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Just for fun, find a another Black Toe head unit that is either in the Buick Lucern or Chevy Tahoe and stick in the Impala (with the Impala Bose) and see what would happen? And vice versa, use this Impala head unit inside another GM vehicle w/o Bose Amp.
jt
Are the Bose "premium" speakers of paper cone construction or are they made of something else like polypropylene?
Thanks.
jt
Thanks!
Has there been any fixes found out there yet?
Shawn
I have talked to the local dealership owner, sales manager, and service manager. They have promised to look into the issue. I recently noticed that the hiss is louder with XM and much quieter with CDs. I have yet to experiment with FM and AM. I'll follow up if I find anything.
http://www.alldata.com/tsb/General-Motors/1148281200000_1149750000000_06-08-44-0- - 19/index.html
I have already contacted my local dealer and will post any news here. I'm very enthusiastic!
I relocated the factory radio to the trunk where there is a connector for it that may be for the CD changer. I spliced the wires into the harness for the new radio using only the wires needed for the new radio. This allowed me to keep all the chimes and reset the the message center when need be.
Everything worked fine except for the steering wheel controls for the radio.
rsg31, the TSB number is 06-08-44-019. Your dealer's service department should be able to reference it for you. The symptoms listed are hiss/distortion with radio muted or off and turn signals activated. It doesn't mention door chimes or hazard signals but the same symptom exists with them too. The hiss is also present with CD but at a lower level (in my case). When talking to your service manager, be sure to mention the exact symptoms in the TSB. Since I didn't mention turn signals, my service manager thought this TSB didn't apply to me. That further convinces me that even though service managers are at the top of the service/repair chain, they don't necessarily understand everything about the vehicles that they repair.
By the way, my service manager called today and the amp isn't available locally so I will have to wait for the part to come from Lansing, MI. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be a high priority since it won't be here until Monday. So, another week with premium Bose hiss but I'll manage.
There seems to be a lot more functions available on the radio then what the vehicle's owner's manual shows.
For example, when I press the EQ button - The only choices are TALK and MANUAL. One would think that there has to be more choices than just those, like for example ROCK, DISCO, etc.
Could someone let me know where I could find the manual for this radio?
Thank You!
I tried searching the web for an owner's manual but couldn't find anything. If you'd like to try, the system is called US9. I found many references to options lists but no manual. My dealer photo-copied a brochure they were given to help familiarize themselves and customers but it doesn't have much detail. I'm not 100% sure the US9 automatically upgrades to the Bose premium sound system but I think it does. Can you tell me if your system is the Bose premium sound? The next (head-unit)level down (US8), has the EQ presets like you mentioned. With Bose, talk and manual are the only options and they are band specific, i.e. if you listen to an AM talk show and choose talk, all AM stations will be played in talk unless you switch it. Pretty silly, actually, especially since XM has all formats.
I've been able to figure out most of the radio controls but I'm still familiarizing myself with the MP3 disk settings. Rather than describe what I know here, I'll wait and see if you'd like any info and I'll share it if you do. Good luck!
Just curious, do you notice any background hiss with your stereo? Many of us have that problem and it's most noticeable with the stereo volume low (less than 50%). Also, you can hear it with the radio off and the turn signals, hazard lights, or door chimes. The hiss sound remains for about 2 seconds after the last turn/hazard signal "tick" or door chime. It makes it difficult to listen to radio bands at low volume.
I do have to Bose premium system and it is really nice I like it a lot. I have not heard the hiss that you speak about but I've only had the vehicle for 2 days.
One problem that happened just tonight, out of the blue my CD player can no longer read any of the discs. It was reading them fine yesterday and earlier today but now I just get "DISC ERROR" no error code or anything. I guess I'll be stopping by the dealer this week for them to look at it.
Arrggghhh..
Second, is there a website that lists all of the TSB's for this vehicle?
Thanks
I changed the chime level to "Loud" and no difference in the remaining hiss level (the hiss that is there is unchanged by the chime volume level). Be aware, there is still a "hiss" there but it is MUCH quieter. Although I would think a premium system would have no hiss at all, after what I originally had, this is better than acceptable. I am willing to close the issue. I doubt I'll ever buy another Bose product, though.
So what is the HVAC reprogramming you're talking about? I haven't heard of it. My AC is fine but my sister doesn't think her's is cold enough. I've heard that complaint a few times already. Please share what you know...
