quite pleased with it. i replaced it for RCA outputs. They deliver way clearer sound over the line level converter (taking speaker signal and converting the standard wires to RCA plugs) and my amps all have RCA's. So it cleaned up my system. THANKS A BUNCH tho Dave for the compliments on my system. I'm quite proud of it since i did it all myself and those compliments always make me feel great. Those and the smiles on peoples faces when i can knock their socks off with my smartie. :blush::blush::blush:

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Regarding 'running out of engine warmers'. Let's be fair... M-B Canada initially predicted first year sales of 850 units. By October of '04 that was increased to 1250 units, I believe. And by October of '05 they had delivered more than 4200.

smart sales greatly exceeded expectations, and I'm sure the ordering of Canadian engine warmers was based on the earlier sales projections, made by M-B Canada. I'm sure the supplier would have liked the bigger order...

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Dave:

When you installed those 6X9's, did you include a foam baffold to enclose the speakers? Since the tailgate is vulnerable to the elements, this would definetley extend the life of your speakers. The cold, and especially any moisture can damage the speakers from the back, potentially causing a problem with the soldering, or prematurely aging the rubber/foam speaker surround. You can get these fairly chaply at any reputable car audio store, and they can be intalled quickly and cut to fit. They look good, and I bet that they make it sound a hell of a lot louder and clearer! Pardon my obsession with car audio.

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I didn't give any thought to what you are saying especially because it was summer. There is some foam insulation already there from the factory as well. Also, there is not much room to stuff anything further in there. It does sound much better but, I have now sold this car and my new one has the "smart sound package". This sounds much better than even the old car did with 6x9's.

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Just got a new Grandstyle and the sound option was not activated. The improvement was very noticeable and has alleviated most of my dissatisfaction with the sound quality.

Thanks Again

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All I can say is WOW! I got the sound upgrade on my pulse and was quite disappointed with how muddy the sound was. Well it was never turned on! Thanks gogojuice and IM SMRT. Now the sound is great! It sounds like what I paid for. The next time I'm talking with Justin I'll let him now so they can make sure its added to the dealer prep. That is something they should have caught. I'm guessing they don't know it needs to be activated. This is great, My Rock station sounds like a rock concert, my Classical station sounds like a black tie affair! My talk radio sounds extra talkie!! LOL :spots::dj::rockband::spots: Party in my Car!!

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I thought the sound sucked - and wondered if I actually got the sound upgrade that I'd paid for (didn't know that the tweeter pods were part of the upgrade), and went back to the dealer to check. He showed me that I did indeed have it.

I just found this thread, so ran out to the car to check it, and...

...it was already turned on.

I can sure see the difference with it off, and how people would be please with it being enabled (by comparison), but I definitely need to at least get some rear speakers. I'm thinking of an upgraded deck as well (to play mp3 cd's).

Is the tailgate the best option for installing rear speakers?

Since the deck only has a left-right adjustment, not front-back, how good does installing rear speakers work with the OEM head unit?

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I have my car setup with rear speakers and love them. Their purpose is to widen and pull the soundstage back a bit while still making it sound like it's all coming from the front. The 3" rears work perfectly. I make sure that none of the sound leaks through the headrest. I have a sub under the seat which rounds off the low end very well.

In the end it's all subjective. As long as it sounds good to you that's what counts. :clapping:

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Do you have a lighter pic of the headrest speaker? That one is too dark to get a decent look. Did you fab something to the speaker into? It looks like something to fit the triangular hole.

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Yeah sorry, I just took the picture now. the speakers are covered with a triangular mesh i made myself. It's a temporary solution until I get the time to fiberglass a proper mold.

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I got frustrated with the poor sound and put 6 inch speakers in the front and rear. Had to add the rear deck as i didn't want to have to cut the plastic door. I drilled out a few extra holes in the dash too, also added external tweeters. Rear deck flips up for access. Replaced the stock radio with a Sony MP3 player.

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Having added 6x9 speakers to the tailgate in addition to the front speakers and turning on the sound upgrade, I am quite please with the result, even at HWY speed.

How did you do this in such a way that the wires running from the cabin to the tailgate do not get pinched and/or cut or shorted whenever you open/close the tailgate? I imagine that there is already a channel for the lock. Did you route the wires there?

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Wow, this is an amazing piece of information! I'm going to try it as soon as I get to my car, though I've always thought the sound was good, so I'm guessing mine is already turned on. I am suddenly getting a humming/buzzing noise out of the dash speakers. It sounds exactly like when I accidentally leave a parking stub up there and forget about it. I'm hoping it's just dirt stuck in the dash cover holes. I haven't figured out how to get it out though. Has anyone experienced this? Could it be something more serious?

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