If you have the stock Symphony Stereo on a 2000 or 2001 model (the one with the in-dash CD player) you have probably complained about the inability of the front speakers to reproduce bass notes and the resulting distortion that results from playing the stereo at a volume that's any louder than normal conversation. Surely, the stereo can't be this bad you must think.  Fortunately, the stereo is not that bad. It's just that the front speakers are really midranges that unfortunately have not been equipped with
crossovers to block the bass frequencies they have trouble reproducing.

Here's what you can do in under a minute to improve the sound of your stereo (some may make this change and forever be happy; others may make this change and determine they can live with this until they upgrade their audio system):

1. Adjust the fader on the stereo controls to approximately 3 marks toward the rear.
2. Adjust the treble and midrange controls up approximately 3 marks, so that they are higher than you'd normally set them, and so that they are higher than the bass level.
3. Listen and tweak to suit your tastes.

What you should find is that by adjusting the fader to the rear, you have moved the load for reproducing bass frequencies to the rear speakers, which in my opinion, have much closer sonic reproduction qualities of midbass drivers than of full-range speakers. You may counter that this will mess up the imaging and soundstage, and you'd be right if the rear speakers could reproduce midrange and treble frequencies with anywhere near the decibel level which the front speakers can. By adjusting the treble and midrange frequencies up, however, you have brought the soundstage back to the front of the car since the rear speakers can barely reproduce those frequencies, and left the bass in the back of the car by using the fader.