Bose RSES Questions and Speaker Locations

BladeZ

Member
:
Mazda CX-9 GT AWD
Hi, I just got my CX-9 last weekend, with the following options:

CX-9 GT AWD
Bose RSES
Roof Rack
Sirius
Homelink

I was wondering if anyone with the 10 (or 11) Premium Sound can tell me the locations of all the speakers? Mazda website shows the following:

277 WATT 10-SPEAKER BOSE CENTERPOINT SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM W/AUDIOPILOT

or

296 WATT 11-SPEAKER BOSE CENTERPOINT 5.1 SURROUND SOUND, AUDIOPILOT &AUX AUDIO/VIDEO INPUT

Now, I counted and I see one speaker in each door (4) plus three in the front deck (3 (L,R,C)) plus the sub in the trunk (1). What am I missing? Do any of these locations have 2 speakers behind the grill? Do I not have the system I paid for?

Another thing about the audio is that the 11 point system with RSES is really "two" systems. Audio/Video/MP3 played from the RSES and "everything else" meaning FM/AM/SAT/AUX. Anything played through the RSES uses all the speakers and 5.1 surround. Using the standard head unit, you only get maybe 4 speakers total. I'm not even sure the sub is even firing in this situation. The manual does mention this, but still seems odd.

One final point, and I really need confirmation on this one. The website mentions that both of these systems include MP3 functionality. My car does not have the MP3 logo nor will it play MP3's. The dealer is checking with Mazda corporate to see why it's advertised this way. According to him, there are NO BOSE systems that can play MP3's. It's either high end Bose w/o MP3 or get the basic system and play MP3's. I went through this already with my Mazda3, and I hope Mazda figured this all out before I dropped 35 large on my CX9.

Other than my audio/video complaints, car rides awesome (especially on 20's!)and we're happy. Will post pics soon!
 
I don't know if this makes a difference.

I have a
CX-9 GT AWD
Navigation
Moonroof/Bose Package.

My system shows a MP3/WMA logo (cd & Logo location behind nav screen).

Mp3 works well. If all the MP3 tags are there it shows on the nav screen.

Artist
Album title
name of song
Name of folder w/File name


BladeZ said:
Hi, I just got my CX-9 last weekend, with the following options:

CX-9 GT AWD
Bose RSES
Roof Rack
Sirius
Homelink

I was wondering if anyone with the 10 (or 11) Premium Sound can tell me the locations of all the speakers? Mazda website shows the following:

277 WATT 10-SPEAKER BOSE CENTERPOINT SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM W/AUDIOPILOT

or

296 WATT 11-SPEAKER BOSE CENTERPOINT 5.1 SURROUND SOUND, AUDIOPILOT &AUX AUDIO/VIDEO INPUT

Now, I counted and I see one speaker in each door (4) plus three in the front deck (3 (L,R,C)) plus the sub in the trunk (1). What am I missing? Do any of these locations have 2 speakers behind the grill? Do I not have the system I paid for?

Another thing about the audio is that the 11 point system with RSES is really "two" systems. Audio/Video/MP3 played from the RSES and "everything else" meaning FM/AM/SAT/AUX. Anything played through the RSES uses all the speakers and 5.1 surround. Using the standard head unit, you only get maybe 4 speakers total. I'm not even sure the sub is even firing in this situation. The manual does mention this, but still seems odd.

One final point, and I really need confirmation on this one. The website mentions that both of these systems include MP3 functionality. My car does not have the MP3 logo nor will it play MP3's. The dealer is checking with Mazda corporate to see why it's advertised this way. According to him, there are NO BOSE systems that can play MP3's. It's either high end Bose w/o MP3 or get the basic system and play MP3's. I went through this already with my Mazda3, and I hope Mazda figured this all out before I dropped 35 large on my CX9.

Other than my audio/video complaints, car rides awesome (especially on 20's!)and we're happy. Will post pics soon!
 
BladeZ said:
Hi, I just got my CX-9 last weekend, with the following options:

CX-9 GT AWD
Bose RSES
Roof Rack
Sirius
Homelink

I was wondering if anyone with the 10 (or 11) Premium Sound can tell me the locations of all the speakers? Mazda website shows the following:

277 WATT 10-SPEAKER BOSE CENTERPOINT SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM W/AUDIOPILOT

or

296 WATT 11-SPEAKER BOSE CENTERPOINT 5.1 SURROUND SOUND, AUDIOPILOT &AUX AUDIO/VIDEO INPUT

Now, I counted and I see one speaker in each door (4) plus three in the front deck (3 (L,R,C)) plus the sub in the trunk (1). What am I missing? Do any of these locations have 2 speakers behind the grill? Do I not have the system I paid for?

