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by responding to the originator with a post related to the model he doesn't have, I will jump out on a limb once again by supposing that the GM radio head in the later models connects to the same power amp using the same speakers. While the "touch and feel" of the front end was changed to GM Standard (including the HVAC control and perhaps even the SID display - I must confes that I've never driven a Dame Edna Edition, although I have ridden in one briefly and didn't notice much difference from the back seat):
a) the NG 9-5 was originally slated for mid-decade, using the shared Fiat "Premium" platform. We all know how well that worked out. The Dame Edna restyling was a rush to market after the alliance between GM and Fiat collapsed.
2) It costs a fair bit of $$ to reconfigure the speaker/amp system, especially given that the sound balance was (at least partly) achieved through monkeying with speaker impedance, and changing the hardware would also introduce a new set of parts into the supply chain. As opposed to simply replacing a double DIN front end unit with an existing double DIN corporate front end unit. All that needed was to ensure the face plate was the right shade of grey.
Anyway, most home stereos from back in the day controled the volume in the preamp. Systems which do the other (running the preamp at constant level and controlling the power amp gain) do theoretically put out a better signal to noise ratio at low volume levels. It is generally accepted practice in electronics to move as much gain as possible as close as possible to the signal source to get as clean a signal as possible. Camera sensors are packing more and more electronic signal processing on the sensor chip, for example. If today's high end components have a separate drive signal to the power amp to control the gain, it's a reflection on the rarity and subsequent engineering elegance baked into the recipe.
posted by 98.28.19...
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