[bullish]

I am still waiting for my Touring to arrive (or to be built), I didn't ask the dealership for an update. It's been only 3+ weeks since I made the deposit and I don't want to disappoint myself when they tell me I still need to wait forever.



Anyway, one thing I totally forgot to sample when I did the test drive was the audio system. When I was going over the Touring spec, I notice that the Touring has "452-watt AM/FM Premium audio system with MP3/Windows Media® Audio playback
capability and 10 speakers including subwoofer".



How premium is this audio system? Do you guys like it? I can only figure out it has higher output than the audio system in my Accord, and the Accord audio system is meh....




Edit: Sorry I didn't notice I wasn't posting in the "Honda Insight User Interface" sub-forum. Would the admin please move this to the appropriate forum? Sorry for the troubles.

 

[tylers65]

I was once an audiophile. No factory system ever seems to satisfy me. For what it is, it sounds very nice. I would prefer a little more low end. Even with the bass and sub both maxed out, it leaves a little to be desired. Not too bad for a factory system from Honda.

 

[mgldan]

I wish it had more of a soundstage. For all the marketing about 10 speakers, I don't have the feeling of being enveloped by sound. Was pleased to find the equalizer in the settings, which did make things a little nicer to my ear.

 

[Verdier]

first where did you find The Equalizer the only thing I can find is something that makes it possible for me to be to fade a front the back and also to lower the treble the mid-range the base and the subwoofer so please let me know where this equalizer is because gosh do I need help with that! I'm going to have to say when it comes to this sound system your mileage may vary dramatically. I have some hearing problems and usually my graphic equalizer on my stereo in my Prius looks like a giant smile with the Lows being set higher the Highs set higher and the mid-range being on the mid-range most appropriate you would say. On the insight premium audio I have to set the treble all the way down to zero the mid-range halfway down and keep everything in about the middle. The highs are absolutely unbearable at times and there's no way to deal with it I also tend to fade the speakers towards the back in order to cut down on the highs as well I really need access to the DSP or a real good equalizer to change some of this because some of the music is unbearable on this system. It's a major disappointment in some cases but in other cases Sometimes some pieces sound very good on it. Either way the Bose system in the Chevy volt is far superior. As a side note there were a lot of rattles in the speakers but I have to give kudos to my Honda dealership since when I took it in they listen to it and they didn't tell me I was playing it too loud or anything like that they just worked their butts off and soundproofed it so it stopped rattling.

 

[Mr. Natural]

I’ve yet to find any equalizer either. Just the treble, mid, bass.

 

[mgldan]

Sorry to get your hopes up, but I was talking about the treble, mid, and bass. That’s an equalizer, even if it only has three adjustments.

You can scroll down on that screen to reveal a subwoofer control too (below bass). It gives a little more oomph. I have mine three ticks about center because more started to sound kind of fake. I have mid at center; treble and bass two ticks above center.

 

[Verdier]

Holy moly dude! You must have ear muffs on! The treble from this system is enough to peel the paint off this car. You're hard core to be running it a few ticks up.

 

[mgldan]

That's just how I like it. I usually have the volume at 7, which is pretty low. The audio plays through CarPlay, and not Bluetooth. I assume that (wired) CarPlay is better than (wireless) Bluetooth for audio fidelity.

Of course, if the car were to support wireless CarPlay through a software update, I'll be all over that.

I also got one of of these right-angle Lightning cables for the car. To me it's worth it not to have extra cord length making the console look disorganized. The 6-inch cable is pretty short, so the phone is upside-down in the tray. Plugged into USB 1 to minimize strain relief.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=30784

 

[Jason]

I'm going to go back to the Honda Service and just tell them my car is broke.

I just heard "In the Air tonight - Phil Collins", and that was by far the absolute worst experience I have ever had with the song. I maxed the "sub", and "bass", and "treble". The Treble is the only difference in sound that I could hear.

I have never experienced such terrible low-end performance from any stereo, let alone a 10 speaker system.

And at the same time though I am canceling the extended lifetime warranty lie.

 

[Verdier]

I'm going to go back to the Honda Service and just tell them my car is broke.

I just heard "In the Air tonight - Phil Collins", and that was by far the absolute worst experience I have ever had with the song. I maxed the "sub", and "bass", and "treble". The Treble is the only difference in sound that I could hear.

I have never experienced such terrible low-end performance from any stereo, let alone a 10 speaker system.

And at the same time though I am canceling the extended lifetime warranty lie.

