What I actually said was the word for the working space of a pilot or driver. I don't use euphemisms except in jest, and I certainly don't bowdlerize the words I do use. Those asterisks appeared after I hit 'submit'.

Is this vulgar modification of my words a new feature of the software? Or have I just stumbled on one of its childish sensitivities for the first time?

Gary

 

I agree 100%.
All I am trying to say that Bose is not an option I would spend the $ on. Period.
Stock is just good enough for the Pcar that makes its own beautiful music at 5000 rpms.

 

I have the standard system in my car and will apply the extra for an exhaust.

 

Another item: I suggest turning off the auto-vol feature. It compresses the audio, flattening out the presentation.

 

Depends on my mood and whether Cindy is riding along. When I want to hear the music despite taking an on-ramp, I like the automatic volume boost, but when Cindy is along it bothers her. On top of the car sounds getting louder, Engelbert Humperdinck crescendoes at the same time.

I haven't seen any flattening of the dynamic range though. This feature on the high end Bose uses a background noise sensor to dictate whether it raises or lowers the volume. At least it is described that way and seems to perform as described. The line level of the music doesn't seem to cause adjustments in either direction and neither does the current passage affect it. Loud passages stay loud with or without the feature enabled, and the soft ones stay inaudible as well when you're optimistic enough to try classical music while driving a sports car.

In fact, the system overall seems to take input line level as a completely independent variable that it cannot manage. Very annoying not to have an adjustment -- or at least a factory calibration -- for the differences in line level between the sources. The FM receiver for example is about 10 dB up on the CD player, which is about 3 dB down from the sat receiver and the USB device port.

Everytime I eject a CD and forget to jump for the source selection, I get blasted out by some random FM channel playing Latino Rap or the farm report on hog belly futures. We have no FM sources worth mentioning here you see. I never listen to anything but XM-Sat or one of the 'disk' sources, like USB or CD. Unfortunately, the high school drop-out who programmed the UI takes you back to the broadcast sources every time you drop out of the others. That is his fallback or default setting.

All of this would be intolerable in a serious audio system, but as I said, I would not pay $3k to $7k for a serious system and then mount it in a sports car where the real music comes from the exhaust pipe. I just try to remember to switch to satellite as soon as I hit 'eject' on the CD player and I find the usual audio tricks by Bose make the system a tolerable way to listen to both sources of music at once. (e.g. The flat six and Tom Jones in the same interval. Don't even think about Mozart. He can't compete with Zuffenhausen.)

Gary

 

Interesting, I didn't know that. Is this for the Bose only, or the standard CDR? I have only had the Bose previously and didn't waste the money on it this time.

 

Probably true - I think Bose tried to be too clever on that Audio Pilot feature and it doesn't do nearly as well for me as the volume-control-only type versions of this I had in my BMWs. Bose tries too much:


If the "

 

absolutely worth it.
Brilliant sound with great bass.
good for resale.
molar

 

To each their own. Bose is a gizmo gadget. Something is wrong when my bass setting has to be set at -2. I'd rather listen to the engine, but my commute is short. For less than $1000, I can put/build a system that would sound so much better - to me. Some people absolutely love the sound. And some are convinced it is great because of the label on the drivers door - great marketing there

 

There is certainly better systems out there, however it is Porsche OEM equipment and I would keep it as close to OEM as possible.

 

Agree.

 

I agree with the Bose having way too much bass. But I had read how bad it sounded and how so many people here on sixspeed thought it was worthless. My C2 has it and I would never buy a Porsche without it.

It sounds amazing, responsive and crisp. But I do not listen to classical so the audiophiles out there will be much more aware of freq distortion. Totally worth it IMHO

 

+1

 

The Bose is hardly high end. The base is boomy and not crisp. The mid highs are exaggerated and the ulitmate high end isnt' there even if the treble is up all the way. However, I'm with the others that suggest remaining OEM. I have the system and live with it. Interestingly, I find the NAV barely has any volume if you don't use the Audio Pilot volume thing. Also, the phony surround. Turned it off for over a year and now have it on. I get the impression the whole thing was engineered to sound the best with it all on. Which isn't to say that it is great with it on, but it is servicable.

I'd recommend getting the Bose as a reasonable alternative. The best recommendation I would get it to add the Dension. Playing the Dension with the iPod adds a good dimension. At least you get reasonable sound then. Contrary to what simsgw said, I find that the system sets the volume for each source. AND a "big" plus is that equalization is finally source specific. So when you've needed to max out the treble for FM and you have it much lower for CD, it is saved and remains that way for each source. Big plus.

Also, Nav and Bose are popular options. A car without it will have less resale value as others have indicated. If that matters.

 

Oh please, make me a happy man and show me where I'm wrong about this. I'm getting a headache because everytime I finish one CD of this lecture series, I pop it out and the system reverts to FM and volume goes up at least ten decibels. I've tried hitting the 'disk' button quickly to shift input to the USB disk before the FM channel settles, but that only saves about three decibels of pain because even between the 'disk' sources, the line levels vary tremendously.

All kidding aside, this really is a source of pain when I make those changes. If it didn't always happen while I'm in traffic I could work out some procedure, but nothing is feasible while I'm busy with other controls.

I really want to learn here. How can I adjust the line levels for each source?

Gary