CX-5 Bose Sound System
- Thread starter silver cx5
- Start date
I find the Bose system in my GT to be 'adequate'. It really suffers without a subwoofer, the low end just doesn't have much punch. Too bad, they could have hidden one under the passenger seat maybe, as others seem to have done.
It also lacks any seriously control, it REALLY needs a midrange control. Bass and Treble? That's it? Why not give us say a five band EQ, in this day and age.
The centerpoint thing is a joke, washes out the music to make it all feel 'swimmy' around you, huge loss in detail with it on.
Not the worst stereo I've heard, for sure, but a 'premium' stereo, I've definitely heard better.
It also lacks any seriously control, it REALLY needs a midrange control. Bass and Treble? That's it? Why not give us say a five band EQ, in this day and age.
The centerpoint thing is a joke, washes out the music to make it all feel 'swimmy' around you, huge loss in detail with it on.
Not the worst stereo I've heard, for sure, but a 'premium' stereo, I've definitely heard better.
Because the instructions page shows both ALC and Audiopilot in sequence in the grid. They shouldn't even ever be on the same page if it's an either/or thing. It makes it look like ALC is standard and Audiopilot is an extra modifier on the already standard ALC - not that it's this or this.
I used to compete in Iasca events and it has been a loooong time, but I know car audio pretty well. The wise flea dude pretty much hit the nail on the head. I am passed the days of putting thousands into car audio systems, but I find that the Bose system is not bad to listen to in a daily driver, and MUCH better than the non Bose system, like night and day. It has no controls and no real bass blah blah, but for a factory system, you would need to spend $1500 and a lot of headache to blow it away. I have a garage now with mb quart mids and a JL 10 and Macintosh and jl amps and Ppi 1/3 octave eq that are all going on eBay because It is just not something I want to mess with anymore. The Bose system is fine for me now for a car stock system to just listen to music in, any knocks beyond that is unreasonable IMO and I say that with my background. Yes you can destroy it with a real competition car audio system, but seriously for a daily driver this is totally more than acceptable, and I would call it good all things considered and in perspective.
Is there any additional acoustical treatment applied to the CX-5, e.g., Dynamat, when the Bose option is included? My concern is that the 2013 was panned in a couple of reviews because of the road noise leakage which appeared to be transferring into the passenger compartment at Interstate speeds through the rear wheel wells.
I highly doubt a oem car company would dynomat door panels. The Dynomat wouldn't really help with road noise anyway, it is more for making a thin metal door acoustically sound and dead when putting in high quality midrange/mid bass 6 1/2s or whatever that move a significant amount of air. I would think road noise is more overal build, like I dont think Lexus and Mercedes s class have dynomat on door panels although the metals may be sprayed with something...
Also a quick note. I have read on here a lot of people complaining about "only hearing the center speaker". That is pretty funny to me. Granted I am 15 years removed from car audio, but you would actually tune your system to appear as though it was coming from in front of you. To the point that I knew cars that had 8" subs in the dash. It is difficult to determine where sounds below 60hz are coming from, so subwoofers in back have always been kinda acceptable, but a pure sound quality car should mimic a live concert experience and is tuned to make everything in front of you, like at a concert. You SHOULDN'T hear music coming from the left or the right or behind you (unless on the track for a reason) because at a concert this would be impossible and not realistic. Bose does not make the best speakers by a long shot, but they are overly engineered and well thought out for what they are(my take from the home stuff) so this "center heavy" complaint I am sure is very design specific and correct. Because it is not what you are used to does not make it wrong, it is actually more right than wrong.
Now all that said, I think that Bose probably sells its name more than too much thought in cars, but since I had the pleasure of having a loaner cx5 without the bose system I can say it is beyond night and day.
Does anyone know if there is a preamp output for adding a sub on the oem unit? I think anything other than something that easy and it wouldn't be worth doing or messing with.
Also a quick note. I have read on here a lot of people complaining about "only hearing the center speaker". That is pretty funny to me. Granted I am 15 years removed from car audio, but you would actually tune your system to appear as though it was coming from in front of you. To the point that I knew cars that had 8" subs in the dash. It is difficult to determine where sounds below 60hz are coming from, so subwoofers in back have always been kinda acceptable, but a pure sound quality car should mimic a live concert experience and is tuned to make everything in front of you, like at a concert. You SHOULDN'T hear music coming from the left or the right or behind you (unless on the track for a reason) because at a concert this would be impossible and not realistic. Bose does not make the best speakers by a long shot, but they are overly engineered and well thought out for what they are(my take from the home stuff) so this "center heavy" complaint I am sure is very design specific and correct. Because it is not what you are used to does not make it wrong, it is actually more right than wrong.
Now all that said, I think that Bose probably sells its name more than too much thought in cars, but since I had the pleasure of having a loaner cx5 without the bose system I can say it is beyond night and day.
Does anyone know if there is a preamp output for adding a sub on the oem unit? I think anything other than something that easy and it wouldn't be worth doing or messing with.
I'm sure there is no dynamat etc in this car. It would cost too much. The road noise on this car is acceptable, it's not as quiet as a luxury sedan, but it's an SUV, so it's never going to be. I get some wind noise at 60 to 65, but I never found it to be that bad.
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- 2014 & 2019 CX-5 Touring(s)
No there isn't. But more because it would weigh more than cost more (though the latter may be a factor too). Besides, I think the main reason for the road noise is the crappy OEM tires. Changing those for something better (noise wise) would help far more than sound material.
designtheland
Member
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- Mazda CX-5 Touring Silver
I have a 2014 Touring with Bose. I have found if you select "Centerpoint" You will have more sound in the front, but if you want true surround, turn on centerpoint option, while playing ipod or Cds.
