Random Speaker Question

[Haitian_King]

Random question about Q door speakers.

Circuit City told me that Q's have 4 inch speakers in the doors. I read somewhere else that it's possible to fit an 8 inch in there if the speaker is shallow. (That's quite excessive.)

The way I can feel the bass in the floor on the driver's side during some songs leads me to believe that I have something bigger than 4 inch speakers in there. I haven't gotten around to pulling the panel off, so I was just asking if anyone knew about this for sure.

[Don Giovannii]

Hey. I thought there were 3 in speakers in the doors. But i do believe u can fit some 8 in speakers in the doors, but you will have to modify the speaker housing of course. I took off my door panel once, but dont remember much about the speaker, i will see if i can find some more info on it though.

[Haitian_King]

I just checked Crutchfield and their list shows that 6 1/2" are the door sizes. If the 8's are shallow enough, they'll fit.

Apparently, there are no wiring harnesses available (at least not through Crutchfield) so they recommend cutting off the factory connectors and splicing them into the new ones.

[qsiguy]

It is a little oem speaker. It has decent bass because its in a ported enclosure in the door. Its a big box w/a built in amp which is why you can fit an 8" in there if you remove it.

[maxnix]

But you will lose all your EQ.

[TBrack]

But you will lose all your EQ.

trust BOSE!!! Sound hasn't changed! They KNEW what the hell they were doing!

[Haitian_King]

I'm not sure if I still have the BOSE system. Or if I do, that the system is working to OEM. I have a terrible rattle (blown rear passenger side speaker) on certain songs. I have the head unti EQ at -10 Bass. It's decent on most songs, I can even turn the bass up to a positive integer on some songs (Just about anything by Ace of Base). But it's just a minor annoyance and nowhere near life threatening or imperative.

It is a little oem speaker. It has decent bass because its in a ported enclosure in the door. Its a big box w/a built in amp which is why you can fit an 8" in there if you remove it.

Those little 4 inchers can really make the floor vibrate with the bass turned down? Wow. I really need to do a recon on the status of my audio system. When I got the car, the speaker amps had been bypassed to allow for the Blaupunkt.

I have a sneaking suspicion that some components have been added to the audio setup. Possibly an aftermarket amp. The volume that I'm getting from the speakers at -10 bass suggests that they're getting more than the 50 watts RMS that the headunit badging implies. Like serious speaker movement. If the headunit is the only thing powering the speakers, (50x4) then either the speakers themselves are some crappy, low-powered Jensen's for I have something extra.

In my Grand Cherokee, there was a factory Infinity amp underneath the rear seat. Q45's wouldn't have something like that since the BOSE speakers had individual amps and a zero signal source right?

[TBrack]

yea BOSE has amps connected to each speaker as well as a smaller pre-amp.

[Haitian_King]

So my Headunt could be running through this preamp and then to the speakers? That explains a lot. I thought I would have to purchase one.

[Lifted79CJ7]

Here is a pic of some stuff I just picked up. You can tell it's a 4" here, and you can see the port as well. If you are running an aftermarket head unit, hopefully they hooked it up right, because the speakers pull a 1 ohm load (so I read on here somewhere). If you are not aware, most car audio stuff is designed for a 4 ohm load. 1 ohm is the same as running 3 speakers at the same time and can easily overheat your head unit. Just some food for thought.I have my speaker pods in my kitchen - let me know if you want me to take more pics or not. And yes, I'm a bachelor, that's why my crap is in my kitchen instead of the garage. Who needs to cook when McDonalds is around the corner? Jack

[Haitian_King]

I'm still a little confused. My speakers are quite loud and the headunit rated at 50x4 RMS. This means that the four speakers are all getting 50 watts?

I'm pretty clueless about this sort of stuff. All the talk of capacitors, preamps, ohm, and stuff goes right over my head.

[goody90q45]

yea BOSE has amps connected to each speaker as well as a smaller pre-amp.

So my Headunit could be running through this preamp and then to the speakers? That explains a lot. I thought I would have to purchase one.

I think the pre-amp is built into the Bose head unit. If you remove the Bose then you will have to buy another amp.

[Haitian_King]

Ok. My Q had no Bose unit installed when I bought it. So the PO installed an aftermarket amp and possibly aftermarket speakers? Where would I find this amp? Is there like a common mounting place?

[gammer_ghn]

As far as i have seen on general Infinitis like G20, G50 and Y33, its on the speaker like a little box type thing or in your trunk mounted close to the speakers they look like funky pieces of metal kinda like a radiator... but if your car has been converted and the sound is good why dont you upgrade your headunit and get something with that has better clarity, Nav or harddrive for movies and mp3. i have hooks for them i can look around if you need anything .....

[Haitian_King]

I plan on getting a double din nav/dvd unit after all of my mechanical stuff is done. I'm looking into the audio system too. My current headunit is nice and clear, but my rear speakers are blown. At least the passenger side one is. I just wanted to get clear on what my status is. I bought the car with no Bose headunit, so that can only mean that the speakers have been bypassed (if they still are Bose) or they've been completely replaced. If they have been completely replaced, I believe that some sort of aftermarket amp has been installed because I don't believe that my current headunit can power all 4 speakers and be that loud. It's a 200 watt unit rated at 50x4. I think that somwhere in the car, there's an amplifier because I know 50 watts can't be that loud. Even with the bass down at it's lowest level, the rear speakers can start "farting" if the bass notes in the song get low enough. Kick drums sometimes cause a loud "Brrrap". Now if an aftermarket amp has indeed been installed, where would I find it? I was wondering if there was a common place where people or audio shop techs install one for Q's. In my Grand Cherokee, the amp was under the rear seat (they could fold out) on the driver's side.

