# Stock stereo system?



## benh818 (Feb 21, 2005)

Hey everyone, I'm new to the site, and I have a couple questions about the system in the gto...
Does anyone else find the system terribly underpowered? past like 35 volume i get a lot of distortion and it just doesnt get loud...
also, does anyone know of any ways to make the system any better? I asked a body shop guy and he told me he could get me a new amp and some new speakers for like 850$, but I was thinking of just getting new speakers or soemthing a bit cheaper, b/c i want to spend more on performance mods... btw... i just put on oval tips w/dual exits and the guy is custom fiberglassing my rear bumper... I'll post pics soon.. thanks


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## rwilson831 (Aug 23, 2004)

I had a 98 Grand Prix GTP before this with the a stock Bose system in it. It was hands down far better than the one that came in the GTO. That really is the only thing that the car leaves me wanting.


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## bogie1 (Feb 16, 2005)

I agree the stereo is the worst part of this car and the worst I have heard in a new car in a while.


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## linux_fan (Feb 19, 2005)

i traded in a 98 lexus ls400 with the nakamichi sound system for my 05 gto, and the gto sound system is very lame in comparison. in talking with some people that used to install stereos for a living, they said that the amp in the trunk may cause issues if i try to replace the head unit (impedence problems to the speakers), so you may have to replace everything to improve the sound system. i checked crutchfield, best buy, and circuit city, and none of them have any info on what it would take to replace the 05 gto sound system.


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## jdc916 (Feb 23, 2005)

TRUST ME !!! Its better than the infinity system in my Dodge Ram 1500 !


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## twolf (Nov 24, 2004)

I have a 2003 RAM 1500, and like the system in it much more than my GTO. I will be replacing the GTO system entirely as soon as the weather improves.


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## SasdawgGTO (Nov 10, 2004)

I added my flip up DVD Screen deck to my car, and it boosted the sound coming out of those speakers like i have not heard in any stock audio system in my life. I dont know if it is the tuning i have set up on the deck or what but it sounds GREAT to me! At first i was very dissapointed in the system because i am a huge car audio enthusiast, and was depressed to hear, that not much could be done for it, short of replacing the whole thing, so when i added this deck i was more than impressed. Not to happy with the trunk space available for sub woofers that i was going to put in, but then again after thinkng about it, who needs subwoofers in a GTO anyway! :lol:


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## jontyrees (Dec 21, 2004)

I just got through a cheap upgrade this weekend. Replaced the front door and rear side panel speakers with some average aftermarket 6.5" coaxial Blaupunkts - $70 for two pairs shipped from Ikesound.com. At first I thought I had wasted the $70 and several hours of tearing apart the interior of my car, since the volume was really down, even if the sound was improved, (clearer, crisper, less muddy, instruments became distinguishable). And these are 92dB efficient speakers - fairly high. HOWEVER, after some twiddling and tweaking, it sounds pretty good now. Here's what I did:

Already had bumped up the gain on the stock sub amp some - probably up to 7/10 if the detent is at 5/10.

Don't use the preset eq's - I have mine set at no eq, bass up 1, treble up 3, (remember I have the bass amp gain increased).

Turn the radio off, then hit on and preset 1 simultaneously to get to the options menu - turn off the distortion limiter. The speakers I used are 4ohm, as are almost all aftermarket speakers, so the amp chips in the head unit are not going to be able to output as much current as they do into the stock speakers 2ohm load. The downside is less volume, the upside is less distortion, so since the aftermarket speakers are less likely to distort also, you can get rid of the DDL thing. I also turned off the thing that adjust volume depending on your road speed - it just turns the volume down when you're going slowly and I don't really care for the interference. Now you can turn it up to about 50 or more without significant distortion.

All in all, it's much better, and it was cheap. My GTO is leased so I really don't want to get into adding amps, subs, etc - already done that on my other car and several previous rides. I don't listen to much really bass-heavy music, mostly rock, AC/DC through ZZTop, and the stock subs with the gain up a bit are ok for me. You bass-heads out there may want to look into adding some subs and a bunch of power.

