I just had the Kicker Sub installed on my 22 Refresh AT4. The subwoofer level seems to be controlled by the bass adjustment on the GM head unit. It will rattle the back seat if you max it out.
Over all it is a big improvement over the Bose only sound. The 19 speaker Harmon Karman in my last Jeep Grand Cherokee was much better. <<SNIP>>
Down the road I will have to replace the shitty paper Bose speakers. I should not have to spend money on sound system upgrades on a 73k truck. I did cut the old under seat storage and reinstalled on the jack side. Saw it done on the ZR2 Forums.
Yup!
You know what’s even worse than a crappy stereo in a $73k truck? A crappy stereo in a $106k truck! I just bought a 24 AT4X AEV a couple weeks ago…
I haven’t screwed with a factory stereo in more than ten years, because the OEM stereos in Rams, Jeeps, and Fords have gotten so much better. I could probably get used to the sound in the AT4X, except we still have a Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford Raptor, and Wrangler… (You know a stereo sucks if the factory sound system in a
Wrangler is better… sheesh. Talk about a low bar.) A fifteen minute trip in any of the other vehicles resets our expectations. Then we get into the GMC and immediately start fussing with the equalizer settings again. There’s no adjustment that produces good, crisp, clear, sound. Somehow, the “Bose” speakers produce sound that both muffled and tinny sounding — and the bass is thin. We’re in our 60s, so we’re not looking to rattle the mirrors or impress the neighbors. We just want decent set-it-and-forget-it sound. Headed to the car audio store this morning, unfortunately.
Side note: At one point Bose had a fantastic reputation. My wife and I still love our Bose noise cancelling headphones. Fantastic sound… I’m sure the Bose contract with GM was worth many millions, but I wonder if it’s worth the permanent damage to the Bose reputation…
For me, this feels like when Sears started selling crappy tools branded with “Sears” instead of the Craftsman tools that used to be bulletproof and carry an unconditional lifetime guarantee. Sears was Craftsman, and Craftsman was Sears which had an A+, five star, reputation for quality and service it took seventy years to earn. Then Sears started selling crappy disposable tools. At first, customers didn’t know the difference, so they thought they could trust any tool that said “Sears”, so Sears made millions and millions of dollars on the low cost, super-high profit margin, disposable, tools. But that plan destroyed the Sears reputation in only a few years. It opened the market for SnapOn, Mac, and others — and it eventually killed Sears.
