Pontiac 6000

[Madman]

Were the tiny Japanese-stereo-receiver-looking buttons supposed to look "Euro" or something?

I'm pretty sure they were trying to mimic the look of high-end Japanese audio equipment that was all the rage in the 1980s.  The more buttons, the better!

[cawimmer430]

Also, bear in mind that is the interior of the top-of-the-range STE version.  Try to imagine how awful the base models were!

I shudder at the thought. I can live with a cheap interior, but the design of THAT interior is just NASTY!!! 

[MX793]

Those were GM standard issue for the day.  Back then, it wasn't a good radio unless you had an EQ.

GM was still selling head units with EQ sliders into the 2000s.  Most Pontiacs had those up until '03.

[280Z Turbo]

Those were GM standard issue for the day.  Back then, it wasn't a good radio unless you had an EQ.

Our pontiac 6000 just had a blank rectangle where the tape deck was supposed to go.

[Soup DeVille]

GM was still selling head units with EQ sliders into the 2000s.  Most Pontiacs had those up until '03.

And we know how awesome those Pontiacs were.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

I spent most of the 80s in a Cutlass Ciera! It ran fine and never rusted! We were lucky......

[veeman]

Every car today has a 3 bar equalizer.  It's called base, mid range, and treble.  It's the five bar equalizer and greater which were an 80s/90s fad and there on most home stereos of the time which was silly.  Can't blame GM for that.  My parents home stereo of the 80s had a 10 bar equalizer.  Unless you had the ear of Leonard Bernstein, it was totally frustrating because most people had no clue how to set it.  I made a "V" with it for Rock and an upside down V for sports radio.  I also messed around with the more Base frequencies if the speakers started buzzing with Base heavy music.  I eventually blew out my subwoofer and never played that stereo again.

[Rupert]

Bass. :P

I used to like to mess around with equalizers. Lots of things to do. Problem is that different settings are better for this or that, and who wants to move all those levers whenever they put on a new genre of music? And of course, in a car, it's even less useful.

[giant_mtb]

Equalizers are very essential, especially in a car.  If car radios were stuck in whatever flat EQ they come with, it'd be extremely annoying because they usually sound like ass. Not that an EQ is going to magically make it sound like studio monitors, but it can certainly make it better.  The real point of the EQ is to, well, equalize. That is, ensure that all frequencies are represented at the same level.  Poor speaker placement and the fact that a car is essentially a very small room that you're pumping sound into with four or more individual drivers...it gets messy. 

[Rupert]

I mean separate equalizer units, as in the kind that we're talking about.

[Raza]

That is absolutely hysterical.........

And yet, it was the inspiration for F1 car steering wheels. 

[Galaxy]

And yet, it was the inspiration for F1 car steering wheels. 

Maybe that was the inspiration for iDrive.

[giant_mtb]

I mean separate equalizer units, as in the kind that we're talking about.

Changes nothing about anything I said.

[Rupert]

Changes nothing about anything I said.

Makes it a bit of a pointless post, though.

[Soup DeVille]

Since the original comment had to do more with how the slider EQ once was a fashionable "gots to have it" thing more than a comment on how useful they were anyways, it's all kind of beside the point

[JWC]

Those 6000 were actually very sturdy cars. The steering rack was their only true problem. We loved them for being problem free and the mechanics hated them for being problem free.

The best one that came in for repairs, a CV boot, was an AWD from somewhere up north. We had never seen one down here.

[Secret Chimp]

It's not like these EQs went away; they just became some digitized pushbutton functions of the head unit.

[giant_mtb]

Makes it a bit of a pointless post, though.

You said that an EQ is pointless in a car, which I disagree with.  Which is why I wrote that post explaining why I think they're useful, especially in a car.  Sorry if you think that's pointless.

[Secret Chimp]

You said that an EQ is pointless in a car, which I disagree with.  Which is why I wrote that post explaining why I think they're useful, especially in a car.  Sorry if you think that's pointless.

How often are you really going to be messing with an EQ in a car? Hell how often does anyone mess with the "EQ" tone controls in their head units nowadays? Don't you just spend a few minutes setting it up and then forget it at most?

[Laconian]

The sweet EQ on my parents' old Expo kept me busy for hours.

[giant_mtb]

How often are you really going to be messing with an EQ in a car? Hell how often does anyone mess with the "EQ" tone controls in their head units nowadays? Don't you just spend a few minutes setting it up and then forget it at most?

Depends on the EQ.  If it's a pretty basic one, one would probably adjust it less.  A more sensitive one, maybe gets messed with a bit more.  I'll adjust mine a notch this way or that depending on the genre I'm listening to.  And if I have any of the backseats folded down, that makes a huge difference in the bass response (subwoofer loses it's enclosure that is the trunk) so I have to turn it up a few notches.  I don't have any EQ running through my bedroom speakers; they sound pretty much exactly how I want them to for most every genre.  The car is a different environment, though, and I adjust its EQ more frequently than I would most anywhere else.

[280Z Turbo]

Chris is picky.

Most people are fine with it so long as sound comes out.

Just think of all the people who are fine watching TV in the wrong aspect ratio. Why would they care about fine tuning their radio.

[veeman]

Since most of the cars I've owned have had crappy speakers, particularly my 2003 Mazda 6, I've had to turn the bass down whenever the volume is high and the music is bass heavy like hip hop.  The speakers will start to buzz otherwise.  Whenever its all about the voice like Bocelli, I'll turn the mid range up. 

[280Z Turbo]

Solution: don't listen to hip hop.

[Rupert]

You said that an EQ is pointless in a car, which I disagree with.  Which is why I wrote that post explaining why I think they're useful, especially in a car.  Sorry if you think that's pointless.

And then I pointed out that we were talking about the '80s style EQ, that was a separate unit from the head unit, and had at least four bands. Because of this misunderstanding, you assumed that I think a modern integrated EQ is pointless. When I pointed out the misunderstanding, your post became moot.

Just so we're totally clear, of course I think it's useful to have the ability to at least adjust the high and low frequencies, preferably the mids, too. Further, I think it's useful to have those adjustments available as buttons or knobs instead of buried in some menu. But not as an '80s style EQ unit, because those are complicated to use while driving and provide little, if any, additional benefit over the modern method.

[Rupert]

Solution: don't listen to hip hop.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

Solution: don't listen to hip hop.

[veeman]

Solution: don't listen to hip hop.

How about bass heavy Metallica?  More your style?  Back when they were good.  Ride the lightning.  And justice for all. 

[Rupert]

Metallica - Master Of Puppets - Full Album HQ

[Rupert]

And since we're on the classics of a genre:

Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle (Full Album)