I would like to disagree with everyone who says the Pandas standard stereo is not very good and has poor bass.

If your stereo doesn't sound awesome you either have your settings wrong or you are using the horrendously bad standard equalizer settings ( what are Blaupunkt doing putting these rubbish standard settings on the stereo for ! )

When I test drove the car originally I thought the stereo was rubbish. So rubbish in fact I was looking for a replacement on the net before I collected my car !.

But after a lot of tweaking on the user eq setting I have managed ( well I think so ! ) to get the stereo sounding amazing !

The only thing you might want to adjust is the bass setting, I have mine on -6 ( THIS STILL GIVES EXCELLENT POWERFUL BASS !, sorry for that but I'm fed up with people saying the standard stereo lacks bass !, IT DOESN'T !, ITS A MYTH ! ).

Ok these are my settings give them a try, what have you got to lose except for a better sounding stereo system !

BASS -6 ( you might want more bass, I don't know why !, but adjust if needed, It will go up to +6 I think !!!!!! )
LOUDNESS OFF
FAD 0
BAL 0
TREBLE +4

Equalizer bars as follows ( or see photo )
1st bar - 4 ( squares above centre line )
2nd bar - 3 ( above )
3rd bar - 2 ( above )
4th bar - 1 ( above )
5th bar - 3 ( above )
6th bar - 4 ( above )
7th bar - 4 ( above )

It should look like my picture afterwards. Please let me know what you think and how you get on. I am not easily pleased when it comes to car stereos, I nearly always change the standard unit, Not this time.

I have a similar setting on my EQ, but with the 5th and 6th bars one click down....

However, I have:

Bass 4
Loudness ON
Fader +2 / +4 to the front (because I prefer the sound up front and the front speakers are bigger!)

But I agree....It can sound quite sweet when set up to your liking!

Totally agree, the standard stereo can sound really good.
Ive got it as:

Bass -6
Treble +4
Fader -2
Balance 0

Still playing with the equaliser but i am really happy with the way it sounds now. No stupid vibrating bass, just a nice clear deep sound. :slayer:

ThisBitterPill said:

I have a similar setting on my EQ, but with the 5th and 6th bars one click down....

However, I have:

Bass 4
Loudness ON
Fader +2 / +4 to the front (because I prefer the sound up front and the front speakers are bigger!)

But I agree....It can sound quite sweet when set up to your liking!

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At least we nearly agree on the Eq bars !

I find Loudness on makes things a bit 'boomy'

You have your Bass on 4 ! People must hear you coming miles away ! lol !

paul100hp said:

Totally agree, the standard stereo can sound really good.
Ive got it as:

Bass -6
Treble +4
Fader -2
Balance 0

Still playing with the equaliser but i am really happy with the way it sounds now. No stupid vibrating bass, just a nice clear deep sound. :slayer:

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I'm glad you have your stereo sounding good as well

I agree with you, I found the standard presets made the bass sound tinny and weak, but a few tweeks do wonders for the system.

rossmanfiatfan said:

You have your Bass on 4 ! People must hear you coming miles away ! lol !

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I do most of my 21 mile commute at M'way speeds so I like the extra solidity the higher bass setting gives me....

Settings will not only vary on personal taste but also what sort of music you listen to and how its been recorded...

If you listen to Mp3 discs that are using low compression ratings you won't get the same sort of sound as a proper CD etc etc

Someone listening to beat box type music would want lots of bass, lots of high end but probably not miss much from the middle... where someone listening to Jazz might want more in the middle.. etc.. etc...

Steve

AskCy said:

Settings will not only vary on personal taste but also what sort of music you listen to and how its been recorded...

If you listen to Mp3 discs that are using low compression ratings you won't get the same sort of sound as a proper CD etc etc

Someone listening to beat box type music would want lots of bass, lots of high end but probably not miss much from the middle... where someone listening to Jazz might want more in the middle.. etc.. etc...

Steve

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I agree with you, but I listen to all sorts of music Dance, Rap, Pop, Heavy Metal, Electronic, Etc. My musical tastes are diverse I have everything from Lily allen to Lamb Of God to 50 Cent !

I find my settings handle all of these types of music equally well.

I can't comment on Jazz as Jazz is just a group of guys/gals playing different songs to each other all together ! ............ Great ! ........... Nice !