Another thing about the audio is that the 11 point system with RSES is really "two" systems. Audio/Video/MP3 played from the RSES and "everything else" meaning FM/AM/SAT/AUX. Anything played through the RSES uses all the speakers and 5.1 surround. Using the standard head unit, you only get maybe 4 speakers total. I'm not even sure the sub is even firing in this situation. The manual does mention this, but still seems odd.

One final point, and I really need confirmation on this one. The website mentions that both of these systems include MP3 functionality. My car does not have the MP3 logo nor will it play MP3's. The dealer is checking with Mazda corporate to see why it's advertised this way. According to him, there are NO BOSE systems that can play MP3's. It's either high end Bose w/o MP3 or get the basic system and play MP3's. I went through this already with my Mazda3, and I hope Mazda figured this all out before I dropped 35 large on my CX9.

Other than my audio/video complaints, car rides awesome (especially on 20's!)and we're happy. Will post pics soon!

Speaker in each D pillar......
 
I'll check the D-Pillar's, I didn't notice if there was anything there.

And yes, I should mention that the MP3 issue is for non-nav systems. The nav inherently plays MP3's as it is a totally different unit.
 
BladeZ said:
...According to him, there are NO BOSE systems that can play MP3's. It's either high end Bose w/o MP3 or get the basic system and play MP3's. I went through this already with my Mazda3, and I hope Mazda figured this all out before I dropped 35 large on my CX9.

Convince your dealer with these pics: (CX9-AWD-NAV-RES)
DSC_0002.JPG
DSC_0007.JPG
DSC_0036.JPG
DSC_9979.JPG
 
Last edited:
njerald said:
Don't you understand you are in Canada and it might be different there??????????

Sorry to hear these more than annoying model differences... I made it VERY CLEAR to my dealer: my car MUST HAVE MP3 playback functionality. BTW I have tested two CX-9s, equipped with the same BOSE audio system (MP3 inculed), so relaxed a bit.

After I studied all threads on this site about the MP3 feature availability issues, I brought my CDs (audio text and MP3 tags added) with me for the testdrive.

Otherwise I was ready to pay the additional C$579.30 for an optional "MP3 changer"... audio.jpg but I think this is the real BS, knowing the audio system specification that comes with the luxury package.

Before I ordered my car called MAZDA Canada, and they confirmed that the car with the luxury package includes the MP3 player.
 
10 speakers....

4 in each door, 3 on the dash, 2 tweeters on the d-pillars and the subwoofer (under the floor cover behind 3rd row)

11 speakers...

same as above including an addition "center" speaker infront of the RSES screen on the ceiling.


I dont know how you have the systems setup, but when I test them I have 9 speakers going on sat, am/fm and 10 going for 5.1 centerpoint (both are including the subwoofer as a speaker)

and I can definately hear the sub going to work. In actuality, I was impressed with sound quality and power out of the cx9 system as I generally hate anything Bose related. I was impressed completely by suprise.
 
OMF said:


I need to see NON NAV premium Bose sound with MP3. If you have pics of THAT, then it would be helpful. But I am jealous of the nav display, that is nice!!

And thanks for the speaker location count, 2 centers? Why?? I am going to bring a surround test cd and make sure I can hear all channels and all speakers, maybe I just need to tweak more. I agree, I've never been satisified with a bose oem system. (or any bose for that matter)
 
BladeZ said:
One final point, and I really need confirmation on this one. The website mentions that both of these systems include MP3 functionality. My car does not have the MP3 logo nor will it play MP3's. The dealer is checking with Mazda corporate to see why it's advertised this way. According to him, there are NO BOSE systems that can play MP3's. It's either high end Bose w/o MP3 or get the basic system and play MP3's. I went through this already with my Mazda3, and I hope Mazda figured this all out before I dropped 35 large on my CX9.

Other than my audio/video complaints, car rides awesome (especially on 20's!)and we're happy. Will post pics soon!

UPDATE: My complaints to my dealer and Mazda corporate have been reflected today on the website. You can no longer build a CX9 with Bose RSES and MP3/CD or Moonroof Bose MP3/CD. Nav still plays them, obviously. I was impressed by how quickly they were able to make this change.
 
