clutchcargo

I am not sure if this has been posted.

I found a Panasonic Website with info regarding the ELS.

Here is the link

http://www.elssurround.com/default.asp

Modeler

Damn! If I knew the stereo was by Panasonic, I would've never bought the car!

I'm mostly kidding, but not completelly. Panasonic's product and service quality has dropped into dumpster over the last decade. After the horrible experiences with several cordless phones and one TV, I've vowed to never buy another Panasonic product again!

youngmic

Cool, thanks!

¿GotJazz?

Hehe ... I did my research beforehand and found out that this was a Panasonic system. Not thrilled, but OK.

What scared me was that one of the salesmen I met implied that this was a Bose-based system, which actually may have nixed the car for me - I'm not sure that I could have corrected the sound enough that I would have ever been able to listen to it very long.

rhalvers

Sweet, thanks for the info.
Humm, Panasonic. Now, how am I going to break this to my friends?

Lore

I think the review here makes for a good read:
http://www.elssurround.com/absolute_sound.asp

svtmike

It is what it is. The best stock 5.1 surround sound audio system available today. There truly is no alternative.

Mike

P.S. It's also the worst stock 5.1 surround sound audio system available today, but they don't need to know that.

¿GotJazz?

Thanks for the info, Lore!

It's sad - apparently TAS (The Abso!ute Sound) has sold out to advertising revenue or editorial pressures. The old TAS would have been a lot more harsh about the sound of the ELS sound system. With the bass boosting being done by the ELS system, the old TAS probably would not have even considered it acceptable.

Instead, their review reads pretty much how Panasonic would like it to read - as good advertising material. It even has some mild criticisms by the "more picky audiophiles" to make it seem more authentic.

Oh, well - how the mighty have fallen.

I don't really care who makes it, as long as it can be made to sound great. My premium JBL system in my Ford was a very pleasant surprise - one of the best sounding car systems I have owned.

Love it! Mike, you have a wicked sense of humour!

frqwntbyr

FWIW: On Cavuto's show this morning, one of the tech stock gurus recommended Matsu****a (Panasonic's parent) as one of the tech stocks worth a darn.

Modeler

:lol1: This is too funny! The system took out part of the company name thinking it's a bad word!

orange-man

The article is of interest to me in that it confirms what we all knew, that all their efforts were put into optimizing the DVD-A sound and not for CD's or XM.

Is is reasonable to dream that if they correct this in 2005 or 2006, and also include SACD capability, that we could have our dealer swap out the head units? I know it would probably cost $700, but I'm guessing that the dash design and connections will stay the same for many years to come, so I would think that a direct replacement would be a very real possibility.

At least that's how I have it all figured out.........

neuronbob

The TAS article was great; that was a great find, Lore! Being a (previously) non-audiophile, the article clearly states what the stereo system is (tuned for DVD-A and therefore not a perfect stereo CD player) and is not (an SACD or MP3 player).

It would be cool if the next generation of the ELS system included a universal disc player. I'm looking for one of these for my home, in fact, so I can try some SACDs as well as DVD-As.

vtechbrain

rets

Thanks, clutchcargo, I didn't know this site, useful info.

Since disclosed the info in September, 04TL has been saying this is Panasonic system.

Bitium

How many stock 5.1 sourround sound audio system are out there???????

youngmic

Exactly.

svtmike

One. Are you taking issue with my tongue-in-cheek statement?

Mike

Bitium

was it a joke go figure!!!!!!!!

DavidNJ

The Panasonic over the counter system does support spacial enhancement for stereo, although it doesn't support MP3, WMA, or SACD.

Hopefully future head units will be interchangable.

The writeup (thanks for the site clutchcargo) implies the speakers are good, but others have found improvements from replacing them.

Lore

Yeah, I think so!

If there's only one stock 5.1 system available in the entire car market, then it is both the best and the worst system at the same time!

rick955i

I feel the exact same way about Sony

svtmike

Um, yeah it was. I thought it would be pretty obvious to anyone who read the entire 4-sentence post. I'll try and pepper things with more smilies from now on.

Mike

LGG

The display in the Panasonic head on my Vigor has been fixed three times. Most Vigor owners have had similar experiences. POS.

svtmike

I don't think Panasonic designed the display for the 04 TL radio; on that eBay page where the guy is selling the stock radio, there's no display at all.

I've had good luck over the years with Panasonic electronics (as opposed to Sony, which I will never buy again), but have always used Alpine for aftermarket stereo stuff without ever needing a repair.

Mike

automophile

I don't know why so many of you feel that Panasonic is any worse than the other OEM car stereo makers.

Car audio systems are made TO ORDER and approved by the car maker. Often they even change makers during a model run or year. It is the CAR MAKER that is responsible for the audio system, not the electronics manufacturer.

Meanwhile, I found out that ACURA chose NOT to include the algorithm in the DTS system that would have allowed us to play our existing collections of stereo CDs in surround sound. This algorithm was included with the DTS license and would have cost them nothing.

How ridiculous is that? D'Oh!