I'm reasonably happy with mine. But there are plenty of car with better system... I have listened to systems in '06 A3, '04 GX470, '01 IS300 and '00 S500... they all sound a lot better than ours. However, after listening to crappy stock system in Supra and upgraded but still crappy system in RX-7, I'm just glad to have reasonably good sounding system I might upgrade mine, but that is to be the last thing that I do to my car.

 

i think my bose system is pretty good, the base vibrates my rearview mirror and If i'm in traffic other people can hear/feel it. Thats good enough for me for a stock system. Now i'm going to add either 1 12" sub or 2 10's but for stock i'm def satisfied. i have it on 31 often with the treble and bass on +5

 

If you like the Bose system that's cool - sound is subjective. Some people like loud, some people like midrange, some like bass, some like flat response curves, some light boosted highs. Generally, though, research in audio indicates that the average person prefers an almost flat response curve from 12Hz all the way up, maybe with a little hump in the middle for male voices (or deep female voices). The problem with Bose is that they have almost no midrange in any of their systems, the G35 one being no exception. The G35 system is very typical of Bose - a highly boosted low end with no definition whatsoever, very tinny and thin sounding mids, and boosted high freq's. This kind of system lends itself very well to electronic music or hip-hop, but generally falls flat when playing anything else. When you buy home audio speakers you'll often see response graphs sent with them, or on the manufacturer website - almost all of them strive to achieve a flat or near flat response. When you buy an amp/pre-amp instructions tell you to go buy an spl meter and plot the response graph, then play with the channels so you have a flat response from each speaker/sub at the listening position. This is because regardless of what kind of sound you're drawn to, the human ear typically likes a nice flat curve.

The problem with a system like this is it's extremely difficult to "fix" if you don't like it, because the symptoms of poor sound are inherent to a fundamental problem with the entire setup from the poorly designed and constructed "bass module" to the paper thin mains in the interior. I'm not going to insult those who say "it shakes my mirror so it must be good" or "I have my bass/treble maxed and it sounds great" - I will just say that it might be wise to accept that even though this sounds good to you, it's very much akin to hearing someone say "Franzia is an awesome wine because I like it". Sometimes "good audio" is an acquired taste, just like good wine - and once you can taste the difference you'll often wonder how it is you were every happy with Franzia.

However like I said, if you like it you like it and that's all that matters

 

I just quoted the last bit because your post said what I wanted to better than I could have. If you like the Bose G35 system then you're lucky and I envy you. For me the system is going to be a huge problem. When I said earlier that some people just can't hear the difference, I wasn't meaning it to be snobbish or anything, just a statement of fact. I really wish I could be like my wife and happy with $20 computer speakers.

Couple of other points I want to make since I think my previous post was misunderstood by several. No one has ever heard the music I'm playing in my car outside my car. I'm pretty volume sensitive compared to most and I have the volume set at a pretty low level.

I also don't want "thumping" base. I want base and mids and highs. From what I heard on the test drive, there is a big 12Khz bump and a ~120hz bump and the rest is soft. I didn't mention it in this thread, but when the salesman turned on the stereo, it sounded so bad that he immediatley turned it off again. Could have been an issue with the test car I was driving, but from what I heard at a stop light the next day when I was next to a coup with it's windows down, I think it is just how the system sounds.

Last point. I travel a lot which means lots of crappy rental cars. The week I test drove the G I was in a Pontiac G6. The stereo was 10x better than the G. All the rentals I've ever driven had a better stereo than the G, including one really bad Cavalier with 2 miles on the odometer that couldn't drive straight but had a really good system.

The rest of the G is so perfect, it's just a shame that they pair it with a sound system that is so under performing compared to every other car on the market. It wouldn't be so bad if replacing a stero wasn't a huge undertaking. I honestly prefer to keep my system stock, but I don't see how I could with a G35.

 

Guys I dont think its so much Bose as it is the car itself. I mean if you haven't had the chance to hear the Bose in the 350z then you should, it sounds completely different, not necesarrily better but it definately has the highs, although lows dont seem as hard hitting as in our G's. Also, in my moms (lol) S500 her Bose system sounds incredible, when I compared it to my car I actually was able to tell that it doesnt make a big distinguishment with the high's but the lows still sound great too me, plenty of bass if you ask me, esp. for stock. But I still think it sounds great, good clarity even on full blast.