Sound System

[Rusty]

I suspect someone complaining about the lack of bass is someone who likes to crank it up.

Thank you for spelling bass correctly...

[SharkVolt]

I agree that the Bose sound system is "clean" and sounds very good, but it does have a problem handling deep and/or loud bass tones, it rattles the speakers at higher volume levels, and probably should have had a subwoofer included. But other than that I like it fine. I noticed this especially on "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, the deep organ bass tones were too much for the oem speakers, even at only moderately high volume levels.

Jerry, #536

[PoisonArrowFrog]

I love the sound system. The sound quality is quite good even at high volume levels. My last car was a BMW 328 which I considered very quiet however the Volt is super quiet especially during city driving. I can hear a lot more detail in the music I play.

[Marc Lee]

I've seen someone else say this also. I listened casually to some XM radio channels in a Volt and thought it sounded pretty good compared to the allegedly premium audio system in my 2004 Prius which is very muddy at lower sound frequencies. I guess I have low expectations for car audio. :-)

Keep in mind that XM may not be the best source because of the considerable compression they do to cram all those stations into one signal.

[DanFowler]

Ouch! My bad...sorry about that! (made correction to my post)
Dan

Thank you for spelling bass correctly...

[WopOnTour]

hehe. I like the system, and I am usually into bass. However, this is good enough where I won't waste the time upgrading.

I don't mind the Volt's bass response either. I'm surprised by it actually, as the sub-woofer enclosure is somewhat hidden and stuffed deep under the rear load floor so I was worried it wouldnt move much air but there's sufficient venting obviously.
I mean it's not "ground pounding" or anything but well balanced and quite defined bass IMHO.

I'm not real fan of sub-woofers in general for much of anything other than home theatre "effects". But admittedly I'm pretty "old-school" as far as home audio and music. Lots of vinyl, various vintage and DIY vacuum tube amps and Klipsch heritage speakers are pretty much all I use for any general listening at home. Cars are a unique environment obviously, but the OEMs have generally much improved the SQ in their stock units over the past few years.

WOT

[bjhorton2005]

So there is a subwoofer?! Well.. I would have liked them to execute it better but my opinion still stands. I didn't know!

[rubley]

The Bose system is terrible.

{ I was going to upload a graph, but the file attachment feature doesn't work at all in any browser }

Started at 73 dB with pink noise, then went through a series of 1/3 octave test tones. The car has some major resonance around 50 Hz, and the Bose system does nothing to handle it, it gets up to 89 dB at 50 Hz ( +16 dB !!).

So, with all the tone settings neutralized, the response is 73 dB +16/-6. You have to turn the bass all the way down (yes, all the way) to get the low frequencies anywhere near correct (still +9 at 50 Hz), which then causes a dip at 160 Hz of -9 dB. Its impossible to get this lousy Bose system to respond correctly below 200 Hz, I'm going to start looking into replacing the so-called subwoofer.

But honestly, if it sounds good to you, its probably just because you've become accustomed to it, the frequency response is terrible, especially for a so-called premium system. There is a reason Bose publishes no specs on any of their products and forces retailers to display their product separate from all other speakers so that no live comparisons can be made.

I'm coming from a Lexus with a 14 speaker Mark Levinson system ($2500) that I thought was decent but not perfect, so maybe my standards are just too high

Does anyone have any details on the wiring of the audio system? i.e. multiple amps? does the head unit talk analog or digital to the amp? what impedance rating are the door speakers? where is the crossover for the door speakers?

[wainair]

I'm glad to hear form folks who have as eclectic a tastes in music as I do are satisfied with the Bose system (I've got iTunes running on my computer on shuffle and the the last 4 songs were Ministry- Just one Fix, a cover of Depeche Modes Everything Counts In Large Amounts by Meat Beat Manifesto, Mozart: Serenade #13 In G, K 525, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" - 1. Allegro, and Kraftwerk's Showroom Dummies, you gotta admit that is all over the place!! I'm just waiting for some Johnny Cash to slip in there!!) I do understand that the system is not a true audiophile system (sorry rubely, if you are testing the system with pink noise 1/3 octave tone tests you are a true audiophile even if you don't own a $15000 turntable. LOL ) but it is clearly better than a standard OEM system and it is energy efficient to boot!

WOW, That's a whole lot of brackets!!

[scottf200]

Let's be clear people --> Chev Volt Sound - 30% smaller, 40% lighter and uses 50% less energy

Thread with graphic:
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread....50-less-energy