KenHorse

I've always had a good ear for music - in fact at one point in my life I actually engineered records (vinyl, remember that?) and fronted a fairly successful (local to Philly) rock band during the 70's. Anyway, I've never owned "retail" sound systems for my home - they've always been "pro audio" systems, complete with electronic crossovers, subwooofer and satellite speakers for midrange and highs. And I used subwoofers before anyone outside of the industry ever even heard of them nor tri-amping a stereo system (still have my trusty old SoundCraftsmen digital amplifier too)....

But I digress.....

After spending some time listening to (and playing with) the stock Bose system in my 2LT, I think I've identified the big flaw in the system. It's not the highs and not even the midrange. It's where the subwoofer crossover's "knee frequency" is, which is much too low. This leaves a noticeable gap in coverage between the higher "bass" frequencies and the lower midrange freqs. This makes for a system i which it is VERY hard to properly balance the frequency response and creates way too much coloring.

I think the sound could be vastly improved by filling in that void by changing the crossover to move the knee frequency upwards to perhaps 200 to 300 Hz. From what I'm hearing, I'd guess it is somewhere around 60 - 100 Hz.

Oh yea and get rid of that center channel speaker. Stupid dumbass idea that ruins the imaging.

Anyway, YMMV but that's how I hear it....

Glen e

Agree with center speaker crap, this ain't a movie...in the camaros, it easy to disconnect ...hmmmm ....maybe mod #32 comin up?

Andy Sziraki

Wait till you see what JL AUDIO has is store for the Corvette Stingray! They are using mine as a prototype!

NSC5

Ken,

Did you turn off the "center point" option? The fake surround sound in my Bose equipped CTS sounds very bad, creating obviously fake imaging and undesirable tonal coloration. It is much better with that turned off.

HalfMoon

First thing I did to my 2011 was pop that speaker and pull the connector.

rsl2715

It is obvious you know what you are talking about.But the C-7 is meant to drive,the sound is nice but not number 1 on the list for the C-7.That being said Bose did a great job for the C-7 best sound in any Corvette so far.Now the NPP sound is outstanding.R

ersin

Suggestion: cut the wires to the center speaker and repurpose it as a radar detector or CB speaker.


Cheers.

Andy Sziraki

Awesome.

cam30era

Is there a relatively simple way of improving this without spending a ton of money? And thanks for your analysis.

ersin

It depends. I don't know how Bose does it. If they have an external crossover right next to the speaker it would be a simple matter to replace or mod it. If it's in the amp (which I suspect it is) then you would need to probably replace the amp. But that would probably be a good thing.


Cheers.

cam30era

Where is the amp located? How big a tear up is this? Approximately how much money are we talking about?

Thanks, in advance for your feedback.

KenHorse

I have not yet tried that. I assume it's part of the sound settings at the bottom of the "tone adjust" screen, where it gives you the options to select if sound is driver-centric, passenger-centric, etc? I'll have to play with that.

I cut the wires to the center speaker in my C6 and it made a huge improvement in imaging. Of course, replacing the speakers with Polks and adding some quality tweeters didn't hurt either

See below

Exactly right. In this day and age, I can't imagine them doing it hardware but rather via DSP but who knows... In any case, I do need to do some investigative work to see what I can find out about this..

BigJoe

Amazing what different priorities people have... I'd be happy with a single speaker transistor radio from the 60's to listen to the news/weather/traffic and talk radio. I almost never listen to music (unless my wife is with me) and, when I do, I don't expect concert hall sound from a car moving a 50-60 mph on rough surfaced roads etc. What the C7 gives me radiowise is WAY overkill compared to what I need.
But it takes all kinds... Gone are the days of "radio delete".

Fore58

The bose system is great for this particular car. Now I have a convertible.....it could sound a little different from the coupe. Just don't know why some of the members are bashing the bose system. This is not a luxury car......what do you expect GM should have done? Anyway, I respect the fact that some of us desire a particular sound from their audio system. Just my.02

lgodom

Can you share anything about their progress or how extensive their approach is?

ersin

It might not be a luxury car, but its still a ~70K car. It deserves a good sound system. The same could be said of the seats. In an expensive car you expect good seats. It wasn't until the C7 that the car finally got the seats it deserved.

Now, I will say I have not heard the audio in the C7. But I do have a Nissan with a "high end" Bose system. People say Bose is great. I disagree. Bose is not that great. Fortunately, it is usually a simple matter to replace the audio system once the basic layout is discerned. So, it it's good enough for you, great. Some would like something that sounds better and fortunately we have the internet and forums like this to share our experiences with stuff like this to figure out how to get better sound.


Cheers.

KenHorse

Interestingly, I listen to a great deal of talk radio (XM/Sirius) while in the car.

But there are times some great driving tunes are needed too

ATX-C7

I wouldn't expect it to be great quite frankly because it's a Bose. If they offered (as an option) a true high end system, that would be more profit for them, and make us audio geeks a lot happier (rather than screwing around after market).

SBC_and_a_stick

Only the high end aftermarket processors and best sounding cars are 5.1. Outside of Corvette forum people are chopping up their dash to install a center channel speaker. Corvette owners have it the easiest as GM/Bose already integrated a center channel in the dash.

A proper steering algorithm actually improves the imaging with a dedicated center channel such that the center is always in the center. The alternative is much harder to work with. You can't get a proper center with stereo in the car. Think at least that you are never getting stereo unless the azymuth angle to the left and right is correct. This is simply impossible in a left hand drive or right hand drive car. Unless you are driving a center seat McLaren F1 5.1 will always trump stereo in a car.

3 Z06ZR1