I was cruising home tonight jammin to the sounds of Joe Satriani, Surfing With The Alien. I bought my C4 with the Bose AM/FM CD Casette. Although the radio signals seem weak, the cassette and CD seem to crank out the sounds real well. The bass was vibrating the rear view mirror and some of the drum pops seemed to pulse right through me. The highs of Satches guitar sounded better than when I heard him in concert. The sound was well dispursed and I once again found I was really enjoying it. I didn't hear a single rattle all the way home. So I'm a little confused by the Bose bashers. If you hate it; Why? If you like it like I do; What do you like about it. Love it or hate it I'm sure I'll learn something..

 

At the risk of abuse from the Bose bashers. Mine is best car audio I have ever had. Rock On!

 

For listening to Joe Santriani (thumbs up, the little icons don't seem to be working).

 

For those of us that like real music and are not trying to shake the paint off the doors ....Bose reproduction is excellent especially since the tech is a decade old now...have them in my home as well and I am sold on em ....

 

Don't know who Joe Santriani is as I listen to Guns N' Roses or Bad Religion - yeah I know.....53 years old and never grew up. My only complaint with my Bose is no left/right balance. As I'm nearly deaf in one ear it would be nice to have the balance feature but I'm happy. I know there is much better out there but I'd rather save my dollars for other parts.

 

I listen to Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Jan&Dean that I grew up with, guess that makes me older than dirt. Mine has fade and balance controls. I didn't know some of the Bose don't have the balance.

 

I have nothing against the Bose system, but it just has flaws and if something goes wrong, its expensive to fix. I think it sounds great, even though I have only 3 working speakers. I want to listen to CD's but I have only radio and cassette. The cassette player quit working. To me it just sounds more logical to buy an aftermarket CD player (as I have like 2 tapes total) and aftermarket speakers for about $300-$400 rather than spending about that same amount for a new Bose head unit alone that can play CD's. Nevertheless, for a 21 year old sound system, it does sound pretty sweet.

 

I too have substantial hearing impairment in one ear, and the lack of balance control on the Bose in my '94 just annoys the living hell out of me. Aside from that, and the fact that the stupid antenna insists on being up even to listen to CDs, and the generally mediocre fidelity, I suppose there isn't much to complain about.

If I could get a near-factory appearance with an aftermarket deck, the Bose from my car would be SO available to any of you who seem to love it. Personally, I think Bose equipment in general has been extremely well marketed, because its reputation far exceeds its performance.

With respect to it being decade-old technology, the Cerwin Vegas in my living room, which I bought at Circuit City's scratch-n-dent department 27 years ago for a coupla hundred $ are leagues above any Bose equipment I've ever heard -- old or brand new. And the cheap-azzed stereo I cobbled together with a basic CD deck from Crutchfield and a coupla well-used Jensen Tri-Axial speakers in a previous vehicle a decade ago would eat the Bose's lunch.

Frankly, I just don't understand the hype about Bose gear. It's not awful, but it certainly doesn't exceed mediocre, at best, IMHO.

Fortunately, the music that the LT1 makes through the B&B Triflow system is far superior to anything that comes out of the speakers, so except when on a long trip, the Bose in my Vette stays powered-down.

Be well,

SJW

 

Man i love them too, I listen to high bass songs and that stuff makes your ears hurt! A guy even asked if i put a system in cause it "sounded good as i passed by"!

 

wholeheartedly!

 

Buy a CD changer with an RF modulator. That's what I have on my 85 and it works great. Bought it off Ebay for $75 and it is a 10 cd changer.

 

You can spend $600 and get a system that will literally blow a Bose out of the water.
Besides having a system that will pull in radio stations will when it pleases, play a CD when it pleases, ejects a CD when it pleases, have an amp that will power up when it pleases, I guess there isn't too much wrong with them.
If the bose is the best system you've ever heard you obviously must have only had audiovox cassette stereos.

 

I've got a $2k System in my truck and the Vette Bose beats it in just about every catagory except...yep reliablity (and bass). It still sounds great, but the Deck is starting up with the problems. No cassette (not that I really care), the lights are going out, and today I started hearing a soft humming noise. Looks like mine could be heading out the window...I'd really like to keep the speakers and just lose the deck.

 

I too can't understand why there isn't a balance control on the Bose system.. Drives me crazy since I also have one bad ear , doctors say it's due to 24 years of sirens and air horns on the job.. As for Bose, it's OK, if you go to high end audio forums you'll see it's considered low end with a high price tag and I totally agree. But it's fine for my vette, rather hear the roar of my vette, to me that is the sweetest sound

 

Not trying to hijack here but dont you mean SURFING with the alien?

Album has an alien that looks like something out of The Abyss on a surf board catching some mystic waves.


P.S. Aminnich mentioned Buddy Holly - B.H. IS A GOD!

 

I think the Bose system is fine when it is working properly.

Problem is every system here is at least 10 years old and most likley older.

When it breaks, it is extreme $$$$$$$$$$ to fix also. Thats the real problem.

Upgrades are also very tough w/o removing the whole system??!! which pretty much puts the C4 bose in a class by itself.

 

I have the Bose Gold cassette C/D combo (93 Ruby Coupe), I sent it to DR Don's in Texas and he fixed everything and sent it back for $165.00. My unit does not have a balance control.

 

Speaking as an early (1985) C4 owner, the Bose was awesome for a factory system, when it was new. Dealers couldn't sell Corvettes that didn't have the Bose...

...obviously, time has passed it by and any reasonably coherent configuration of modern components will eat it for breakfast. This is true of almost all mid-80s consumer electronics - not specific to the Bose. Those of us who are staying stock (in my case for restoration reasons) find that it does okay if you don't push it too hard - "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" sounds pretty darn good.

 

Frankly, I just don't understand the hype about Bose gear. It's not awful, but it certainly doesn't exceed mediocre, at best, IMHO.


Bose is a lot of name, but not a lot of audio performance. For the money it costs to repair/replace, you can do a whole lot better on the aftermarket tip.

 

Bose invest more money in marketing than they do in research, development and production - Bose = high end price, mediocre performance and made with cheap parts.