I have no loudness or bass boost but maxxed out on the bars...so I guess I have a very 'imposing' sound without any of the artificial boost to bass -or bass and treble as loudness does ...But it does still sound a bit 'heavy' sometimes ....I might drop down the bass as you lads did .That sub is right under the seat after all...

I totally agree, i was really surprised how good the standard stereo was when i got the car and so where my friends. I thought maybe i was a bit out of touch with car audio systems when people on here started having a go about it but it turns out im not the only one who likes it

I've still yet to bother doing the EQ settings (30,000km and 16 months on...) but that EQ curve is the exact opposite of what I've got on my mixer for DJing the same kind of music as I'd listen to in the car.

I tried doing it while stuck in the lanes in Holyhead a few months ago but I was so tired I couldn't figure it out and forgot I actually had the manuals in the glovebox at the time!

It sounds even better when you throw the standard head unit in the nearest bin. Replace with a decent head unit, and dont forget the compact active sub under the drivers seat... :slayer:

puffed out daddy said:

It sounds even better when you throw the standard head unit in the nearest bin. Replace with a decent head unit, and dont forget the compact active sub under the drivers seat... :slayer:

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Why go through the huge expense of changing a perfectly good head unit !

I agree that an aftermarket stereo would probably give a bit better sound but to my ears the standard head unit sounds very good if set up correctly. If I thought it sounded rubbish ( like I said earlier, it does sound rubbish with the standard Eq presets ! ) I would have no hesitation in upgrading the unit as I'm not easily pleased with car stereos.

Cian said:

I've still yet to bother doing the EQ settings (30,000km and 16 months on...) but that EQ curve is the exact opposite of what I've got on my mixer for DJing the same kind of music as I'd listen to in the car.

I tried doing it while stuck in the lanes in Holyhead a few months ago but I was so tired I couldn't figure it out and forgot I actually had the manuals in the glovebox at the time!

Click to expand...

With the middle section higher all types of music sounds really horrendous ! Try it if you don't believe me !

Go to user EQ USER in the Audio menu and hold the up arrow until the bar flashes, then use the up and down arrows to change the bars, left and right to move between bars, press audio button to finish. You will have to do this twice. Once when you have a CD in and again when you are listening to the radio as you can have different settings for both. ( The manual is wrong ! it says hold down the down arrow ! it should say hold the up arrow ! took me a while to figure out that one ! ).

Been tinkering a bit more as I've said the bass setting is probably the only thing worth changing from my settings.

I have now changed mine a bit after some input from others here, I'm not perfect ! lol !

I now have my bass on -2 for radio and -4 for CDs ( you can save each setting so you don't have to keep changing it ).

There seems to be more bass from the stereo from CDs, so I find a lower setting is needed.

As I've said it depends how much bass you like and I will probably change the bass again ( can't ever see me going above 0 )

ThisBitterPill - I've tried your +4 bass setting and I've still got a headache ! wow thats what you call bass ! Far too much too me, at least it will keep you awake if you are tired when driving !

rossmanfiatfan said:

ThisBitterPill - I've tried your +4 bass setting and I've still got a headache ! wow thats what you call bass ! Far too much too me, at least it will keep you awake if you are tired when driving !

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It might be +2 I'm not sure....But I don't find it overly heavy I must admit....We are talking non-sub version aren't we?

ThisBitterPill said:

It might be +2 I'm not sure....But I don't find it overly heavy I must admit....We are talking non-sub version aren't we?

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Yes standard non sub stereo.

factory settings are pants...tweaked to your own tastes though I think the standard stereo can be lived with as above.

When I first started the install with my car, the first thing I had done was soundproofing added to the doors, this had an amazing effect on the factory setup. I forget the numbers now, but say it used to get a little flappy at 20, you could take it to 25 before things started getting out of hand.

I would highly recommend this to those who want to further improve what they have without changing any other parts, for approx £50 it would be money well spent.

paulbfd said:

I forget the numbers now, but say it used to get a little flappy at 20, you could take it to 25 before things started getting out of hand.

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20! You'll lose your hearing at those levels! I usually listen to the radio at about 3 and the loudest I have had (with a very quiet CD) was about 15 IIRC.