Sounds Good - Stealth Package

[SoundsGoodStereo]

sorry have to disagree with customer service. Very poor communication

Yes, we have been full-tilt building these packages and fulfilling literally thousands of orders... The best way to reach us is by phone, late afternoon (I'm here from 10am to 10pm daily). We have 3 guys who can answer any questions you have, but they are also the lead engineer, CAD designer, system tuner of these packages. Their daily priority is the QC of the product, trying to meet deadlines the best we can. When we get this busy, social media, forum posts, emails, and back-to-back phone calls have to be put on hold or our lead times will be 9 months for as many of these as we sell.

In the future, once we find a talented, knowledgeable person and someone who truly can wrap their head around these complicated trucks, we will have a dedicated customer service person. For now, the person answering the phone is literally the person who spent years developing these packages and it's hard to just put anyone in that place. We appreciate your patience and understanding, and this year we have some big plans to help streamline all of these growing pains of our massive growth.

I’ve had the same issue with them , but I keep ordering , their stuff is top notch , and they r pro super Busy for that reason. A certain place in Texas has way worst customer communication , and lead times , I’m 3- months in on tweeters adapters that they made wrong , still have not received the correct ones. Now some of the wait time is on me , as they wanted pictures .

Appreciate the support and glad you enjoy the products.

I emailed them 3-4 days ago asking about compatibility with the Autotec headunit/screen.... not a peep.

We will not get anywhere near an Autotec head-unit with one of our packages. Nothing but countless hours of troubleshooting and trying to make that radio sound somewhat decent.

It ended up taking about 12 weeks. Had to work with them to get a couple of bugs worked out. It’s definitely a high quality, well engineered system. It does sound very good. In hindsight I think my expectations were too high given my unwillingness to give up the space under the rear seat and my desire to keep the factory pillars. I think the 3 way active, non stealth package would have delivered the performance that I was anticipating. With that being said, the more I listen to the 2-way active, stealth package, the more I appreciate what they packed into a completely factory looking package.

We appreciate your patience DCM. Let the system break in over time, especially the subwoofers so they come alive. Last year we pre-broke in the subwoofers so when it shipped, they were at full potential. In the past 3 months, we just didn't have the space/time to break in a thousand woofers... In the future, if you want to upgrade, just let us know and we can apply a credit to the 3-way under seat setup

 

[XSTNKT]

Hopefully not us, we will not get anywhere near an Autotec head-unit with one of our packages. Nothing but countless hours of troubleshooting and trying to make that radio sound somewhat decent.

Yes, you. I still haven't heard back, btw. A simple "we don't support that piece of hardware with our packages" would have been sufficiant. That is exactly why I wanted to ask first before spending $6000-7000 or more on your product/service. You guys are cash-flush right now and trying to figure out how to work through that flood of orders... Hey, I get it. Been there. Expansion is hard. I've seen so many brilliant people with amazing products fail because they don't know how to RUN a business. I hope you do figure it out. May the bridges you burn light the way for you. Which WAY that will be, well... we'll see.

Thanks for your response.

 

[SoundsGoodStereo]

Yes, you. I still haven't heard back, btw. A simple "we don't support that piece of hardware with our packages" would have been sufficiant. That is exactly why I wanted to ask first before spending $6000-7000 or more on your product/service. You guys are cash-flush right now and trying to figure out how to work through that flood of orders... Hey, I get it. Been there. Expansion is hard. I've seen so many brilliant people with amazing products fail because they don't know how to RUN a business. I hope you do figure it out. May the bridges you burn light the way for you. Which WAY that will be, well... we'll see.

Thanks for your response.

Thanks for the feedback and over the weekend, I will try to catch up on the emails. So you might receive a "we don't support that piece of hardware with our packages" but more of a workaround with our packages, it's not something we recommend if sound quality is the objective. The tablet radios unfortunately are 99% features and 1% audio quality, so it's like hooking up a Super Nintendo from the 90s to a 8K TV and wondering why the resolution does not look that good

 

[XSTNKT]

Thanks for the feedback and over the weekend, I will try to catch up on the emails. So you might receive a "we don't support that piece of hardware with our packages" but more of a workaround with our packages, it's not something we recommend if sound quality is the objective. The tablet radios unfortunately are 99% features and 1% audio quality, so it's like hooking up a Super Nintendo from the 90s to a 8K TV and wondering why the resolution does not look that good

Thanks. I see what you mean by the analogy. I'm a little confused though because the display just piggybacks onto the stock B&O Sync 3 head unit (quite literally actually). Yes there is DSP software loaded on the tablet... but I'm pretty sure it can be turned off. I'm no stereo/tech guru or anything though so that's why I asked.

