cheffip

I have a 2008 Tech and wondering if there are any recommended settings for the best ELS sound?
I've done a search and found lots of recommendations for the 2G RDX but can't seem to find any settings for 1G.
Music preferences range from light rock to new age and classical.

Tomtwtwtw

There is not much you can change within the settings...you have bass, treble and an independent subwoofer adjustment, and really it's all subjective. Play with it till you hear what you want to hear. I personally keep treble about 8/10 and bass around 6/10 (just over middle), and I keep the sub setting pretty high. What you REALLY want for best sound is the best possible input quality. If you can manage to find any DVD-audio discs, they sound amazing on this system. Unfortunately the format never really took off and what's out there tends to be a little pricey.

Example: https://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Overtu...udio+classical

https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-9-S...in%3A387646011

https://www.amazon.com/Moving-Pictur...ures+dvd+audio

RDX10

The els sound is really clear and crisp, but kind of lacking in the bass department. So my settings were bass and sub at max, treble around the middle (5?), front middle speaker at about 1-2 bars to the right. I really liked it like that. Try it and see what you feel.

Tomtwtwtw

Agreed on the bass. The sound is super clean, and the sub control lets you add a good amount of bass at low overall volume, but as the rest of the speakers get loud the bass caps out quickly. On the positive side, the amp doesn't push the sub beyond its capabilities and you do not have to worry about that flappy distorted bass from an over-worked sub. If I were to do anything to this system, it would the sub and amp replacement that a few have done using a low-pro sub and the factory enclosure. A 200w or so sub will allow the bass to scale nicely with the rest of the system.

mrgold35

Do you have any DVD-audio to play with the ELS to adjust for the type of music you like? I really wish DVD-A didn't go the way of betamax, laserdisks, and now CDs. It is a totally different system when you put a DVD-A in the ELS system. The ELS system sound average or slightly above average with FM/XM/CD inputs. I tend to push the base, treble, center, and sub up a little higher to get a little more out the system with FM/XM. It can kick some butt with DVD-A and additional adjustment might be needed depending on the type of music. I have an extremely hard time finding DVD-A I want to purchase compared to just listening to XM or connecting my iPhone to the AUX connection. The ELS system is pretty much like a high quality HD TV and we mostly use it to watch (or listen) standard definition with FM/XM/CD/MP3/ACC formats.

Another reason to keep our current Gen vehicles since they dropped DVD-A feature on the current Acura models.

Tomtwtwtw

It's basically a dead format, so it makes sense for them to drop it. But on the other hand blu-ray audio is definitely a thing, and it would be great if some of the newer high-end stereo options on the market could support it. Not sure how many actually do.

RDX10

By treble in the middle, I meant the middle of the postive side, so about 5 clicks to the right from the middle I think.

cheffip

Thanks for the suggestions. I found the base and sub boost especially helpful even on regular CDs. I have a couple of DVD-A's which sound great but the selection is of course so limited and some of the performances were never first rate. Is it my imagination or has XM sound gone downhill in recent years? When I first got the RDX I thought it was so much better than FM...not so sure now.

RDX10

I have always hated XM radio. It tends to cut out all the bass and depth from the song.

mrgold35

I can't tell if XM has gotten worse or FM stepped up its game and got a little better? I'm usually 90% XM listener for my commute to work. I was stuck with a loaner from Enterprise for 3 months for the Takata airbag. The chevy truck didn't have XM; but, the FM stations sounded just as good, if not better, than my RDX XM channels. FM might have sounded pretty good; but, all those damn commercials and talk after every song reminded me of why I listen to XM. I needed to preset 8 stations just to get away from all the talk/commercials or most of my commute was listening to that.

I'm back to (mono tone) XM since getting my RDX repaired.

Tomtwtwtw

Did the truck have HD radio? Lots of new vehicles have it and it makes a good difference on sound quality.