If I were an aftermarket amp installed in a Q, where would I hide?

Is this making any sense?

[Lifted79CJ7]

I guess the reason you aren't getting a direct answer is because there isn't one, unfortunately. None of us can read the minds of the previous owner, so to answer your question, you are going to have to trace down every wire, remove door panels, and the back deck lid to see what you have. I've heard there are kits to convert the level output on a aftermarket radio to a level the amps at the Bose speakers can use. Maybe this was done? Maybe all the speakers were replaced? Maybe they used the factory wiring? Maybe they rewired everything? Maybe they did a great job installing it? Maybe it's a hackjob/fire hazard waiting to happen?

All in all, we can't tell you. I can tell you that I have just an aftermarket head unit and a sub with amp in my civic. My headunit powers all the regular speakers quite well - it's enough to make your ears hurt after prolonged listening.

One thing you could do is look under your hood for an aftermarket power wire that would run the sub amp. That could be a good indicator that something not electrically stock is in the car. Hopefully it's fused or has a circuit breaker at the battery if it is there.

If you do have an aftermarket amp, where could they have put it? Depends on how good the installer was. The factory stereo had amps located at all the speakers. http://www.carstereohelp.com/s...e.htmMaybe it is installed above the gas tank? Maybe it is installed under a seat? Maybe it's hidden behind one of the fake walls in the trunk. Maybe it's hidden where your spare tire should be?

All in all, you will have to reverse engineer your stereo system - starting with what is visible and go from there. My sister had a Sentra she bought in high school. I went to install a different head unit in it for one that was on the fritz and I ended up pulling around 10 pounds of extra wiring out of that car. Apperently someone had done a hack job of a stereo installation before and it was a mess. I'm surprised the car didn't short out and go up in flames!

I hope this might help a little, but start by pulling the head unit and see where the wires are connected and just go from there.

Jack

[Haitian_King]

I guess the reason you aren't getting a direct answer is because there isn't one, unfortunately. None of us can read the minds of the previous owner, so to answer your question, you are going to have to trace down every wire, remove door panels, and the back deck lid to see what you have. I've heard there are kits to convert the level output on a aftermarket radio to a level the amps at the Bose speakers can use. Maybe this was done? Maybe all the speakers were replaced? Maybe they used the factory wiring? Maybe they rewired everything? Maybe they did a great job installing it? Maybe it's a hackjob/fire hazard waiting to happen?

All in all, we can't tell you. I can tell you that I have just an aftermarket head unit and a sub with amp in my civic. My headunit powers all the regular speakers quite well - it's enough to make your ears hurt after prolonged listening.

One thing you could do is look under your hood for an aftermarket power wire that would run the sub amp. That could be a good indicator that something not electrically stock is in the car. Hopefully it's fused or has a circuit breaker at the battery if it is there.

If you do have an aftermarket amp, where could they have put it? Depends on how good the installer was. The factory stereo had amps located at all the speakers. http://www.carstereohelp.com/s...e.htmMaybe it is installed above the gas tank? Maybe it is installed under a seat? Maybe it's hidden behind one of the fake walls in the trunk. Maybe it's hidden where your spare tire should be?

All in all, you will have to reverse engineer your stereo system - starting with what is visible and go from there. My sister had a Sentra she bought in high school. I went to install a different head unit in it for one that was on the fritz and I ended up pulling around 10 pounds of extra wiring out of that car. Apperently someone had done a hack job of a stereo installation before and it was a mess. I'm surprised the car didn't short out and go up in flames!

I hope this might help a little, but start by pulling the head unit and see where the wires are connected and just go from there.

Jack

Thanks. This helped. I guess I'll pull the back panel. You know the fake walls on the sides of the trunk? Well the driver's side one is demolished. I can see into the fender. Or whatever that cavity is. I had Circuit City install my current headunit. They wouldn't let me watch so I can't really say what went on back there. They did leave me a nice little surprise though. A neat ratcheting screwdriver with a handle like you'd find on a corkscrew for opening wine bottles. I've since added it to my toolkit and it's extremely helpful. Really decreases hand fatigue. And I can slip a socket or another head in there.

I saw a wire on my battery but it didn't look anything like the wiring that was on my Jeep. I'll take a picture of it. If I pull that back panel off in the trunk, I'll at least be able to tell if I have the Bose speakers or not.

Thanks again.

[gammer_ghn]

your chances are slim that if the guy used stock bose speakers since they would sound like crap. just pull the fake walls and that will answear your question, because its a low probability that the amp is inside the car and not the trunk since there is very little room to stash something that size in the little stash rooms avalable in the Q. so trunk is best bet.

[Haitian_King]

Whoa. The stock Bose system in my MDX is amazing. The Bose system in my friend's J30, Altima, and Maxima was great too.

[mxr662]

This might help

zer...05927

[Haitian_King]

Wow. Thanks a million. This is a ton of info. Maybe I can get to the bottom of this. You're a lifesaver.

[brymax]

I didn't notice if anyone mentioned that the Bose speakers in all these cars are 2-ohm. So obviously if you throw a standard 4-ohm speaker of the same size in the door, it will be no where near as loud.

Also, I don't know about your model but in the 02's the front door speakers are mid-bass drivers, not standard speakers.

With Bose, it's usually all or nothing. There are some aftermarket integration components available but I don't suggest replacing any Bose parts of the system with other brands unless you're ready to really go all out.

OH yeah, and they're 6.5's in the doors of the 02's.