2008 3LT with the Bose Premium 7 speaker stereo. Can people actually complain about this stereo? Mine sounds phenominal, im not saying upgrading wouldn't make it better but it makes me wonder how much money people have to have to call this system "crap" and replace it. Am I misinformed and the base system is crap, not the upgraded system? - Im 26 and was into low-mid end stereos for many years in crappy cars, but I enjoy quality sound. Just wondering why people on the forum call it crap? Thoughts? Thanks All!

 

It's all relative to the listener. Personally I think that system sounded just ok at best. I recently upgraded my system with the only thing I kept being the factory navi head unit. If you directly compare one to the other you would understand what we are thinking.

 

Compare the stock Bose system to one with the same Factory Nav except the speakers are replaced and there is 300 watts of aftermarket power feeding them. Do that and you'll see why the Bose speakers and amp just isn't in the same league. The factory HU's are fine and put out a very clean, flat signal. The Bose amp and speakers = two thumbs down from me.

 

I don't really see what the fuss is about.

As a general rule, I'm no fan of Bose. They're home theater stuff will never see the inside of my home. But in the car? It sounds so much better than the system in my previous car (2007 Subaru WRX) that I'm quite happy!

 

I am one of those that was not impressed with the Blose system at all. I was forced to buy it if I wanted to be one of the first owners(#551). I would say for 90% of the people it is fine, but there are those who have a different set of expectations when it comes to a sound system.
For me, the bass sounded like it was stuck in the mud under water. The mids were missing sounds and the highs seemed to be either muffled or piercing.
3rd day of ownership I pulled the center speaker and felt I got a nice improvement. I now know why they did it, but it was a major failure, IMO.

Futzed with the controls until I was blue in the face, and finally pulled the Blose system replaced all the speakers and got a huge improvement. I even kept the stock HU.
I have an 8" sub in the back cubby that gives a nice crisp bass, 6.5 CDT's with 1" tweeters in the door. The tweeters are pretty crappy, so they need to be replaced.
Yet it simply Blose away what was there before. I have much better sound reproduction and an awesome front stage.

Now you have to have the right kind of music to make some of that happen
I have a couple of live cuts where the singer singer moves around on stage and their voice moves across the speakers with them. Not sure how they did that but it is a cool effect. No way was that discernible with the stock system.
People that get in the car tell me they feel like they are sitting in the front row of a concert with the instruments and vocals laid out in front of them. I can guarantee you won't get a compliment like that with the stock systems