If the factory receiver is already decent I guess I can just upgrade the speakers....I really want a DVD player tho...is this possible without the navigation screen...I think I saw someone post that you can put an aftermarket piece there where the extra storage exist...

For a brief introduction of myself...I am a soon to be G owner and wanted to get in good with u guys.....My heart will always be with BMW but they just cost to damn much, plus Infiniti is really putting out heat now...So for me now that seems the best choice...Over at e46fanatics they're always talking about what they have to fix.

thanks in advance yall..


Also....does anyone know

What the maximum rim size the G35 can fit?

 

There is a double din kit, and new HVAC controls that you can purchase for somewhere around $500. These are from the JDM 350GT.

In terms of rims, maximum diameter is 20" and maximum width is 10" but these will only fit with the correct offsets. Most people go with 19" diameter wheels, and a maximum rear wheel of 9.5"

Good luck, and welcome to G35driver!

 

thanx vodka, I'm glad to be here

Do you have a link to any sites for that kit?

 

Is this a standard set up or did this guy buy a kit for this?

https://g35driver.com/gallery/showim...cutoffdate=all

 

As far as I know, if you remove the factory stereo, you have to add the bits and pieces mentioned. The factory AC controller is built into the factory stereo. If you want to add an aftermaket unit, you need the JDM factory AC controller, the new console cover, and a few brackets. Goto www.everythingg35.com and you will find all the parts.

For wheels, a 20x8.5 up front (with a 36-38 offset), and a 9.5 rear with around 48-52 offset is as big as you can go. You can go 8" all around with around a 35-40 offset, or 8.5" all around with the 35-40 offset.

 

Factory head-unit isn't terrible, plus so much other stuff is integrated into those controls. I simply added a 5 channel Eclipse amp, swapped out the stock speakers and added a sub in the trunk. I'm guessing the only way I could improve my situation is to add add an in-line EQ, which might make sense for an extreme audiophile ...

 

Sorry, but I have to STRONGLY disagree with you about the OEM head unit. It is horrible, although that's becoming a common thing these days. In recent years manufacturers are taking it upon themselves to put non-defeatable EQ into the OEM head units, and that EQ changes with the volume setting.

There are a few possible reasons I can think of for why they might be doing this. One is to try to improve the sound of the cheap crappy speakers they use, but of course if you replace the crappy speakers you're left with EQ which likely does not apply to the new higher-quality speakers. But the most likely reason for the EQ is to try to fool "average" people into thinking the system is higher fidelity than it really is. My personal theory is that there must be a large number of people who think that if they hear a lot of kickdrum boom and a lot of cymbal tweet then the system must be really good. If you're one of those people, please do not take my comments as an insult. Musical taste is a subjective thing, and there's no way I can tell you what you think sounds good. However, the idea of a musical recording is to reproduce the sound of the instruments as they exist naturally or, for non-acoustic instruments like electronic keyboards, as they sounded in the recording studio. If you're the kind of person who likes to turn the bass and treble up to maximum at all times, you have no leg to stand on in terms of meeting that criteria.

Returning to the G35's OEM CD player specifically (I have the non-Bose, but I think the Bose uses the same basic head unit - it only adds an amp with some extra EQ for the different speakers), there is a huge unnatural narrow boost centered at 55hz which may sound great to some people (I hear you all the time with your windows down and the rap music playing - just kidding, kinda... ) but sounds awful to those of us who are true audiophiles. There is a dip near 2khz the purpose of which I can only guess is to not make the system sound objectionable with some source material since 2khz is where the ear is most sensitive to annoyance (that doesn't make it right). Then there's a large shelf boost at high frequencies.

The most annoying part about this EQ is that it changes with the volume ****'s setting. Not with the level of the musical signal (some CDs/songs are recorded louder than others, which should be accounted for), not with the level of ambient road noise (which might be slightly defensible), but simply with the volume **** setting. Check out the attached graph showing how the OEM CD player measures on the test bench. At 55hz there is a 14dB, I REPEAT - FOURTEEN DECIBEL, difference in EQ between low and high volume **** settings. For those that have studied acoustics, you might argue that the human hearing system's normal change in sensitivity at low frequencies versus SPL (commonly referred to by referencing Fletcher-Munson curves) might justify this. That's the point of a stereo's loudness button, but 14dB is excessive, and the shape of that LF EQ does not truly match the Fletcher-Munson curves!! And this is not defeatable! At least give me the friggen choice of turning it off!! You'll notice in the graph the same "thinking for you" change in EQ at high frequencies. No aftermarket head unit I've ever heard of has this same type of auto-EQ, so why should the OEM head unit? To be fair to Infiniti, my wife's Mazda MPV had the same stupid thing built into its OEM CD player (and we paid $500 extra for the optional 6-disc in-dash changer only to replace the stupid thing once we realized how horrible it sounded - arrrggghhhh!!). For the MPV I replaced the head unit first, with the plan of replacing the OEM speakers shortly after it, but the improvement in sound by simply replacing the head unit was enough that my wife didn't complain about me never getting around to the speakers. (If you want to see how the MPV OEM head unit measured for comparison, visit http://www.mpvclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2883.)

