I have been a member of this site for a little bit now and I have come to the conclusion that any sort of head unit change just looks aweful. Why would you want to take the standard/high quality Bose system out of the CL? Last I checked Bose wasn't down in the same class equivelant to Sony or Alpine. Give me some feedback as to why exactly anyone would want to change there stock head unit because it has boggled my mine completly....thanks

 

For your information, the stock HU for the CL is made by Pioneer. If you dont believe me, look at the back of the head unit. Of course, I wouldn't consider the CD eater, low output stock Pioneer's head unit "high quality" either .
Bose only made the shitty paper cone speakers and 1/2lb 4 channel amp. I wouldn't consider Bose stuff is on the same class as Sony and Alpine. It is way below compared to Sony Mobile ES and Alpine high performance series. Of course, I only talk about mobile applications. I know very little about home audio.

 

Well, that's interesting information to hear about the head unit being a Pioneer one. I'll stick to my Bose home audio tho. haha. My REAL question to everyone was based on looks alone, why would anyone replace the Bose face plate and change how that looks? I've seen pics of flip up head units and others and it just looks really bad. I just want someone's opinion about why they would wreck a nearly perfect interior by doing that.....

 

Not to flame you but Bose is awful for car or home audio. Most people on this forum are very discerning and would gladly change the look of their interior for the superior sound and features of a high-quality aftermarket head unit.

 

Well, as far as car audio goes, I stick by my opinion that it ruins the entire look of the interior. It looks aweful. And as far as home audio. That remark is comical. That's all I'm gonna say about that. haha

 

Guf, I'm with you on how changing the head unit can mess up the ...ohh what's a good phrase... neat and clean look on the front dash. I've held out long enough on replacing the head unit, but I'm beginning to realize the sound quality in indeed below what I should be getting. The bose HU is by far the weakest link in my stereo setup, and as much as I don't want to get rid of the look, I'm going to need a replacement for better sound.

 

Bose really sucks... for home and car audio... their tiny paper drivers and cone tweeters cannot create proper sound. Bose is a bunch of assholes that have a good marketing plan... they spend millions making people think they make a high quality product... and then tack a ridiculous price tag on it to again make it seem like a high quality product. When in fact, Bose is the only company I know of that never discloses how much power their systems actually put out... probably because they'd be ashamed to actually admit how little power it is.

Bose home audio is terrible... take a listen to a real home stereo or home theater system and you'll be in awe.

As far as cars go... i'd much rather have an aftermarket head unit in my car, than a terrible sounding pioneer stock head unit... especially with a bose name tag on it. I DO like how the factory head units integrate into the interior... and I too hate to ruin the stock look, but like I said, i'd much rather have better sound.

 

It appears that people are using the terms BOSE and H/U as if these two items are one in the same. The factory H/U is not/NOT a BOSE unit, it is a Pioneer as stated earlier by SilverKnight. The factory speakers and amp are BOSE units - nothing else! The perception of the "high quality Bose system" is based on electronic wizardry which is fabricated in the amp, not in the H/U.
The fact remains that if you want to hear a warm, non-offending output which emphasizes the mids and acts as if the highs/lows don't exist, than you are exactly who BOSE is looking for. If you want to retain the asthetically pleasing H/U AND upgrade your sound, all you need to do is replace the speakers and amp with aftermarket units of your choice - AND the addition of an EQ goes a long way in creating a soundstage that one could live with for the life of your car. IMHO, not including an EQ but upgrading the speakers/amps just gives you louder mids, since the factory H/U doesn't do a good enough job with the proverbial bass/treble cut/boost control. The days when you could remove the factory double-din h/u and replace with two components (ala the 1st gen Legends) are not easily undertaken since the designers have designed their H/U with non-linear faceplates, and going the typical aftermarket route does cause problems since nobody has yet to come out with a for-the-masses double-din faceplate to be used with our cars. It is possible to have both asthetics and awesome sound if so desired.

 

If you talk to anyone here who had a high quality Home Theatre, or GO to ANY HIGH END HOME THEATRE DEALERS. You will NEVER find Bose Equipment in their stores. You see bose at Circuit City's and Best Buys. Not high quality stores at all. Anyone who has high quality at home like i do will buy B&W's, Definitive Technologies Speakers ( Ones I have) etc. Bose are high quality for the low class stores.

Also, if you find a good installer for your aftermarket, they will make it look good in the car. You obviosly have never seen any of StreetEffectz work done on the site before.

Just my Opinion to your comment.

 

well, if he thinks the stock system is "high quality", then, of course Bose has to be outstanding for home audio. It seems to me that he's more of a "form over function" kindda guys

 

its like the all show no go. i rather have a h/u that functions alot bettr then one that just looks nice(even tought i dont think it does).

 

He would probably be happy with a headunit that was from walmart like a Jensen if it were stock and looked nice

 

dang, you guys ripped up this 'guf' hater before i could even get started... he all scared to reply now...

 

OK...A couple of things....

The reason that I haven't replied quickly is because I have other things to do besides check up on this site every 5 minutes.

As far as what everyone is saying about Bose being low quality and things like that. All I can say is that it is sufficient for me. I think that when people have subs in their trunk and everything to the highest quality, spending several thousand dollars on their audio equipment is ludacriss. I prefer to stick strictly to performance-enhancing products over audio applications. I have my eye on that supercharger on comptech.com actually. That's all I really got to say.

 

Ok Gentleman, easy on the man. I do still have my stock headunit in and it sounds 0k. I'm changing it this weekend and making my own custom kit. I'll post pics and I want u guys to make an opinnion. As far as bose being bad, unfortunatly, i don't have $10,000 to spend on a home theater. I have the Bose 701 and i think they sound really good for the $$. I don't make millions of dollars like the rest of you.

 

I Bose are ok for the ocassional Classical music listener :o But home systems ...IMHO should consist of Definitive Technology Speakers with either Pioneer Elite or Integra components.

As far as cars goes...its whatever floats your boat...You want massive bass....Bose will NOT give that to you. I prefer to hear it 'hit' when I listen to music so I perfer Focal and Kicker. But like I said...its whatever floats your boat

 

"no highs no lows, must be bose..."

 

After editing out all the stuff about how great bose is... I agree with you completely. I haven't seen an aftermarket conversion kit that has impressed me either. As soon as one comes along, I might consider ditching the stock headunit.

The headunit itself isn't as bad as many people like to say. So don't let all these haters scare you off!

 

darn, you took out what i like to bitch at ... If he didn't put "high quality" in the first place, I wouldn't even lighting up my flame gun .

 

be careful, no company that I know makes a kit for the CL-S. I had a close friend of mine make one out of plexi. be careful of the integration of the AC controls (with navi) or the pockets (w/o navi.). if not lined up, the side "wood" panels cannot align properly and line up. I found it out the hard way. Other than that, the quality difference is DAY and NIGHT. Rmember, OEM is not about fidelity, it is about getting average music for the "average" consumer. Numbers and $$$ over sound quality.