Ok I have read alot of the info here and it makes alot of sence. It has been a few years now sence I have bothered with changing stuff in the car cause of thefts. I am looking to upgrade the sound but do not want to lose the stock look. I have a 96 ssei and I would have to guess that it has the bose. However it does not say it on anything from the grill covers to the gain gauge under the radio. I too do not like the sound of the back speakers so that will be my first change. oh by the way my radio is a cd...I have seen alot of you with cassette..

I'm pretty sure the SSEi comes standard with a Bose system. If you are looking to upgrade, EBAY has lots of stock CD players.

I"ve never seen a Bose setup with gain control on Bonnies.. that'* odd.. I too have dealt with recent audio theft half year + ago.. so I too would like to keep the stock deck so it looks stock from the outside.. get line converters ( split before the amp if it'* a Bose ) and wire your amps and such in the trunk so nobody is the wiser.

the bose system came out in '97. Both with the same 8-speaker system set up without the gain switch. Also, get the Hi-Lo adaptor for your stock radio when getting sounds put in.

mikta. I also have a 96 SSEi with the gain control. This is not the Bose system. The Bose has a "Bose" emblem where the gain control is on ours. The system with the gain control is ths U85 option and has a head unit that powers the front door speakers and rear deck speakers directly. The rear 6X9'* have a dual voice coil and the second coil is driven by a separate amp mounted under the radio and adjusted by the gain control.
You can improve this system tremendously by adding an sub and amp in the trunk and running the "sub" wires from the 6X9'* into it. The amp must have a high level input, or you can use a high to low level convertor. The gain control will still adjust the sub level.