Volume response to Factory Stereo
I am sure this has been covered at one time or another, but I care to ask again. I get in my wife's Malibu with a factory radio and then get in my Cruze with a factory radio and it reminds me of my 1.8 before tuning. When I turn the volume in her car the response is immediate response and clear. Mine it is like a full size Caddy with a 4 cyl. or as I said my car before tuning. It will get there but takes some time. I have a 50 watt Bazooka in the trunk which for my taste seems to provide decent bass but it seems I have to go to @30 + on the volume to get it up and somewhat rockin' music. I prefer "SQ" and clarity as Extreme would describe it not just wake the neighbors up. It seems replacing the head unit is out of the question due to the integration with the car controls. Granted I am beyond the years of "rockin' the hood" but I am wondering about the volume response time? ideas?
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Maybe a better question would be: What are the different head units? Maybe it is just mine, I could have the base level head unit and it that is how it is? But like so many others there is little to nothing from the rear speakers unless I I put the fader @ 9 or 10 in the rear. since so much of the car is controlled by the stereo it makes it hard to replace to find out. That is why I asked.
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I also have the base unit. Off the top of my head I'm not sure where my fader is set. After reading some other posts on here, I am going to just direct all of the sound to my front and see if it makes a difference. No one is ever in my back seat so might as well put the sound where I can hear it.
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I think this has a lot to do with a generally weak head unit and speakers that won't play at particularly loud volumes. It's a bit of a challenging situation to remedy because you can't just get new speakers and expect it to be louder, and you can't just get a new head unit because that will set you back several hundred dollars when you include the factory integration modules.
I personally think that the system is merely "adequate" for most listening purposes, but if you want to get "rocking," you'd need a new set of speakers front and rear, and a 4-channel amp to power them up. It's not difficult, just expensive.
You can spend $50 on a set of coaxials for the rear, $140 for a component set for the front, $150 for an amplifier, $70 or so for wiring and cables, and $40 for the AA-GM44 PAC LOC/harness, which in the end sets you back about $450 for front and rear speakers and an amp.
I personally think it's a much better deal than paying for the Pioneer upgraded system when you buy the car.
I just don't see any way to notably improve the volume and quality you get out of the base Cruze system without spending some money. There are simply way too many flaws with the factory speakers, and not enough power out of the factory head unit to drive decent replacement speakers.
I personally think that the system is merely "adequate" for most listening purposes, but if you want to get "rocking," you'd need a new set of speakers front and rear, and a 4-channel amp to power them up. It's not difficult, just expensive.
You can spend $50 on a set of coaxials for the rear, $140 for a component set for the front, $150 for an amplifier, $70 or so for wiring and cables, and $40 for the AA-GM44 PAC LOC/harness, which in the end sets you back about $450 for front and rear speakers and an amp.
I personally think it's a much better deal than paying for the Pioneer upgraded system when you buy the car.
I just don't see any way to notably improve the volume and quality you get out of the base Cruze system without spending some money. There are simply way too many flaws with the factory speakers, and not enough power out of the factory head unit to drive decent replacement speakers.
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Thx Xtreme,
The more I think about it and the alternatives, it is not all that bad. As I said earlier, i don't want to wake up the neighbors etc and I am past the age of trying to show off. Most every new car I have owned, the stereo was completed or improved with a nice set of 6X9s including my wife's car. The addition of the 50 watt Bazooka helped the situation and but it makes me wonder why the front is so much better than the rear. Since few people ride in my car that would be concerned with the stereo quality, I am not going to worry about it any more as you said, it is "adequate" for most listening purposes which it is for me. I am just noting the differences between the 2 cars to see if there was something I was missing but it will be a closed case now for me.
The more I think about it and the alternatives, it is not all that bad. As I said earlier, i don't want to wake up the neighbors etc and I am past the age of trying to show off. Most every new car I have owned, the stereo was completed or improved with a nice set of 6X9s including my wife's car. The addition of the 50 watt Bazooka helped the situation and but it makes me wonder why the front is so much better than the rear. Since few people ride in my car that would be concerned with the stereo quality, I am not going to worry about it any more as you said, it is "adequate" for most listening purposes which it is for me. I am just noting the differences between the 2 cars to see if there was something I was missing but it will be a closed case now for me.
My LS has the base model radio and the same 50w Bazooka. I never have to turn the volume beyond 23. Everybody has different sensory perceptions so my comment is only valid for me but something doesn't seem right if you need to turn it to 30.
I discovered once that if I set the front/rear fader to favor the rear speakers it cut down the overall volume level drastically. The rear speakers are set somehow to a low level and there's no much to be done about it. If you try to balance the front & rear all you do is cut the volume to the front. Maybe you could set the fader to 0 and see what you get.
Did you hook up your Bazooka to the front or rear speaker pair? I used the fronts. I don't know if that has any bearing on your problem.
I discovered once that if I set the front/rear fader to favor the rear speakers it cut down the overall volume level drastically. The rear speakers are set somehow to a low level and there's no much to be done about it. If you try to balance the front & rear all you do is cut the volume to the front. Maybe you could set the fader to 0 and see what you get.
Did you hook up your Bazooka to the front or rear speaker pair? I used the fronts. I don't know if that has any bearing on your problem.
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When you say "something doesn't sound right," that's probably the level where the peaks and dips in the frequency response start to get really audible and fatiguing to listen to. The head unit is probably also reaching its limits with regard to power output.
I couldnt believe how quiet the stock speakers were in my cruze. I added a small amp to the stock speakers and added some 6x9's and it made a huge difference. Here's a video of the install 2012 chevy cruze amp install with stock radio - YouTube
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