Guys,

Question for all of you who've replaced your stereo w/ an aftermarket. My "audio finisher board" went bad on my '03 G35 Sedan. It looks like it's pricey to have the dealer replace, so I'm thinking of just converting over to the double din kit and getting a new stereo (sucks, but at least I'll have a new deck).

My car has the premium Bose sound system, and before it broke it honestly sounded amazing. The sub kicked like there was a bass drum in my back seat. With these same speakers and a new deck, will it still sound this good? I'm not sure if the premium Bose has some sort of extra amplifier or something... I'm not an audio guy. I just want to replace the deck with something that can read bluetooth and USB/aux, and have the speakers sound like my old deck. Any suggestions are welcome, thanks in advance!

 

As a follow up, I just heard from the dealership in Grand Rapids, MI. They said $500-$550 to replace... *****. I'm assuming I can get the double din conversion kit and a pretty tight deck for not much more than that, any suggestions?

 

Check crutchfield.com they can send you everything you need to change it over, and some of the stuff you might get for free like the radio harness adapter and the antenna adapter. Plus they got a good selection of DD radio's.

 

If I plan on having someone else (car audio place) do the install, should I buy the equipment on crutchfield myself and pay them for the install? Or should I just get the equipment through the car audio place? After watching some videos I'm not sure if I'm man enough to install this thing myself (plus I have about zero tools)

 

The best way would go th crutchfield pick out what you want and see how much everything would be. Then go to your local stereo shop and see if they have a better deal. Some places will price match, but like I said some of the stuff you need for installation you will get free from crutchfield plus they will send you step by step instructions on how to install the radio. All you would need is a philips screwdriver 10mm socket and trim removal tool or flat tip screwdriver, but if you have not install a stereo before have someone else do it. The G35 is not hard to replace the radio its just time comsuming because you got a lot of panels that have to be removed to get the radio out including the center console.

 

Thanks for the info! I think that's what I'll do. Any idea how it will sound with the premium Bose speakers I already have in there? Do I need a separate amp or will that sub still sound good?

 

I also had the premium bose speakers and after I changed the radio it sounded way better. I didn't change anything, but crutchfield does sell replacement speakers for the bose and you can still use the bose amp.

 

Wait, so did you keep the same bose amp that was in there, or did you just remove everything and add the new deck you bought? I'm glad to hear you say it sounds better, I was worried about matching sound quality

 

I kept the amp and changed the radio.

 

$500-$550 is not that bad for factory Bose replacement assuming labour is included.
From my own experience, after market deck doesn't work well with Bose amp even with specific plug in harness. Bass was essentialy lost-definitely mismatch between aftermarket deck and Bose amp.
My cost was $280 for JDM double DIN + $600 for DDIN DVD player. I did all the work myself, but audio shop will charge you another $150 for labour-at least! Good deck is around $250 and up.
Just sum it up:
Oridinal JDM DD $280-300(ugly Metra $180)
Deck $250
Installation $150(and up)
Total $580-$680 with questionable end result...I'd go with factory Bose replacement.
This does contradict what other poster says-sound quality improvement is subjective matter. Just keep in mind that with factory head unit SQ cannot get WORSE, but with aftermarket it MAY.

Go to post #6

https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-v...0-dvd-gps.html

I actually re-read my old post and had to edit-front end sounded better after upgrade, but bass was lost. Cannot trust my memory!

 

Crap... now I'm torn. I'd love to upgrade to something with Bluetooth but not if its going to cost me sound quality. Perhaps I'll take it into the car audio place in my way to the dealer and see what they say. If there's some way to go aftermarket and have it sound as good I'll do that, but not at the expense of sound.

If I originally had one of the non SAT ready head units (early '03), could they install one with the SAT as the replacement? That way I could at least get an AUX in port, which I'm missing now.

 

If you want all of that upgrade to a pioneer unit like I did. It has dvd sat radio, bluetooth, ipod gps navigation, and aux in. With the pineer unit you can change the sub woofer to get it to sound how you want and it will sound better than the bose unit. Plus the instillation shop will fine tune it for you.

 

That sounds like what I want then... The pioneer I was looking at was the FH-P8000BT:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_130P800...FBrand|Pioneer

How do I know if it has separate sub controls? Which model did you go with?

 

Pretty much all radios from 2000 and up have those controls unless its a real cheap off brand radio. My model is the pioneer x920bt. I got it off ebay.

 

anyone know if you are able to use the metra dash with the jdm a/c controls?