Hi everyone,


I have a stock sound system (non bose) on my 2009 C2.
Is the sound really that bad? ..or is there some settings i can change in the PCM, or suggestions for the bass,tremble,fader..etc?

Please suggest. thanks!

 

Mine has Bose and it sounds bad too!

 

Bose/Porsche is just getting by, by today's standards in car audio - BMW and Lexus is what I have for comparison. Even my mom's new $20K'ish Malibu's system sounds as good or maybe better.

There's a lot of noise in a 911 though compared to those cars, so I reckon a good sound is more challenging, but the Bose is weak - Bose has a "go against the grain" philosophy in audio design, that while sometimes innovative, often doesn't work as well as tried, proven, and evolved designs. I went to their WEB site and read the justification for lack of EQ controls - bah - it just doesn't work. And AudioPilot - is a "faith" based gadget, in that you have to have faith in it working, because you cannot see it, touch it, taste it, smell it, and most importantly hear it.

The one exception is DVDA discs. They sound fantastic, so maybe the system was optimized for that or the interfaces (D/A A/D conversions) to CD and SAT are just not so great.

The stock system in a loaner Cayman I had a few weeks ago reminded my of a 1970s Chevy Delco radio - pretty bad.

I know you don't buy a Porsche for the audio, and maybe they are having to cram a lot of gear into a small space and coax some decent sound out of it - maybe that's the reason for Bose - but for cars in this price range, I'd think they could do better - a decent EQ would be a great start.

 

yea..compare driving the bmw and mercedes...and lexus..the porsche system is pretty weak,

your right about the pcar being loud, which should be bit more difficult..but porsche really need to step up...and that extra option for bose..should be standard..

dvd audio sounds better on this car?..i usually just listen to the ipod connected through pcm...
dvd audio...that means very limited selection?

i dono but so far now...well the sound sounds..pretty dull...almost mono!

 

haha =P

damn...is this ur daily commuter ?
have u gotten used to this?

 

Believe it or not but the stock system sounds better than the Bose.

The car has so much road noise and the only way to really start to get any good sound will be to line everything with a Dynamat type of material.

Plus some aftermarket processing like the Alpine Imprint, a good 4ch amp, replace the door speakers and add a sub in the rear will get you going in the right direction. However the Carrera interior is not suited to good car audio.

 

Interesting! thanks for the info, makes me kinda feel better for not having the bose system.

 

I purposly did not order Bose in my 09. I had Bose in my 06 and 07. The Bose system has some weird stuff going on in the mid bass to low end. There is not a lot of warmth in the mid bass and it really kills off the bass guitar freq. Bose really lack the punch of a bass drum in the 60-100hz as well. There seems to be some very lose and excesive lows down around 40hz in the Bose system. The midrange is fine with Bose but the lower treble around 6-8khz is a little harsh and the high end is no where near as accurate and sweet sounding as a aftermarket system.

 

it was actually on mike's advice that i didn't order the Bose. I appreciated a musicians opinion concerning the real benefits of clearly resolved midbass of the stock system vs. the somewhat bloated and sharp sound of the Bose. Live music should never sound "thick". I must say that the stock system has been growing on me....although I have tried some mods on it, I am not sure I improved the sound.

 

The stock system is not that great but sounds more natural to me than the bloated Bose. The Bose can play louder than the stock system but the Bose sounds weird to me. I bet if you swaped out the stock speakers the sound would be a lot better. A simple amp install would make a world of difference.

 

The Reus systems apparently use an amplifier installed in trunk, plus they replace the crummy Bose sub with a good one, and replace the center channel speaker with 2 midranges in the back of the rear view mirror (which bounce the sound off the windshield). They apparently leave the door and rear speakers as is. The ones I've seen demo'd on P-cars sound good, but I suspect that it is partly because they use a demo CD that has a large dynamic range to accent the crispness of the sound. The upgrade runs about $2k apparently.
I find the road noise level so high that I don't think it is worthwhile spending a lot of time worrying about the sound quality. To appreciate better quality, you'd still need the volume cranked up pretty high to overcome the road noise most of the time, and that can be tiring.

 

Interesting opinions. I got the Bose on my 997.2 and find it adequate. I'm a novice audiophile, and invest in decent home audio components generally, and would NEVER consider a Bose to be audiophile in any shape or form.. just glitzy consumer crap that's overpriced. I guess I just contradicted myself...
What I'm trying to say is that I was expecting garbage with the Porsche Bose but found it to be OK with the right settings. 1 notch to the left and 1-2 notches to the rear for me does the trick. It seems equivalent to my previous e92 M3 stock system and my previous e46 M3 HK system.

 

wow thanks mike, john, keninirvine, and shuffles for all the suggestion and personal thoughts about this subject.

since im a first time porsche owner, i guess this is what it is. i think i really have to turn up the volume on this stock..to sound better. otherwise there is just too much exterior sounds/engine.

thanks again everyone!

now its time for...interior mods..hehee

 

Define bad for me?

I've got the base audio system and it sounds fine for me. I'm listening to XM (which is overcompressed at the source into the car) or iPod and some FM. Eventually I'll be adding MP3 laden CD's. For the sources I listen to, its just fine.

Its a sports car, and a 911 based chassis.. nothing can compensate for the acoustic issues those bring to bear. If you want to feel like you are sitting in the orchestra pit for a symphony, a sports car is the wrong vehicle... get a luxury sedan that has the mass and space/room to build a good acoustic listening environment.... or get a good audio system for the house.

If you want loud or license plate rattling... then I challeng your definition of good.

 

oh, bad as in...well having own 645 ,745,s550,sc430..and such. the porsches sound system is last.

but o well i gues its the sports ..sports car.

thanks for offering advice