Wrathernaut, I'm trying to pin down what you mean by the Bose amp being the source of most of the problems with the Bose system. Searching for Bose + bass or even bose + amp is getting me nowhere in figuring out where on the forums you laid out the problems with the Bose system's EQ choices. Is it bad EQ in the amp that leads to the weird sound of the system?

My '05 Maxima also has the Bose system, only the nav + Bose still yields a 6-CD changer in the dash. Suck it Skyline! Anywho, the Maxima's system is very similar to the G's, only there is a pair of the 8" (wink) subwoofers in the rear deck instead of one. PR stuff claims the '05's system is 320W, which fits some random Mazda 6 enthusiasts's calculations of the apparently underwhelming bass and punch of the 6's Bose system.

Comparing a red book audio CD in the Maxima and V0 MP3 CD in the G, the Maxima's system crushes the G. It's got a much cleaner, crisp sound with great bass response. The G's bass is so overwhelming in tracks such as that it's almost unlistenable. I've got the HU's EQ set to -5 bass and +4 treble.

Frankly, I can barely hear a difference when boosting the treble in the G, whereas the Maxima's system is very responsive to both cutting or boosting the two frequency ranges.

The G's system seems to respond to volume strangely. When listening at low/reasonable levels, the bass is overwhelming. When listening to it loud enough to disturb others, the highs catch up and the bass can sit at -2 or -1.

The previous owner has wired in aux-in that replaced the satellite radio input, so maybe he messed with the subwoofer? Besides the JDM badging and aux-in thing, the car is bone stock. There are no wires running through the center console towards the back of the car and no aftermaket box in the trunk.

I'm no audiophile, but I do typically listen to music via a fiio DAC and quality circumaural Sennheiser headphones. The Maxima's system has always made me happy. It's loud and clear and, even after years of abuse, still sounds pretty good. The G's system is really irritating me. The car is phenomenal, but this bass is killing me! Is it setup for classical music or something? I haven't fed it much music yet, but it's overwhelming in both rock and electronic tracks.

 

The easiest thread I can find with referencing the bad EQ is this one: https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-v...-stock-hu.html

There was one that I remember going through where they hooked up equipment to measure the signals before and after the amp to see just how much it was EQ'ing the signal.

You can blame Bose for the setup in our cars. It really is trying to compensate for lack of power in bizarre ways, and if you actually check out the speakers, you'd be surprised they sound as tolerable as they do. They look straight out of a 1981 ford ranger.

 

Okay, so that's definitely the expected behavior. Not... So cool.

You've answered this question a lot, sorry: Is it effective to keep the stock HU and swap out the amp for something less... bad? Or will I have to do amp + speakers to eradicate the excessive bass because the new amp will do nothing but reveal the cheapness of the lil' paper speakers?

I don't mind doing the whole system, I've never had a car with aftermarket audio before, but my wife is already growling about how much money I'm wanting to spend on a car I kind of sort of promised her wouldn't need any money siphoned from the minivan fund. Cough.

Mostly, I don't understand why Nissan designed a perfectly adequate system for the '04 Maxima, while the G's didn't get fixed until the V36 revamp in '07 (I assume). 'sup with that?

 

Doing just the amp is an option, but keep in mind you need one that accepts differential-balanced signals. JL audio is the easiest way to do that since all their amps accept the signal, but they're generally more expensive. Good thing is that when the headunit goes out, the JL will still be fine for the new headunit too.

I'd recommend doing a 4-channel amp, and powering just the front speakers and bridge channels 3&4 to power the sub. When you do some real speakers up front, do 1&2 to left and 3&4 to right, and get a second amp for the subwoofer. Don't bother with rear speakers. Front soundstage is the way to go.

If you want a hand with the install and feel like a drive down southeast, I'm about seven and a half hours away.

 

1. It's incredible how helpful you are.
2. I can't believe you like this stuff so much you'll help random strangers with their installs!
3. I was eyeballing your JL slash amp in your profile, since both you and the originator of the stock HU thread both recommended them as quality, differential-balanced amps. So the stock sub draws enough juice that the 300/4v3 or 300/4v2 ($495 on Amazon!) would need to have the channels bridged to power it?

Also, I've never heard of this no rear-speaker madness! Do they really contribute that little to the overall sound?? I've never heard what a car's audio sounds like with the rear speakers disconnected. I assume spinning the fade to front will also lower the woofer's volume, so it's not really a fair comparison.

 

1 & 2: Hobbies are hobbies.

3: Yes, they're expensive, but have been pretty reliable.

