3 months with the hi-fi system...updates

[808MGuy]

Some of you might remember that I posted my opinion of the hi-fi system after about a month of owning the car. Well, its been 3 months now and my opinion of the system remains pretty much the same. The mids are a bit overbearing and the highs roll off to fast. The low end is decent but without authority. Overall, its a decent system for an OEM. However, I have recently found one major flaw in the system. Dynamics. The systems abilitiy to go from loud to soft or vice versa accurately and with authority. It doesn't have it.

I was playing some tracks this morning that I'm very familiar with and recall on my last system that they were very dynamic tracks. The hi-fi system did not portray those tracks anywhere near what I remember. It was kind of like someone just going through the motions rather than really getting into the task. Instead of having the rush of a big cresendo during a track it seemed flat. This has everything to do with available amp power. The hi-fi amp just doesn't have the power to produce that kind of dynamic headroom.

Lack of dynamic headroom should not be mistaken for a lack of ability to get loud. The system definitely can get plenty loud. Its just not musical when it gets loud. Honestly, I never noticed it until now because there isn't a lot of music that will stress this attribute. I just happened to pull out some old CDs and start listening and noticed it right away. Has anyone done any kind of critical listening with the premium system that can comment on the dynamic headroom? It would be interesting to see how it compares.