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For most
individuals music is a very person thing. There are hundreds of
different genres ranging from Bach and Mozart to Alan Jackson and Fifty Cent.
Even more personal than the style of music we enjoy is the method t hat
we chose to reproduce it. For the majority of people a cars stereo
system is a give and take proposition; the manufacturers give us
what in essence is a system designed around components from the lowest
bidder and we take it. For the most part these system, which the
dealers charge and astronomical premium for, in most cases don't sound
any better than a $100 Boom-box. Don't get me wrong, there are a few
manufacturers who have gone out of their way to build-in exceptional
sounding systems in their cars, however as stated before, music and its
reproduction is a very personal thing, and these OEM system, no matter
what the quality leave little if any room for modification, not to
mention upgrade. Enter the 2003, 2004 Infiniti M45, an exceptional car
in many ways, but the audio system like many mid-level luxury sedans
leaves little for an audiophile to desire.
The M45's base
and only audio system (2003 and 2004 model years) was designed by famed
audio research house and manufacture Bose. It is comprised of six
speakers and a subwoofer. Like most when I read the spec sheets and saw
that this car came with a 10-inch subwoofer I thought wow!!
 But
my first audition soon lead to disappointment when I discovered the
truth. This so-call premium stereo system, when put to the test with a
variety of Contemporary Jazz, Pop and Classical music at low volumes
sound pretty descent, but start cutting the volume up and its short
comings became apparent. As a audiophile and audio hobbyist it didn't
take me long to make the decision to upgrade, however the design of the
factory system and integration of other electronics would prove to be a
big challenge. As a former Car Audio Shop manager and installer, my
first choice for installer was easy... myself. But the reality was that
I had been out of the industry for almost 10 years and the electronic
systems in the Infiniti were much more sophisticated than any cars I did
installations in back in the day. Below I chronicle my efforts to get a
world class, if not Reference system into my own "M", and hope this
information proves not only entertaining, but useful to others out
there, regardless of whether you drive an Infiniti or not.
UPDATED: May 2006
By now, Version 2.0 of
the Audio system is completed, following some issues with a blown
amplifier in the original system the replacement by the manufacturer of
the equipment under warranty brought on the necessity to do a complete
redo of the install.
See the original M45
Installation step-by-step here.
The first system in
the Infiniti M45 audio
system was 98% complete, however when the original Subwoofer amplififer
blew, and the manufacturer sent me a different model replacement amp it
was necessary to redesign the whole system. Find out what steps were
taken during this upgrade.
Information on
Version 2.0. Here.
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