So I've said many times the base system sounds better than the "premium" bose system, and while I'll admit, just looking at the components can't tell you everything about quality, here's what the speakers used in each system look like:

Comparison Shots:

Panasonic (base system) on the left, bose ("premium") on the right. Generally a larger magnet indicates greater bass response, and the larger one is, the more power it takes to move the speaker, so you might take this to assume that the base speakers are designed for more power than the bose speakers. Keep in mind, that the bose system includes a separate woofer in the form of 6x9's or an 8" , so there's some justification for having less bass response from the front speakers.

Again, Panasonic (base system) on the left, bose ("premium") on the right:

Panasonic (base):

Bose ("premium"):


The tweeters are identical - the bracket is just removed on one of them:


Here's the guts of the bose amplifier:


And the two headunits side-by-side, the differences inside are very minor, clearly made by the same company with the changes for internal vs. external amplification being the only real changes (such as the heat-sink on the back):


Oh, here's the bose 8" subwoofer. It's extremely shallow and definitely not 8". I really cannot see this thing fully compensating for the lack of bass response from the full-range speakers.

 

Great comparison. I enjoyed my non-bose system until the deck started acting up. I thought it sounded pretty decent..

 

Yeah, I put up with my wife's non-bose system much longer than I put up with the bose system in mine. I may actually open up the non-bose headunit to compare the internal amp to the bose amp's guts.

 

This is one of the best new posts in a while.

Do you happen to have a set of the non-bose speakers from the rear ?

I have the Non-Bose in a 2004.5, but have always thought the entire system was made by Clarion/Hitachi based on speculation in other posts scattered throughout the site (this wiki entry confirms that Nissan owns a portion of Clarion as well, so maybe that's why the assumption was made).

To be honest, I added an Infinity Basslink to the Non-Bose system and think it sounds pretty good; others agree that it is one of the better factory units they've heard. Close to 9 years old and not a single issue and I use every aspect of the unit, even the tape deck (handy for books on tape from the local library, used during long commutes).

I was confused when the 2003-2004 Audio system was flagged as a problem in Consumers Guide and figured I was just fortunate to never had an issue.

Does anyone know for certain the power output of the non-bose system ? 14W RMS x 4 is what I am assuming.

 

I have a set of non-bose rears, but they're in my wife's doors and I haven't had any reason to take them apart to remove them yet. Perhaps I'll get into them to add more sound deadening and confirm they're the same as the fronts.

The headunits are both made by Clarion.

Power output from the factory headunit, I'd say 14w sounds about right.

Good luck with the factory headunit, keep your fingers crossed that it'll stick around a while longer. They are most definitely a common problem area.

 

Ok, so the HUs are made by Clarion and the speakers made by Bose and Panasonic respectively. I was planning on replacing the tweeters once with some Infinity textile dowm tweeters (here), but the installer in Best Buy convinced me otherwise. He told me that customers are never satisfied with speaker improvements to stock Head Units.He actually suggested a new head unit and to keep the stock speakers.

 

I have heard by replacing the stock unit would make the factory speakers sound a lil better, but replacing the speakers.. u would want an amp to get the better sound out of the new speakers

 

With the non-bose system, yes, you'll get a little more out of the factory speakers. With the bose system, you are going to have equal quality, since the bose amp EQ's the signal a bunch to pretend like it can provide power to four speakers and a sub (or four speakers and two 6x9's).