Normally they do not change the styling and interface of the radio every year. It takes GM 4-5 years to change to the current Black Tie design for the bulk of their vehicles. So the new radio and old one are compatible to each other. What they change, based on reading all the posted messages, are:
1. Reflash the head unit to update the Audio output (more Gain probably, my theory). Radio head unit's audio level is in the DSP and it is easy to adjust the volume curve
2. Put in a newly designed Bose Amp (to work with new Audio profile of the new head unit).
jt
Did they also reprogram the radio? According to the TSB, it takes two things to address this problem
The following is the exact text:
"Replace the Amplifier unit...
After replacing the amplifier, reprogram the radio with the latest software available in TIS. ..."
I hope they did both for you
jt
jt
The owner's manual mentions EQ presets (plural) and I raised this with the sales guy thinking there must be a fault. He also thought there should be five or six EQ presets but has just come back to me to say there has been a TSB which identifies that cars with the premium sound option are restricted to the 'talk/manual' because 'the premium system will give the owner all he needs in sound quality' (or words to that effect).
What absolute tosh!. Has anyone out there had a similar response and does anyone know whether there is a 'hack' to bring in the full range of EQ presets?
It surely cannot be beyond the wit of man to fix this quirk.
Your stereo is performing as designed. The multiple presets are available on the lower level stereos but not on Bose. My sister has the next level down and the presets are there on hers. One other thing you'll want to be aware of is that the EQ settings are source dependent, in that if you select custom on XM and Talk on AM, all XM stations will use Custom and all AM stations will use Talk. That's the same for CD/AUX as well.
I too am a bit disappointed by the Bose system but I am not all that surprised by its performance. The biggest problem most of us had was a terrible hiss that was finally addressed by GM (replaced the amplifier). If you're curious about those issues, just search this forum for "Black Tie" and you'll get a bit of history.
Happy Motoring!
Thankyou very much for your reply - I guess I will get used to it.
I have another question about this radio which you may be able to help me with. Using a menu function, one can set the time and date. However, nowhere have I found a way for the date to be displayed. Only the time is displayed when the radio is off. So why do we have to set the date?
I didn't pull the manual out but I did check out the stereo again. I remember seeing those time and date prompts but I guess I assumed there was some display preference option but I never went looking for it. If there is a way to display the date, I couldn't find it. I dunno. I think it goes along with the (assumed) rush to get this stereo into the cars (even with bad amps). I'll take another look at it later and pass along anything I discover. I find that very strange unless of course you're locked in your car, have access to your stereo, but don't have access to a calendar. Then you can enter the setup menu and find the date safely hidden away. :P
My CD player stopped working and the dealer ordered and installed a new one for me today.
Now all of a sudden, when I put the turn signal indicator on, I hear this ANNOYING turn-signal "clicking" sound. It sounds like a normal turn signal sound but at an extremely elevated sound level and it's coming through the speakers.
I never had this noise before.
The dealer has now ordered me another new radio... So I wait.
Another odd thing... on the old radio when I selected the EQ button I only had 2 options: MANUAL and TALK. With the new radio I have a whole bunch of options, like ROCK DISCO JAZZ etc.
Can anyone help me with any of these issues?
If I used your naming convention, I would be rriel67. Funny that we both own SSs. It looks like you got a non-Bose sound system the second time around. The Bose system has manual and talk. The non-Bose system has all the preset EQ settings. I haven't been able to confirm that there is a different head unit with the Bose systems or if it's some internal programming on the actual units. I'm assuming both were either single or 6-disk systems? I haven't heard of a Bose without the 6-disk but I can't find any confirmation that they are mutually exclusive. Back to the problem at hand...either you got a non-Bose stereo or one not programmed to work with Bose...at least that's my best guess.
As for the turn signal sound, there are two volume levels for the turn signals, door chimes, etc. and it sounds like yours was set to the loud setting. It may be worse if you have the wrong stereo or some programming problem. The signal/chime level is set through the DIC. You may want to check it out.
Once the head unit unit knows that there is a Bose amp out there (by reading some CAN bus messages), it will configure its audio settings according (Gain level, EQ,...). One easy way to identify is if you visit a Chevy dealership and ask for part number(s). If they are the same then that is the case.
In the past, old Impala radio was just like that. Eventhough it had external Amp, but the radio itself could drive the speakers directly. Typical designs with external amp is different: they only have the Low level Audio buffer that outputs to the Amp. These designs can't drive speakers directly.
jt