Anyway, if you want true high-quality audio you will have to replace the G35's OEM head unit. There are many wonderful threads on this and other forums to help you obtain the parts for the dash to make it look good. Here are a few that helped me:

http://www.g-owners.com/article_read.asp?id=33
https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-video-electronics/51031-05-dd-kit-diy.html
https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-video-electronics/55231-pioneer-avic-d1-avic-z1-double-din-conv-pics.html

Jim
05 G35 sedan 6MT Garnet Fire/Graphite

P.S. You can probably guess it by my ability to measure the OEM head unit on a test bench, but I am an electrical engineer who designs professional audio equipment for a living. However, please don't PM me asking for my opinion on such and such equipment. I don't work in the car audio industry and have little knowledge of the various pieces of equipment in that market. I'm still trying to decide which aftermarket CD player to install in my own G35, and it will likely be based more on features than sound quality since it's almost impossible to tell sound quality without buying a sample of each piece of equipment, which I don't have the money or time to do.

 

Can an aftermarket EQ be installed in-line after DSP to compensate for the POS auto-EQ from the BOSE factory head unit..?

I here you about this unit, and I can here the EQ compensations according to the volume level. All this POS unit is doing, is flattening out the signal as the volume increases to the "mid-range", to minimize distortion - for the speakers are junk. My Mark Levinson system in the RX 330 is a world better - but you have to be an audiophile to appreciate these things.

 

If there were a reasonable solution to keeping the OEM head unit I would be doing it! I would love to keep the OEM look, the 6-disc changer, and the stealth look for would-be thieves, not to mention avoiding all the hassle and expense of installing aftermarket parts. I would even be willing to design my own high-quality custom anti-EQ specifically for the G35's OEM head unit if it would work. The problem is that the EQ changes with the head unit's volume ****, and there is no realistic way to export the volume ****'s current position to an external box to know how much anti-EQ to add.

JL Audio has a new product, CleanSweep, which is geared to exactly this problem, but their solution is not good enough for me. To avoid the problem of not knowing the OEM unit's volume position they suggest you never change it and instead adjust the volume via their product's remote volume ****. (You set their anti-EQ at a fixed and known volume setting on the OEM unit and then never change the OEM volume again.) But then you can't use the steering wheel's volume buttons or the EQ is broken again! Here's a link where you can check their product out. Maybe it's acceptable for you.

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_c...php?page_id=79

Jim

 

I'm buying it this week. Along with changing out all my stereo components. Getting a 12W7, Mb Quart QSD216's, JL 1000/1, Mb Quart rear speakers, The new Clean Sweep from JL, keeping my JL 450/4 to run my MB Quarts, and my trunk fiberglassed and a new custom box built. If this doesn't work, I will take the Clean Sweep back and get the Dash/trim kit along with an Eclipse AVN. If that doesn't do it. Don't know what to do.

 

TooLoud: It seems to me that built-in EQ in a car may not be automatically objectionable. As you probably know, one of the big factors that plays into home audio fidelity is room interaction, and there's a little sub-industry in room treatments and calculators where you can go to figure optimal room sizes and speaker placement and so forth; and most surround receivers these days come with Room EQ functionality that can adjust itself to the particular conditions of your room.

Well, that's all necessary for home audio, because rooms vary -- but if you're building a car audio system, things don't vary nearly as much, so you can precalculate all the "room" interactions, and do the EQ right in the unit to make it so that it sounds flat at the ear. I don't know that this is what Infiniti does (and the Bose name doesn't exactly instill audiophile respect), but it's definitely possible.

If you have an SPL meter that you could place in a "head" position and take readings of, I'd be highly curious to see how good/bad the sound is taken as a whole system.

 

Too Loud - thanks for the lesson ... we should start calling you the professor. Also, great choice on the 6MT Garnett Fire/Graphite ... fantastic combo.

 

Yes, it's definitely possible to use EQ to improve a non-perfect fixed acoustic environment, especially when the listeners ears are in such a well known position as they are in a car. However, the response of any acoustic space is a linear function - it doesn't change with the volume level of the sound played into it. So if you got the correct EQ for one volume level you would not want to change that EQ when you changed the volume, which the OEM head unit does. (Someone may read the above statement and argue that some things in an acoustic environment are non-linear. That is technically true, but the things that are non-linear can NOT be fixed with EQ. ) Besides, I can tell you from experience that the shapes of the bump at 55hz and high frequency shelf I measured in the OEM head unit would not be appropriate for fixing any acoustic problems in a car's interior. The dip at 2khz? Maybe, but there would likely be more than just that required.

While I do have the equipment to do such a thing, I'm sorry to say that I don't have the time or desire to spend more time on the stock system. I've worked in the professional audio business for over 17 years, and I can say unequivocably that the sound of my G35's stock system is bad. Once I replace the system I may take the time to do some acoustic measurements to see if I can tweak it further. If I do I'll try to post those measurements here.

Jim

 

I'm glad you found my post useful, and thanks for the kind comments about my car. I ordered it in December just so I could get that combo the way I wanted it, and the wait until delivery in April was a tough one!

Jim

 

Also my favorite thing: When the salespeople show off the car, they give you the sound system with the Treble and Bass both kicked up to +5 (this happened at more than one dealership, and more than one type of car). Because more bass and more treble always equals better sound, of course! Gah.

Tragically, I'm too addicted to seamless aesthetics to replace the stock head unit (although getting rid of that awful Bose logo would be a net improvement)...