I Just Bought A '98 Maxima Se Fully Loaded And The Bose System Is Giving Me A Lot Of Problems. The Car Has 78k Miles And The Cd Player Rarely Reads My Cd-r Discs. It Is Not A 6-cd Changer, Only One Cd It Plays. It Says Cd Error Every Time I Put In A Cd-r. 1 Out Of 10 Times It Would Work But Then Go Bad After A Few Songs. This Doesn't Happen On Original Cd's, Only Noticed It On Cd-r's. But Still That Shouldn't Happen. I Heard That Bose Systems Eventually Go Bad. So What Do I Do Now? Do I Change The Whole System Or Do I Have To Change Some Kind Of Part In The Cd Player Or Something? Please Help. Thanks

 

Not trying to be a jerk or anything. I aslo don't know how much money you have to spend, but you're probably better off buying an aftermarket headunit with mp3 capabilities. Think about it, you can play regular cds, and record mp3's in lesser cd's. This is the route I'm going to follow soon. I have heard of the same problem, most of the time it is the CD and quality of material but I'm no expert. Do now, what you will eventually do..........

 

you will learn that bose is a piece of crap anyways... the best way to fix it is just get rid of the whole thing and get something else.. if you want to just replace the radio with a stock unit it should work...if you want to get an aftermarket headunit then you need a special adapter for it... i have one laying around its 3 months old... pm me if you want it..

 

but the dash kit u need to buy to fill in the double din is garbage. ive only seen one ever...and its shiny cheap plastic

 

no it aint... get one from Best Buy they carry good ones...

 

So How Much Would A Bose-comparable Sound Quality Mp3 Player Head Unit Cost Me With Installation And Everything?

 

Check locally. Some places offer free installation. It all depends where you go. Hole in the wall shops, Best Buy, Circuit City. Shop around......

 

I consider my Bose System the BMW of stereos, breaks down all the time but it's the price you pay for having the best. I think the sound is amazing ( I am an audiophile mind you) and worth repairing at carstereohelp.com.

Try using a different brand of CD's first and burn at a lower speed before continuing to resolve the issue...

 

Bose (at least not the car audio stuff) is not audiophile in grade IMO. They call it, no highs, no lows, just bose for a reason. But of course sound quality is a very subjective so its all a matter of opinion for most.

 

I agree, I heard a lot of different Bose systems in cars, many have sucked bad (e.g. My wife's Acura TL). And the Bose sorround sound home theatre system is a joke. But I am truly very very happy with the sound that comes out my '96 Bose stereo.

 

what is the best quality CD-R brand out there?

 

try music cd-r's. i found that advice somewhere on the site and it worked great for me, no problems at all now. try that first.

 

thanks ill try that

 

The Bose unit (as any other CD player) is sensitive to the quality of the CD-R disk and the burner/speed used to put the audio files on the disk.

Alpine head units tend to be very forgiving on CD-R quality. The Sony head units I used to have a few years ago were more sensitive and prone to CD errors.

You can go to the dealer and buy the single DIN divider that comes stock on the GXE Maxima. GXE maximas came stock with a single DIN space head unit instead of a double space like the BOSE. So you can buy the divider tray and have an extra storage space along with the single-space head unit. I recall that when I bought one from the dealer, it was not particularly expensive -- maybe $20.

BOSE is good if you want an average sound that takes up very minimal space in the home. If you believe that speaker cabinets should be elegant decorating centerpieces (and some actually are if you got $$$), then BOSE isn't the best choice.

 

Well i just bought the Maxell Music CD-R and burned it in 4X speed in comparison to my regular 40X speed and it still came up with errors. now before i try to put like 200 dollars to get this repaired, is there a specific name brand cd-r i could try out?

 

I had the same problem. Would try to read for about 30 seconds for so until it gives out a CD ERR and spit it out. But after it reads the CD properly, it would read fine for the rest of the trip. I opened up the cover and manually cleaned the lens with cotton swab and rubbing alcohol. Been working pretty good ever since.

 

Try a lense cleaning disc.

The Bose system has very nice sound, especially CD's. It's balanced very well.

