Excellent point. The sound system is designed to please the average music listener. It is hard for me to imagine a 40 something person buying a car with two ten inch subs installed in it. No pun intended to the guys in this age range that want that sound but they just try to find a good spot for most people to enjoy the sound with out going deaf or waking up the dead. The aftermarket takes care of customizing sound. Well I guess toyota has answered that call with the lunch box thingy that you can customize from the factory. I'll take the max and my bose and be cool until my speakers pop.

 

Well said, mine is stock Bose and works for me...

In my old school stomping ground of NYC, I would need more junk in the trunk to drown out all the sounds from traffic, sirens, street noise, and other rides with 10,000 watt sound systems, etc. Here in Southern Maryland it's pretty quiet, thus nothing overwhelming is required...

 

Generally, I like the Bose that came with mine. I just had to add a couple of 10s to give it a little more thump.

 

Boone, your setup looks good...

 

[QUOTE=boone]Generally, I like the Bose that came with mine. I just had to add a couple of 10s to give it a little more thump.



Setup is looking good.

 

maxchef I think you just helped me figure out what I want for christmas from the gf. Great timing, Great mod.
Thanks

 

Did you do the install yourself? If you did can you do a write up on how you did it.

Thanks
Warren

 

Bleh.

Bose is generally such average quality stuff, but Bose gets away with charging premium prices because of all their marketing they've done.

most car mfr use "Bose" in their "premium" audio packaged because the average joe off the street equates Bose with highend.

There are many many better quality products at the same pricepoint of Bose, but alas...

I doubt I'll do anything with my new one (the '04 SE with the Bose system) but I do have 4 Boston Accoustic's NIB that I thought about putting in my wife's '98 - problem is she wouldn't appreciate them! Plus I'd really need an amp to use them properly...

Side note - what are most of you guys doing to play MP3's? I just picked up an FM modulator that can take line in (so I can use my Axim) and it also has a USB port to play right from a USB flash drive... My '98 has an aftermarket CD/MP3 player, but I doubt I'm going to upgrade the stereo in my new one... at least not for a while.

 

new here, anyway I like my BOSE however I did at a Zapco amp.. and a 12 inch

 

Really? Then why can't the Max put out 340HP? And the cylinder deactivation (MDS) really does help. I'm seeing about 23 mpg on highways, despite having AWD, and less than 1000 miles on the car (It'll only get better). And unlike our Maxima, it doesn't have the turning radius of a freakin' bus. I love my Magnum!

 

you're being sarcastic, right? Sound reproduction is not by any means supposed to be flat, a properly tuned system should have a dynamic range of all frequencies; and as a sound engineer, my opinion is audio equipment must be able to reproduce frequencies high enough and low enough to be realistic. The human hearing range, for healthy young persons, is 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Most adults can't hear higher than 15 khz..CDs are capable of reproducing frequencies as low as 10 Hz and as high as 22.05 kHz, making them adequate, in range, to reproduce the frequencies that most people can hear!

As for BOSE, its a very sad example of how easily consumers are fooled by cleaver marketing.. Bose systems are cheaply produced, produce poor inaccurate sound and are priced much higher than they are worth. Have you ever wondered why Bose products are nowhere near other systems in Best Buy? Its because a REAL audio system from B&W, Klipsch, Polk, or Boston Acoustics would sound much better if compared. ...

read my honest opinion on Bose HERE

 

No.

If you are really a sound engineer, you would know that flat means there is no peaking in certain frequencies versus other frequencies. This produces a true reproduction of the recorded sound without distortion in any of the frequencies. If you have ever seen graphs of the output from music systems you will find that there are no systems (that are reasonably priced) that produce such a perfectly flat graph.

Also, some systems will actually sound better with a less than flat reproduction curve. Flat is the theoretical ideal, but not necessarily the best when it comes to personal preference in a sound system.

I agree that Bose systems are not ideal and are probably overpriced for the sound they produce. But they do a good job of selling their product.

 

my 97 gle bose has one of the best bose systems. the next gens i feel kind of feel off.

 

obtaining a flat response is very hard...involving a lot of tuning mixed with some trial and error.

this is a very old thread...

 

I did not resurrect this old thread from December 2005. But since aviator409 was commenting on my much earlier post on this thread, I felt compelled to answer.

Funny that aviator has not made any additional comments.

 

oh i know you didn't resurrect this thread, it wasn't commented towards you.

