PoorManQ45 or other Experts ...

[usctrojan]

Just barely above a newbie here and would appreciate expert advice. Recently got a 2007 G35 4 door sedan with the Bose 10 speaker system. The reviews say the sound is much improved, "Studio on Wheels". I don't get it because it sounds bad to me and my girlfriend. So we want to upgrade the system but leave the stock head unit / navigation alone. Doing some research, here is an excerpt of the stock speaker set up:

"The system consists of three speakers mounted in each front door including a 10-inch woofer, a 1-inch tweeter and a 3-inch mid/high-range speaker — another 3-inch speaker resides in the center of the dash as well. Each rear door has a 6.5-inch speaker and there's another 10-inch woofer in the rear package shelf."

My initial thoughts and from feedback from local installer is to get the Rockford Fosgate 360 unit to take the signal from my headunit to process properly. I want perhaps two 10" subs installed in the trunk, so an Amp for them. Then an Amp to run the rest of the speakers in the cabin. Obviously replacing the stock speakers.

So here is my question. The rear doors are easy simple swap outs of 6.5" speakers. However the Bose setup has a 1" tweeter, 3" speaker (is this coaxial?), and 10" woofer in the front doors. How do I replace that properly? Isn't the 10" woofer in the front door unusual? And since I was thinking about putting subwoofers in my trunk, I don't need that base up front, correct?

Then there is the 3" front/center channel in the dash board. Probably the same 3" that are in the front doors. Since I was thinking about running an Amp for all of the cabin speakers, how do I account for this odd front/center speaker?

Lastly, there is the 10" woofer in the rear package shelf. The local installer said to simply remove this speaker as the subwoofers in the trunk would do its job.

Reading through the forum, I understand you get what you pay for and appreciate all of the feedback. Currently I'm looking at DLS and Focal brands, but would appreciate any specific model recommendations for a clean high quality sound. If there is a better way to set up the sound system, please let me know.

[usctrojan]

Ok after more research, I've decided to treat the front door speakers (10", 3", and 1") as component speakers for replacing. The only 3 component package that I could find that came close to those dimensions were the DLS Ultimate Iridium 8.3. (Spendy stuff though!) It comes with 8", 3", and 1" speakers.

To make it easier I'm just going to disable and ignore the 3" front/center speaker and the 10" rear package shelf speaker.

So here is my set up on paper so far:

Head Unit: OEM StockSignal Processor: Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2Front Doors: DLS Iridium 8.3 (8",3", and 1")Rear Doors (6.5" speakers): ????Trunk (One 10" Sub-woofer): ???? (Maybe JL Audio 10W7)Amplifier for front cabin speakers: ????Amplifier for trunk sub-woofer: ???? (Maybe Alpine PDX-1.600)

I'm trying to learn about how to pair the Amplifier properly to the speakers chosen. The Iridium 8.3 says they operate at 100W RMS 160W Max. So should I look for an Amp that delivers 4x100 RMS exactly or should I look for 4x125W (or 150W)RMS to make sure the power delivered to the speakers are as clean as possible?
Modified by usctrojan at 10:31 PM 10/13/2007

[Looneybomber]

I believe the C6 vettes have that same crappy 10" bose woofer too. Here is a quote from another forum about what they did.

Car: Yellow C6 Coupe (6spd w/Z51)Source: Stock NAVAmp: Polk C400.4Frt Speakers: Polk Momo 6.5 componentsRear Speakers: Polk 5.25 CoaxialDeadner: Elemental Designs V1SE2Wiring: KnuKonceptz

I love the yellow

Door deadned

Front woofer mounted in .5" baffle

The view through the door panel

The rear coaxials mounted up

Amp mounted on a board supplied by the customer, eventually there will probably be a mono block on there as well.

Stereo sounds amazing, blows the bose out of the water needless to say. We also unhooked the stock center channel that was in the dash. The amazing part is going from the bose sub to a 6.5 component in a deadened door there is actually more bass then with the bose system. Stereo turned out nice and sounds amazing

Questions, comments

...the low end with a 6.5 component set with the highpass at like 40-50hz blows the low end away of the stock 10" bose sub.

As for 3way vs 2way, DLS vs Focal, you'd have to listen to each of them yourself, the bad news is once you put them in the car, they're going to sound different since you'll be listening to everything off-axis in the car, but on-axis in the store.

Here's a company not many people know about, but check out SEAS. Both their Reference line and Lotus line are fantastic. Not to say the DLS iridiums and Focal K2 powers aren't fantastic...Don't get me wrong, I'd like to have any of those component sets in my s2k, however, if I don't sell it, I'm going to custom build my components. I'm even going to have a different crossover for the left and right channel, due to the different amounts of off-axis listening.

[usctrojan]

Thanks for the info Looney. Yes the Bose 10" woofers are absolutely horrible.

Hey in a different thread I saw you mention the Alpine PDX amplifier briefly. I got a question for you. The Alpine PDX-1.600 class D amp is fine to run the 10" sub I want to put in the trunk. But can I also use the Alpine PDX-4.150 to run the cabin speakers, which likely will be the DLS Iridium 8.3. I ask because the PDX-4.150 is also a class D amplifier. The forums I've read seem to suggest class D amps are for subs and have distortion issues with the higher frequency range. Is that distortion only at max volumes? Because the Iridiums specify a 100W RMS and the Alpine PDX-4.150 will output 150W RMS. Therefore, I'm guessing I won't ever approach max output of the amplifier. Will this eliminate the concerns of using a class D amp for mids and tweeters up front? Thanks.