I find most self made up aftermarket component systems to be grossly over equalized and not balanced at all. Way to much base and trebble with horrable immaging and dead mid-range. The Bose system has excellent immaging and sounds nice at low listening levels as well as higher volume settings.

 

I've had the same problem with my Bose stereo ever since using a burned cd-r disk a friend gave me. I bought a cd head cleaner and it hasn't worked.

How do you get the cover off the stereo and clean the lens manually, as you did?

Thanks.

 

I have a 96 Maxima SE, it doesnt play my recorded CDs either, when it does, it skips, jumps from song to song, and eventually stops playing. I had another 96 Maxima SE, which did fine with recorded CD, this one doesnt though. If I was leaving this car for myself (I sell them) I'd just replace the whole system.

EDIT: Works fine with original CDs though.. I will try doing what some one else suggested earlier in this thread, cleaning with alcohol.

 

That bose unit was not designed to play CD-R's. I have a set of instructions of what not to do with that particular Bose head-unit somewhere which lists playing CD-Rs as being primary among them. (From a re-manufacturer of Bose head-units). My Max had an attempted GTA and I had to have my Bose unit repaired as part of the insurance claim. Sadly, at first they were going to total my Max simply because of the cost of replacing the head unit. (It was some ridiculous price).

Bose is not considered to be quality audio. The Bose "sound" is infamous among audiofiles. Bose is considered to be highly inaccurate.

However among stock systems, that Bose is one the best. Go figure.

 

i tried the lens cleaning disc too, and it hasn't work. but how do you manually open it and clean it with alcohol

 

I basically removed the center console unit (auto climate control, bose headunit, and sunglass holder) - they are all screwed into this metal bracket. There's a write up on how to remove the unit. I wanted to completely disassemble the bose, but the screws holding the headunit was too tight. So I removed the auto climate control to get access to the top cover of the headunit and cleaned the lens.

 

yea the bose one sux...it has trouble reading brand new discs, too I ahve the same trouble...

 

I got a 98 se and just brought a new oem bose headunit because my old one is messed up. The radio and tape player works, but the cd player doesn't even spin the disk and says error. I installed the new one and it's doing the same exact thing....no more no less. So im wondering if its something wrong wit my car or is it another bad unit......i did get it off ebay and the seller has all positive ratings....the radio is perferctly new also....please get at me...peace.

 

Seems highly unlikely that both your old Bose unit and the new one have the exact same problem. Would have to say it's your car. The Bose unit only has one wire that supplies power to both the radio and CD player. Whereas the base (non-bose unit) uses two wires. One for the radio and one for the CD. Has the old Bose unit ever worked for you?

 

That's strange, Have you tried different discs, CDR or regular type music CD with both?

 

The Bose unit from Gen 4's is junk. Look at getting an 05/06 pathfinder unit with the 6 disc changer. Can find them for around $ 100 or so.

cheapest way to solve the problem, but the read out is orange.


Search the Audio and Electronics forum, not here!

 

Yea ive had my car since 01 and since then ive brought another head unit b4 this and the second one came from a 99 i30. That one was the best one....it last bout 2yrs then thats when the cd player started not working at all. As for the original one that came in the car....i replaced that one because the buttons were falling off, but the cd player worked so thats when recently (summer) i put the original back in. Id say for the past 3 weeks thats when that one stopped altogether also. So i get the new one today and that one dont even work at all from the jump....looks spotless, but the cd player doesn't work. No i haven't tried any other disks..just cd cleaner and a cd-r.....im bout to put a regular disk in now. Sorry if i didn't make sense. Only thing i could say as far as the car is my battery is bascially bout to be nothing..its running very low. Do you think that could be it?....please get back to me..thanx.

 

Yeah they r tight...i was actually going to buy that one instead of this one, but they wanted like $280 and i dont got it like that right now. Im glad u told me the read out is orange tho cuz that would like kinda crazy with everything being green....thanx tho...peace

 

I have to go, but the battery running low does not help. Also try a regular music cd that you know works.

 

Thanx......ill try and replace the battery and hopefully ill get it working...preciate it.