Road Tests: Full Test

Overall System Score: 8

Top Up Score: 8

Top Down Score: 9

Components: The 180-watt stereo in the 2002 Ford Thunderbird is an impressive effort. It begins with a standard Ford head unit in the upper quadrant of the center console. Although the head unit lacks a cassette player, it does come with a built-in six-disc CD changer and 12 FM/6 AM station presets. It also boasts an ergonomically pleasing topography, with wide button spacing and a logical layout. The system offers Automatic Volume Control (AVC), which automatically increases system volume with vehicle speed to compensate for wind and road noise, and Radio Data System (RDS), which displays station call letters along with the station number. Lastly, the head unit has a built-in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) unit, which allows the user to alter the signal path digitally to create different psycho-acoustic effects.

DSP works by manipulating the audio signal to create spaciousness and echo through delaying the signal to various speakers, thereby "tricking" the mind into hearing something that isn't there. The T-Bird unit gives you five different settings -- Talk, Jazz Club, Hall, Church, Stadium -- and you can also fine tune it for Driver Seat or All Seats. It's fun to play with, and if you don't like it, you can disengage it.

On the speaker side of the equation, this system is equally impressive. You're just about surrounded by speakers in this vehicle: mids and tweets in the doors, a second set of mids and tweets behind the seats and a thunderous pair of subwoofers (rated at 90 watts RMS) secreted in the trunk. There is even a small pair of 4-inch full-range drivers firing into the passenger compartment from the center console, an ideal arrangement for top-down listening.

Top-Up Performance: This system is almost a little too intense with the top up. Bass is wide, deep and boomy, with a touch of sloppiness at higher volumes. Mids are intricate and detailed, while highs -- on female vocals, in particular -- are less impressive, producing a hollow and hissy top end that becomes more pronounced as the volume edges up. Horns and strings, however, sound lifelike and unconstrained, so it's a bit of a mixed bag here. The main drawback with the top up is the excessive bass response, which, even at flat EQ settings, seemed a little overpowering to us. If you're a bass hound, you'll love this system.

Top-Down Performance: We actually like the sound of this system better with the top down. The Automatic Volume Control works like a charm, and even at 80 mph this system blares loud and proud. The Ford engineers have wisely built in volume limiting, so that the sound pressure tops out at a certain point and prevents speakers from blowing. The tweets and mids in the doors are positioned low enough to be out of the wind, and the speakers behind the seats reinforce rather detract from the overall top-down sound.

Best Feature: A great top-down system.

Worst Feature: Excessive bass (for some tastes).

Conclusion: This is an impressive system. We marked off points because we felt the system sounded better with the top down than up. However, if you're into heavy bass, you will absolutely love this system. We found the bass overpowering, but that's just our opinion. -- Scott Memmer