It looks like our friends on the C8 forum are complaining about their Bose audio system. Didn’t GM see enough bad reviews over the years on our forum to learn something?

 

they partnered with Bose again so what did people expect? Those that know - know that Bose is junk. However I'm sure many will chime in that it "sounds great" so GM doesn't have to fix anything. GM realized the average person has no reference point for how it should sound thus its good enough. Also nobody is going to return a C7 or C8 because the stereo sounds crappy. Why fix something has a < 2% of effecting a sale?

While Bose isn't great GM's tweaks to it are particularly bad. My wife's Infiniti Q60 Bose sounds OK, not amazing, but WAY better then my C7. If you could turn off the Bose processing things would improve and make it much easier to add aftermarket bits to fix it. However the current design requires a near complete gut job to make right.

 

[QUOTE=Har-ray;1603836859]It looks like our friends on the C8 forum are complaining about their Bose audio system. Didn’t GM see enough bad reviews over the years on our forum to learn something?

Bose is VERY dependent upon source material - both quality of recording and type of music.... always has been... I've been a Bose user, off and on, since 1972. Many cars are more conducive to listening to audio input from Bose than others. The Vette is mediocre, at best, as a listening platform....

 

Not just our forum. I've never seen good comments on any of their car audio systems. Usually referred to as BLOSE.

 

Yes; Bose blows! My wife’s Camry sounds better.

 

[QUOTE=4thC4at60;1603836955](Long ago car/home audio sales and installation.) If we play simple word association (with a pinch of history) you say BOSE and I say 901's. Revolutionary for its time depending very much on equalization and location with some of the best reflected sound ever. Claimed you could never give them too much power. Was honestly not a huge fan, where they were located and properly equalized were so vital to decent sound that being just a little off cancelled their talents, but they were historical. Car wise, the old expression (as many of you know), "no highs, no lows, must be Bose...." But then again, sound is an absolutely subjective topic. You can't deny though how much of the car audio market belongs to them......

 

Noticed on a commercial for Jeep Grand Cherokee …partnered with McIntosh …there is a system I would like to hear

 

[QUOTE=dbirdhouse1;1603837384]901’S, 501’S, 301’S ..there claim to fame was the “direct reflecting” tech as they were manufactured with rear facing and front facing drivers that had to be placed near walls in order for them to sound good .

 

True but with a proper DSP (digital signal processing) many of the car's sins can be hidden. I had the same Bose Audio Pilot in my previous Nissan 350Z but I tossed all that junk in the bin and got an Alpine Imprint processor to control a much nicer aftermarket setup (speakers, amps, etc). The difference with the DSP on and off was literally night and day. It completely transformed the sound stage, everything moved up and out, with vocals coming thru a virtual center channel. I was blown away by how good the Alpine was able to tame that vehicle's crappy acoustic signature which is very similar to the C7s.

I also think of the Bose Cubes that became super popular. One of the first satellite / sub 5.1 surround sound home theater setups to catch on since the cubes were so small you could hide them in plain sight. They also make decent noise cancelling headphones. However their car audio stuff? Nothing I would buy on purpose yet so many OEMs have partnered with them. I bet they just license the name "Bose" and their audio engineers rubber stamp the configuration and components.

 

Not true...good or bad, Bose equipment is designed and tuned by Bose, they do not license their name. For the C7, the speakers, the subwoofer, and the amp are engineered and manufactured by them. The display unit, the MMI module, and the radio module are not designed or manufactured by Bose. The limitations of the C7 Bose systems are due to the severe cost and weight constraints that GM imposes.

 

I'm not an audiophile by any stretch but I've found that even with the limited adjustments I can make, to me the Bose system is adequate. As long as I've got AC/DC cranked up I'm good. It's not like I can understand half the lyrics Brian Johnson belts out anyways.

 

I feel the same way. Could the stereo be better, no doubt, but that is not the most important feature to me in a car.

 

Bose has been a mixed bag for me. My C6 GS 3LT was ok but more bass and treble would have been appreciated. The wife’s 2018 Volt Premier Bose was really, really lame, even she thought is was bad. An upgrade to the sub woofer and the tweeters made it acceptable, I had a tough time understanding how they could pass that system off as “Premier” anything. My 2019 2LT C7 GS is just enough better than the C6 that I’m probably not going to mess with it. I just don’t understand why these systems don’t have a 10 band graphic equalizer., it’s only software.

You can tell that weight management was critical in all of these systems. I think that they are using their equalization curve to allow them to save weight and cost on the speakers. JMO.

 

GM has to save money somewhere to keep costs down-unfortunately the radio was one of the places.

 

[QUOTE=4thC4at60;1603836955]Very true and you will notice the difference . I go out of my way to get enhanced recordings of the songs I want to use. My nephew once took the best recording he could find of Stairway To Heaven and put it thru his sound board and fully equalized the whole song (he's big on recording) and gave it back to me. The sound of this in my C7 was unbelievable. But you can't do this to every song.
I always wondered this also. It would give you vast control over the system and would make the Bose sound what it should be.

 

It's funny that when the C8 first came out the new owners were saying the stereos were leaps and bounds ahead of the C7 stereos. Now that some time has passed and the cars have been lived in some, it doesnt seem as great.
I wonder if any of the other new differences in the C8 will lose some of their polish after the new wears off some.
Just for the record I find the stereo in my 2019 GS to be just fine but I'm admittedly not an audiophile.

 

A BIG part of the problem is all the road/tire noises inherent in these cars built without any sound deadening material. I just sold my’19Z, also had’16Z & ‘14 Z51 & they all were crappy sound systems. Bought a loaded up ‘21 Ram 1500 Longhorn Limited. It is as quiet as any luxury car I’ve driven/ridden in. Has acoustic glass in front seat side windows & the 19 speakers Harman Kardon sound system blows me away every time I listen. I even have to adjust the bass 3 bars below neutral & I love beats with the bass! Just saying environment makes a huge difference anytime.👍

 

What did you expect for a SPORTS car to begin with. It's not a Rolls Royce. Last thing is you didn't buy it for the radio, you bought it because it is a Vette. Very