Nothing much they can do. You'll need to change the speakers and sub and probably install a DSP amplifier to fix the absolutely atrocious settings in the DSP of the factory amp. The center speaker is nearly unbearable at times.

I've tried to only change the speakers, but the settings of the system have to be redone with a DSP if you plan on playing at any real volume. For some reason they thought sending nearly the entire audio spectrum through the center 3 1/2 speaker and pumping up the treble to ungodly levels constitutes a premium sound system. If you want to see videos on this experience feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel verdier400 and follow my progress as I stumble through this upgrade process.

 

[insightfully]

And at the same time though I am canceling the extended lifetime warranty lie.

Sidebar from 'speaker' topic - but what issue are you having with the extended lifetime warranty? Is it something you paid for, and is your dealer not honoring?

 

[JK919]

I'm going to go back to the Honda Service and just tell them my car is broke.

I just heard "In the Air tonight - Phil Collins", and that was by far the absolute worst experience I have ever had with the song. I maxed the "sub", and "bass", and "treble". The Treble is the only difference in sound that I could hear.

I have never experienced such terrible low-end performance from any stereo, let alone a 10 speaker system.

And at the same time though I am canceling the extended lifetime warranty lie.

Oh man that is bad news. I was really hoping to the 10 speaker system in the touring would be better than that.

I hate center channel speakers in the dash.

 

[safedad]

Nothing much they can do. You'll need to change the speakers and sub and probably install a DSP amplifier to fix the absolutely atrocious settings in the DSP of the factory amp. The center speaker is nearly unbearable at times.

I've tried to only change the speakers, but the settings of the system have to be redone with a DSP if you plan on playing at any real volume. For some reason they thought sending nearly the entire audio spectrum through the center 3 1/2 speaker and pumping up the treble to ungodly levels constitutes a premium sound system. If you want to see videos on this experience feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel verdier400 and follow my progress as I stumble through this upgrade process.

Just got an Insight Touring a couple days ago and finally had a little time to break out some music, sound meter and warble tones.

I also found the center channel over-weighted. Turning off DTS Neural Sound in the "Settings-> Sound" area helped make it bearable.

Bass response was way too high by about 10dB starting around 125 Hz and very boomy, so I cranked that down to one of the lower settings. The subwoofer control kicks in around 62 Hz. That was also high, peaking at ~40 Hz. It should also probably be turned down a few notches, but I like a little extra low bass so I turned it up a few;-) There is actually decent sound pressure level even at 31 Hz on my meter, but it's dropping off considerably by 25Hz.

The sound quality overall is actually fairly comparable to some other systems I've had recently, including Toyota/JBL in the Rav4 and Prius, Kia/HK in the Niro and Hyundai/Infinity in the Ioniq. The nice thing about the Insight is the trunk. Even though it's only an 8" subwoofer with a smallish magnet and paper cone on the rear parcel shelf, it can still move more air at lower frequencies, perhaps because the trunk serves as the enclosure. The compact SUVs and hatchbacks I've had with premium audio all have tiny volume sub enclosures and the physics just doesn't allow them to get the same effective sound pressure levels down low.

Overall, the sound seems pretty decent for factory audio in the segment. I could not get close to a flat response From 200Hz down no matter the settings, but it's better than before. It's also not going to rattle the windows of the car in the next lane, but still reasonably good to my ears that aren't as critical as they were years ago. The rear parcel shelf is not well braced/damped, so it does vibrate, something that wasn't as pronounced in the hatchbacks with their tiny cargo-area subs, but of course they also couldn't play low bass as loud. I'm sure with some $$$, people can make big improvements, but keep in mind if you only do a speaker change, many factory speakers are optimized for efficiency at the cost of frequency response, especially in lower trims with lower power head units. I don't know if that's true in the premium Honda systems, but if it is, you can lose a lot of volume by putting in certain higher quality drivers.

Good luck to everyone swapping in nicer components. I wish I had better hearing to make it worth joining you!

 

[insightfully]

Just got an Insight Touring a couple days ago and finally had a little time to break out some music, sound meter and warble tones.

Love the data-based analysis, thanks for collecting and sharing! The EX sound system is more 'mellow' but would like to see your comparable measurements for it if you ever get your hands on one.

 

[Wasabi]

Are all the Honda systems the same/crappy?

 

[Verdier]

Trust me safedad. If you play enough stuff on the system the center will drive you up the wall even with neural sound off and treble set to the lowest. Especially if you listen at high volume. Currently I'm working at sound dampening the rear deck. The inner parts of the seat belts might be a problem I can't overcome, but I'm gonna try.

