is Bose that bad? Before i bought my max the guy that owned it before me was really ****. well he had all four speakers replaced because he thought they were getting old. I don't have any buzz or fade, and my stereo sounds great for a factory stereo. I hear all kinds of complaints but i really have none. I'm going to put an FM modulated CD changer in because i like the quality of the Bose. am i alone here?

 

You are lucky that the guy from whom you bought the car probably fixed everything for you. I had cassette deck in my car when I purchased it and I then replaced it with another Bose CD/cassette combo. That was a mistake. I had to repair all four speakers, and headunit. It runs fine but it cost me a lot o money. Had I have been a member of this org before I probably would have put an aftermarket one. But the fact is that Bose/Clarian hu and amps do not last longer. Bose system on these cars is actually made by clarian and the circutry was probably contracted out to the lowest bidder. All that goes bads are a few capacitors and transisters and as a result units produce a lot of heat and shuts itself down.

MSK 90SE

 

You are right. The Bose is pretty good for a factory radio. When I got my 93 as a two year old car, it was the best factory radio I had heard. I was impressed with the volume and the lack of overwhelming distortion at full volume. Few factory systems will let you dial the volume past the 2 o"clock mark without introducing horrible distortion,

But then, after a while, you want a little more bass, and you discover the highs aren't all that clear. Then you discover you can't easily integrate additional amps or even just speakers. If you tap into the speaker wires and convert the signal to RCA, you find out how much the build in amps are equalizing (boosting) the lows to make them sound that decent and you can't compensate it on your sub amp without additional equalizers.

And, of course, the real cold shower event will be if you hear a well tuned after market stereo in an other car. It doesn't have to be a $5000 dollar install or some SPL monster, but carefully chosen components, quality speakers that are well positioned, and well tuned across the spectrum will demonstrate how much car hifi can do in quality, dynamic range, frequency range, and lack of distortion. And this is something the Maxima Bose cannot even dream to come close to.

Having said all that, there probably will be a large group of Max drivers that will say "So what?" Not everybody cares that the sound system sounds like you have the band playing on your hood. But those that do, sooner or later, will rip the Bose out and replace it with something better.

 

I would have to agree with John. The Bose systems do sound nice for a factory system. The newer systems in the 4th and 5th gens can competely heavily with some aftermarket systems because they have more speakers than our 3rd gens and are of a lot better quality. This issue of fixing a Bose is an easy one to solve. Everyone yells because Nissan dealers are a pain to deal with and charge out the *** for repairs, but if you know where to go then it's really not that bad. If you have any problems with your system no matter which component is at fault, got to http://www.davescoolstuff.com and the guy Dave fixes Bose systems. He fixed my Cd player for $125.00 and had it back to me within 24 hours. Personally if you think Bose is a pain in the ***, then wait til you put in a trunk rattling system, then you will really know what a problem is. Dealing with aftermarket equipment is a ***** unless you have the time, patients, and most of all...DA GREEN! If you weigh the cost of fixing a Bose system the way I do to purchasing aftermarket equipment and getting it installed you'll understand. A bunch of my friends have systems, reall expensive ones, and wish they never did it.