Thanks again for the reply.

 

[SoundsGoodStereo]

Thanks. I see what you mean by the analogy. I'm a little confused though because the display just piggybacks onto the stock B&O Sync 3 head unit (quite literally actually). Yes there is DSP software loaded on the tablet... but I'm pretty sure it can be turned off. I'm no stereo/tech guru or anything though so that's why I asked.

Thanks again for the reply.

Yes, it piggybacks on the stock system, but not sure where in the stereo conversion the head unit degrades the output. More than likely, it has to do with the DSP in the radio. We have what you call MIPS (millions of instructions per second) in DSPs and many of these tablet radio chips cannot handle the bandwidth, so they compress the information to pass it through the DSP. That's why you can hear the difference between a $100 DSP to a $1800 DSP even if they both have an identical number of bands in the EQ. In theory, if you could bypass the DSP on the PCB board or through software, then it would be digital out (Preferably over copper, not optical) and these radios would be great for sound.

We have even tried to communicate with these vendors, and importers and tried to convince them to modify the outputs, but they did not see any value into that

 

[Zeusmotorworks]

Shame as the display has more value than the sound for this half deaf old guy. Don't know why the hell main stream manufacturers have not jumped on that band wagon... then again, probably no way to compete with the Chinese "companies" with name brand "overhead".

 

[XSTNKT]

Yes, it piggybacks on the stock system, but not sure where in the stereo conversion the head unit degrades the output. More than likely, it has to do with the DSP in the radio. We have what you call MIPS (millions of instructions per second) in DSPs and many of these tablet radio chips cannot handle the bandwidth, so they compress the information to pass it through the DSP. That's why you can hear the difference between a $100 DSP to a $1800 DSP even if they both have an identical number of bands in the EQ. In theory, if you could bypass the DSP on the PCB board or through software, then it would be digital out (Preferably over copper, not optical) and these radios would be great for sound.

We have even tried to communicate with these vendors, and importers and tried to convince them to modify the outputs, but they did not see any value into that

I have noticed if the "console" function is used on the Autotech, it is just the Sync system. All of the sync functions and B&O DSP processing are used. The HMI is just displayed on the Autotech screen.

However, if I get out of the "Console" and use anything featured on the Autotech (wireless CarPlay for example), the audio signal goes through the Autotech's DSP (and sounds like hot garbage). I can tell it's trying to lay it's signal over what is already being produced by the B&O system. If I turn the OEM B&O levels down on the EQ, the sound from Autotech's DSP sounds much better (but still not great).

FWIW, there are now 4v RCA pre-outs on the Autotech, and an optical out. I was assuming they were to be used for an exterior processor and/or amp.

If you are trying to work with the manufacturer of the tesla style radios, you're going to have to speak Mandarin.

 

[DCM]

We appreciate your patience DCM. Let the system break in over time, especially the subwoofers so they come alive. Last year we pre-broke in the subwoofers so when it shipped, they were at full potential. In the past 3 months, we just didn't have the space/time to break in a thousand woofers... In the future, if you want to upgrade, just let us know and we can apply a credit to the 3-way under seat setup

Subwoofer performance has increased substantially since initial install. Have also realized that having my under-seat storage tray packed full of gear blocks a lot of the output. I have found that lowering the passenger side rear seat back really improves the impact of the subwoofer. I don’t mean to be overly critical of this system. I do love it and appreciate it more as time goes by. It’s so nice to have a system that is dialed-in where I’m not constantly fiddling with adjustments. I really like the Flax mids and highs. I have previously had K2s and after discussing with Sounds Good decided to do Flax. Personally, I prefer the sound of the Flax over the K2s (not everyone will agree). I’m just really torn between the trade off of the stealth install vs. going big.

 

[Littlefx4]

Subwoofer performance has increased substantially since initial install. Have also realized that having my under-seat storage tray packed full of gear blocks a lot of the output. I have found that lowering the passenger side rear seat back really improves the impact of the subwoofer. I don’t mean to be overly critical of this system. I do love it and appreciate it more as time goes by. It’s so nice to have a system that is dialed-in where I’m not constantly fiddling with adjustments. I really like the Flax mids and highs. I have previously had K2s and after discussing with Sounds Good decided to do Flax. Personally, I prefer the sound of the Flax over the K2s (not everyone will agree). I’m just really torn between the trade off of the stealth install vs. going big.

You’re in TX…go big or go home!

 

[Torchy]

Hey op, sounds like you have a nice set up! Have pics of the finished product?