Hello, so I recently purchased a 2004 infiniti g35x sedan with the bose system. After seeing many posts online, I was expecting the bose system to be a lot worse, now I will say that i wasn't impressed with the system, but i saw a lot of potential. currently using a cassette adapter to listen to my music and i realized that it is vital to keep the volume of the device the cassette adapter is hooked up to at around half volume, or there will be a rediculous amount of distortion.

So as far as upgrading, coming from a previous setup involving stock speakers, aftermarket radio, and a 10 inch alpine type r in a ported box with 500 watts rms going to it, I really wanted to ditch having all that space taken up in the trunk. I do enjoy the potential of the sub and being able to push it, but now im wanting to look for a tighter more balanced sound. my first thought was to go buy a sealed box for my setup and be done, but i need pre amp outputs for my amp and that seems to be out of the question. It would also take up about the same amount of space(slightly less size for a sealed box), so it kinda turned me off a bit.

so then I started to focus on the stock sub position. i was really wising it was a 10 inch mount so that (1) there are higher wattage free air subs for 10 inches and (2) i could at least try and see how my non free air sub would sound in that spot considering its rms compared to any other free air subwoofer. but now what im thinking of doing is first temporarily hook up my 500 watt amp i have (obviously have it at a very low volume) to the stock subwoofer, hook it up to my phone for an easy audio source, and see just how much bass is coming from that rear deck (to make sure most of the bass im hearing isnt coming from the door speakers. then if it does seem to be pretty powerful, I will try to install this free air suitable kicker sub that handles 200w rms (which has got to be miles more powerful than the stock sub) and see if theres a large improvement there) then if that sounds good, I would be looking into replacing the stock amp. A lot of people bag on the whole system, but the bad sound of the system seem to be coming from the crappy bose eq on the amp. so i was looking at some 5 channel amps, but im unsure of what kind of signal is actually going to the amp to begin with, but what seems to be a pretty good option is this amp


there arent any reviews on that exact model, but there are on the simillar 4 channel amp and mono sub amp, where this amp technically acts as two separate amps (so its as if there is a separate 4 channel amp and then a mono amp, but all inside this small package that should fit in the stock location. but yeah, it will provide a safer wattage to the sub and not take up much space. I plan to mount it with it touching the most of the frame as possible to act as a heatsink since there wont me much airflow in there.

for the stock speakers, I'm feeling as if the midbass drivers are somewhat decent and i really do feel with a new amplifier, it will just improve it further, maybe except for the tweeters, but i have a decent 30 dollar replacement in line that should be a large improvement, but of course i wont be able to decide until i install a new amp to really see where the weakspot is.

when it comes to the receiver itself, I think im going to wait the longest to replace this, as the new ac controls with the double din slot would run me about 180-250 along with required wiring harnesses and maybe steering wheel controls. Being extremely limited on money right now, it doesnt seem like a good idea to upgrade the radio just yet, as the cassette adapter has exceeded my expectations while my phone is at half volume.

Also, i wanted to be able to save up so i can get a video receiver with a backup camera and all, so instead of dropping 350 bucks now, and not being able to upgrade anything else, id rather wait it out a bit and drop another 150 so i can get a touchscreen and backup camera. I know if i get the cheaper option now ill never exactly what i wanted, and if i dont ever get the chance to get any new radio (god forbid something happens to the car before i get to it), well ill feel exactly the same except ill have another 350 dollars to my name.

TLDR: 1. upgrade stock subwoofer to try to save space
2. replace bose amp
3.replace tweeters and/or speakers if they dont sound good with the new amp
4.go all out on a video receiver

any thoughts or suggestions on this plan?

 

4080 box is an enclosed option that fits 10" subs perfectly, the zenclosures sub is cheap and also fits. You can mount amps to the back of the seats or in the spare tire area. We have a thread on about everything here.