The radio suppliers to our long-term 2010 Chevy Camaro SS went all-out in designing the radio tone setting/graphic equalizer in the car, sparing no expense.
You see, I heard from a guy, who heard from another guy's cousin, that the cousin's high school classmate said that the radio's engineers took
Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine to the 80's when designing the Camaro's radio tone settings.
Perhaps it's hard to tell from the top pick, but this thing looks like it was designed at the University of Atari.
Check out more pics after the jump.
Here are two more shots, one with max bass, the other with max bass and treble.
There are also four EQ presets: Rock, Country, Talk, and Classical.
These humps are supposed to show the emphasis on treble or bass.
But c'mon Atari, I mean, Chevy!
These radio tone graphics are downright silly.
Like this LT blog entry.
Happy Halloween!
Albert Austria, Senor Engineer @ 5970 miles
stephen987 says:
05:44 AM, 10/30/09
The setting for Talk makes me think about something else. . .
chavis10 says:
06:09 AM, 10/30/09
Uh, why are the silly? Perhaps you are just silly.
I guess you would prefer the archiac one line radio display of say the recently departed 135i?
hybris says:
06:10 AM, 10/30/09
I guess since I'm not a audio-oriented person I don't mess with the EQ settings so the whole Atari thing wouldn't bother me.
Considering what talk radio in California is probably like I can see why though you want to turn everything down.
1487 says:
06:48 AM, 10/30/09
Before IL or any other auto review entity makes fun of this or the display of the Lacrosse without nav please check out pics of the radio display in the TL without navigation. If that doesn't look like a VCR display from the 80s I don't know what does. But of course it's an Acura so all if forgiven.
This is one of the most trivial complaints ever.
Agreed about the 135i display chavis. Straight up vintage 90s look.
majin_ssj_eric says:
06:49 AM, 10/30/09
I'm just glad it has a midrange adjustment. You have no idea how rare that is in production car stereos...
vvk says:
07:08 AM, 10/30/09
I'll take analog buttons/knobs over this silliness any day.
jeepsrt says:
08:23 AM, 10/30/09
The humps are pretty lame, but overall it's not that bad.
uncanny_man says:
09:05 AM, 10/30/09
Seems pretty cool to me.
SnakeDoctor says:
09:18 AM, 10/30/09
Chavis, 1487 --
I was the guy who slammed the 135's radio. So I'm 2 for 2.
I'm not familiar with the non-Navi TL radio so I can't comment.
Regards,
Albert
bodyblue says:
10:11 AM, 10/30/09
A silly display for a silly car.
boxermike says:
10:12 AM, 10/30/09
....i like this radio and the graphics. (And I totally <3 its iPod interface. Nobody...NOBODY does that better today. Not Cadillac, not Sync...well, maybe sync with the full screen.) GM's never been fancy with those things but they've always been spot-on user-friendly.
Next time I drive that car I'll dedicate a blog to it.
-mm
mrryte says:
10:13 AM, 10/30/09
Ok.....so how does the system actually SOUND?
1487 says:
10:53 AM, 10/30/09
"I'm not familiar with the non-Navi TL radio so I can't comment."
You can see pics on this site called edmunds.com
Compared to high resolution LCD displays or nav screens most radio displays seem sort of 80s like. For whatever reason only the displays on Gm and Ford vehicles seem to get knocked for this though. Accord is another offender- the non nav display is vintage 80s.
bimmerjay says:
10:56 AM, 10/30/09
I can't decide if I would set it to "boobs" or "butt".
esoterica says:
11:03 AM, 10/30/09
Must be a pretty darn good car if the list of complaints has dwindled down to something as insignificant (and ultimately matter of opinion) as this so few months into the LTRT. Really, this complaint borders on bizarre. Two important points about a decidedly non-important subject: would AA prefer there be no graphical representation of the EQ curve, as in most cars? And has AA considered this might actually be a reasonably accurate representation of how the controls affect the audio spectrum? If what AA is actually complaining about is the resolution of the display, well, if that's the worst compromise needed to get a RWD car with a 430HP V8 and fully independent suspension to a <$31K price point...
cr_driver says:
11:19 AM, 10/30/09
I wish 1487 would do the favor to post the infamous TL radio display. Thanks.
cwmoo740 says:
11:42 AM, 10/30/09
Actually, I think it's a big turn off for the video game generation (like myself). This looks downright ghetto compared to the iphones and blackberries that we are used to. Considering that car electronics have the largest profit margin of any automotive component, and that some younger buyers choose a car based on the infotainment systems, this could be a big problem. If the Camaro wants to be cool to 10 year olds and 15 year olds, this has got to go.
clarkma5 says:
01:17 PM, 10/30/09
It's kinda silly, but how often do you look at that screen? As long as it works they've got the important part right.
billt9 says:
03:15 PM, 10/30/09
ya. they got the important "parts" right.
Chevy. So hot.
stovt001 says:
05:31 PM, 10/30/09
Kinda off-topic, but I'm glad they've narrowed the presets down to 4. Seems like my car has double or triple that amount, and they're just unnecessary and slow down the process of finding the one you want.
wrinklebump says:
08:51 PM, 10/30/09
Can't seem to get offended at the displays no matter how hard I try