OK,... I never liked how Bose does sound but I wanted to give it a chance. I gave it a month, the Bose system just does not cut it! I am thinking about replacing the entire system, but I thought that I would get some suggestions from some people who have modified their system:

I have a 2004 Sedan, Premium with Navi. Is it best to just trash the entire system, or just replace pieces of it?

I live in the Philadelphia area, I am going to stop buy a Tweeter to see what they say too.

Any advice will help. Thanks in advance.

 

I HAVE THE SAME SET UP IN MY G35 SEDAN/PREIMUIM-NAV- IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ALOT BETTER SOUND,(I'M TALKING NIGHT AND DAY) I WENT WITH AN AUDISON AMPLIFIER 5 CHANNEL AND A SINGLE MB QUART 10 INCH SUB IN THE TRUNK/CUSTOM ENCLOSURE - THE DIFFERENCE IS UNBELIEVABLE... AND AFFORDABLE - NO NEED TO SPEND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS UNLESS YOUR GOING TO BE ENTERING SOME SORT OF SOUND COMPETITION...

 

the simplest way would be to get an EQ + Amp for all your speakers, to bypass the headunit's+bose amps because they sound like crap... its been done before here but im not sure by whom, try to search...

But know that just replacing the speakers will not help much. The stock speakers are not really that bad, they just need a little help from a good EQ and good amp

<font color=green>-Rambo</font color=green>
G35c-6MT-DG/Willow/HyperGround/BorlaExhaust/350Z-intake/AVIC-N1-double-din

 

Thanks for the tips. I'll look into them.

The biggest problem with Bose is that they cut out certian mid ranges to boost the lows and highs. That it good for movie effects in home entertainment systems but very bad for music. I was hoping that I could just "add" something to the system to enhance it, but I'm not against a total replacement. I just want to make sure that I get the right equipment.

G35x2004

 

why buy the premium package when you are planning to replace it??

 

GG35....

The Premium Package is not just the Bose system.... I knew the Bose system was questionable but I did not base my overall opinion of the car on the sound of the CD Player.

Changing or enhancing a sound system is easy, adding a Sunroof, Driver's seat memory with entry/exit assist, 4-way power passenger's seat, Reclining rear seatbacks with adjustable outboard head restraints, Dual-zone climate control with microfiltration and rear vents, Auto on/off headlights, Electrochromic auto-dimming inside mirror, One-touch open/close rear windows, and a HomeLink® Universal Transceiver is a bit of a pain to do…

G35x2004

 

yeah i agree, the premium package is a MUST on the Sedan, it comes with so many nice features. The Coupe's premium package, however, does not come with many features. Just Bose, Sunroof, Auto-dimming Mirror, dual-zone, and Auto headlights, NO SEAT MEMORY! [img]/w3timages/icons/frown.gif[/img]

<font color=green>-Rambo</font color=green>
G35c-6MT-DG/Willow/HyperGround/BorlaExhaust/350Z-intake/AVIC-N1-double-din

 

I got a few different ways of doing it, and a few quotes. None of which were inexpensive. The range was $1500 to $3200, much more than what I want to spend. It seems that the Navi system complicates things for the install.

The $1500 solution was just a custom sub with an amp I don’t think this will help at all. The $3200 one was new fronts/backs/sub with 5ch amp, this will help but it is too pricey.

I am sure I can get this done cheaper! They did not seem to think that adding a 5ch amp to power the stock speakers would help much.

I do not know much about car audio; this would be my first custom system. My last few cars were Mustangs and I was satisfied with the stock Mach system. I think I am a bit disappointed with the Bose system because everything else in the G35x is high quality.

G35x2004

 

I did my stereo in stages, and the first step, was to install some good components in the front doors. (I used the previous top-of-the line MB Quarts QM218.61, available on eBay for a little over $300/pr) I Dynamatted the front doors at the same time, and posted an install thread here. This made a HUGE difference, and cost a little over $400.

Next I did the rear doors with MB Quart PCE's and that made a improvement, but fairly modest.

Last I added two 300w JL amps, and a JL sub. That was also only a small improvement, untill I really start cranking up the volume, and then the extra power really make a big difference.

Bottom line, I think the weakest point of the stock system is the speakers, and the front components are the ones you hear the most. If you look at the pictures of the Bose drivers you see on this site, you'll see how crappy they are....very small magnets, and plain paper cones. While quite a few companies make nice component sets, MB Quart and Focal seem to be the ones you hear the most positive comments about.

The stock Bose amp CAN drive two sets of aftermarket drivers, but not to crazy volume levels. And you can get quite decent sound from the stock head unit.

04 G35s 6MT BS Aero Kit/Nav/Prem
Warning: Objects in Mirror Are Losing!

 

Thank you for the advice. I just went to circuit city to get a setup price from them. And as I thought it was much cheaper. Of course I am not dealing with top of the line components like JL and such, but I think I may get what I want here.

I listen to a wide varity of music, my tatse would be for clarity rather than "Boom". So, I may just do the Front and Back Speakers and the Amp before I try adding a Sub.