[EW]

Doing a C6 on wednesday with Hertz 8" and tweet. We have done 4-5 C6 cars and I really want to take advantage of that GIANT hole in the door. The reverse magnet 8" w/ 150w rms should be much better than a 17cm. We'll see.

[Broadfield]

Thanks for the info Looney. Yes the Bose 10" woofers are absolutely horrible.

Hey in a different thread I saw you mention the Alpine PDX amplifier briefly. I got a question for you. The Alpine PDX-1.600 class D amp is fine to run the 10" sub I want to put in the trunk. But can I also use the Alpine PDX-4.150 to run the cabin speakers, which likely will be the DLS Iridium 8.3. I ask because the PDX-4.150 is also a class D amplifier. The forums I've read seem to suggest class D amps are for subs and have distortion issues with the higher frequency range. Is that distortion only at max volumes? Because the Iridiums specify a 100W RMS and the Alpine PDX-4.150 will output 150W RMS. Therefore, I'm guessing I won't ever approach max output of the amplifier. Will this eliminate the concerns of using a class D amp for mids and tweeters up front? Thanks.

The PDX amplifiers are the hottest thing at my store right now. Very clean and amazingly small. The size opens up so many installation possibilities. You can use any of the PDX amps, except for the mono blocks, for your mid-highs. I've used them in Limos, Murcielagos, everyday rides, offroad vehicles, boats etc. without a hitch. I have them in stock if you are interested..... just shoot me an email for a price.

Toby

[Looneybomber]

Hey in a different thread I saw you mention the Alpine PDX amplifier briefly. I got a question for you. The Alpine PDX-1.600 class D amp is fine to run the 10" sub I want to put in the trunk. But can I also use the Alpine PDX-4.150 to run the cabin speakers, which likely will be the DLS Iridium 8.3. I ask because the PDX-4.150 is also a class D amplifier. The forums I've read seem to suggest class D amps are for subs and have distortion issues with the higher frequency range. Is that distortion only at max volumes? Because the Iridiums specify a 100W RMS and the Alpine PDX-4.150 will output 150W RMS. Therefore, I'm guessing I won't ever approach max output of the amplifier. Will this eliminate the concerns of using a class D amp for mids and tweeters up front? Thanks.

My opinion on the PDX's? If you're tight on space, and have a hole burning in your pocket, buy one! The s2000 guys love them because they'll fit under the seats and/or behind the seats, which are the only easy places to mount them in the cabin.

What I don't like about them is their price/performance. They have a high amount of noise and distortion, relatively speaking. (A class H design [a hybrid class A/B and D] would be better than a class D, but would require a larger amp case.)

What I do like about them is their compact size and 10k Ohm inputs. A tell tale sign of a quality amp.

As for the Iridiums power ratings, you could easily power them off your headunit, but you'd be wasting quite a bit of money on quality speakers, due to the inadequacies of a headunit's amp. Why they rate them so high is so you buy an amp capable of deliving lots of CLEAN power. Once your signal becomes clipped, it will increase your chances of blowing a speaker due to overheating a voicecoil.

IMO, it's better to have an amp that's "too big" and turn it down, than it is to have an amp that's "too small", turn it up and, consequently, produce lots of distortion, which could blow a speaker.

[usctrojan]

Looney ... help me out here then. I plan on putting the amps in the trunk of the Infiniti G35, so space isn't an issue. I need one amp to run the Iridiums in the front cabin and one amp to run the 10" JLA W-7 subwoofer I would like placed in the trunk as well. I tried to do some research but I get bogged down with so many options that I don't know how to evaluate what a high quality amp is that will fit my setup. Iridiums need 100W RMS and the W-7 subwoofer needs 500W RMS. What amps do you recommend? Thanks.

[PoorManQ45]

That Corvette owner is an idiot. He put a 6.5" component set in place of a 10" three way set.

Honestly, that's ****ing retarded.

I'd recommend going with an 8" three way component setup up front as they're a little more common. Or a 7" setup if you're looking at Focal.

[Looneybomber]

That Corvette owner is an idiot. He put a 6.5" component set in place of a 10" three way set.

Honestly, that's ****ing retarded.

I'd recommend going with an 8" three way component setup up front as they're a little more common. Or a 7" setup if you're looking at Focal.

I don't disagree with the installer. A capable pair of 6.5's crossed at 80hz, should be able to keep up with a single 10" JL-W7 in a moderatly sized sealed box. Sure going bigger is better in my book, but then it can introduce more vibrations into the door and door panel. The amount of deadener one can apply to a door panel is limited.

It's a give and take. You perfer to give, I perfer to take in this instance.

Looney ... help me out here then.

Know how I said the performance/dollar wasn't nice? If you go to pricegrabber.com you can get the PDX 4.150's for ~ 400.00. I'd buy that amp for 400. My local shop tries to sell them at around 750-800. You can get it cheaper if you can talk them down.

I'd much rather have a Boston Accoustic GT-42, or Mmats SQ4160, but for 400-450, you can't go wrong with the PDX 4.150.