I was wondering I love my bose system but i dont like the sound coming from the system, not very good highs or mids. I want to keep the stock system because i believe once i make some little changes it will be a very good system. I was looking into installing like JL Audio's CleanSweep to help clean up the signals coming from the headunit-amp-speakers. Now i would really like to get the system able to be able to be loud when using satellite radio. Seems to be softer than playing a disc or listening to regular fm radio. Anybody have research into anything to enhance our stock systems?

 

So if one were to judge their sound system by lows mids and highs, and you don't like the mids or the highs your Bose system produces, why do you still love it?
The JL Audio Cleansweep is designed to produce a flat response for amplification. It will not improve your mids or highs, and it most certainly will not increase the amount of volume your system produces from any source. It will merely prepare the signal to be sent to separate aftermarket amplifiers, which should power aftermarket speakers. You are talking about a complete system upgrade from the ground up.
Unfortunately, your factory speakers depend on the built in Bose equalization to sound as good as they can inside your car.
So don't waste your money on the JL Cleansweep unless you plan to replace everything but the head unit. Sorry, but that's the harsh truth about today's factory automotive sound.

 

Thank you for your input. I was wondering what improvements can we make to the stock system without changing the speakers, headunit. Bose is the standard from premium high-quality sound but my bose sound system for my home theatre system sounds better. I want that ambience, i want to fill my car cabin with the best that bose has to offer.

 

The best you can do with BOSE is to remove the rear subwoofer and put some nice aftermarket subwoofer (active or with amp). This will make your bass much better.

The next step is sound deading the doors and be sure to place some round foam stuff (from the sound-deading materials) between the front doors' woofers and the innerside of the door panel, so they won't play into the door, like they do from the factory. Makes a HUGE difference with the midbass!

If this still wouldn't be enough for you, try to change the front tweeters. But be aware it's rather hard to make aftermarket tweeters play nice with the stock system! I had spent about 3(!) months trying to do it - different crossover settings, different attenuation settings and I changed 2 types of tweeters before I made the whole system play the way I like it...

 

I disconnected my rear deck speakers and ran them to my Sub Amp and added a 12" sub in the trunk and it sounds great. The rest of the speakers are mostly highs and mids now that I barely have to turn up the bass it doesn't get in the way of the rest of the clear sound

 

I would agree that about the best/only thing that you can do to the Bose to dramatically improve the sound is to add a powered sub in the trunk.

 

It seems lack of low end is not a concern according to the initial post. It's mids and highs that are not bright enough. While adding a sub may do wonders for the low end of the system, it doesn't address any of the OP's concerns with his factory system.
Sound insulation, on the other hand, will lower the noise floor and may have desirable results the OP is looking for. But it alone can only do so much.

 

The thing reason I mentioned adding the Sub improves your highs and mids is because when you have you trebble up to level 5 and your Bass up at level 4 or 5, it distorts the tweeters and mid range with the bass. Once I added the powered sub I had to turn the bass down to negative 3 and the trebble is only at level 3. The highs and mids are louder and more clear without the bass trying to come from the same speakers. Level 5 on the trebble is too high now. It helps a lot.

 

The levels i do on the stock system is bass 0 and treble 3. I dont like it when the front mid-woofers hit the plastic but i will definitely do the sound deadening material in all doors and ask if they can put a custion between the plastic of the door and the woofer in the fronts. I believe it will sound so much better. I am kinda against putting a powered subwoofer in due to the encloser and feel if someone sees it its more suseptible to being stolen. Thank you for all the help. If you have any more advice for our bose systems please continue to support this topic. I will keep updating you on the progress i make or any questions i have. Thank you.

 

I guess what most of it comes down to is personal taste. I feel that any bass setting below 0 makes our system sound thin, as it takes away the mid bass. The kind of mid bass that no subwoofer should be straining to make up for. Although I see the point where relieving the front speakers of some of their low end duty would result in overall cleaner output up front, I never found my tweeters distorting from the bass setting being too high.
I keep my bass between 0 and +3 depending on the type of music being played at the time. The treble is all the way up all the time, and sounds clean and clear.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the Bose system is not perfect and begins to distort after a certain volume is reached on the head unit. I found exactly what that volume is using the SMD DD-1 distortion detector. I then tuned my system at its maximum distortion free volume. I have a separate thread about this titled:
So you want to know your Bose HU's distortion point...
Even though the stock system stands no chance of frying anything playing past its distortion point or even at full volume all day, everyday, it will still distort and every driver from the tweeters to the sub will sound strained and not at all accurate.
Knowing your head unit's distortion point, tuning your aftermarket amps to just below it, and never exceeding the max distortion free volume point afterwards can mean the difference between enjoying your gear for years to come while getting the most out of it and frying your amp/speakers/sub sometime down the road.
Basically, if the system does not sound clear enough (like the OP pointed out) it's ok to crank up the treble as long as it's done so within a reasonable environment, i.e. with the system volume at or below its distortion point.