Bose...ad nauseum....as if you needed any more....

[Roger M. Woodbury]

I thought I would add my two cents worth to the current spate of Bose posts.

Let me begin by saying that my opinion of Bose systems, be they in a car or
sitting on the shelf, is that they are a mastery of overstated advertising
hoke.

Now, having two Audis each with a Bose system, here is my experience.

In the V8, the Bose system has never been worth anything.  That car was a
'93, which I bought in '01 with around 60,000 miles.  The rear speakers were
prone to popping and shrieking from fairly early after I bought it, and I
finally disconnected them, knowing that they had the familiar Bose Terminal
Rear speaker Croup.  After disconnected, I noted that the front right
speaker didn't work either.  AudiUSA tells me that although my '93 is
outside of the recall, they will evaluate it on a "car by car" basis, if I
take it to the dealer.

The '94 100CS Avant came to me last year as well.  It had 39,000 original
miles, and the Bose system worked quite well, actually.  All except for the
volume/on/off knob on the head.  That worked intermittantly, and usually
required a bit of frigging with in order to turn on, and/or to adjust
volume.  Finally, it absolutely died while the car was with us in Florida
last Thanksgiving.  We took it to a radio shop, and yanked the head unit,
replacing the head with a Nakamichi head unit, and while doing that, since
the right front speaker was dead/dying, we replaced both front speakers with
new ones of some sort...recommended by the shop.

So, where I am right now with the radios in each car:

The '93 has lost its code, since it is not being driven, the battery has
lost it oooomph, and subsequently, the radio has forgotten its code.  Right
now, I am planning on taking the car to the dealer next month, to evaluate
the rear speakers....if Audi will fix them, then I will replace the right
front speaker, IF it is relatively inexpensive, and the car will be
"Bose-perfect" again.

The '94 needs some help.  The rear Bose speakers work perfectly and so also
do the fronts.  The problem is that they are not completely in balance, so
one either has a disproportionate amount of rear or front speakers.  The
Nakamichi head unit works exceptionally well, except that it is an ergonomic
nightmare.  The plan for this car is to install a new amplifier and fader
switch for the front speakers...maybe only a fader switch will be needed
actually.  In addition, there will be a crossover installed at about 15k, I
would imagine.  Then the Bose speakers will be bass woofers, and for the
most part, nondirectional, and the fronts will be above 15 only.
The result will be symphonic music the way it is really heard, instead of
from the center of the picolo section.

Then, I will finally send the original Audi Bose headunit from the '94 away
to have a new volume knob installed, and sell it on eBay or someplace.  Good
head unit, in my estimation.

In 1985, I was suddently beset by the "New Car Sickness", and insisted on
trading my wife's Mazda RX7 (which she LOVED), for a brandy-new, Audi 5000S
Avant.  There were two drawbacks to the '85 Audi 5000 CS.  One was the
heater/ac controller that did not allow for any interference in what it
thougt the proper fan speed should be, and the radio which just didn't do an
awful lot.

While my wife was away, I took the car to a radio shop and they yanked the
speakers, and installed new ones up front, and pretty big...eight inch, I
think....woofers in the rear doors, with cross-overs and new amps.  The
result was that with the rear hatch opened, and Barbra Streisand screaming
"Somewhere", the trim on the hood of the car in back of you at a traffic
light would start to vibrate, and the mild in the Seven-eleven at that
intersection would curdle.....

Anyway, although she loved the reworked audio system, she purely hated the
car, and in 1987, in another fever of foolishness, she got a new 944
instead....

I suspect that the radio wasn't enough to begin with, and that is why we
went separate ways a couple of years later....she with the 944, and me with
most of my sanity.

At anyrate, my opinion through all of this is tha the most perfect audio
system is any head unit that fits the dash and looks like it belongs,
coupled with speakers, amplifiers with cross-overs that work in the car, and
that are purchased after market, and don't have a designer lable, is best.