I just upgraded to a 2010 SV from my previous 2007 SE. I stayed with a Maxima because the 07 was 6 problem free years for me.One of my favorite features in the 07 was the sound. It was full, lush, had depth, great mids. When you turned it up, I felt like the sound surrounded your head. In all fairness, I am a sound snob, as I am a DJ and I do production work; but I find the 2010's Bose system to be lacking. I feel like I am being blasted with highs from the front dash, and bass from the back of the car. There is no balance like my previous Max. The door speakers in the front appear to have no mids or highs at all, just muffled bass. I was wondering if anyone feels like this is normal, or if this is something that I should have checked. I am really missing the Bose in my previous max!

 

I agree...never had a 6th Gen to compare it to but when I picked up my 2012 a couple weeks ago I was not thrilled with the Bose sound and still am not.

My brother in law works for a high end speaker company (KEF) and he says that in the industry the saying goes "No highs? No lows? Must be Bose"

I am not a sound snob, but I definitely don't think the Bose sounds great

 

The previous Bose system that I had was incredible. It was by far the best stock system I had ever heard in a car, ever! All of the write-ups played up this new 9 speaker Bose as if it was the holy grail of stock systems, and I cannot figure out why people think this system is acceptable.

Do you only hear muffled bass out of your front door speakers as well?

 

Yea, pretty much. And a lot coming from the rear. I played around with the settings and got it to sound a little better, but it doesn't sound great IMO

 

I knew that the Bose system in my 7th gen would not touch the system in my other Maxima. The list of equipment in the 02 is in my sig. While I do plan on making some changes, they will not be major.

I usually have the treble turned down a bit, as I find the dash speakers to be too bright & somewhat harsh. I will be trying some other dash speakers that have a smoother sound to them. I have the bass turned down a tad as well. I let the Boston sub I recently bought deal with the lows. I do have to say that adding the sub did help the system quite a bit. It made it sound fuller, & turning the bass down allows the system to play cleaner at louder listening levels. One thing that I do like is how the center channel speaker helps the with the imaging.

 

What speakers will you use to smooth out the sound coming from the dash?

 

My 2012 Bose sound amazing to me but that's jus my opinion

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/401933...-nissan-maxima

 

I will take a look at what is available from a few different companies. I prefer something with silk tweeters. I know my choices will be somewhat limited, but I'm just looking for a modest upgrade. I'm not aiming for what my other car has.


I may give these speakers from Rainbow a try.
http://www.rainbowcaraudio.com/sl100installer.html

 

I agree. I haven't had any issues at all though it hasn't even been a week since I've had it. My 04 Max in my opinion didn't sound as robust as this Bose system. I do keep my bass lower though and the treble 1 higher than the normal but everything sounds great. The tweeters sound a bit high only when I'm listening to XM but I think that is just the signal quality.

 

haha I guess you guys don't know about the "front imaging" bose that is in the 7th gen. that's why the front sound louder than the rear

 

I picked up on it as soon as i got in the car & started playing with the stereo. That's actually the way I run my systems. The front is where it's at. When I'm by myself, I mainly run my front speakers. I also run rear fill from time to time, but it's heavily attenuated with a good amount of delay as well.

 

If that is what it is, I am not a particular fan of it. I like full, balanced sound throughout the cab of the car. This sounds like the highs from the front are fighting with the lows from the back and the mids are non existent.

 

My Bose sounds fine to me. Adjusted the fade a little bit and added 2 10's for some low end fill and it sounds great!

 

The highs are clear and the lows are tight, I just wish there was more mids and that the sound was balanced. My 07 had tweeters at the base of the A-Pillars and I believe they also had tweeters in the door speakers I believe.

 

I think that's what the problem is. Every car I've been in with speakers in the dash have harsh sounding treble.

 

Having the speakers there does contribute to the harshness in the higher frequencies. While it won't fix it completely, I think using a smoother sounding speaker than the stock will alleviate some of this.

 

I am looking forward to hearing what you switch to. I need to do something.

 

I am curious to hear what everyone is hearing out of their front door speakers. Is it clear sound or is it muffled? This system supposedly has two subs in the back, but my front door speakers have no mids or highs, just really muffled lows. This could be where the problem is.

