[Tattedlikethat]

I own a sedan and I would call this system well above average. Even good, for a Bose setup.

If you go through different Honda forums, you will notice that Sedan owners are usually more satisfied with the Bose system than Hatchback owners. It has the same speakers/amp, but the sub is in a different spot and is in an enclosure for the hatch. Whereas the sedan has an infinite baffle sub setup.

I have replaced every single car audio system I owned. I don't see the need for this one. It sounds good. Bass is good too (sedan). It is tuned accurately so if the recording has bass you will hear it and feel it. If you want to hear and feel bass on every song regardless of the artist's preference, then it will not do.

I did do one thing that helped with the mid-bass. I dampened all four doors and placed some "egg crate" closed-cell foam on the inside of the door. It costs about $150 in materials and a Sunday afternoon to complete. This gave a noticeable bump in the 80-500hz, which I like. It's also way quieter in the car.

I went ahead and installed my own aftermarket subs. It wasn’t to awful hard. Time consuming. But most definitely worth it.

 

[Tattedlikethat]

Also love the fact I can jam and you barely hear it outside. The noise canceling part is a win 🎯

 

[earthling_david]

I own a sedan and I would call this system well above average. Even good, for a Bose setup.

If you go through different Honda forums, you will notice that Sedan owners are usually more satisfied with the Bose system than Hatchback owners. It has the same speakers/amp, but the sub is in a different spot and is in an enclosure for the hatch. Whereas the sedan has an infinite baffle sub setup.

I have replaced every single car audio system I owned. I don't see the need for this one. It sounds good. Bass is good too (sedan). It is tuned accurately so if the recording has bass you will hear it and feel it. If you want to hear and feel bass on every song regardless of the artist's preference, then it will not do.

I did do one thing that helped with the mid-bass. I dampened all four doors and placed some "egg crate" closed-cell foam on the inside of the door. It costs about $150 in materials and a Sunday afternoon to complete. This gave a noticeable bump in the 80-500hz, which I like. It's also way quieter in the car.

Thank you. I do plan to get the hatchback. I don't need huge amounts of bass. I just want good balanced sound with clear highs, lows and mids.

 

[Tattedlikethat]

Thank you. I do plan to get the hatchback. I don't need huge amounts of bass. I just want good balanced sound with clear highs, lows and mids.

The system delivers that. OEM is decent for once!

 

[25UGP]

Just bought a '25 Urban Gray Sport Touring hatchback. To say the Bose is a letdown is a major understatement. Unfortunately I cannot find any information out there yet on the new models for factory amp location so I can start to plan the upgrades. I can say that it is disappointing being limited by the lack of alternator. Going to have to focus on a smaller amp and definitely adding an isolated Lithium to power it.

 

[earthling_david]

Thanks!

One of these days I'll go to a Honda dealer and ask to listen to it.

So I finally listened to the Bose system in a Hybrid ST hatchback today. It sounds pretty good. It's worlds better than any Bose system I have ever heard before. It does seem to be missing a little bit of high frequency detail, but to my ears it sounds good everywhere else. It sounds good enough so it's not a deal breaker.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful responses.

 

[earthling_david]

It will still be tough to judge even if you go to a dealer. The system in a brand new car isn't broken in. Mine sounded much better after about 20-30 hours of music. I would tell you that to me it doesn't sound like a typical Bose system. Which to me is a more balanced sound, kinda soft. If dialed in properly it has decent bass, and I like a good amount of bass If you are using your phone for music do not use any eq settings, just adjust it through the head unit. Start at a flat setting then experiment with ALL the settings. Is it Bowers & Wilkins, Marc Levinson, Bang & Olufsen or Bermester , no, but this isn't an Audi, Mercedes or Volvo.

I finally test drove a Sport Touring Hybrid hatchback, and spent extra time after driving it to play some of my favorite songs on the Bose system, using a wired connection to make sure there was no chance of data compression over a wireless connection. It actually sounded very good to me. I would have no complaints about the sound system if I were to buy the car. Somehow Bose has made a system that doesn't sound anything at all like a traditional Bose system.

However I probably won't buy the car for the reason that they really dumbed down the suspension tuning and sucked all fun out of driving it. I was expecting it to be like a more powerful version of our 2019 Insight, which is a fun, tossable car in corners. The new car just feels like dead weight on even a slightly curvy road.

 

[gregwolley]

I have the ELS system in my Acura TSX, 11 speakers, and like it very much. Does the Bose system compare at all, or just pale in comparison?