So i just installed a alpine 9883 in my friend's 00 accord coupe. I have the same in my 4th gen with bose with scoche adapter. We played the same audio cd on and car to the next and his sounds more crisp and clear then mines. We made all the settings at stock and at zero. So it was exactly the same minus the bose adapter piece.

So it has me thinking maybe the fact that he has a coupe makes the audio sound cleaner or more crisp then mines. Or maybe because BOSE is really piece of crap and i should just trash the whole bose setup. The last thing is maybe i don't know how to adjust the gains correctly, i did what the manual said adjust 3/4 volume on the radio and adjust the gains till the point of it crackling and lower it just a bit down.

 

get rid of bose...then attempt a fair comparison.

 

i honestly that it would of be unfair to the accord. but seems like i'm wrong again.

 

every car sounds different... its all about space

 

I agree, it's all about the space and the volume shape of the car.

 

Space really has nothing to do with it. Speaker placement is key, time alignment, eq settings, quality of oem components etc etc.

 

It's an uneven comparison b/c there are variables (i.e. different speakers in each car). Unless he has the same Bose setup as you.

To an extent, space does play a part in the sound...acoustics and the transmission of sound. A pair of components in a Miata will not sound the same as the same components in a Tahoe played "at the same volume". However, proper placement and settings are your friend.

 

if u dont have the same speakers in both cars then dont even make another post in this thread, how is that a fair comparision

oh and BTW, YES: most DIFFERENT systems do sound the same in any car, its just a large metal box on wheels after all !!!

 

Really? Never knew that..... I tend to disagree with the first part of the last line though.

 

You're contradicting yourself. First you’re saying that it’s an unfair comparison, and then you’re saying Different systems sound the same…..

 

ok sorry i take that back i see how i did not make sense there, disregard that post.

let me answer the OP like this

no that makes no difference in sound that u can detect, there is a small difference, but its not detectable by human ears, u would need a microphone with an oscilloscope to see any difference - which means its negligible.

bingo - bose speakers and components in general tend to be of less than average quality. the 501 and acoustimas systems come to mind in the home audio market but thats another story for another forum...

speakers, not decks, make the sound and thats where u should put ur money.

if u r referring to line level then it makes no difference. as u said u zeroed everything and went for a base to base comparision. this shows off the difference in speakers more then anything. if one system was leveled lower then the other u would still be able to hear the high notes fine on ur bose system, but u said u did not. which leads me to believe the speakers are at fault.

i hope this makes more sense

 

Things tend to sound better in BMWs

 

I know my pyramid 6x9's in the front doors sound excellent...

 

Ya if you pay the extra $10g's for it. and get used to leaving the POS at the dealership every few months. Forget about repairs after the warranty!

 

that makes very general sense to me. I always tough the BOSE quality was a little higher then average OEM. I know a lot of people say their OEM stinks and i've also heard the same about the bose. But often times i've heard fair things about the bose as well. I understand its an unfair comparsion but i always tought it was unfair on the bose's side. When i did the comparision i thought the BOSE would be clearly better then the accord. But everything you stated did make sense to me. except for the box on wheel comment.

 

Actually last generation of 3 series were extremely reliable cars.

I've been working on car audio for 4 years now though at a high volume shop. BMWs are honestly some of the crappiest stock sound system's I've heard tho.

 

98 max vs 00 coupe tells the story. They probably have better factory sound deadening on the doors, worth a check. My system sounded a worlds difference after sound deadening. Not to mention the bose speakers are like 1 ohm, I don't know if the adapter changes the characteristics but maybe you are getting slight distortion because of that. Then the signal going through all that wiring and conversion maybe a factor too where the 00 might just be straight wire from the hu.