If you do want to go that route, I swear you could put about anything in the space behind the rear side panels. You could definitely fit 8" subs back there, possibly 10" if they're shallow. It would have to be a fairly funky shaped box, but there's quite a bit of space., (would need to trim out some sheet metal around the current cutout).


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## Groucho (Sep 11, 2004)

Great info jontyrees...thanks.

That amplifier cut-out (izzat the distortion limiter?) is the worst thing _evarrr._ You know...it's a nice night on the I-5, cruising at 90mph cranking up Guitar Shorty when *pop* the whole thing cuts out until you turn the system off for a couple of seconds....aaaauuuuugggghhh! Talk about _rockus interrruptus_! 

...or, is that a warranty thing?


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## vmax (Mar 19, 2005)

linux_fan said:


> i traded in a 98 lexus ls400 with the nakamichi sound system for my 05 gto, and the gto sound system is very lame in comparison. in talking with some people that used to install stereos for a living, they said that the amp in the trunk may cause issues if i try to replace the head unit (impedence problems to the speakers), so you may have to replace everything to improve the sound system. i checked crutchfield, best buy, and circuit city, and none of them have any info on what it would take to replace the 05 gto sound system.


Why don't you go to a REAL stereo shop? With all due respect don't you realize that CC and BB are mass merchants and are not interested in the cutting edge? I know, I helped CC design their sound rooms years ago. Tweeter has won many national awards for their installs and is the only national company to do so. Also there are many reputable local shops doing great installs. Crutchfield is definitely the best mail order company but developing a relationship with a human being in a store can be beneficial in the long run. Telephones and websites can't listen to your system and help you with it.


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## JUSGTO (Feb 22, 2005)

Can someone pls tell me the different sizes of the speakers in the GTO so i can go get what i need to replace the entire system. Thinking of a avh-p7500 pioneer head unit, with the addtional avic-n1 gps disc. Then the speakers, and amp will come after that, and i think i can fit in two subs on each side of the car with some custom work. I have plans on some serious custom work. All advice will be helpful thank you :rofl:


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## tha joker (Feb 10, 2005)

subs fit just fine in the back i make them so i know hopefully this link works
http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/[email protected]/lst?.dir=/GTO&.view=l


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## texgal (Dec 24, 2004)

Hated the sound in mine so broke down and had all new speakers w/swivel tweeters put inside w/ bazooka amp. Then had 2 10" kickers put in trunk w/ seperate amp. Only problem I found (besides cost) is the sound proofing in the trunk and the placement of the gas tank. Could probably get better sound from the kickers if I had some of the sound proofing removed but hate to do that. Oh yeah, and the kickers rattle the wing a bit. Besides turning them down or removing them, any suggestions??


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## JUSGTO (Feb 22, 2005)

Joker what size subs are those, and can some one tell me the multiple sizes of speakers that come in the 05. I heard that there are something like 10 speakers total, and i am just trying to figure out how i am going to put amps to all those speakers. :confused :confused :confused :confused


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## jontyrees (Dec 21, 2004)

It's not really 10 speakers. There are tweeters in the dash that are wired in with the mid-range in the doors, (probably in parallel), and the rear side speakers are coaxial, which they count as eight speakers in all. Then there are the two 7" subs in the parcel shelf. If you got a component set up front, doors and dash, and some coaxials for the rear sides, you would just need one 4-channel amp if you wanted to fade front and back, or a 2-channel if that doesn't matter to you.

I have coaxials front and back, left the tweeters in the dash, all running off the head unit. Sounds pretty good, an amp would be better, but I just don't want to run wires, etc.


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## JUSGTO (Feb 22, 2005)

How bigs is the parcel shelf, and can i get two 10's in there and use a 4 channel and a 2 channel :confused  :confused


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## tha joker (Feb 10, 2005)

you would have a real hard time cutting and cussing to get 8s in the rear deck much less tens.im making 10,12 in boxes for the trunk right now once im done ill start doing other stuff inside


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## JUSGTO (Feb 22, 2005)

If you can, post some pics of where you are planning to put ur subs ideas are always helpful... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :cool


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