Bose vs No Bose. Which is worth it?

[THE SILVERADO]

bboyce536, where do you have your settings at?

 

Love my 15 bose with Sub. Previously had a 14 without bose and while I thought it compared to my 05 Sierra with bose, it is nothing like the new Bose. If you cannot notice how good the new Bose is, you either have bad quality music (XM) or do not have it set up correctly. JMO

[4x4LJB]

I'm picking up my 2015 Sierra 1500 SLT tomorrow. It has the stock sound system, and listening with XM it seems just ok, with not much imaging present. Sound is localized to the doors, and not very dynamic sounding.

 

It's not bad, but I was an Audio/Video Manufacturer's Rep for 27 years and I've heard much better. I repped Yamaha, McIntosh, ADS, KEF, and many other premium lines.

 

I've been semi-retired since Dec 2008 and out of the A/V business. I take it the factory system is not very upgradable. Mine has Navigation.

 

If anybody has done some tweaking with the stock 2015 sound system I'd love to hear from them.

[bboyce536]

bboyce536, where do you have your settings at?

 

Everyone likes theirs different, just play around...depending on what I'm listening to I constantly adjust it.

[Aaron1085]

What would be an easy and affordable upgrade to the stock Boss system?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

[crewl1]

What would be an easy and affordable upgrade to the stock Boss system?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

I'm planning to add a sub under the back seat of my crew to the Bose system.

Seems like a pretty common and not too expensive upgrade based on what I have read in this thread http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/153662-adding-aftermarket-subamp/

 

Just need to get through this pesky holiday season that forces me to think of others and get them presents instead of me.

 

Can't wait till I can turn all the attention and discretionary spending back to ME!

[George C]

I'm a sound snob, and a musc lover. Ive always purchased aftermarket sound for my trucks. The Bose System is a step above plain horrible. The Bose system in my wife's 2015 GMC Denali is a total joke. Highs are dead, lows are non existent, and the speakers are still paper. The standard system is only slightly worse than the Bose.

Aftermarket sound is expensive, and not everyone is willing to spend another $2,500 for a system.

 

So IMHO, I would decide how important sound is to you. If you like music, then you won't be happy. If music is simply background, I would save the money and get the standard sound package.

For me, I went non Bose in my truck. Only the non Bose system can be upgraded without changing the stock head.

 

Also know that upgrades are an "all in" thing, you can't replace one part and expect a better sound. You will need new speakers, subs, amps for both, and most importantly, a top quality line out converter to clean up the crappy head unit sound quality.

Everything together will make it a concert hall in the cabin.

[mmwest]

I'm a sound snob, and a musc lover. Ive always purchased aftermarket sound for my trucks. The Bose System is a step above plain horrible. The Bose system in my wife's 2015 GMC Denali is a total joke. Highs are dead, lows are non existent, and the speakers are still paper. The standard system is only slightly worse than the Bose.

Aftermarket sound is expensive, and not everyone is willing to spend another $2,500 for a system.

 

So IMHO, I would decide how important sound is to you. If you like music, then you won't be happy. If music is simply background, I would save the money and get the standard sound package.

For me, I went non Bose in my truck. Only the non Bose system can be upgraded without changing the stock head.

 

Also know that upgrades are an "all in" thing, you can't replace one part and expect a better sound. You will need new speakers, subs, amps for both, and most importantly, a top quality line out converter to clean up the crappy head unit sound quality.

Everything together will make it a concert hall in the cabin.

Truck still not here yet but I'm thinking of installing a 4 channel amp for the door speakers and a 2 channel amp with a 8" sub underneath the back seat. What's the deal with not being able to use the Bose head unit you decide to upgrade ? Thanks in advance.

[George C]

It's an electronic compatibility issue. I would check with your equipment supplier, but there is an road block when mixing in non Bose components with the Bose system.

I believe they work on a different wiring and power schematic than a normal system build.

[4x4LJB]

You know....I take it back.

 

The stock GM sound system really isn't half bad. In fact, it's pretty good.

 

You just have to feed it Pandora (at least) to make it sound good. Satellite Radio sounds pretty blah.

 

I'm going to leave it be. With the EQ Curve set to "Jazz" it's sounds dynamic enough.

[FZ8Guy]

Is the Bose system worth it? I would say yes. The soundstage reproduction and bass response isn't bad for what it is. This is the first vehical I've ever owned that I haven't put an aftermarket system in. The main reason why I got the Bose was I wanted a system that sounds decent and is 100% stock.

[GMCguy78]

I use Google Play Music through the blue tooth and I think it sounds great. As far as XM I am cancelling after my trial period, I think it is way to expensive and the music selection is not that great IMO.

[chancyrudd]

Truck still not here yet but I'm thinking of installing a 4 channel amp for the door speakers and a 2 channel amp with a 8" sub underneath the back seat. What's the deal with not being able to use the Bose head unit you decide to upgrade ? Thanks in advance.

The head units are similar with the exception of the factory tuner supplying a MOST signal to the factory amp. If you plan on adding aftermarket amps to the mids and highs and woofers you need to be aware that there are 7 channels of audio output from the bose amp on the back wall.

 

The front dash speaker channels are crossed over high, the front doors are crossed over with a band pass filter to only play mid bass, the console sub is crossed over to play the very low frequencies only, and the rear doors are also processed by the factory amp.

 

What this means is that you will need a signal processor to sum the signals to provide a 4 or 5 channel amplifier with the proper signals for aftermarket full range speakers to sound proper. You could also use a combination of amps to provide 7 channels of audio and skip the extra processing but I prefer to have more than just mid bass coming from the front doors.

 

My preferred method is to use a combination of processor and a 5-channel amplifier paired with a small 2 channel so that I can sum some of the channels as I see fit.

 

I have installed many systems in these trucks for our customers and for 2 local dealers as upgrades. They are very easy to upgrade as long as you understand the processing that they intigrate into the factory bose amplifier.

 

In the non-bose trucks the only issue is with the volume of the chime when keeping factory head unit. When amplifying the 4 channels of audio from the factory tuner the already too loud chime only gets louder.

[kennerz]

If you are an audiophile it sucks. For me I like music, but don't care to spend the money for a "real" aftermarket system. The Bose is more than adequate to me, I can Rock out enough to scratch the itch. Glad it came in the truck. For a factory system it is pretty darn good IMHO. Just realize everyone's opinion of sound quality is totally subjective. My order of importance is: performance, comfort, then sound. SO it's down on the list, but again I'm happy with the Bose and think your ave. truck guy would be thrilled with it. If you are into stereos and component selection/ brand names and high quality fidelity you will be disappointed for sure.

[sprayed99]

I'd say if it is there take if not don't worry about it. Music in my car is just a time passer for me and I'm often on the phone anyways... Now in my home is a totally different discussion, but that can get expensive as hell very very fast.

[mmwest]

Finally picking my truck up Thursday and am actually looking forward to listening to the Bose after reading all the post on here.