I’ve been a JBL fan for decades. My home speakers are a pair of Altec/Lansings (the L in JBL) made some 50 years ago and still sound amazing.
I was thrilled that my new 2026 Highlander came with JBL system.
Bose on the other hand - I’ve always considered to be all hype. Never impressed with any of their speakers (including the flagship 901s). There was an old saying among audiophiles. “No Highs or Lows it must be Bose”. I’ve voiced my opinion about Bose in this forum more then once.
With that said, my 2017 Vette came with a Bose system. My 1998 Pathfinder was the only other vehicle I ever owned that had a Bose system, but can’t do any comparison since it’s been decades since I even owned that vehicle.
Driving and listening to my audio is tough to compare how each system sounds since the road noise in the Corvette is significantly more compared to the Highlander.
However - if I just sit and listen to the audio without driving (or even turning the engine on) I was able to do a good comparison. I also had to remove my Golf clubs from the rear because each vehicle has a subwoofer back there.
The Highlanders JBL system is extremely good. I listen to a lot of Classical and instrumental Jaz. I couldn’t be happier.
I was actually extremely impressed by the Corvettes Bose system. The sound was outstanding. Violins and extreme highs were beautiful. Lacking was a little in bass - but still very very good.
While both systems were excellent, I give the Bose a slight edge over the JBL system. Could be the speakers or maybe even the electronics that set them apart. Difficult to say. The problem is I don’t listen to audio just sitting with the car off. Driving down the road - the Highlander sounded far better because of lack of road and engine noise to pollute the experience.
You’d have to spec the head units electronics and power output, or the amp power output as well as spec the speakers (overall size and magnet, power handling (RMS) and impedance (ohms), not to mention the cabin size (acoustics)…
You could swap part for part from one vehicle to the other and most likely they would sound even more different… Lots of technology can go into the design of a vehicles audio system…
Many years ago (when I was doing some pro audio builds) I had built a stereo system (back when it was all stock),I had a head unit, passive EQ, cross over, 2 amps, a pair of 6x9’s and a pair of 12" subs… I had the same system in 3 different vehicles over time… I had one size sub box for one car and a 2nd for the 2nd 2 vehicles… It sounded great, but sounded the best in my Intrepid… Even facing the speakers in one direction vs another will change the sound… I even wired it all up one time out of a vehicle in my garage and it sounded like c.r.a.p… lol
Point is, you could buy all the same parts from one vehicle that you love, and not be as impressed in the other vehicle…
Yeah, that is Bose in a nutshell! Dr. Bose insisted on flat response across the entire range when many folks wanted boosted base and treble for rock and blues - the smiley curve on the equalizer.
I had a Bose system in my 1984 Corvette with a 1985 Bose head unit swapped for the '84. The '85 head had bass and treble controls that the 84 did not. You could crank it up to 11 and it refused to distort. Impressive.
The JBL in my 2020 Toyota is good but the van is quiet rolling down the road so the music is not compromised.
It is darn tough to design a system for an automobile. Lots of compromises and opinions. The old Delco Electronics division of GM made their radios and speakers… one of their engineers told me they had different “tuning” for each car division. Both amps and speakers. Strong base for Pontiac and Chevy. Super clear voice for Buick and Oldsmobile so owners could discern voices from the AM radios. Cadillac was the best overall balance.
People have preferences. Buddy got new Mercedes with hi-end system and spent $3000 replacing speakers, amp, processor. And sub. You can always improve stuff.
I think Bose and JBL today are very different than they were in the ‘80s. Bose is still independent, but concentrating on Bluetooth speakers, home theater setups. headphones, earbuds, not so much on ‘regular’ speakers. JBL is now owned by Samsung.
If your priority is sound quality I would focus on the speaker cone and surround.
Foam surrounds are the cheapest and most quickly to degrade. Rubber surrounds are the best but while injected rubber are better, stamped rubber are the state of the art because of the material consistency.
Cone composition may vary between Paper and Plastic with your preference being the most important.
Another more significant difference may be the Crossover Network where the Low frequencies and separated from the High frequencies. Let;'s just say that the sound profile is very different between a Verdi Opera and some of today’s music.
So pick whatever you like and enjoy spend some time enjoying the shop’s demos.
That’s probably changing now since Bose bought McIntosh. McIntosh is considered one of the very best high-end audio companies EVER. How this merger will work is anyone’s guess. McIntosh has gone through several ownerships in the past few decades and the reason they’re still successful is because the parent company left them alone. Still being designed and manufactured in Binghamton NY.
Some 50+ years ago my first job as a software engineer while I was still in college was working for a sound company designing software to analyze room acoustics for large theaters and other venues. We would setup dozens of microphones all over the room which fed into A/D convertors which fed into a DEC PDP 11/34 computer. I wrote the software to analyze the signals which the sound engineers used to design the right speakers/placement and even sound absorbing material for the room. We even hired people to just sit there in the chairs because of the difference in sound 400 people vs 10 people make. It was kind of like what JBL and Bose does when they design systems for individual cars but not as sophisticated as theirs. We were working with much inferior technology.
The absolute best car audio system I’ve ever owned was the McIntosh system in my 2002 Outback Limited 3.0 VDC wagon. When McIntosh designed the system, they even demanded that Subaru install more soundproofing in that model’s chassis/body, so in addition to the superb sound, the vehicle was extremely quiet when driving with the audio off.
Personally I prefer Polk Audio speakers over Bose or JBL, but they don’t come standard in any vehicles that I know of. When I upgrade, I get the Polk Audios.
McIntosh is now being offered in limited Jeep vehicles. No idea what the option costs, but it probably won’t be cheap.
One thing I don’t like about Polk or Bose is neither one is very efficient speakers. You need significantly bigger more powerful amp to get the same sound level my home speakers. Polk has gotten better.
The most disappointing car audio was the “THX Certified” system in my 2011 MKZ. No brand listed. The bass was boosted way up, had to set it to ‘minimum’, and crank up the treble for something close to ‘flat’. Waste of money.
THX certification was being used for everything and totally useless. THX is a MOVIE THEATER certification which was developed by LucasFilms. It stood for “Tomlinson Holman’s Experiment”. Tomlinson Holman’s was a audio engineer at Lucasfilms. It was a good idea, but never really caught on. Most THX theaters are in California and very few other states even have one.
Polk, JBL and Bose are all good quality and well built speakers but designing a system for a particular car is incredibly difficult.
To begin with, a car isn’t a concert hall, designed for optimal listening but is more like a closet situated in a heavy industrial area. And the variables, size of the vehicle, noise insulation, outside noise level, speaker size and placement limitations and available electronic components can all result in in the same speakers sounding very different in different vehicles. Then there’s the individual’s audio acuity, while hearing in the 20-20,000 Hz range is “standard”, a particular individual’s hearing will vary.
A solution may be to add an equalizer that allows you to tune the sound to your particular vehicle and hearing.