 

The Bose in my 13 Max sounds much better than the Bose in my Infinti. I did notice the front speakers were a bit over powering but adjusted the fader

 

I hear and feel high quality bass only out of my front door speakers. Since the spec sheet from Nissan says the front door speakers are 6x9 woofers just like the rear deck speakers, this comes as no surprise. They really thump good with high quality music streams or music files. No muffling here...just high quality bass.

 

This might be my problem, because I am not hearing that. I wonder if it is an amp issue.

 

Everyone will have a different opinion.

 

So I've tried a couple of different 3 1/2" in speakers. I originally thought that the dash speakers were 4". So it is somewhat more challenging to find a suitable replacement.

I initially installed a set of Boston Acoustics SE35's. I thought that even though they are four ohms I could balance things out. Turns out that it's harder to do because of the center channel speaker being louder than the SE35's. I did get a good balance between the rest of the speakers by fading the sound forward, but there's no way to tackle the issue with the center channel being louder. Even with this issue, these speakers sounded way better than the Bose factory speakers in the dash location. They were just way smoother sounding all the way around.

I just installed a set of Infinity Reference 3032CF's. I picked these up as they are 2 ohms. Now with these, the sound is much better balanced. At this point I am content with the results. As with the Boston's, the sound is much better than the factory speakers. I find that I do not have to turn the treble way down as before. The factory dash speakers were just too harsh for my liking.

For me, changing out the dash speakers & adding a sub made a substantial improvement in the sound quality of the system. It is much more enjoyable now.

 

I have had my Max for 2 1/2 months and although it sounds different from the non-Bose system in my 06 Altima, I can't say it is crap either. I have to make a few adjustments, but also I have noticed the quality of the input device makes a huge difference. With my iPhone hooked up, the quality is awesome and same with the SiriusXM, but with the radio the quality is less than stellar without adjustments. I have upgraded my systems in the past, but I wouldn't expect a factory system to ever compete with my aftermarket ones. Just my take.

 

I actually like the system in our cars, specially how the image is pretty centered. I usually take all the stock stereo stuff out if my cars as soon as I get the chance. I did not want to do that this time around. It just needed a couple small changes to satisfy me.

 

i agree i had a avalon hated the car loved the system rich and full. the bose system seems to miss in the mid range area always seems like something is missing in comparision ton the toyota system. does anyone know if there are filters on the front door speakers, because they seem non existent unless i turn the system up then i hear some his and mids. i just purchased 2 sets of jbl gto 938s 6x9 to hopefully to help fill out the sound from the front doors and the rear deck. will let you know next week how it works out.

 

It's been 3 weeks since I've had my Max and I still love the sound. The bass is great which I like and I do get the whole "imaging" concept as I am the only passenger in the car always anyway. In my opinion, however, everything is balanced and I love the speed sensitive volume as well. I don't really have a complaint. I test drove an 2013 Avalon just for fun (would never buy that) and I didn't get much out of the sound system but of course everyone has a different taste. My cousin has an 08 and her Bose does sound very good but I always thought it was because the cabin seemed roomier.

 

In car audio, you always try to have good imaging. You want the sound coming from in front of you. Not from the back or off to one side. Getting "rear fill" is a little bit of a balancing act. You want to have enough for it to add to the overall sound but not so much to to take away from your front stage. When you go listen to live music they are in front of you, not behind you. You certainly would not turn your back to the stage. In this aspect, I feel they did a nice job with the Maxima.

 

Finally someone that knows what a proper soundstage is. It irks me when people say, "I faded the speakers to the rear and it sounds better." But if that's how you like it, then so be it.

 

Yes rear speakers will pull your ears "BACK" away from your front stage.
Epic fail..

dlm ny country

 

Im actually happy with the Bose system. The base is even acceptable. And I say this because having a fully loaded 14' Acura TL SH-AWD with the premium sound gets blown away by the Bose. Bass wasn't there and it didn't get nearly as loud as the Bose.

 

Funny reading through this thread again. I certainly did not stay with my original plan. I ended up going with aftermarket midbass & midrange drivers, as well as tweeters. Installed new amps, crossover, processor, & an old school sub that I always wanted to try. I also added a bunch of deadener & MLV to control noise & get fuller sound from the midbass drivers. Gave it a shot, but missed the sound that my old car had.