Long story short, CDs were skipping. Stuck a disc cleaner in and it never came out. Totally frustrated!

1. if I replace the head unit, can I get the discs out of this one?
2. are there any modern options that won't kill my stock navigation voice prompts?

2004 350z Touring with navigation and 5 disc changer/cassette deck.

 

I believe you can extract your discs, if you remove the head unit from the car, and take the top cover off. If its broken anyways, you can't hurt anything by disassembling it.

As far as the Nav voice goes, you will lose that with any aftermarket system you install, and your only option to keep the factory nav with voice guidance will be to wire a small speaker under the seat, to the nav voice output of the Nissan nav system, and setup the new head unit to mute when the nav gives voice commands. I had my 03 setup this way and it worked fine and the volume control had to be turned up bc the speaker was mounted under my drivers seat. I just replaced the old aftermarket HU with a new Pioneer NAV based unit to get more updated maps, and usb/sd music file capabilities, and the new head units are amazing...and the nav is much better. I still have the stock nav working, but I never use it anymore since the Pioneer nav is much better.

 

You can also use Waze (or other nav apps) with Apple Carplay and Android Auto. If you're upgrading the stock deck/HU to a new one, might be worthwhile looking into HUs with those app-supported features. And of course, you can then use your phone as your tunes source as well . (Laff..... I still don't. I have a flash drive sticking into the HU in my Z. But maybe one day I'll get around to 2007 technology. Hahahaha....)

 

Just replace it with a new stock unit. Yours is probably just worn out. More problems seem to be reported with people putting after market stuff on their cars which were never designed to be compatible and lead to never ending trouble.

 

The difference between the stock Bose HU and aftermarket is night and day. I will never understand why Bose cannot make a great sounding head unit, when you pay so much extra for it from the manufacturer. That was honestly my biggest disappointment with the car when I bought it many years ago... the HU was flat and not dynamic at all (highs were bad), and if anything the lows were too bass-y, but overall a muddy and not very clean sound. I liked the disc changer in the HU, even though it sometimes was problematic. And then there was the stupid road Bose mic under the steering column which was worthless, and needed o be defeated to prevent the muting of the stereo to an almost too quiet level when you came to a stop. I quickly removed the Bose HU and had no regrets, even though I had to figure out a way to interface to an aftermarket HU to get the nav voice operational and voice guidance working which was really not that difficult (I am an electrical engineer by trade though, so that helped).

 

Really? Well, for me the factory BOSE sounds very good and I see no reason to change it out. Makes me wonder if those of you who don't like it might have technical issues with it (blown speakers, amp problems, incorrect settings, etc) that has caused the sound to deteriorate. Or perhaps different music tastes. Just saying, changing out factory equipment with aftermarket components often creates more problems than solutions.

 

Mine sounded like doodoo right from the start, and I bought the car brand new... no blown speakers or other issues, and any sort of adjustment helped but didn't totally fix the lousy sound quality. That subwoofer right behind the drivers seat is probably the worst idea Bose has ever come up with. I made a custom sub box in the corner of the hatch and it sounds much better in that location.

Here is the thread I created years ago, showing how I built the custom enclosure for a JL Audio 10W6V2 sub.
https://my350z.com/forum/audio-build...ally-done.html

Aftermarket equipment has always sounded much better than anythign from the factory, and interfacing with OEM equipment has become much more seamless with companies like Metra and PAC making interfaces that talk to your factory controls/equipment. I have no issues ripping out a Bose HU, as I know what I will be putting in will sound 10x better. Just my 2 cents.

 

For example: Bose vs. Aftermarket


This picture was originally posted on my350z.com by Paul350z