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That has been by gripe about GM since their Delco crap. They should at least offer a stand alone option in their higher-end models. Their cookie cutter approach is a little antiquated. While $4,200 is a little steep, I’m sure that BMW is selling cars equipped w/the B&W Diamond system- as would GM if something better was available.
“I didn’t buy a Vette for the radio,” as some pontificate, isa little cliche. Here’s another: have cake and eat it too. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not hate’n on Bose. It’s an average system that is certainly serviceable.
I don’t think anybody buys a car for the radio, but if I’m gonna spend a nice chunk of change...give me some good tunes!
I found the C7 stereo to be lacking a bit, so I upgraded....
This bad boy tags along with me in the passenger seat. Wife HATES holding it in her lap when she cruises with me, and new cassettes are getting hard to come by, but oh well. Small price to pay for superior sound quality and top notch FM reception.
However, I have to disagree with the comments regarding sound stage. I get that experts like to have the sound stage to the front because that is how it is in a concert. However, in my opinion, the average listener can still want good sound quality but prefer to have the music surround them both at home and in their car.
No problem... you understand the "why" of front stage but don't prefer it - totally reasonable.
I'm just trying to correct the mountain of misinformation about car audio that comes out of these threads. Surround sound is fake in car audio because stereo music only contains left and right information. True surround sound, like used in movies, however does contains multiple extra channels of data (center, rear, etc) that need to be amplified.
In the end it comes down this: How close do you want to reproduce the original recording?
Sadly the C7's system doesn't allow for this because of how Bose processes the audio information. I actually wouldn't hate the Bose system so much if it was consistent. Instead it actively changes the tonal balance (bass to treble level) as the volume level changes this is pure madness because you can't even EQ it properly unless you never touch the volume ****! The system is actually pretty well balanced at around 30% volume (guessing) - below that the bass is over boosted, while at higher volumes its dramatically reduced (as my chart shows).
I see your point here too. But a recording is nothing like a live performance. There is a lot of processing that goes on in the recording process; much more so than live I'm guessing.
I also see you point about only two channels in a stereo recording; but I can still make do with fader as it's better than nothing. I'm one of those who wish quadrophonic had taken off. I love my multi-channel home theatre.
But a recording is nothing like a live performance. There is a lot of processing that goes on in the recording process; much more so than live I'm guessing.
This is typically the case, especially with rock and other pop music.
But even with classical where compression is rarely used, EQ is gentle, etc. the recording does not sound like live music. A recording is am ere facsimile. All recording is artifice.
If I were worried about how the stereo sounded, I would put some sound insulation before I spent a dime on upgrading the stereo. You cannot judge a stereo in a car when the road noise almost drowns it out anyway.
A recording is am ere facsimile. All recording is artifice.
Very true... but your just trying to recreate what was recorded. If the recording mix was bad well then its going to sound bad - but the audio system itself shouldn't make it worse.
As mentioned by many here: a car is a terrible place to try to reproduce music accurately no doubt. The issue I have is the C7's Bose system has an EQ you can't turn off AND its specifically tuned to cover up the cheap decisions GM made. They knew the system couldn't reproduce enough low frequencies so they just EQ-ed them out = problem solved!
Bose has been selling expensive mediocre equipment since the ‘60s, but many are duped due to their marketing, which is genius BTW. So the Corvette’s cabin is not ideal for acoustics. This can be said with most vehicles, but this excuse is used too often and easily accepted. Throw in some decent equipment and it’ll make a significant difference. Many are blind, or should I say deaf, to the Bose branding.
Its not very good. I've detailed why in many threads and will do so again for the record.
It suffers from all the normal problems you find in car audio (limited dynamic range, poor frequency response, bad sound stage, etc)... just made worse by the Bose processing. The Bose system applies an automatic EQ (actually just a simple bass shelf) that actively removes low frequency information. See below...
This chart was created with a calibrated microphone, pink noise (equal energy) and pro-level FFT analyzer software. The blue line is low volume, the pink line is high volume. I aligned the high frequency response because as you can see it doesn't change with volume. However bass drops as volume increases - plain and simple. This is the opposite of expected behavior. And yes this the factory 3LT system with the so called "subwoofer" this not directly about the speakers themselves - this result is due to the audio processing occurring inside the factory amp.
