the bose system in the 00+ ssei bump hard. no bass but they are loud enough to drive you out of the car. if this is not the case something is wrong.

I'd find another ssei 00+ and later to listen to it for comparison....there is a huge difference between the regular bonneville and the bose systems in these.

However the bose system in no way compares to a cheap aftermarket component system.

As I read this, it is ambiguous. Are you saying a cheap system is better or worse?

If you are suggesting an aftermarket replacement, don't forget to include the issue with having to spend another $150 - $250 on adapters to retain the steering wheel controls and warning chimes.

It is my experience that the deficiencies in the OEM systems are not in the head unit but rather the power amp and speakers. This is why I take the approach I discussed in my previous post. It has the advantage of an unblemished dashboard plus the steering wheel controls and warning chimes work as designed.

Unless there are features you desire that are unavailable in the factory head unit, I recommend staying with that. Even so, I am adding features (iPod, bluetooth) that don't come with the OEM radio. . .

in no way is my bose system loud enough to drive me out of the car and it doesnt have anything close to great bass either. if i installed different speakers would that fix or help the problem or is there a couple things that could affect the loudness of the system?

Factory speakers are generally pretty efficient. This means they put out decent volume for each watt of power. If you want more volume, you will need more power. BUT, factory speakers typically don't handle a lot of power so if you add a higher power amp, it won't be difficult to blow the factory speakers. Also, the Bose speakers are 2 ohm (whereas most aftermarket speakers are 4 ohm) and this will stress an amp that is not set up for them.

Both the Monsoon amp and the Bose amp are likely to have similar power so I doubt you'll gain anything by switching. If you want more volume, I suggest replacing the speakers and getting a higher power amp.

New amps and speakers is the essentially what I am doing (see Jan. 22 post in this thread) for the reasons stated.

where would be the best place to tap into the factory radio and install an aftermarket amp and equalizer? or do the wires to the bose amp go to behind the back seat and it would be easiest to wire in an amp there? just out of curiosity wouldnt getting a separate equalizer just fine tune it from the stock head units integral equalizer or does that become useless if the bose amp is removed? it doesnt make much sense to me how that would work

Yes, that'* what I would do.

Many complain of OEM sound quality. Most times, the poor quality is due to a response curve that is not flat. Speakers have a resonant frequency and will be more efficient at that frequency. This causes a part of the audio spectrum to be louder than it should be. If this isn't allowed for in the design of the system, it can sound pretty bad. Speaker location, upholstery and interior shape can also affect the audio spectrum.

The Bose system is "tuned" to the car and speakers to eliminate this (or at least that'* the hype). Then there is no telling if Bose tailored the response curve to be flat or something THEY think you really want. Since the head units are the same for the Bose and Monsoon systems, it'* likely the amp that is "tuned".

If you are installing an aftermarket amplifier, it will not be tuned in this way. Plus, if you change the speakers, something else is different still. An equalizer gives you control over the audio spectrum. I have found by experience that an equalizer is the single most effective way to improve sound quality.

I will be installing equalizers for both front and rear. This is because the front and rear are intended to do different things. To simulate a concert, most of the music is in front of you. The wall in the back of the concert hall will reflect some of the music, so if you have speakers behind you, it simulates an additional dimension to the sound.

However, the sound that bounces off the back wall will not have the bright highs because they are easily absorbed in the room. Therefore you don't need the highs from the rear channels.

The rear deck of cars is suited for larger speakers than the front. This makes it ideal to generate your bass from there. Low frequencies are difficult to determine where they originate. So it doesn't sound funny to have the bass behind you because you can't tell.

Anyway, there are a number of products that provide this very thing to make an OEM system sound great. They are called OEM Audio Integration or something similar.

Sorry for the long winded post. I hope this didn't get too involved.

well now i know what im going to do with my system. it should be alot better then stock by the way it seems.
thanks!