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Bose sound - bad quality sound

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LMB

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Munich
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Accord 6 1.8
Hi everybody,

I had a 1991 Honda Aerodeck 2.2 with an aftermarket Sony, and the sound was simply amazing. It was 4×35W, and it was enough. Now I drive 6th gen. Honda 1.8 2001.

I've read a lot of posts about Bose in 6th gen Hondas, but I'm still a bit confused. My stereo system is horrible, and I don't know whether it's the standard Bose, or the speakers are blown up.

So I'm wondering here whether I should get rid of the Bose, or replace the speakers. Is it common for the speakers to blow up? All four? Thanks in advance for any hints.


Also, is it normal that max volume when listening to the radio is about half of what it is for CD?

Edit: One last question: what is the name of this model?

IMAG0491.jpg
 
I think personally the boss set up was rubbish! It was the first thing I did when I had the 6th gen, Got a new sony CD player with aux port and wired in a Sub and amp. Very easy to do if you have had any experience with sound systems. The speakers were not great but removing the bass out of them and having it plumbed through the sub made a huge difference. changing speakers isn't hard either but the cost starts to increase and the time to fit them also. Lots of advice on the internet on how to fit them or get a good book which will teach you. ;)
 
I don't think the head unit had a model name as such, but the model number is the 4 characters in the lower right of the LCD screen, it's something like 3Y..

Mine sounds ok, I'm past the stage of shading the windows with club music etc but when an old favourite comes on the radio the volume does it's job.

I have found that when using the x-carlink, the volume doesn't seem to as high as with a CD. It may be that the music source that you are listening to had been recording at a lower level.

As for the sound sounding rubbish and speakers not working, there is a control unit under one of the front seats, it could be that a previous owner has knocked a wire when cleaning the car.
 
I personally found the Bose system very good, no distortion all the way up to 40 :D however, I did find it didn't put out the bass as much as I'd have liked. Up loud it was still enough to shake the whole car though! As for aftermarket, in my Golf I ripped all the horrible VW stuff out and put in an Alpine head unit along with door speakers and 4x6's in the back, and I've found that for the price the sound quality is very good, so if you're looking for replacement parts I'd say they're worth a look. I had some Vibe 6x9's too and the bass from them was epic, but they cost £200 new!

As for your radio volume query, I never noticed much difference between it and CD's

My Accord is in parts so here's a photo of all the part numbers on the Bose head unit for you:

98df03cc.jpg


Just put of interest, can anyone who has installed an aftermarket system advise how the extra parts have affected the sound quality, ie does the equaliser unit still keep working even after the Bose head unit is out?
 
AcesHigh said:
I don't think the head unit had a model name as such, but the model number is the 4 characters in the lower right of the LCD screen, it's something like 3Y..

Mine sounds ok, I'm past the stage of shading the windows with club music etc but when an old favourite comes on the radio the volume does it's job.
Click to expand...

It's not even about listening to boom boom, normal sound is 1) too quiet (as for my liking), 2) strangely distorted - some lows go through, some highs as well, but there's no way to correct it with the BASS/HIGH setting. Something must be terribly wrong. Investing in either a new stereo system or new speakers will cost me money and time, and I may found out that it's the other thing. I guess I have to borrow a radio to test the speakers.

By the way, I happen to reside in Germany and have no access to the English service manual - any of you fellows could share the page on how to remove that damned bose? Hope one page is not illegal.
 
look at this ( basic guide to removing the Bose cd player)

http://www.fitaudio.com/?View=entry&EntryID=14
 
If i were you i'd scrap the whole lot. Get yourself either a Sony or Pioneer HU, a decent amp to replace the standard one, and some good 3 or 4 way speakers. You're gonna wnat 13.5 cm speakers to replace the standard ones, and if you can get some 6x9s for the rear shelf. These will have to be 4 way.

I used to fit audio systems for mates, and i will always recommend Pioneer speakers and Sony amps.
 
luvmyaccord said:
If i were you i'd scrap the whole lot. Get yourself either a Sony or Pioneer HU, a decent amp to replace the standard one, and some good 3 or 4 way speakers. You're gonna wnat 13.5 cm speakers to replace the standard ones, and if you can get some 6x9s for the rear shelf. These will have to be 4 way.

I used to fit audio systems for mates, and i will always recommend Pioneer speakers and Sony amps.
Click to expand...

Music to my ears! :lol:
 
As for the sound sounding rubbish and speakers not working, there is a control unit under one of the front seats, it could be that a previous owner has knocked a wire when cleaning the car.
[/quote]

can anyone confirm the above if the control unit is under passenger seat or driver's?

long story short, i replaced the stereo 4x40w unit on my CG8, however the sound is awful for the back spakers(Infinity speakers) can it possibly be for the above reason or anything else?

FYI the stereo unit works pretty well for my previous car

thanks for y'all top notch response as always!
 
It's this thing mate, it lives under the passenger seat

42b1b58d.jpg
 
thanks for the super quick response Josh, i shall check it this evening to see if that can change anything :)
 
I personally find it quite good but only when I've plugged my phone/iPod into it, the sound is a lot better and you can hear that it's a lot clearer than when listening to radio/cassette/cd, I use a 3.5mm to casette adapeter and use the phone/ipod equaliser to get decent sound. It can handle quite treble and bass heavy music which is pretty good, however when really loud the bass dies out and the music becomes distorted
 
Also check the speakers + & - are wired the right way round.

