I have the non bose HU but I also have the nav unit. This saturday I am having the front speakers replaced w/ Infinity Kappas (2way) and the installer is also going to build a sub enclosure under the strut tower to house a 10" JL Audio Sub. These will be powered by an eclipse amp.

My dilemma is that I don't really want to replace the HU because I will lose the voice feature of the nav and also lose the stock appearance of the HU...but, i'm concerned that it won't sound as good as aftermarket.

So I guess my question is do you think that a stock HU (w/ aftermarket amp) and these speakers will sound good or should I bite the bullet and get an aftermarket HU? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I've got the same setup as you, and have recently purchased a new clarion head unit, as I wanted an mp3 player. The stock unit sounds ok, but I think aftermarket will sound better. Don't know when I will get around to putting it in though. search for Skidazzle's post on his install. From his posts and the wiring diagrams, it appears the nav voice passes thru the head unit, and a separate signal mutes the radio. I don't use the voice, because I don't like the radio muting. I'm gonna hook an extra speaker up somewhere, and run the nav voice to it, instead of through the head unit,.

 

You are definitely going to get better sound if you replace the stock head unit. Do a search on threads by 'onecoolee' - he describes how to hook up an aftermarket head unit to factory nav with about $12 worth of parts from radioshack. I have all the parts needed, but just haven't had the time to hook it all up. When I do get the time, I will take pictures and add it to the 'How to' thread at the top of this forum.