Hi guys, I just purchased a 04 Rx-8 (Touring Ed. which includes the Bose Audio packag). at the beginning of Sept and have been reading the board since.

Checking out the Audio forum made me realize my RX-8 does not have the Bose head unit because when i push Options i get ALC, treble, mid, and high which are suppose to be on the Standard Head unit. No AudioPLT option anywhere, I assume the speakers are Bose because they have the little bose logo on them, and the amp says Bose also... Im figureing it was just a head unit mixup... I called Mazda NA before i called the Dealer.. Just to verify im not insane and really had the Bose head unit. Well they told me to take it to the Dealer, which i am doing tommarow.


Reading the posts people seem to prefer the Basic Stereo to the Bose Stereo... Now im confusing which one to keep... I havnt heard both to compare and if the Bose head unit sucks i dont want to go from Good to Worse... The bose is 200 more watts then the Basic Stereo Right?


Any advice would be great >_< I only have til tommarow lunch time before i head up there :confused:

I have the bose
I would ask for bose if you paid for it

I have the BOSE audio, I like it, bass could be better though, as far as the deck I believe they all have the same head unit with all the same buttons, except certain options might not be included, for a while I thought I had the six disc, but I dont, you should have a button for MiniDisc even if you dont have the MiniDisc option, but nowhere on the head unit does it say Bose, just on the tweeters

If all of them use the same Head unit, Why does my Car give me Standard Options, and not the Bose Stereo options?

On page 6-19 of the RX-8 manual they kind of make it out like Standard and BOSE are 2 Different stereo Decks.

They are two different decks, the ALC is for the base stereo, BOSE should have autopilot.

Ok so they are 2 different Decks...


Now the question is will the bose sound better then what I have :D


I guess ill find out tommarow if they have a bose deck in the shop and swap it same day.

If all of them use the same Head unit, Why does my Car give me Standard Options, and not the Bose Stereo options?

On page 6-19 of the RX-8 manual they kind of make it out like Standard and BOSE are 2 Different stereo Decks.
The internals of the radio's are different (non Bose - internal amps) If your HU is non Bose, at full volume it should try to over drive the speakers as you are injecting a high level audio signal into a amp that needs a low level signal. This is not the first time I have heard of a non Bose HU in a Bose system, most dont complain because you can gain more bass injecting the higher sound level.

So what you see on the screen is different, but the face plates are identical, please correct me if im wrong, if im wrong, thats one more thing I need to bring up, I do however have the AudioPilot option

Hmm... So by the car having the standard deck with the Internal Amp, and the amp in the trunk... uh do i have 2 now or what ? Is it just redundant? Im all for more bass.

I dont like losing the MID option on the stereo deck, It just seems wrong to not have it on the Bose Deck.

Right now it sounds fine to me, It does what i want it to do, By taking it up there and swapping decks (in theory) i am expecting better sound, clarity and bass ( in theory) and by not reaching that I would be pissed.

In reality I know thats unlikely to happen.


Any Suggestions?

The internal amp is just a few IC's.

Im not sure the sound "quality" will increase and the sound output for sure will not.
I don't know the long term effect of inputting high level sound into Bose amp (ie. damaged amp or HU).
Again the HU's are the same - made by the same company, same everything but non-Bose has internal amp IC's to drive sound 12w per channel (4).

Also the BOSE door subs make your door handle rattle

Well hell.. made by the same company.

What is the REAL difference between Head unit Standard.. and head unit Bose?

ALC and AudioPLT are the same thing just different wording.

No power difference, prolly little to 0 sound difference.


Meh...

Also the BOSE door subs make your door handle rattle

Not only your door handle but your whole door. I wonder why they didn't do anything about this during the testing phase like put some sort of cheap dampner similar to dynamat in the doors. Unless they didn't turn on any music with decent bass. It is so annoying. I'd complain to the dealer but I think I'd get laughed at. I can't get the volume above 9 without it making noise.

And I think the Bose system is missing mids but has decent plenty of highs and lows. Like you said, there are subs (ok ones) in the door.

AudioPilot (in the Bose system) has a mic which samples cabin noise levels and adjusts the volume. ALC getins input from somewhere else and just guesses what the volume of the stereo at speed should be.

At least, that's what i got from reading the schematics. The bose headunit drawings all show a mic in them.

i would keep what you have.

i would keep what you have.

I would too. Audiopilot sucks donkey balls.