Nissan Altima 2003 / Bose Radio and Speaker Question

[Adolphusandy]

I have an 2003 Altima 3.5SE with a Midline Factory Radio. The Part Number is PY020. I was looking to upgrade that system to the Bose system which is part number PY030. The connectors on the back of the radio are the same. My Question is this....

1) If I change the radio out, will I have to replace the speakers with Bose Speakers? And if that is the case.....

2) Where can I find the harness to utilize the Bose Speakers but keep the original harness that came with the vehicle?

[NISTECH]

You would need to aquire the bose amp that is mounted under the rear package shelf in the trunk, The speakers and the main/body harnesses.

[jEzTeR]

I have the Bose system in my 3.5se and I love it.

Good luck with your install and keep us posted.

[PoorManQ45]

This is a little late response, but...

NO You are crazy if you'd ever even consider converting to a bose system in a car! Or you have just fallen victim to their ruthless marketing department.

Anyways. Why do you want to switch to the bose system? I HIGHLY recommend that you do NOT do this. I would recommend that you change the speakers for aftermarket ones. This by itself will sound MUCH better then the bose system.

[jEzTeR]

I think the Bose system in my car sounds great. If I were going to swap out the base OEM stuff then I would most likely go with something aftermarket if it were going to be easy and cheep. If the Bose is easy and cheep then I would go for that.

[NISTECH]

A bose system in proper working order and properly installed sounds AND feels much better then 2/3 the aftermarket systems available. The problem is people dont know how to properly set up a bose to get the most out of it.

[Cold_Zero]

I prefer my daughters Fisher Price radio in the 2.5 Altima. When it runs out of juice, I just wind it back up. Nothing thumps harder than "Old MacDonald" when you are cruising.

I guess I can now say that I have a Bose system in MY 3.5 Altima SE.bud

[PoorManQ45]

A bose system in proper working order and properly installed sounds AND feels much better then 2/3 the aftermarket systems available. The problem is people dont know how to properly set up a bose to get the most out of it.

I don't agree about the bose being better then 2/3 of aftermarket systems. I'd say it's more like 3/10. Now, the problem with installing a bose system is that you have to add a TON of wires to the car. I'll give you $1 if you can layout an entire Bose system outside of the car in less then 5 minutes. I'm talking just laying the wires out to the right locations. It simply can not be done. Now compare that to an aftermarket system. You can lay the whole thing out in 5 minutes without a problem.

About the setup issue. I would actually say that the reason many aftermarket systems do NOT sound good is due to improper setup/installation.

Now, you must understand that I DO like the current bose systems, BUT you have to remember that the Bose engineers put in HUNDREDS of hours designing the system for each vehicle model. Now the problem is that even with all this engineering they still only come out with a system that sounds "decent" at best. Now take that $1k~2k(cost of bose package on new car) and put it towards research of aftermarket products and installation testing, and then finally purchasing the products and you will come out with an AWESOME system.

This is one of the places where I find fault in the Bose system. Basically, for the cost you are not getting the equivolent sound quality that you could with an aftermarket system. The second problem I have is that Bose has greatly REDUCED their research and development spendings and reallocated it to marketing. I give you this task, read through a bose advertisement. Then re-read it. Notice that 75%+ of the ad is subjective(opinion) rather then objective(fact/stats). Then also notice their usage of copyrighted words such as "sound everywhere"(bipole/usage of 1st and 2nd reflections to add "fullness" to the sound), "Acoustic Wave"(no idea), and then finally "Bose sound"(um... what the hell does that mean?). What they did was took existing patents and slightly(if at all?) reworked them and repatented it under a different, more sophisticated sounding, name.

Tell me, how can you describe something as "bose sound"? That's like being asked to define a word, and then using the word in the definition!

Anyways, I do not recommend that anyone "upgrade" to the bose system in their car.

Oh yeah, check out ALL of Bose's home speakers once. The LARGEST driver that i've seen them use is 5.5in, and that's in their "Bass module"! In their speakers they use 2.5in full range drivers. If you've read any of my old posts you'll understand that it is physically impossible to cover the entire frequency range with a single driver

[NISTECH]

I never said it was easy. certainly not a 5 min layout. I am not reffering to a "BASE" system either as they do have other instruments in good music and do not use synthesised base. If you are listeing to snoop doggy nasty mcfly instrumentally deficent music, I whole heartedly agree you will not get out of the bose what you want. The mids and highs are not important in that crap.

[Adolphusandy]

You wouldnt happen to know the cost of the Harness? I assume I would have to get it from the dealer. If you have any suggestions, I would welcome it

[NISTECH]

If you go with a factory bose it will NOT be cheap. The radio harness is incorperated into the vehicles multiple harnesses. It is in the main harness under the dash, in the body harness that runs the length of the car, in the engine room harness that runs along the outsides of the engine bay[not the EFI harness] The main harness is probably in the 700 to 800 dollar range, engine room harness probably the same, and the body harness is probably in the 400 to 500 dollar range. Not to mention you would have to essentially gut the entire car to install it. The system itself with all the speakers is probably in the 2000 to 3000 dollar range. You sure you want to go that route? You would be better off trying to salvage all you need from a totalled car and replace any single component that might be damaged from the accedent or that was exposed to weather at the yard.

[AltiNate]

Infinity speakersPioneer CD playermaybe better wires / grounding wires

end of story - (unless you're one of those people who NEEDS an amp)

[PoorManQ45]

maybe better wires / grounding wires

About this, I recommend upgrading the wires from the HU to the front doors, but to get into the doors you can use the existing Bose wires.

(unless you're one of those people who NEEDS an amp)

Well, an amp will increase the sound quality a LOT.

Infinity speakersPioneer CD player

Agreed on the speakers, but for the HU I'd go with Alpine

[truck7575]

I think that the Bose system is overrated. It doesnt sound that good. The bose speakers are o.k. but the sound quality from the head unit isnt worth your time. I have upgraded to a alpine CDA-9855 head unit and Alpine Amp. The sound quality blows the Bose system out of the water. The Bose speakers still remain but i am planning to replace them too eventually. good luck with whatever you do.

[PoorManQ45]

ERg... You should have changed the speakers.

That will give you the biggest difference in sound quality.

Changing the HU will change the sound a little, but not nearly as much as the speakers.

What you did is the equivolent of putting a ferrari(HU) on four donuts(speakers)