The stock sub doesn't draw a lot, definitely less than the amp is capable of, but headroom's good, allowing the amp to not be working hard all the time. So long as you don't crank the gains up and overpower the sub to the point it's going to be damaged, it's fine.

There's a few reasons to do the front soundstage:
* Price. No-brainer.
* Your life essentially is lived with a front soundstage. You are accustomed to listening to things in front of you, it's pretty natural.
* Virtually all mudio is engineered in stereo. Listening to it on two speakers is the closest you're going to get to how it was intended.
* Music is also most often engineered to emulate the experience of watching the band on stage in front of you, so the the audio is optimized with speakers in front of you. When you surround yourself with speakers, your audio perspective is skewed.
* Factory audio systems are typically designed to accommodate a higher number of speakers by delaying audio appropriately to virtually position those speakers in front of you, so it can still sound right. If your new headunit doesn't include a microphone to do these delays for you, you're going to throw the timing off slightly. If you think this doesn't matter, remember how easily you can pinpoint the location of something around you with your eyes closed.
* Fade will only affect the volume level, not this delay. You can buy equipment to balance the delay as well, but, now you're really adding to the expense.

So, in summary, front soundstage is less complicated, and makes it easier to make a good sounding setup.

I don't think anybody in the rear seats has ever complained about the audio, and typically when I've got rear seat passengers, there's conversation filling the cabin.

 

I can't find the mind-exploding emoticon on here, but everything you said makes a ton of sense.

It's like my Harmon/Kardon Soundsticks II, the best compact stereo speakers I've ever heard--heck, I've personally never heard a clearer-sounding pair of tower speakers. When you're in their soundstage, holy smokes, it's like you're cozy and warm inside a $400 pair of Sennheisers, only your body is vibrating from the woofer. If those speakers are pointed wrong, the quality immediately drops off a cliff. I'm visualizing how a quadraphonic setup would really do nothing more than cause destructive interference and turn everything into muddled nonsense.

Hmmm... This is a lot of food for thought, thanks.


In other news, I was stuck in a traffic jam today and had lots of time to play with the Bose HU's settings. I think something was wrong with it. I was playing with the F/R fade, dialing it all the way front, then all the way back, mulling over your first thread (didn't see your response) about only having front speakers. All of a sudden, the bass fixed itself when I pressed to increase the bass level from -5 to -4. I went from the rearview mirror vibrating on a Minus the Bear alt rock track to... almost no bass.

I suspect the HU was putting out sound at +5 bass or something, and when I was messing with all the other settings, it corrected something and the unit realized that, oh, -5 means -5. It went from overwhelming bass to absolutely no bass in the press of a button. The high frequencies finally came into being, too, and it doesn't sound nearly as dead, flat, and lifeless. Not great by any means, but a dramatic improvement from what it was.

You don't know me, I'm some internet stranger, so I'm sure you're thinking "Yeah, right, buddy! User error, bro!" But I promise I've messed with the bass and treble settings a lot and never gotten this result.

Maybe the HU is ailing, maybe it was a freak bug. (I'm a software engineer, I've seen stranger stuff happen)

The system still has too much bass compared to the Maxima, but I was able to set it at -2 bass to strike a nice balance between feeling the music and the woofer overwhelming everything else in the car.

 

To piggyback on one of the current audio threads, I've read through tons of posts learning about the complete clustershuck that is the factory BOSE system, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with my car audio.

Some knowledgeable car audio enthusiasts believe that a clean amp with headroom powering cheap factory speakers will sound much better than aftermarket speakers fed by a low-powered factory head unit. I agree with this idea, but would it still be true in our BOSE systems? Though our system is amped, it is low powered and the fixed eq is terrible. Do the stock speakers open up and sound much better with an aftermarket amp? What can I expect?

I'd love a new head unit, front stage, 5 channel amp and sealed sub, but I dont want to spend the money and I want to keep the install as cheap and effective as possible. An online retailer recommended to do the speakers first, then the amp, then processor, etc.

Thoughts?

 

After spending more time researching the following threads: https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-v...03-04-g35.html and https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-v...se-system.html and getting some solid advice from Wrathernaut, I was able to sort out my questions.

For anyone in the same boat: the head unit is expensive to replace because of the dash kit/hvac controls and it must have great internals for anyone still into CD replay because it sounds really good. The factory BOSE speakers, while cheap, can also be made to sound much better.

Therefore, my experience echoes the consensus of most board members here: if you are only replacing one component of the sound system, start with the stock BOSE amp because of its low power and muddy equalization. This thread and the two linked above to may help you learn about different options for various installs.