My guess is GM does this protect their cheap speakers. This keeps people from complaining about distortion or blown speakers. It also allows GM to use a crappy amplifier because they are removing the power hungry low frequency energy from the audio signal. This is one of those cases of saving pennies per car because they know that 80% of people will never notice. This thread is proof that plan worked since many think the audio system sounds good Sorry but there is no getting around the scientific data - the C7's audio response is BAD. I've been car audio as a hobby since the mid 80s so I am very confident in this assessment.
Part of the reason why you get such a wide range of opinions on this topic is the lack of a good reference system If you have access to a truly wonderful, full-range, dynamic, high-end audio system you'll would quickly realize the C7's audio is terrible. Granted most cars are not concert halls so your expectations need to be lower in a vehicle. However sadly the C7 is still subpar compared to other vehicles and even other Bose systems. For example my wife's Infiniti Q60 (with Bose) sounds better. Compared to what can be done in the aftermarket the C7 system is a joke. Granted nobody is buying this car for the stereo but I find its disappointing because it could have been much better with just a slight cost increase. The fact that GM is actively messing with the audio signal proves they were covering up for being cheap. They put in an easy software tweak to fix a simple hardware problem.
Folks.... in the old days, we used to call that "contour" or "loudness" control. You WANT the bass to be relatively higher at low volumes. Without such "contour", the sound would be hollow, empty sounding at low volumes.
As I begin my hunt for a C7, just curious, does the stereo on the C7 sound good?
I have a vert C5 and one of the first things I did was put in a new DD headunit, separates, amp and woofer.
Yes I like listening to the sound of the motor but on long trips I like listening to good tunes.
Les
I have a 19 GS 2 LT. I have owned a ton of cars in my lifetime and I'm also a sound freak when it comes to quality. I give the car a 9.5 out of 10 rating for sound. Take the time to tune it into your likings and you will enjoy her thoroughly.
Don't forget - if your phone is your music source, you can adjust the EQ in settings (at least on an iPhone). Without doing that, the sound will be flat.
Mrs. DGA3 has recently started using Spotify in her Rav4, but came home from work yesterday complaining that the stereo in her car sounded terrible, and had no volume. I went into the settings of her phone, listened to several, and chose one that sounded great. Then I discovered that, although the volume on her car stereo was turned all the way up, the volume on her phone was only up about 1/4 of the way. I turned down the car stereo volume and turned up her phone. That, together with the EQ I chose in settings, made a huge difference.
I had her come out to the garage and listened to what I had done. She loved it!
OMG I read this post and ran to my garage.. holy crap..I had to re-read the manual.. damn.. sure enough the Z06 actually does have a radio in it.. I will check it out this summer. Thanks.. (Just joke people)
Folks.... in the old days, we used to call that "contour" or "loudness" control. You WANT the bass to be relatively higher at low volumes. Without such "contour", the sound would be hollow, empty sounding at low volumes.
The problem is the bass drops off as volume increases due this automatic EQ. The bass should be slightly higher all the time, feel free to Google "house curve" and get various opinions on just how much boost is needed. In the old days this was a button (on or off your choice), but in the C7 its more like a flashlight that gets dimmer the further into the cave you go. So it sounds decent at first (the 80Hz peak is too high to me) but then becomes hollow and lifeless as you crank it up. I find it frustrating because you wind up chasing your tail with EQ settings.
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
this is pure madness because you can't even EQ it properly unless you never touch the volume ****! The system is actually pretty well balanced at around 30% volume (guessing) - below that the bass is over boosted, while at higher volumes its dramatically reduced (as my chart shows).
this not directly about the speakers themselves - this result is due to the audio processing occurring inside the factory amp.
Sorry but there is no getting around the scientific data - the C7's audio response is BAD. I've been car audio as a hobby since the mid 80s so I am very confident in this assessment.
If you have access to a truly wonderful, full-range, dynamic, high-end audio system you'll would quickly realize the C7's audio is terrible. Granted most cars are not concert halls so your expectations need to be lower in a vehicle. However sadly the C7 is still subpar compared to other vehicles and even other Bose systems. For example my wife's Infiniti Q60 (with Bose) sounds better. Compared to what can be done in the aftermarket the C7 system is a joke. Granted nobody is buying this car for the stereo but I find its disappointing because it could have been much better with just a slight cost increase. The fact that GM is actively messing with the audio signal proves they were covering up for being cheap. They put in an easy software tweak to fix a simple hardware problem.
