I think the base stereo sounds good...

[crgator]

Maybe it's my tinnitus. Or my hearing loss. (Worked on the flight line in the Air Force, then years of loud rock and roll.) But to me, the sound is not bad at all. I rarely listen to FM, usually Pandora with Android Auto, or my MP3 player, but I'm pretty pleased with the sound.

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[B2000]

My second Ford was a 1979 Fiesta that had a cubby screwed to the bottom of the dash and came with some kind of basic radio. I put in a Pioneer FM Cassette and velcroed some Radio Shack mini box 2 ways to the package shelf behind the back seat. First time I had to brake hard to avoid an accident the speakers ripped loose and hit the back of the headrests. I reinstalled with the brackets. I'm hoping the radio in the Lariat will work for me.

 

[Tbolt]

I have the B&O not the stock, but people have complained about that too. Personally, I think it's pretty awesome.

Normally I listen to XM, Talk/Metal/sometimes Country or Jazz/rock/pop off a local station. All sounds pretty good. But they are giving 6 months of Apple music free right now, and, wow, does that sound nice in my Mav. Especially classic rock.

I guess if I was into heavy base maybe I would have issues, but for what I listen to, it's been pretty great.

 

[Clock Doc]

If you complain about todays radios you didn't grow up in the era of AM only,

I had a small red zenith transistor radio that I hung off the rear view mirror so I could listen to FM.

Hearing is bad for me, race tracks and hot rods, loud concerts, ridiculously loud car stereos, sirens mounted on car roof right over my head and confined space gunfire have all destroyed my hearing. Now I stream music right into my hearing aids. I can hear every instrument and vocal that was missing. Clear sound at high volume not so important nowadays.

 

[Deleted member 5597]

I have an XLT and the audio sounds fine. I’m almost 63, and I remember the days when there was just one 4” speaker on the top of the dash and the radio had to be tuned by turning the dial. Sometimes the radio would get fuzzy and we had to fine tune the dial. Does anyone remember those days? I certainly do!! So, having the luxury of multiple speakers, presets on the radio, the ability to connect a cell phone with a USB cable to listen to your streaming station, is all a luxury!!

I don’t need a ghetto blaster to let every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the neighborhood to know what I’m listening to. I also don’t need to have all the cars at the same red light feel the vibration from excessive base in their cars.

 

[AURktman]

I have decent hearing loss and nasty tinnitus so a high-end sound system is wasted on me. As long as I can find a way to plug in my SXM and play my oldies radio shows and 50's-80's stations, I'm good.

 

[Delbert]

The base stereo is more than just fine. It is really good. I love the fact that I can stream Spotify and I Heart Radio. It also has a good interface for my thumb drive. The amp is quite powerful. Enough for everything except earsplitting volumes. The controls for moving the sound stage and tone work great and it even has settings for how many people are in the truck.

I was ready to spend thousands on a DSP amp and speakers. I didn't, all I did was put Infinity Reference speakers and sound deadening. It was a marginal improvement but it helped me bond with the vehicle.

I sit in the truck doing construction observation and the fact the hybrid doesn't idle to run the A/C makes it sound that much better. The phone works better too. If I am sitting at my desk and holding the phone to my ear I can hardly hear people and they have trouble hearing me. When in the truck, I can hear them fine and other folks can hear me fine.

For comparison, sometimes I drive a 2019 F150. The base stereo in it is pretty bad and it doesn't even have hands free calling, let alone streaming.

 

[Edge Haley]

Have full. BOSE SYSTEM radio and speakers in black car to the left…and I find size of the vehicle effect the quality of sound. Maverick is just fine with me…plan on not touching anything…speaker location make a good improvement in the Maverick.

 

[Bob The Builder]

When someone such as myself wears hearing aids and is deafer than a haddock, then they all sound good.

 

[ClemsonU88]

I like the base stereo and speakers. I'm an audiophile wannabe. I love systems that sound great but am too cheap to get them.

My complaint is that they put the rear speakers right next to the back passengers' ear. Anyone who sits in the back seat gets blasted if you have the sound coming through the back speakers at all, so I end up moving the entire sound to the front speakers when I need to talk with those in the back seat.

Anyone else have that issue?

 

[Ford Maverick Maniac]

The problem with the Mav sound system is the speakers are only rated at 25 watts which tells me it's only a 25 watt amp, not 100 watts like we are used to. Plus the magnet on the speakers is very small. Larger magnets mean better sound. If Ford spent just $10 more on the speakers it would have made a big difference.

Yes the sound is not bad but you are not getting the full range. The low notes need more amp power to be heard properly. Adjusting the bass and treble helps but it is not the same as a more powerful amp and speakers with larger magnets like the B&O system has.

You can't play copyrighted music on YouTube but I snuck a couple of notes into this video with the base Mav stereo on my XLT. Can anyone name that tune?

 

[MostlySafeBear]

Here's a video/audio review of the base XL/XLT audio system, set to start at 5:15 where he plays various copyright-free tracks of different genres to illustrate the quality, then he gives it a subjective rating. There is a similar video for a B&O equipped truck, but this thread is not about the B&O system.

Obviously this works best if the system you're watching the video on has a decent sound system itself.

 

[Abraxis]

The problem with the Mav sound system is the speakers are only rated at 25 watts which tells me it's only a 25 watt amp, not 100 watts like we are used to. Plus the magnet on the speakers is very small. Larger magnets mean better sound. If Ford spent just $10 more on the speakers it would have made a big difference.

Yes the sound is not bad but you are not getting the full range. The low notes need more amp power to be heard properly. Adjusting the bass and treble helps but it is not the same as a more powerful amp and speakers with larger magnets like the B&O system has

Just in case anyone in the future comes wandering through here and believes these statements to be absolute fact, I'm here to be the fact police jerk and note that this is a mix of opinion and misconception (in particular as it relates to magnets and typical listening wattage that "we are used to")

 

[Ford Maverick Maniac]

Just in case anyone in the future comes wandering through here and believes these statements to be absolute fact, I'm here to be the fact police jerk and note that this is a mix of opinion and misconception (in particular as it relates to magnets and typical listening wattage that "we are used to")

It is not opinion that more power and better speakers give better sound. More powerful amps like the B&O pushes more current to the speaker. Current is what makes the speaker cone move which gives you better sound quality, but the speaker must be rated to handle the power. The difference is like listening to a football game out of the TV's small amp and speaker vs a more powerful surround sound system with a subwoofer.

 

[JennyJoannSuebeeMcNash]

Gonna have to agree on this one. The radio is fine for my daily commute. Can only tolerate so much volume first thing in the morning. During our roadtrips, the radio is usually at conversation volume unless we're having one of those spur of the moment sing-along duets when some really bad (but really good) song comes on.

I haven't long-haul road tripped in the Maverick alone yet. (Three-four hours to the west coast of FL doesn't count.)

Is anyone else here one of those "turn the volume down, I can't see!" people? Yep. Guilty as charged. Well, at night anyway...

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