09 Murano SL Bose.....help with switching out speakers

[spastic]

I'm interested in upgrading the three speakers on the dash of my 09 Murano. I got the service manual and the center speaker has no description other than 'center speaker' while the speakers adjacent to the windshield are referred to as 'squawkers' which means, midrange. Anyway, anyone experiment with changing out these speakers? Where the heck are the tweeters (handled by squawker I guess). I'm after a bit more of a warmer, fuller sound and I don't care for what these sound like. The speakers on the door sound to me like lower midrange/bass. Not too much sound comes out of them so I think I'll just leave 'em alone. I'm trying to figure out what kind of speakers I need to be using and their ohm rating.

[coastal6.0]

ur not going to get a warmer sound out of anything that small. 3" from what i remember reading in a recent car audio article. all three dash speakers are the same size if that helps. actually check out car audio and electronics november 2008, there is a write-up on factory upgrade options on a 2009 murano w/ bose.

[spastic]

I got the service manual and the three speakers are described as midrange-high frequency drivers. The lower frequencies in front is handled by the door speakers. I think you're probably right about switching out speakers.....I'll try to locate the article you mention and maybe consider LPAD adjustments. I hate these tricked up integrated sound systems and they seem more and more common these days in new cars.

[spastic]

After taking a further look at this it appears I've misjudged the quality of the soundsystem. Problem is that I listen to AM radio alot.....especially the local sports talk shows. And XM radio. And found that the Bose designers, in their infinite wisdom, decided to pretty much lop off the bottom end which makes voices sound higher than normal.

I suppose they think AM sound is bad and this makes it sound better. Well, it doesn't....to me anyway. Looks to me that they heavily equalized the AM band and I don't care for it. But FM and CDs sound pretty good. There maybe a bit too much siblance in the very high frequencies but that's nit picking.

So I think I'll leave all this alone.....I'm getting OK results from nulling treble as much as I can and pushing the fade to the back speakers when I listen to AM. BTW, XM also doesn't sound real good either to me but that might just be XM. I find on both XM and AM radio, high female voices 'screech' way too much and that hurts my ears.

[alhscw]

I'm also less than satisfied with the sound from my 2009 Murano's Bose sound system. I find it's all tweeters and subs - no midrange. Like you, I also find it "best" (but not great) to set the fade back to rear a couple of notches and the treble between 3 notches under center to completely off - depending of the song. I still find there's too much treble and this tends to drive my max volume setting based on how much screeching tweeter/treble my ears can handle. I was going to mention this at my first service in about 1000 miles to see if there were any adjustments possible to improve the midrange and decrease treble from the head unit. I'm also considering new speakers, but I'm not sure how much that will accomplish if the problem is with the mix/signal being sent to the speaker. BTW I usually listen to XM or iPod.

[alhscw]

I went through a process of checking sound levels from the various speakers, methodically changing the balance/fade settings to see what was coming from all the speakers. It looks like the two front door speakers aren't doing their job. With everything in the center (bass, treble, balance & fade), all I get is a muddy, garbled sound with considerably less volume then any other speaker. What does come through is mostly bass. With center settings, I would expect the front door speakers to be pretty close to the back door speakers. They don't contribute to much of anything with the low volume garble being produced right now. Loosing half my mid-range speakers like this would go along way in explaining the sound problems I'm experiencing.

I also decided to explore if there was variance in the sound mix based on source. So I grabbed Heart's "Little Queen" cd - I already had this in the iPod - and played it from CD, iPod as well as a "recording" from the hard drive based music box. My average ears couldn't really hear much difference between any of these formats. At least the Bose system doesn't seem to be doing anything funny to the mix based on source.

I'm about 1000 miles from my first service and will raise this issue with them then. I'll be sure to update this post after it gets fixed (optimist!).

[spastic]

Yep, I hear ya. As I said I DL'd the service manual and the three speakers on the dash are described as mid-high frequency. And, as you said, not much sound coming from the doors. Perhaps there is, in fact, something wrong. That's a whole lot of high frequency stuff coming out right in front of your face. And on XM, where the sound quality is not great to start with there seems to be a preponderance of bass and/or highs, depending on the channel. I too will mention this when I see service next....and if no solution there, make some changes to the sound system. Like bypassing the Bose amp, replacing it with maybe an Alpine and then connect a sound processor (like Audio Control) between the amp and speakers which will allow you to shape the sound.

[coastal6.0]

it's not so much that the front door spks aren't doing their job correctly, it's the fact that they are crossed over really low in the factory bose amp.it's all in the name of imaging, so the sound doesn't get pulled down to your feet. that's why you hear more sound information coming from the back doors than the front. front seat passeners get great imaging and rear seats get good stereo sound. bose did great research in finding correct locations on the high/mid range spks to get the best possible soundstage. well, at least for most people. all equalization and processing takes place in the bose amp. you could probably get away with swapping outputs on the factory amp between front and rear doors to get a broader frequency range in the front doors, but if you turn on the processing features in the radio( some bose radios give the option of left front, right front, all seats, kind of like surround sound settings) somethings might sound funny. if you leave everthing set to normal/centered except bass/mid/treble you probably won't have any issues. good luck and keep us posted.

