The Radio

[Ronev]

I know, the radio sound quality is the least important aspect of the Elise driving experience to many owners. I've read comments on here regarding the sound being "tinny" and "thin", etc.

In reality, the Blaupunkt Los Angeles MP72 in my 2005 Elise is a pretty deep piece of goods in the radio world. Read the manual as I did, and you may discover some good stuff.

1. The Elise has no subwolfer, however the radio does have a sub-out in case you can find space for it and the necessary amp.

2. The radio itself has DEQ+ for EQing the sound, either manually or automatically, using different freq center points and levels for 6 freq bands.
A microphone is included to automatically set the EQ for the interior of the Elise, either with the driver alone or driver/passenger. The "tinny" sound comes from all the hard surfaces inside the Elise, so automatically setting the EQ takes this into consideration.

I got good results doing it automatically and manually.

3. The hard ride of the Elise (which I love) makes CD's practically useless. I discovered that this radio will read MP3's from the Key Code Card slot. These little MMC cards are of the type used in digital cameras. You just burn MP3's to, say, a 512mb card, and the card slot will read it, delivering good sound, and very stable on bad roads. I got 6 albums onto a 512mb card.

Anyway, I'm happy with my sound, and I suggest digging a little deeper in the radio manual.......if sound is important to you.

[delise]

Wow nice work I did not know half of that stuff. I personally don't listen to the radio while driving but all of that is excellent to know. I always thought the stereo was considered pretty nice as well and never understood why people dogged on the actual unit. It is the fact that it is in a raw, uninsulated track car with an engine behind your head that makes it hard to hear

The memory card is a great feature!

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

People rip the stock head unit because the system as a whole is one of the worst-sounding in the modern world and the HU is an easy target. It's not a great head unit, but it's not the root of the problem either.

I recommend JL Audio XR's and lots of baffling. Some people prefer to add a sub. Either way, focus on the speakers. I was able to get a sound I would call "decent" - not as filled out as even the stock speakers in a Pontiac G6 rental car but not terrible, and extremely clear - from 5.25 XR's in front, which are the single best thing I did for the system. My HU is a McIntosh MX406, but I consider that rather far down the priority list. It's true that there's only so much you can do inside an aluminum bathtub, but getting the priorities straight is a start.

[Ronev]

Thanks, Future, good to know re:speakers/baffling.

[Ronev]

JL Audio's got some good stuff....like this sub for the Elise:

JL Audio: Products

Your passenger will have to be shorter, maybe.

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

That's one way to do it. Another way would be to custom lay a fiberglass enclosure to replace the rear interior panel. You lose the cargo net that way, but the added weight is located closer to the center of the car which means less effect on handling, it doesn't get kicked by the passenger, and it's more visually symmetrical. Personally I feel the JL Audio XR's have enough kick for my needs, and I was able to achieve my results without functionally modifying the car or significantly increasing the weight. Those speakers (5.25" not 4") are much deeper physically than the stock speakers though and you may need to reroute climate control ducts to install them.

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

By the way, I also installed 6" JL Audio ZR's in the rear panel, with the tweeters embedded in the woofer grilles. After spending $700 on this and getting little result, I've concluded the rears aren't even worth messing around with unless you're willing to perform the surgery to relocate the tweeters.

[slaughtr]

I think the best description of the radio's performance in the Elise was from an auto magazine that said "you've just been Blau-punked".

[MyFutureSelfnMe]

I bet that was the extent of their review too, because that's all that needs to be said.