 

[insightfully]

Are all the Honda systems the same/crappy?

I think most EX owners here have found the audio system decent/acceptable, while Touring owners find the 'premium' audio sub-par. The Honda audio systems differ by model and even within the single Insight platform, the systems differ by trim:

LX trim = 6 PIONEER speakers, 160W output --> 2 front tweeters, 2 front door speakers, 2 rear speakers
EX trim = 8 PIONEER speakers 180W output --> +2 rear tweeters inside the housing for the 2 rear speakers
Touring = 10 FOSTER speakers 450W output --> +subwoofer in trunk and front center dash speaker

 

[safedad]

I think most EX owners here have found the audio system decent/acceptable, while Touring owners find the 'premium' audio sub-par. The Honda audio systems differ by model and even within the single Insight platform, the systems differ by trim:

LX trim = 6 PIONEER speakers, 160W output --> 2 front tweeters, 2 front door speakers, 2 rear speakers
EX trim = 8 PIONEER speakers 180W output --> +2 rear tweeters inside the housing for the 2 rear speakers
Touring = 10 FOSTER speakers 450W output --> +subwoofer in trunk and front center dash speaker

Expectations probably also have a lot to do with it. I'm content that it sounds as good or better than the Ioniq, Prius and other models I've driven and reviewed recently. I'm sure if I hopped into a luxury vehicle with a high end factory branded system or anything with a good custom system right now, I'd be disappointed getting back into the Insight. It sure would have been nice and relatively inexpensive to have more EQ bands plus faders for all individual speakers, but I am glad they at least put a usable subwoofer control in the head unit.


@Verdier Nice signature quote- I'll see if I can find some Hong Kong Cavaliers to play.

 

[Verdier]

I think most EX owners here have found the audio system decent/acceptable, while Touring owners find the 'premium' audio sub-par. The Honda audio systems differ by model and even within the single Insight platform, the systems differ by trim:

LX trim = 6 PIONEER speakers, 160W output --> 2 front tweeters, 2 front door speakers, 2 rear speakers
EX trim = 8 PIONEER speakers 180W output --> +2 rear tweeters inside the housing for the 2 rear speakers
Touring = 10 FOSTER speakers 450W output --> +subwoofer in trunk and front center dash speaker

Expectations probably also have a lot to do with it. I'm content that it sounds as good or better than the Ioniq, Prius and other models I've driven and reviewed recently. I'm sure if I hopped into a luxury vehicle with a high end factory branded system or anything with a good custom system right now, I'd be disappointed getting back into the Insight. It sure would have been nice and relatively inexpensive to have more EQ bands plus faders for all individual speakers, but I am glad they at least put a usable subwoofer control in the head unit.


@Verdier Nice signature quote- I'll see if I can find some Hong Kong Cavaliers to play.

Last time I listened to the higher end Prius system I found it to be a bit better. They use jbl speakers and tend to have less rattles in the car than the touring. The ioniq system is overly bassy and muddy.

The highs in the premium system are so high, and they send too much into that little 3 1/2 driver on the dash. I really wish I could access the DSP, but I'm just going to have to bypass it. The center is going to be a bit more tricky, but I plan on summing it into the left right channels if possible. Wish maestro made something to split the GPS and voice recognition off from the center channel stereo info so I could leave that in the center speaker and put the radio info into the left right fronts.

Remind me again what my sig is. Am I still sporting the bukaroo banzai quote?

 

[safedad]

Last time I listened to the higher end Prius system I found it to be a bit better. They use jbl speakers and tend to have less rattles in the car than the touring. The ioniq system is overly bassy and muddy.

Remind me again what my sig is. Am I still sporting the bukaroo banzai quote?

Indeed.

Biggest shortcoming of the JBL system I had was the bass peaks at around 100 Hz and 50Hz and very little sound pressure left below 40Hz. It didn't sound bad otherwise, maybe all it needed was an efficient subwoofer in a large enclosure to cover the bottom, but then you lose a lot of cargo space. The Ioniq was a little more like the Insight to me. I adjusted the bass setting down a bit and it didn't play as loud, but otherwise OK. The rear panel rattle I have is definitely a drawback the Insight has that the others didn't. I guess the one advantage of those very small sub enclosures is that you can damp them much easier than a long, narrow deck. I'm sure the extreme emphasis on low cost and low weight in these entry level hybrids forces a lot of compromises even if you throw on a JBL, Harmon Kardon or Infinity branding.