The relationship between Bose and the Chevrolet Corvette dates back to the C4-generation of the sports car. For the eighth-generation 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, Bose raised the bar to provide drivers with its most-powerful audio system yet.
The audio company said in a release last Thursday that the mid-engine Corvette not only features its most-powerful system ever but it houses the most speakers Bose has ever placed in a two-seat vehicle. It's the 14-speaker Bose Performance Series system, and it's the more premium of the car's two Bose system. Base cars (the 1LT trim) will get a 10-speaker Bose system. Stepping up to the 2LT trim will net the 14-speaker system.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Bose 14-speak audio system
Bose said it worked alongside Chevrolet to ensure the highest quality audio experience and to confront challenges related to moving the car's engine to the middle. Bose engineers used psychoacoustics, the study of how individuals perceive sound, to create a balance of engine noise and speaker audio inside the cabin. Three Twiddler speakers, which the company says are small but can deliver lower tones like a larger speaker, are found in the dashboard. Each door houses a tweeter and wide-range speaker. A pair of additional wide-range speakers sit in the rear of the cabin along with three more Twiddlers.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Bose's real trick is the inclusion of two 10-inch woofers inside of the doors.Bose and Chevrolet worked to discretely package the woofers by using the door as the bass enclosure. Typically, woofers require their own box to create deep tones. With the 2020 Corvette, engineers needed to make the most of limited space. Drivers and passengers will hardly notice where the woofers reside since Chevrolet crafted a smooth and padded surface for them, rather than speaker grates.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
The company also ensured the proper mix of engine noise and audio through a custom AudioPilot tuning. The technology reads sound levels inside the cabin to adjust the music volume.
Finally, the Corvette is the first Chevrolet’s with Bose's Advanced Staging Technology, which uses Bose Centerpoint and Bose SurroundStage technologies to create a wide sound stage with instrument separation and 360-degree sound in each seat. This is all processed through a 16-channel digital amplifier.
Just how much this fancy system costs as part of the 2LT trim, we don't know. We do know, however, that the 490-horsepower base model will start under $60,000 when it goes on sale at the end of the year.
