if you go with the bitone, def consider going fully active to take advantage of the full potential of that system.

going 'active' (As apposed to passive) means you'll have a separate amplification channel for each speaker (one for each tweeter and woofer in the front, and one for you sub... you can skip the rear speakers or just run those passively)

 

No, mine doesn't!

 

unless you go crazy with car-audio, upgrade everything, stock Bose is the best one I've ever experienced. Kindda goes along with Harman-Kardon, Nakamichi, and etc....

 

i don't believe you have to upgrade everything. i'm keeping the head unit stock since it's integrated so heavily into the car. you just need to do it correctly (signal processing) and then you'll get improved sound over the stock setup.

 

What speakers / components are you replacing the bose ones with?

 

i have some seas 7" mids, i'm either going with my large format dynaudio tweeter if i can get them to fit; if not, i'm ging to go with some vifa tweeters. For amps i'm going to use a pair of butler hybrid tube amps for the mids and tweets and a zapco solid state amp for the sub. The sub will be a tc-sounds tc9 - 12" sub. it has been the best sub that i've ever heard for what i like.

I'm going to go with all raw drivers and amping each speaker seperately in order to take full advantage of the bitone's processing/time alignment/eq'ing capabilities. Also, wattage is dirt cheap now aday. and you can also save a ton of money using raw drivers over premade component systems. seas woofers are pretty impressive and for under $80/ea they are a steal. you'd have to spend many times that to get close to the sq that these things deliver

 

Does anyone have an installer they can recommend in NYC for speaker/amp upgrade?

 

Not that it is great or better in other area's, but the stock system actually has better tonal balance. Bose counts on the fact that most listeners assume that more bass thump and more treble sizzle must mean it is better.
The Bose systems bottom end sounds like a kick drum thump is always added to the sound whether it is actually there or not. Below this frequency there is no deep bass and above it there is a thinness that give a very poor transistion to the midrange leaving a hole in the sound with a lack of natural warmth. The treble is a bit spitty almost like interstation FM noise has been mixed in. If you can't get the basic's right like smooth frequency response and freedom from resonance you are in trouble, and then other sonic qualities like worrying about the soundstage for example, become some what moot in my opinion. For $1400 this system should be a lot better than it is.

 

Until you take a person into a car with a proper audio system, they have really no idea what they are missing. The 2008 GTS has an ok system for being stock. The biggest negative is the low frequency output in the rear subwoofer. If you listen to bass heavy music, its horrendous. I kept the stock system and just added a JL stealth box, and a new amp to run with the stock deck. Added Nav-tv stuff for Sirius, Bluetooth, Ipod, and to connect a dvd-changer for use of the AV button. Eventually, I'll replace all speakers....but I'm content for the time being.