I just took my friend down to the Acura dealer to pick up his new TL. I personally wanted to hear his Bose system so I could have a better guage on how the Z Bose system would compare. Well, I couldn't have been more ashamed, the Bose system in the TL sounded SOOOO MUCH BETTER than the Z. Our Bose system really sucks! I really think Nissan dropped the ball on this one, big time. Seriously, there is no comparison. The TL wins hands down, full, rich, clean sound all the way around. Albeit not that loud, it's far superior to the Z. Why can't Nissan admit it and fix it? Very disappointed with Nissan and the Bose upgrade. -m

 

The bose system in the Acura RSX Type S blows, don't feel bad, you Z owners aren't alone. I replaced my stock Bose HU with a Pioneer 8400 HU, and the sound is much better.

 

I drove my daughter's 2002 Sentra today. She has the upgraded stereo and it too blows the Bose away. This can be a major PR nightmare for Bose and Nissan. If either of the two were smart, they would figure out what was wrong and recall all Touring models to put a real fix in place. This isn't going to get better. It will only get worse. I would not be surprised if someone did file a class action suit. I've seen so many specious suits over the past few years that comparatively this one would actually have merit...

 

I agree with you ZEyeDoc. I can not believe this is not being taken seriously by Nissan. This is grounds for a very ligitimate class action suit. How pathetic, a Sentra has a better sounding stereo! -m

 

I agree.... I used to have a '00 Acura TL and that BOSE sounded so much better than the one I have in my Z Touring.

 

My wife drives our '99 Acura TL. And it souds worlds apart compared to my Touring's Bose. The TL's Bose was part of the reason why I ordered the Touring package in the first place. Really wish Nissan would do something about the MUDDY sounding POS installed in our Touring.

 

Heh, same here. My mom's TL is one of the reasons I got the Bose. It's not bad in her car.

 

lemme get the cheese for all this wine.

get your bose amp replaced.

Class action lawsuit?!!

Thats the prob with our country - we think that laws and legislation canj make up for the idiocy and stupidity of the 95% of the population - you know the mindless sheep.

In europe, there's no 10-day return policy....so buyer beware.


IMO my Bose sounds great! Ask yourself how well your buddy's acura handles a 90 deg turn with VDC off.

 

If you prefer life in Europe perhaps you should consider relocating there with your Z.

I am not a lawyer and I don't make the rules but class action suits have been filed and won over far more idiotic things than this Bose problem. For example, take the billion dollar settlement over some screwy software code in floppy controllers in Toshiba notebooks. It probably affected a fraction of a percent of customers but Toshiba paid.

In this case, I think that Nissan has a potential problem. Customers paid for a premium system and the overwhelming consensus of touring owners is that the system is defective and far inferior to lesser systems. A class can easily be defined and damages assessed. Except for a lawyer who does class action and sufficient return on his or her investment, that's all that's necessary. My guess is that there is an attorney who is reading this right now.

Meanwhile, if everyone thinks the system stinks but you like it, what does that say ?

 

I did have my Bose amp replaced (as per TSB) and it made a very small difference. It killed the over whelming bass problem (illiminating bass all together) and erratic volume (probably disabled), but those were only some of the problems. Next time Nissan releases a "fix", they should make sure it actually fixes the problem that consumers brought to their attention in the first place. Now I (and other touring owners w/Bose fix) have a system that doesn't have any bass or trebble control what so ever. I think Nissan just passed the preverbial 'buck' onto Clarion and Clarion decided to put a band-aid in hopes of resolving the issue. IMO Nissan & Clarion did not do enough R&D to fix the problem. Someone has to step up to the plate? Peace. -m

 

I just got my car today, and drove it 5 hours back from St Louis. I'm very disappointed with the BLOSE. It is a late enough build, I would guess it has the later amp.

The best way I can describe it is that the sound makes your ears tired before long. The bass is muddy and the tweeters are piercing (which may settle out after they are broken in). On top of that, the thing sounds almost like speakers do when they are out of phase and hooked up backwards.

I was going to get the performance and not feel like I'd spent money on this system, but I got such a good deal on a touring I went ahead and took it. I don't know what I'm going to do about it, but I think I'll get sick of this pretty soon. I really didn't think I'd swap stereos in this car.

 

what you need to do is realize how the systme works. The whole idea is to eliminate distortion and compensate for cabin noise.

The bass/treble controls DO affect the sound!!!

However, if the volume is HIGh and the amp knows that bass+5 will cause clipping - it boosts it less.

As proof of such - play a cd with a decent range.

Play it at a volume of ~15.

Now, put your bass at "0" - listen.

Now incrementally increase the bass +1 to +5.

Hear the diference!!

RIGHT!

Now increase thevolume to 20, 21, 23.

You'll notice that as the volume gets higher, the bass does too, but its tougher to discern as the adjustments do become more subtle - to prevent clipping.

I've had a bunch of systems in my cars over the years. the bose isnt going to win any IASCA tourneys, but as a stock stereo in a $35K sports car for $900 xtra its good.

See what $900 aftermarket will *really* get you.

If you're the kind of person that wants to spend $3K on a system - then yes thebos does BLOW.

Did you guys hear about the woman who tried to kill herself by standin in front of a MTA train?? She survived and guess what?? She's Suing the city...

So we'll probably have more fences around the tracks and pay more security and hence more taxes.

Guess what?

In europe they dont have fences around tracks - call it natural selection if you want or simply common sense.