Audio system woes?

[backtotintops]

99% off the time driving this car I have had the windows wide open and enjoyed the roar and as a result the stereo was never great. Now with this humidity I have been running the air and really getting a sense of it.

First off this is the best sports car I have ever owned with the worst stereo I have ever owned but that’s not why I got her.

My last 2 suburbans with base level systems using the bose speakers are far better. I'm thinking if finding out if bose makes sizes to fit.

I like to stream music from my phone (spotify/google music) and the level is much lower on the aux input than on a suburban???….it really has been almost unusable and I have resorted to xm for decent quality.

Is there an aux in amplifier?

Is this typical of this head unit? Anybody already changed the speakers? Is the weak point the head unit or the speakers or both?

Replacement head unit?....how would it fit?

I bet the zl1’s system is better and more premium.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[brt3]

My only thoughts are probably of the Captain Obvious variety.

You'll need a good external amp and very good speakers to generate sufficient SPLs to overcome the very high ambient noise in this car. So much sound-deadening insulation has been removed, that I think this will be a harder than normal install -- in the sense that you'll need a significant power increase over what would be required in a normal, quieter SS.

If I were doing this I might be tempted to pull the rear speakers and focus on having a very good set of component drivers in the doors. I haven't done a high end car system recently, but that should allow you to bridge the amp into two channels and get more power that way...

[Mikebrinda]

The Z/28 radio setup makes the dime store transistor radio I had as a kid sound like Carnegie Hall. If you checked the A/C box, by definition you acknowledged you were not hyper vehicle weight conscious. With that choice as a given, why did Chevrolet force-pair their bargain basement sound system into a $76,150 car? Who thought that was a good idea?

I acknowledge and know all about the purist's, "the engine is your music, who needs a radio with that engine, etc." line of thought, so please don't bombard me with that logic. It is my car, and at the point Chevrolet chose to offer a radio setup at all, why did it have to be this caliber of equipment? I like my music as music, not some tinny racket masquerading as music. When I am clocking 100+ miles straight, I have at some point had enough of the engine music, thank you very much.

The system was a poor choice for this car IMO, but I do not particularly want to cut holes, carve up the dash, etc. to replace it. So I do not yet know what I am going to do, but when I have the time I will look into it. Anyone that likes their tunes better get use to NPR or talk radio, because that's the only thing that sounds decent coming out of this setup.

[Skylane765]

It has the lowest end sound system GM makes. We were lucky we even got a radio.

[brt3]

I won't bombard you with "the engine is your music" argument; even though I never use the radio, I get your point. I can only assume that once the team made the decision to remove as much weight as possible -- which included unnecessary wiring, sound insulation, etc. -- they were left in a position where the upgraded electronics wouldn't work in the car.

Each of us have things that drive us nuts, but they have to build the car to fit the more general needs and keep the car focused on the performance goals, IMHO. I don't understand having a rear seat at all, and would rather have a simple parcel shelf instead. Guess it's up to us to take the car and bring it up to snuff in areas where we perceive shortfalls for our individual preferences.

At least you're in SoCal, so the list of skilled custom installers in your area should be long...

[2SSRS@Gen5diy]

IMO adding the mylink is the way to go, did that 2 weeks ago now to the speakers and amp, and by going to the new head unit we added USB port to the car.

[backtotintops]

imho...fm and xm are just barely loud enough but sound pretty good but a power amp will help. Why is the AUX so much lower and muddy? This low level might be solved with some kind of preamp for the aux but I don;t think that will cure the mud. I doubt steilow made the wires to the speakers thinner so some good bose in there will help. This is not priority now for me...just floating it with you all for a fall project.

[backtotintops]

I do not care about the added features but is the mylink upgraded head louder, have a better amp or better processing?

do keep us posted on your speaker choice...I'm not cutting anything...only swap.

...and can the screen go blank...one of the things I do not like is my radio's blue bar at night...way too much display for the actual info

[brt3]

Originally Posted by 2SSRS@Gen5diy

IMO adding the mylink is the way to go, did that 2 weeks ago now to the speakers and amp, and by going to the new head unit we added USB port to the car.

For the clueless among us (namely, me), what features do you gain from going with the MyLink head unit?

[2SSRS@Gen5diy]

Here it is in a nut shell, we got a radio with the AMP built in the headunit, so for power we are going to be limited, and on top of that this stock radio is the same one in there LS cars, the Mylike has a better sound then the non mylink, it has a better processor, but not more power.

[backtotintops]

so the mylink for better processing and add an external power amp then swap the speakers. ok.

I would be interested if you could make a test by plugging in a phone and streaming in to the aux port on the mylink and see if it is correct or much lower and muddy like the stock radio...or maybe this is only on mine?...anyone else unhappy with the aux in?

[2SSRS@Gen5diy]

tell me what phone you have( if its an I phone i can do that on the weekend) have to use a friends phone.

[backtotintops]

I use a nexus4 but I doubt it has anything to do with the phone since my phone streams great in to my suburban. I think the aux processing is sub-standard.

[backtotintops]

after watching this if I did do the upgrade I could pair the phone bluetooth and stream that way which might make it better since not using aux.

I use google maps or co-pilot with the traffic features and it has always been better than any factory nav system so ideally if I could just make the factory head unit perform better would be the best.