Any opinions on this setup?

Front: Infinity 6 1/2" Components
Back: Infinity 6 1/2"
Amp: Autobahn 200 watt 4 channel
Sub: Infinity 12"
Amp: Bazooka 750 Watt Mono

The entire setup will cost under $1400 (they have a free AMP install deal going on)

The only thing that worries me is that they never did a 2004 g35 w/Navi.

G35x2004

 

Sounds like a decent system for the price.

I would hesistate to take it to someplace like Circuit City where their primary focus is hardly car audio installation.
Even though you are only doing the speakers, amp and sub which will all come off LOCs in the trunk wiring bundle, I would want an install crew that has worked on G35's in the past since they would know how to run the amp power line through the firewall grommet, critical effective grounding points and they would appreciate your "baby" enough to take extra care and not scratch your leather, titanium dash (although there should be no reason with your proposed install to get behind the dash) and do it right.

Personally, I would take it to a pro shop with G35 install experience. Yes, you'll probably pay more but I'd have more confidence in that shop vs. CC esp. w/ no experience with nav.

Remember you are upgrading a $35K+ car now and not a $16K toyota corolla. You now have to take those added extra steps which will unfortunately cost more.....

Just my $0.02

doc

 

IMO you wouldn't feel much difference between Infiniti front components and stock system. Lowest priced Focal - Focal Access components for the same ammount of money will be giving you MUCH MUCH clearer sound.

***04 G35s 5AT/Sport***
***04 Volvo XC90 T6***

 

One thing we can all agree upon – the Bose system in the coupe is an exceedingly poor sounding system, and to remove it totally is very difficult and expensive as it controls several non sound features you might also find useful such as the a/c, door locks and airbags! Chucking it, while satisfying, would be more than one bargains for – besides it does look OK and it has nice steering wheel controls.

Not being the handy type, but musically demanding, I sought out an auto audio shop with some snap. I never found one. After questioning several in the north Houston area , looking on the net, and talking to friends, I gave up and went to Tweeter. I eventually had them slip MBQuartz “comp” 6” speakers in the front doors, build a cabinet with two 8” JLB woofers for the trunk, take out the rear deck Bose trash, put in a 3 way amp for the fronts and the sub, leaving the Bose amp running the two rear seat speakers, and an Eclipse 32 band equalizer.

After installation (which took 6 weeks because of back orders), believe it or not, the sound was appreciably worse than stock! The biggest problem was that that Tweeter had apparently never installed an EQ, and had no equipment to calibrate it. When asked, the installer said, “Why that would take at least a $1500 instrument.” I said, “What the hell are you talking about. Tweeter is the biggest retailer in the country, and sells retail, and you guys don’t know what your doing and don’t care enough to even find out?” They claimed the system sounded great to them, but the installer admitted that he had blown out his hearing at teeny concerts.

I tried to get my home theater installer to recommend someone that could calibrate the EQ, or, even better, do it himself with his really sophisticated computer program that worked wonders in my home, but couldn’t get any timely response. So, I bought a calibration cd to play through the head unit to set the EQ myself. I got out the trusty Rat Shack sound meter, made a frequency chart on graph paper, wrote down the values as I played the track with 32 individual frequency sounds, and then set the equalizer to smooth out the frequency curve as best it could. The unEQed curve was up and down like a ping pong ball with +/- values exceeding the 12 db correction capability of my equalizer, and I haven’t had the time yet to retest and adjust, but the result is still a vastly better sound.

There has been speculation here whether the head unit has been tweeked by Bose to deliver a compensating strange curve to work a little better with the pitiful speaker it will be driving the stock system. I do not know if that is correct or not, thereby leading in part to the awful initial frequency curve I noted, but the cd played through the ultimate sound path seemed to me the best way to adjust what I had, and the end result even w/o the final tweeks is adequate, especially judged from the starting product. It was a hassle though and cost me $2K. All-in-all, I think I would have been better served to stay stock with more room in the trunk. In any case, I would think any attempt to come close to decent sound in this car would be hopeless w/o an equalizer.

BTW, the cd, which I would highly recommend, can be bought over the net @
http://www.carsound.com/cds.shtml

If someone else does what I did, please record the original frequency curve of the stock Bose unit and report.

 

joepaniolo, MOTOP, & wacojoe Thanks for your opinions.

I think I may just deal with it.... Without spending $3000+ I think I will just end up with more headaches. I'd be afraid that Circuit City would mess something up in my dash or door panels since they never worked on a G35. Then if the Inifinity's did not sound much better I'd be very disappointed...

wacojoe - The amount of time and effort you put into your system is admirable! I hope it is all that you wanted it to be. And I will be checking out that CD you mentioned. I'd like to use it with my home system.

G35x2004

 

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"wacojoe - The amount of time and effort you put into your system is admirable! I hope it is all that you wanted it to be. And I will be checking out that CD you mentioned. I'd like to use it with my home system."
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It would be perfect for that as well.