I just spent a bundle on all new speakers, amps and peripheral equipment to make my stereo better. While the system sounds awesome when played loud, there is a loud hissing noise that you can hear over the music, and this hissing is present even when the stereo is off.

The shop that installed the system claims that this is an issue with the Bose head unit (confirmed by a few other sources). Apparently it emits a signal the it's native amps and speakers are equipped to handle. However, high end amps (I got 2 JLs) pick up this signal and it comes through as hiss. Also, the right rear tweeter makes this chittering noise. The shop also claims that is coming from the head unit. It should be noted that I did get a component (JC6?) that acts as an equalizer, which is supposed to take the place of the Bose componentry.

Again, the system sounds great at high volumes, but overall I'm pretty disappointed that after spending so much money, it doesn't sound perfect. If you are looking to upgrade your Bose, just make sure you ask a lot of questions and the shop knows what they're doing.

 

Sorry, meant to say that the loud hissing is very audible when the music is played low.

 

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, is there a way around it without replacing the head unit?

 

I dont have a b7 but i know a fair share of car audio and what they are saying is very plausable. and is most likley the problem you are having. only thin off the top of my head to maybe cut some of it out, is a ground loop isolator but im not wokring on the car so i dont know the exact symptoms.

 

Thing with Bose is that almost everything they do is proprietary...which explains why the signal doesn't work well with other equipment.

IMO, the bose equip is desinged to mask or compensate for it's own shortcomings and cheap quality.

 

eh damn, I was going to replace the boses with jbls i guess that scratches my hopes of a better sound system off.... is there any way to replace the head unit?

 

Do you hear the hiss/hum when you listen to the radio and the car is not running? If you only hear it when the car is running then you can fix that. I would suggest going to a better audio sound solution shop in the future...

Shawn

 

thats why when you change your sound system you change everything. My rear deck speakers blew, so i decided to upgrade everything.
I have the pioneer avic z2 installed in the dash, apline type R speakers all around, JL Amps and a JL 12" W7 in the trunk..
haha the pioneer avic lets you set up the sound to whatever you want to listen to. Classical, rock, rap, house or electro.
sofar im happy with it, Plus the pioneer navigation is amazing with built in bluetooth support for my cell phone

 

The hiss is there all the time, even when the car is off, and even when the stereo is off.

I thought about replacing the entire head unit but I love the way the dashboard looks and would hate to mess that up. I also have the integrated XM enabled. Does your Pioneer unit fit into the old unit's space flush or does it stick out from the dash? Do you have a picture of it you could post?

 

i know JL makes a clean sweep that would allow you tokeep your stock look but i'am not a 100% sure if that would fix the hissing