Originally Posted by dazco
You may have noted i said "some". First of all, it's subjective. I happen to think many hi end systems with these super tight subs and all sound artificial. Trillion watt amps with speakers that can handle it doesn't allow the speakers to breath till the system is bleeding your ears. Being a musician, tech, and having done a lot of sound in live situatuons for over 2 decades i think getting some news ears would be a real bad idea.
Yea, the aftermarket stuff will have lower distortion, and thats great. But in other areas thier "perfection" sounds sterile to me. A friend has a $1500 system that makes my ears tired after a while. I actually prefer mine in that respect. Thats not to say some aren't great. but to say as a general sweeping statement that all aftermarket systems are so much better than the accord's that i need new ears is an ignorant statement. I said "some", which means that the accord's system is at least as good as some aftermarket sound. And that at least puts it in perspective considering that many cars like a civic aren't even in good enough to be called "good". And IMO that tells him more about it than a statement that clearly states that it won't sound near as good as ANY aftermarket system.
And you may have noticed that "j/k" after the get new ears line. That stands for "just kidding". No need to get all offended. I can respect your level of knowledge and experience in the audio field. Fact is that the car environment is not the same as the home, studio, or live environment. Additionally, the difference between higher-end OEM systems/aftermarket systems as compared to the Accord OEM system will only become apparent at higher volume levels. At 70db it's pretty much all the same. That being said, the stock systems don't (generally) have the construction or power to reproduce the signal(s) as accurately as aftermarket gear. The original post asked about blasting music, not listening at moderate levels. Any aftermarket system can sound poor if not properly designed or installed. Assuming proper design and installation, the vast majority of aftermarket systems (swap market crap aside) would definitely outperform the Accord OEM system.