I have the GT with the Bose/Moonroof combo no nav. It will not play MP3. If you look on the upper left of the unit you will either see a MP3 emblem or not (it discusses this in the manual). I just hook up my Ipod in the center armrest and get MP3 that way, but I've already tried to play a MP3 CD, it won't work. The sound is pretty good but not quite up to my standards. The mids and bass seem a bit underpowered compared to where they need to be. I will see if I can take a picture
 
ryguy said:
I just hook up my Ipod in the center armrest and get MP3 that way, but I've already tried to play a MP3 CD, it won't work. The sound is pretty good but not quite up to my standards. The mids and bass seem a bit underpowered compared to where they need to be. I will see if I can take a picture

Are you using the headphone output jack on your iPod? If so, consider getting some kind of connection kit that uses the dock connector on your iPod. There is a HUGE difference in sound quality! Undoubtedly, there is some kind of impedance mismatch when using the headphone jack.

I got the Harman/Kardon Drive+Play and it sounds WAY better, most notably in the lower mids and bass. Just to make sure I wasn't dreaming, I went back and plugged in through the iPod headphone jack again and it was as bad as I remembered.
 
Thanks for the tip. Two seperate issues though. As mentioned in a previous thread, I do get a bit of a hiss from the IPod when it is powered up via the center console power source when playing at the same time (it is connected via the headphone jack to the media input). That goes away when it isn't powered. I find the quality through the iPod is relatively the same as with a commercial CD (at least no worse than any other comparison of compressed music vs. wav). I'm just referring to the quality of the sound wether through CD, MP3 or other.

The Bose sound is good, but not as encompassing as I would have hoped. I am satisfied with the sound especially considering it is factory, I just think that it could use a bit more power. The sub is clearly underpowered as it gets distorted as soon as you turn up the sound. And the mids seemed a bit washed out. But just my humble opinion. I don't expect perfection from a factory option.
 
Thanks for the tip. Two seperate issues though. As mentioned in a previous thread, I do get a bit of a hiss from the IPod when it is powered up via the center console power source when playing at the same time (it is connected via the headphone jack to the media input). That goes away when it isn't powered. I find the quality through the iPod is relatively the same as with a commercial CD (at least no worse than any other comparison of compressed music vs. wav). I'm just referring to the quality of the sound wether through CD, MP3 or other.

The Bose sound is good, but not as encompassing as I would have hoped. I am satisfied with the sound especially considering it is factory, I just think that it could use a bit more power. The sub is clearly underpowered as it gets distorted as soon as you turn up the sound. And the mids seemed a bit washed out. But just my humble opinion. I don't expect perfection from a factory option.
 
I'm curious about the distorted bass. I have used "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" by Bella Fleck & the Flecktones to destroy many a car audio system - most recently my friend's "high end" Mark Levinson system in his brand new Lexus.

The custom audio system in my previous vehicle (with a large sub enclosure in the back) was able to handle it pretty well. I was amazed that the Bose system in the CX-9 dealt with it very well also! While you probably can't hear the bass from a block away, it is enough to blow my pants back and forth from the driver's side door speaker, all with no low end distortion.

Are you checking the sound quality from the CD changer or from some other audio source? I have run into a number of impedence / level matching issues with the Aux In jack, so if you're using that for the source, I would check there first.
 
Hi, I just got my CX-9 last weekend, with the following options:

CX-9 GT AWD
Bose RSES
Roof Rack
Sirius
Homelink

296 WATT 11-SPEAKER BOSE CENTERPOINT 5.1 SURROUND SOUND, AUDIOPILOT &AUX AUDIO/VIDEO INPUT

Do you know if the AUX IN in the console works? I just bought a GT with the Bose RSES, and want to add the Sirius. AUX IN works now, Media button switches between RSES and AUX. I'd like to keep the AUX IN working, but add the Sirius. Does anyone know if I need the switchbox? Or do I already have the switchbox?
 
Got the switchbox installed finally last Thursday.
Big problems.
Knocked out the Sirius (no sound) and my bluetooth phone button plus the Aux in does not work!

Taking it back Monday to be redone.
Called Mazda USA to clarify how it is supposed to work. They called the dealer to clear up their understanding of how to make it work.

They better get this right tomorrow!
 
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