If you're an audiophile, Bose is pure crap. If you want the radio to turn on and have sounds come out of it, its great My father hates his Bose in the TrailBlazer, my friend hates his Bose in his '02 Bravada, and frankly most Monsoons sound better (Z28Wilson, the F body Monsoon is pure crap...I know that!!! ). I know the Monsoon in my old '02 GA GT did, as does the Monsoon in the '05 GXP I plan on buying.

Bose is great for the casual listener. But if you turn it up, most get a little hollow. Highs are ok, base is there, but the mids are conspicuous by their absense. Mind you, I have a $3,500 stereo in the Z28, so yes I am a little jaded However, if you're a true audiophile, 9 times out of 10 you hate Bose OEM GM systems.

 

And BTW, if you want to hear a truly QUALITY OEM system, go listen to the Boston Acoustics system in the LX cars. THAT is a system.

 

Yeah, the Monsoon absolutely blows. I had the two front door speakers blown within 3 months of owning my Z. It sounded pretty good before that, unless you turned it way up(like I did).

Honestly, I hate any type of factory system like the BOSE or Monsoon because you have to rip ALL of the OEM equpiment out including head unit, speakers, and amp if you want to use anything aftermarket. Then you have to run all new wires, talk about a major PITA.

If you want a great factory sound system, the Mark Levision system in a Lexus LS430 is pretty incredible.

 

I wonder how many people will actually cross-shop the Charger R/T and the Impala SS? If they do (implies they don't care about drive wheels), the Impala should do well. The Impala SS should do well against cars like the Acura TL and Nissan Maxima also -- well, at least among those who have open minds. Here in California, unfortunately, too many people associate GM with lousy quality or just general undesirability. I don't know how GM fixes that perception problem quickly . . . .

I've noticed that people cross shop Acura TL and Infiniti G35, and the magazines often compare the two, so there is reason to believe that people won't cross shop the Impala SS and the Charger R/T. I just won't be one of them

 

No, there not. I am sorry if what I said was explained in the wrong context. All I am saying is that there are better alternatives then Bose. I just thought perhaps people could identify with that example, there are plenty more that I have borne witness to.

I think the Bose systems in the earlier Maxima's are garbage.

 

Yeah, pretty much everyone of my Monsoon speakers is trash now. Hope the 5th gen's do not get a horrible audio system as their "premium" system.

The Mustang's "Mach" sound system always sounded awesome for a factory system, I thought.

 

FWIW, The best stereo system I've ever had in a car was the stock Bose system in my 1995 Corvette.

In fact, it's the only system I've ever had in a car that not only myself, but others, have thought was so good that they actually commented on the quality of sound...

 

Right now, the best factory audio system hands down belongs to the Acura TL.

Now that I think about it though, the new VW Passat should put that system to shame thanks to a full Dynaudio sound system. I think they really did that system properly, since they didn't force Dynaudio to use generic drivers and put an amp on them. You actually get the MW160's.

I've had a few 350Z customers complaining about their stock Bose systems, and nothing more than new speakers, a high quality line level converter, sub and amp fixed that.

The Boston sound system in the DCX cars isn't anything really special. If you pull out one of the drivers, it looks nothing better than your run of the mill OEM driver.

The Nakamichi sound system in Lexus cars is pretty decent, but are high failure. I've seen quite a few GS400's with the same problem (One side of the car will cut out randomly, even if stationary).

The Bose drivers are a little more stout, they really just don't sound that great. They obviously sound much better than the base system in a Cavalier due to higher quality drivers and much more power. However if you stepped into a decent after market system (Deck, components, sub and amp) it'll sound much much better.

I think manufacturer's should give the customer the option of getting rid of ALL of the factory audio system, and getting a cash rebate.

Anyways, off topic. Let's see some pics!