mrasmussen

Is the shaker system worth it? I test drove a 2016 GT premium with the performance package and I was underwhelmed with the sound quality. I currently own a Cadillac ATS and that stereo is much crisper.

What do you guys think of the stock shaker system?

movielover40

It won't compare to the Cadillac.

It's okay. Seems to be better for rock music.

mrasmussen

anyone go without the shaker and then buy aftermarket speakers? That might be the way to go...

proeagles

You have to ask yourself if you want the options that only come with the Shaker stereo. Equip 401A pack also includes driver side and mirror seat memory, Blindspot alert and cross traffic alert are among the items included with the Shaker. If you don't care, then the Shaker is not worth it.

jimbo285

l listened to the shaker in a GT Premium before I bought my GT. My wife's Toyota with stock speakers sounds better. I opted for the base speakers in my GT, but I have been shopping for replacements. They are kind of tinny sounding.

jz78817

if it's the 12-speaker system with the subwoofer in the trunk, beware that the door speakers are 2 ohms so you may lose output if you put 4 ohm speakers in place.

Tombrochard

I have a 2011 with the shaker system and added a small subwoofer box in the trunk with two 8" subs and a 150 watt amp with a sub volume control up front. Works great and adds just enough bass to fill in what the shaker system fails to produce. I also added new mid/high speakers in the front, that improved clarity somewhat but the new speakers are limited by the clarity of the head unit.
Make sure that you do order the shaker system, if you don't you'll never get enough midbass up front with any kind of aftermarket speakers and it'll always sound thin up front. I used to install car stereo for years and this would be a tough car to get good sound out of unless you made a lot of extensive modifications to it

jz78817

this is nonsense.

the 2015+ no longer has subwoofers in the doors.

Tombrochard

hey jz78817, I guess you've never installed much car stereo, have you? The clarity of the speakers will absolutely be limited by the head unit. Why? Because OEM manufacturers routinely limit the frequency response of their head units in order to sell more units. What do they limit? Deep bass response for the most part, as deep bass response needs a lot of power and the head unit won't play as loud if it's trying to reproduce deep bass. The higher frequency response (tweeters) typically isn't altered but the shaker radio that I own has an edgy sort of nasty tone. Lastly, how do I know this stuff? I worked for Harman International which is the largest OEM manufacturer of car stereos in the world. The next time you respond nonsense make sure you actually know what you're talking about.

jz78817

Harman is one of my company's suppliers. The people I deal with over there are a lot nicer than you. Immediately resorting to insults like you do shows your insecurity.

as for the rest of your post, door speakers are not capable of "deep bass." that's what subwoofers are for. Trying to get deep bass out of a door midwoofer gets you nothing but distortion. I have a couple of fairly expensive 6.5" midwoofers from a component set, from a well known maker. At 8 VRMS (head unit power) they had 80% THD at 40 Hz. and they sounded like it.