mafpolo

I'm out of town on business, and I am in a Nissan Altima. The Altima has a Bose system in it, and it sounds far better than the Bose system in my Cayenne. Bose in the Altima has a much wider sound stage, more midrange, ceaner bass, and is noticeably better. This does not make sense. The Bose in my CD (unless I choose the Surround Sound option, which is really lousy) has a narrow sound stage, where there is far too much of the sound coming from the center speakers and far too little from the door speakers. In addition, the bass is a little muddy and midrange is lacking.
I wonder if all Bose Cayenne's are like this, or could mine have a problem/issue? I don't know whether a Bose sound system could have an issue or not that could cause it to play improperly. It makes no sense that the Altima should sound so much better than my Cayenne. A little better I would understand, but not this much.

cwheeler

mafpolo

Casey, I am disappointed given I spend a decent amount of time in my car, Bose can do better (even though they are better at marketing than creating great sound), and Porsche should spec better audio in their cars. I will try your settings. Do you use these for all mediums (iPod, bluetooth streaming, satellite radio?

CarGuyNVA

These OEM automotive Bose systems are interesting/strange beasts. The one in my '08 957 CTT sounded better than the one in my '11 958 CTT, clearly different sound. I'd rate the one in my Macan GTS to be somewhere between the one in my 957 and 958 CTTs in terms of overall sound quality. The Bose systems I had in my Z06 Corvettes, well, sucked. Now we hear that a fairly pedestrian car like the Altima has a decent sounding Bose, better than a high end performance SUV. Go figure.

I certainly wouldn't expect them to all have the same sound of course, but I guess I expect them to be closer in overall quality than they apparently are.

cwheeler

Elberoth

Bose is just a badge. All those systems in various cars sold with the Bose cars are different, which is why they sound different.

mafpolo

What happens is the manufacturer gives the manufacturer of the audio system a budget (Burmester and B&O's high end tell a manufacturer what they will charge) and Bose has to deliver based on what they have to work with. That being said, it is hard for me to believe that Nissan gave more for an Altima than Porsche did for a Cayenne, but maybe Nissan got a better deal based on big quantities of cars.

I did call Bose today, and the person I spoke with told me that my description of the sound in my Cayenne doesn't sound like the system is working properly. They said that even without the surround sound turned on (I don't like the surround sound, because it sounds like mud (best description I can think of), the sound should not be concentrated from the center speakers. The door speakers should have a decent presence...they don't on mine. Is that normal? Does everybody else with the Bose option find that the sound dominates from the center speakers?

golftime

Listening to music is somewhat subjective but your description does not sound right. You might go into your controls and try to move the sound from front to back and side to side to see if all the speakers are working properly. When the controls are centered, the sound should sound like it is coming from all directions equally. As far as lacking bass and midrange being muddy, as others have said, Bose systems are pretty mediocre. They use cheap components and are known for weak bass, really weak highs, and too much distortion.

mafpolo

Bose is best at marketing. You are right about your description....cheap components, lousy sound engineering. However, it should sound better than it does. I am going to do what you suggested. I get back home on Friday, so I will test whether the side speaker are working. I would also like to listen to another 15 Cayenne to see if they sound different with same source of music and same settings.
I will let you all know what I find.

CarGuyNVA

Anyone remember the old saying in the audiophile community, 'No highs, no lows...must be Bose'

NoEardGoat

Wasn't it "All highs, no lows... must be a Bose?"

cwheeler

mafpolo

Wheeler....you git it. The lows are mud and the highs are shrill and thin. Yech. I need to figure out a way to change out the amp, the speakers, and the bass. My only concern is that I'd still be limited to the head unit being mediocre, but I am not willing to go aftermarket, because I don't want to change the look.

cwheeler

Danyol

I agree with the opinions on the muddy Bose but don't underestimate the quality of source material. I've uploaded some high quality recordings to the jukebox. The sound positively sparkling compared to Sirius, FM or AUX.