[spastic]

it's not so much that the front door spks aren't doing their job correctly, it's the fact that they are crossed over really low in the factory bose amp.it's all in the name of imaging, so the sound doesn't get pulled down to your feet. that's why you hear more sound information coming from the back doors than the front. front seat passeners get great imaging and rear seats get good stereo sound. bose did great research in finding correct locations on the high/mid range spks to get the best possible soundstage. well, at least for most people. all equalization and processing takes place in the bose amp. you could probably get away with swapping outputs on the factory amp between front and rear doors to get a broader frequency range in the front doors, but if you turn on the processing features in the radio( some bose radios give the option of left front, right front, all seats, kind of like surround sound settings) somethings might sound funny. if you leave everthing set to normal/centered except bass/mid/treble you probably won't have any issues. good luck and keep us posted.

I think you are quite right about imaging. Today, I pretty much set everything to default and the soundstage on a few FM stations and a CD I sampled was quite good. The tonal balance though is somewhat skewed upward. I used to be big time into high end home audio equipment and attend live concerts frequently (mostly classical or smaller ensemble....acoustic in any case) and I think the spectral balance isn't right. Problem is, that when the error occurs with pushing the upper frequencies, the sound can be pleasing for a short time but fatiguing. That's what the Murano is doing to me. My older ears probably doesn't help matters though, LOL.
Modified by spastic at 12:28 PM 10/12/2008

[Looneybomber]

it's all in the name of imaging, so the sound doesn't get pulled down to your feet. that's why you hear more sound information coming from the back doors than the front. front seat passeners get great imaging and rear seats get good stereo sound.

Care to explain the difference? Or maybe I'm over estimating what good stereo sound is, because I believe imaging is a part of it.

bose did great research in finding correct locations on the high/mid range spks to get the best possible soundstage.

How far is the MF/HF driver from the LF driver? And what is the crossover point between the two?

[ds08versa]

If the Murano is set up stereo wise like the eairler years then the front stage is all crossed over in the bose amp, ( like one guy said) and the rears are usually full range, the best bet if you want better sound is to run a JL Clean Sweep and a Signal summing interface off of the rears (because the clean sweep needs full range) then run what ever amps and speakers that you want. Just my 2pennies

[coastal6.0]

well, imaging as its been explained to me by many great installers and competitors is the perception of instrument and performer placement. if you close your eyes you should be able to visulize their respective places on the stage, like a live performance. i couldn't tell you measurments in that truck, but they are as far forward as possible to equalize pathlenghts, just at the base of the windshield. imaging is part of good stereo sound, but in the back seat, you aren't gonna get any imaging. everything sounds like its coming from your feet. you'll get good stereo separation, maybe that's what i should have said. hope this helps

[spastic]

I'd like some opinions of the audio pros on this solution. Since I am most unsatisfied with the high frequency push in the 09 Murano Bose (no Navigation):

Audio Control dlq-8http://www.sonicelectronix.com...oogle

JL Audio A6450 Amphttp://www.dealercostcaraudio.com/a6450.aspx

Connect the Bose amp to the Audio Control unit then out to the JL Amp and then route to the speakers.

Will this allow me to control the equalization to all channels? Will this setup sound good? Any complications or other work I should be aware of? Will these two units fit in the area near the Bose amp? I've gotten a quote on this and would like to move forward with it but would appreciate additional feedback.

Thanks for the input.

[spastic]

Just to follow up on the solution I found to the high frequency push and upper midrange glare I had in the '09 Murano Bose (no nav). I added an Audio Control LC8 to sum up the equalization out of the Bose amp.



This feeds into an Audio Control DQS where I can equalize across 30 frequencies back and rear separately (and they give you two fully adjustable parametric also) and finally out to a TMA amp.



All this mounted on a carpeted board right on top of the spare tire. It's simple to prop up the board to remove the spare tire if needed. No room to spare, LOL.

I pulled out the two 'squawkers' on the dash (high frequencies) and replaced them with JL Audio tweeters. Then I had the center channel and the two rear HF drivers disconnected.

This turned out to be a great solution....much better sound and stereo separation. I'm not crazy about the way the stock Bose system was designed.....way too much equalization and the sound, to me, never really meshed to provide a decent soundstage. If you listen to the stock speakers on the dash, they blare with an awful upper midrange glare so I simply got rid of all of them.
Modified by spastic at 8:53 PM 11/29/2008