Here's what I think is a reasonable comparison.
The Levinson in the LS Lexus is the best I personally have heard.

But that brings up an important point.....
You could install the Levinson in a Kia and it wouldn't sound as good. There's something to be said about the Hall that the concert is played in........

Our Bose is a fine system.
Doesn't mean that you will like it.
There is a direct correlation between Acne and Bass. The more of one the more of the other.
Realism will come later in life to most of us.

The Top Audio Systems in Six Luxury Cars Tested and Ranked -- Edmunds.com

 

man, I hope your drawing a correlation between Bose and musical accuracy.

I've had aftermarket subs and audio systems in my car for the last 30 years and no acne

 

It's just hard to get too excited about the Bose system when Bose is all about marketing and they put paper cones in their "premium" system. I've taken out my middle dash speaker and added a sub so it sounds much better. I'm switching out the tweeters soon as well.

 

I would think it would be a negative correlation. I mean, if your bass is popping your pimples, then you know you've done it right.

 

What was your thinking in removing the middle dash speaker? I thought about doing that if I replaced the Bose amp with an after market amp which wouldn't have a separate output for that speaker. But, it seems that activating the "Drivers Sound Stage" shuts off (or reduces) the center speaker. It makes sense to me that Drivers Sound stage sounds better, because it diverts the signal from a single speaker to the mid and tweeter on the left and right sides for a definitely more clear sound.

Anyway, how do you like your results? Everything I have read says that adding a sub is a great improvement to the Bose system. I'm adding a 10" Kicker in a custom box, with remote bass control, this weekend.

 

I was originally replacing the Bose center speaker with a better quality speaker. It's embarrassing the "quality" of the Bose paper speaker. But I drove around a few days without the center speaker and enjoyed the more natural dispersion of the sound. There was a clear L/R balance that was missing with the center speaker. I have no issues using Bluetooth for phone calls or hearing the navigation voice. I like it so much that I returned my speaker replacement.

I've played with the Driver's Sound Stage but found it very gimmiky and felt that it processed the music too much.

There is no doubt in my mind that the single best improvement to the Bose system is adding a real sub. I love mine.

 

Au contraire, many (at least the one I used does) processors have center inputs and outputs. I simply added (yet) another amplifier to run that single speaker. Just don't ask me if it really does anything

 

so the Bose system has 4 10 inch subs?