OK, here we go, from May - you'll note the comment at the end about me expecting to keep it for another couple of years, such that its worth it. Yeah, so that went well - picked up my current car in September - 4/5 mths later. Doh!!! One other note to add to this, the rear speakers were no longer working. We only discovered this a couple of months later as no-one had travelled in the back. If I was keeping it, I'd have taken it back as clearly something had gone wrong somewhere.
Looking back on this now, of course its tarnished by me switching the car. If I had kept the old car then it probably would've been worth it because the old system was sooo bad (how do Maserati make them so appalling!?). But, it was a lot of £££'s to be honest. I'm certainly not even tempted to upgrade from the Bose system in my new drive, as although it'd probably be 25% better, its really not worth it in my opinion. Plus, frankly, I spend more time listening to the exhaust in this car
"I picked my car up on the Saturday as promised (dropped off Tuesday morning). They'd clearly pushed hard to get it done in time and had to put in the hours for completion. I'm going to start with a bit of a mixed review, so its important you read to the end!!!
- car was a bit untidy inside - could have done with a duster and a quick hoover, given that bits had been taken in and out, had a number of people crawling over it. To be fair, they said they would've sent it for a valet, but had run short of time.
- in the workshop the sound was rich and good, but in hindsight (and read all the way to the bottom remember), this really came about due to the volume that it was being played at and the choice of music. But you're in the moment so all is good.
- driving home we (me and the boy) started to feel the sound was almost a bit tinny, lacking some warmth and slightly hollow. Perhaps we'd knocked a switch or something? So we phoned up and perhaps had fiddled with the wrong dial or something - Audiofile continued to be very helpful. Maybe, we'll give it time...
- during the week, the sound was still a bit light on the warmth and strength of bass (ironic given that it now had a bass speaker in the rear shelf!).
However, after about a week and easing up the volume a bit more from time to time, the sound started to come alive. It has been almost like the speakers really did need some 'wearing in' to get the sound coming through. Now, without too much of a hike in volume i.e. keeping it at a level that you can sensibly drive at and is possible to hold something of a conversation,and not compromise anything, the sound is distinctly richer and warmer, be that through the radio even, but of course primarily via CD.
It starts to become hard to remember just how bad the sound used to be (it was a factory standard, non-Bose system), so I used my Volvo as a measure. The stereo in that is more than acceptable and was significantly better than the GT. Indeed, I'm not an audio buff / nerd / geek, but if the GT had had a stereo quality the same as the Volvo, I wouldn't have upgraded it. But now I would confidently say the GT has overtaken it in the sound stakes by some significant steps (first week notwithstanding). Its a lot clearer, a more precise sound, the warmth comes through, there's much more bass coming through etc...etc...
I also had a basic Parrot BT system fitted at the same time. This is handy for incoming calls - I deliberately chose the setup as it was discreet, although is limited as you can't make calls handsfree, but that's fine for my needs.
I guess I have two regrets or overall negatives:
i) no connection for a USB / ipod - driving this seems to cause infernal problems in these cars!
ii) not being told, presuming it is 'known', to give it a bit of time for the stereo to run itself in.
But, the positives are now far outweighing it. With an extra 3 speakers (Bass, plus two top end located at the level of the wing mirrors) plus the various other electronic gizzmos and replacement of the existing speakers, the system is a leap forward. I paid just over £2k for it - worth it? Probably...but I'm not a total audio buff. But...I am planning on keeping the car for at least 2 years, maybe more (hence getting the upgrade done now and getting the benefit from it), so the payback is good.
As a footnote, the speakers that came out were in fact BOSE, so they must be the factory standard for ease of production, but I guess the manufacturer upgrade does a fair few bits more - including a proper rear shelf speaker."