Sound from an iPod/iPhone is generally pants in a car. I found I can improve on it by using mytunes pro and tweeking it, but you are better off burning mp3s to a cd (if your hu can play cd mp3s).
 
I've never been a fan of the Bose Sound. I mean it's not like it's a bad thing, it's just massively over rated in my opinion. But from the sound of your description it could be anything from a poor quality or faulty head unit, poor quality speakers or tired and/or faulty speakers, some dry solder joints on the wiring or anything quite honestly. I say your safest bet is to gut and replace the head-unit and the speakers and if needs be redo any dry looking solder joints on any connections. (although if you're replacing things, you may need to re-solder things anyway).
 
From what I've read Bose have a rep for sounding a bit 'flat'. I felt this in my Accord, but on the whole I still thought it was a pretty good stereo. I liked turning it up to 40 when playing a track with decent bass, it shook all the mirror glass and the interior trim like mad :lol:
 
Frankly the stock Alpine unit in the 7th gen Exec I've got is one of the best car stereos I've ever heard. So maybe consider a good Alpine system as a replacement. Otherwise, I'm a big fan of Blaupunkt stuff. My Dads old Volvo 740 had Blaupunkt in it as stock and it was a savage system for the era and price range of the car.
 
My A4 was kitted out with Blaupunkt speakers, I stuck in a Sony headunit and it was mega epic :D I miss that car :(
 
Josh2109 said:
It's this thing mate, it lives under the passenger seat

42b1b58d.jpg
Click to expand...


No Mate, theres no amp box under the passenger seat, i guess because my Accord only comes with the standard stereo system :-(
any chance the wire needs changing as they are old and affecting the sound delivery? (hence the one from stereo unit to the back speakers)
 
accord2001 said:
No Mate, theres no amp box under the passenger seat, i guess because my Accord only comes with the standard stereo system :-(
any chance the wire needs changing as they are old and affecting the sound delivery? (hence the one from stereo unit to the back speakers)

Any chance its the speaker wires thats gone bad?
Click to expand...
 
bose system with sony xplod head unit, 4x50 but sub lost!, sounds really good, I'd try a new head unit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa3zVsFCbhA&list=UUEuenHNIWrOF3FIlPtwKDJQ&index=2&feature=plcp
 
To be honest, the bose systems in 6th gens whilst listening to any input that the hu offers is pretty bad in terms of sound quality, everything is tinny and sorta crappy :blush:
However I have found that it's not so bad when I plug in my Android phone or my iPod and spend about a minute setting up bass and treble to my tastes, it still leaves a lot to be desired but the sound is a lot clearer and the bass opens up a bit too, but play to loud and the sub can't cope
 
Josh2109 said:
My A4 was kitted out with Blaupunkt speakers, I stuck in a Sony headunit and it was mega epic :D I miss that car :(
Click to expand...

The sound in my 1991 Accord was like a concert hall, so I don't get why the 2001 version suck so badly.

Yet another question: is it true that some models come with an amplifier under passenger seat, and some not? And is the location of the amplifier different on RH (UK) and LH (Europe) models?
 
I wonder if any of the speakers have blown on your car? I never had any real gripes with the Bose set up in my Accord, other than the bass was a bit flat at normal listening volumes. I've listened to it at 40 (max) before and had no distortion

The unit under the passenger seat is an equaliser, the amp is in the back :)
 
For those who have the same problem and perhaps come across this topic:

As a test I have replaced the stock stereo with a Clarion DRX8575RZ. I was told it is a good amplifier that should have no distortions.

The bass was indeed better, but at the top power (4x45W) the sound had identical distortions as with the stock BOSE, so I understand that it must be the speakers.

Any further hints are very welcome, esp. the opinion on the Clarion I had tested.
 
What ive always wondered if it is an equalizer under the passenger seat, why (to my knowledge anyway ) can't it be adjusted like a normal stereo eq can be?

Ive always thought (and it has already been mentioned) that the sound quality is flat with no warmth, kind of like the 'flat' eq setting on your home stereo

I think it would help massively if there were more tweeks that could be done instead of just bass and treble

Ive found recently aswell the stock sub works a little better when the boot is empty, I noticed this when I took 2 pushchairs, 2 blankets and my toolkit out of the boot :lol:
 
I've also was surprised about the terrible quality of bose system. So i was trying to change one component by one. So first i've changed the unit to Alpine one, sound get little bit better, but still the midles was terrible sounding. Then even connected the original bose subwoofer to new unit, still not good enough. Then bought 10" active fusion subwofer, sound imrpooves hundred times! But still not perfect, all of the bose speakers in the door panels is not good, they have some specific problems with midles and highs , so with my new system with active sub, i was missing a lot of highs at higher levels, so i've bought a set of 6.5" vibe 3way speakers, change them all, door panels was hard to put but possible. now its perfect... So resume would be you must to change the whole system in order to get something sounding like a music, there is no other way unfortunetly you have to invest around ~200 euro at least...
 
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