Hello all,

I've been bitten by the audio bug and have started doing someo poking around, i have an 05 GT RX8 with the Bose system. Everything I have read on the forum says that the way the bose system comes... sucks ***?

I'd like to know why exacly it sucks *** - my last car was a 98 Saturn with a shitty Jensen deck, some pioneer 3way speakers, and a 12" Rockford Fosgate HX2 and JBL 300W amp pushing the sub, so when I got into my RX8 and cranked up the bose it sounded awesome to me.

I've been doing some looking and I will freely admit I'm not hardcore audiophile. But would love some kick in my bass and possibly some upgrade in midrange and tweeters. Coming from the stock bose if i could get away with a decent bump in quality/bass without adding dedicated amps, would be good.

 

not a audio pro either, but if you want some bump, go with jl's i have em, love em... aswell i know many forum members have jl's as i was recommended them by everyone

 

This car sucks, it is by far and away the absolutely bloody worst excuse for a audio system I have ever heard. Perhaps I am spoiled as I get to play with car audio all day for the last 20 years, I would think that my opinion though is one that I have fine tuned by now. Take the door and rear speakers out, look at the build of them as compared to a aftermarket speaker, look at the little tiny amp that they give you. Just makes me shiver when I think about this car and good sound being mentioned in the same sentence. To some people it might be great, to others it is the first thing to go.

 

have to agree... the stock bose system in the 8 is not very fun to listen to at all. it lacks frequency dynamics and basically sounds flat and hollow. i think that the components are undoubtedly cheap. but, i also think cabin acoustics play a role as well. in comparison, the stock 10-speaker harmon kardon system in my 3 isn't anything to gawk at compared to high-end aftermarket systems. but, for a stock system it sounds really good, and it kills the bose if u were to compare them side-by-side. gotta give those crazy germans engineers credit for looking at every last little detail of the car- even the frequency and acoustics of the cabin. i highly doubt that mazda exercises the same degree of engineering on the 8, since they're in a different price bracket.

the one consolation is, the sweet hum of the rotary engine is more fun to listen to anyways when you're zoom zooming around in the 8. so, turn down the stereo, open the windows & sunroof, and rev that renesis.

 

Until I can scrape up the extra cash to upgrade, how should I tweak the few settings available on the stock Bose system to get the most out of it?

 

What!?! Bose has years of R&D in this fine equipment.
Bout the only thing you can do for now is set the Bass on 2, the Treble on 4 and leave the Autopilot on. Add subs as soon as you can, then work on the rest. Have Fun!

 

Im also an audio newbie and im glad for it. The RX8 soundsystem sounds great in my ears. Its better than any other i have heard before. So even if i know it sucks i enjoy every second of it :-)

Besides: Music off when serious driving. The rotary is all the music needed then.

 

I happen to love my bose...sure it doesn't bump as much as an AM system...but I don't really care about the bass that much. IMO, it sounds better than a lot of other OEM systems (yes I know it's not the best..).

 

The Bose is good enough for me to get buy but not enough to be like hey man thats an awesome system. However i think there are other things that should be down first then the sound.

 

Bose is simular to monster cable quality... a very big name that everyone raves about but the build quality is extremely poor. not exactly reliable... its a big name so they charge more than what youre actually getting. but the performance is usually 6/10... there are better things out there for the same price...

 

I'll agree with the 6 out of 10 rating on the audio. But it's not that big of a deal (for me anyways) because I didn't buy this car for the stereo. It's all about the "zoom, zoom" and not the "boom, boom."

Know what I mean?

Probably the best audio performance upgrade would be better speakers.

 

Factory anything is still factory, which means paper cones. and that's why it sucks. It'll work ok, for a while but after a few summers those cheap cones just deteriote in quality and so does your sound

 

its decent, but it definetly needs more bump. but i don't ever expect much from a stock system anyways.

i think i'll just add 2 10's and i'll be ok. i'd really love to change the head unit but its too much of a pain.

 

What's the big deal? If the rx8 came with great speakers then you would have to pay more than the speakers are worth. The GT package is a little over $4,500 USD. If the speakers were worth $600 more than we would probably have to pay $1,000 more for the package. That means you have to pay $5,500 to get the sunroof if you just wanted that.

Remember most people don't need any better speakers - especially with such a nice sounding engine.

 

Most people aren't complaining. Only the ones that want great sounding speakers!

 

^ i 100% agree.. especially with a rotary because thats music right there.