Yeah. I hear ya about it being lame. I did the speakers in my family's '05 Tahoe with the AM/FM/CD/Cassette (non-bose) system. Blew out the rear door speakers with Vanilla Ice one morning while on a military base with the windows up (that was an interesting thing to explain to the madre), so I replaced those with some $50 Pioneers good to 30Hz, but they sounded warmer and a bit muffled compared to a 3 way or 4 way coaxial. Then when the front door speakers went about 2 years later (yeah I know, kinda crazy to me too) I went with some Sony 4 ways that were less bass heavy, but bright and crisp to the point that the factory tweeters were redundant. Best friend got a 2009 HHR with basically the same head unit as the Traverse (and your Monte Carlo) and I COULD NOT make it sound like anything other than a transistor radio in the 5 years that he had it. He wasn't satisfied with it and he didn't want to replace anything in it. He just wanted an Avalanche, but surprise surprise, I blew those speakers out with some Kickstart My Heart this past winter. If you want to hear the setup I had in the Tahoe, I have a video I shot with a Nikon point and shoot, but you get the idea. Clear, crisp, and only slightly bass heavy.
Here is that video I was talking about. U Tube plus /watch?v=W2J9p8czwC4
Front: Sony Xplod XS-GTX1644 4 way 6.5" coaxial speakers. 92dB sensitivity and a 40Hz to 23KHz response range IIRC. Not that deep, but the mids and highs were why I got them.
Rear: Pioneer TS-GT1644R 2 way 6.5" coaxial speakers. 89dB sensitivity and 30Hz to 20kHz response. More for rear fill as the mids would get distorted when the volume was high.
I have dreams for the Traverse if it lasts 200k miles like the Tahoe was going to last, but I'll reserve those for if it actually happens or if my mom decides to downsize to something else. So far, here is the list of that dream setup:
Digital Sound Processor - Helix DSP or Match DSP Same company, different level. Think Chevy vs Cadillac or Toyota vs Lexus. The Helix has Bur Brown Digital-Analog Converters, the Match has Asahi Kasei DACs. I've heard VERY promising things about BB DAC's, but the only way I have heard them is in a headphone amp a friend has who is a hobbyist DJ of sorts. I was nicely impressed.
Amp - MATCH MA40FX or Helix B FOUR Both 4 channel amps. MATCH is class D with only 0.05% THD and 75w x 4 @ 4Ohm. I don't know what the HELIX is, but it has even less THD at 0.03% and 60w x 4 @ 4Ohm. 15w to me is not that much of a difference since most of the speakers I'm looking at will have to be able to hold 75w to 100w simply BECAUSE of that amp. Yes, I could look at lower powered amps, but that means more distortion and I'm a bit OCD about things like that.
Speakers - Dynaudio Esotec 222 Yes, Dynaudio because I heard them once in a friend's Volvo and I nearly fainted. The smaller 5.75" because I don't think I can fit a 7" woofer in the doors.
What the Trav is probably going to get:
Front: Alpine SP-610c Nice, slightly warmer sound without harshness, nor a thin sound, but with this much EQ going on, I'll probably have to mess with the settings more before I get a real DSP in the car.
Midlevel Option - MATCH MS62C Because I like a natural sound, again without harshness or abhorrent bass, and the silk dome tweeter means the family can listen to it on road trips (G-mama lives 850 miles away and we drive both ways twice a year) and not have headaches.
"Top Line Option" - Focal Integration ISS 165 "Screw the smooth tweeters, I want to hear the guitarist losing his skin cells on the strings!!" :happy: I know that won't happen in THIS setup, but it's nice to know just how accurate they can get.
Rear: Same basic option as front or Pioneer TS-A1605C. the Pioneer A series (?) because of what the system is lacking in the back ANYWAYS *coughclaritycough* However that might throw off the bass response because I really don't think the rear doors were meant for anything other than just rear fill. I've sat back there and there's nothing really special anywhere, so I'm not holding out hope for more than the Alpines in the back.
I have dreams of good sound in what we drive. Money on the other hand, uh-no. Also, my mom doesn't like me taking apart her car while she's napping (I literally dropped the dash on the Tahoe to see why the 12v outlets kept flickering whenever the stars weren't aligned. Thank you youtube.) because she doesn't know when she will need it.