 

My bass is at zero, treble is at +4. (My husband drove it and has different preferences than I do. He likes treble and turned the bass to -2; I like bass.) It works fine for the radio; haven't yet had a chance to take the CD changer for a spin. So far, I can't complain. Although I think (?) it has more speakers than our 1998 Max.

 

lol i actually installed my sub 2 months after i replied to this. i think i blew, then went with an Arc 10"

still love the oem Bose tho.

 

i honestly like the bose in my 04 max. i can turn it way up and it doesn't get badily distorted like alot of factory systems i hear people blasting in the streets. the 2 8" subs in the rear give me all the bass i want. plus aftermarket stereos ruin the clean look of the dash.

 

In today's market, the steering wheel controls can be replicated on may aftermarket head units. pac-audio.com sells many adapters like the SWI-JACK, SWI-PS, SWI-X, etc to plug into the head units.

Additionally, center console kits aren't terribly expensive, at least not the Metra kits, readily available on Amazon.

While the bright white, blue or red displays in many aftermarket head units may not match the stock look, some head units have the ability to change the color of their displays to match factory colors.

Looks are most likely compromised since some of the center console controls go unused.

 

I just test drove an 08 with bose and have to say i was pretty impressed

 

Overall I'm pretty happy with the BOSE in my 07 SL. The headunit is made by Matsu****a (Panasonics Parent Company). I think the speakers are just BOSE. It does lack a low end boom but overall it's pretty good. I am going to add a 10" sub to accent everything. After thats done I think it will be perfect.

 

I have an 07 and I have to say I think the stock Bose is actually pretty decent.Not audiophile by any means,but for a stock system...not bad.

Ive since upgraded my whole system and after doing this it really shows the weaknesses in the Bose system.

 

Maybe it's because i'm older now and don't need so much bass, but I don't think it's that bad. I was thinking of maybe just adding a Infinity Basslink or something...?

 

I have an 04 SL and I think the Bose system is pretty decent sounding, however, the CD player sucks. It skips horribly when it is cold and your car is warming up.

 

Help!!!!!!!!!!


One day driving listening to the ipod in the car I realize that the Rear subs are not playing... I dont know why its not even coming in and out like before its just completely out. I guess the amp. blew or whatever..... Has this happened to anyone or does anyone know who knows about the stock maxima stereo system... (not the bose) I have two 12's sitting in the garage but I would like the stock system back, it kept me happy and kept me from getting any tickets............ HELP!
__________________

 

did your sub ever stop playing? i have an 07 also and mine have....

 

i think the bose system service its point. (cear MUSIC) but i found out changing your head unit but keeping your speekers helps a lot with the boom and the bap...BASE.. and it makes the clearity better

 

everythings awesome except for the cd player in mine. 6 disc changer... when i accelerate, or hit a bump, speakers cut out!! only when its a cd. and its NOT the cd... internal problem fml

 

The sound is quite good for stock.

 

In my 05 its good enough to keep me from wanting an aftermarket unit.

Only bad thing is sometimes the left channel cuts out when you listen to CDs, gotta figure that one out...

 

04 Max, and the BOSE amp just failed this past spring. The dealer want's $900 for it in Canada. Bla!

 

If you are wanting killer bass.... then look elsewhere. The system isn't bad for being stock, but you have to turn it up almost to the max to really "feel" the bass. Now that being said, I can still make the mirrors shake with the stock system, and that is fine with me. I won't be going with anything different due to me not wanting to lose the steering wheel controls and the changer.

 

I like the sound that my 04 produces.
All i did was add a 8" bazooka and regulate the bass gain on the amp.

 

All I know is that I hooked up an aftermarket amp and it blew out the stock amp somehow..........

 

I always thought it was a good system for my applications. I have wondered if there are easy ways to upgrade - for example, changing speakers to ones of better quality that fit in the same speaker coverings, or adding an amp.

 

viguera is right. I got Bose set too but never had another car with Bose. Sounds really good, better then any other factory system i've ever heard.

Speaking of bass, its rly good if you leave the treble 0 and the bass +2. In the rear (behind the back seats on the top) are actually TWO subs. There's actually 4 speakers, 2 tweeters and 2 subs. Sounds really good though

 

For me the bass is ok, and i'm a huge bass lover myself. My changer broke, the door won't open (can anyone PLS help?! its 400 to replace ). I'm now really wanting an aftermarket unit but probably a 2-din dvd player cause the stock screen is 7 anyways. Most of aftermarket support steering wheel controls now too.