Speaker Replacement

[jeffdawgfan]

New member here with a new to me 08 A/C 3.5SE. Car has the stock Bose system with navigation package. I want to replace all the stock speakers and keep the Bose unit. Has anyone replaced the dash tweeters and middle dash speaker? How hard and what did you replace with. The doors and rear speakers are a no brainer I guess. Also, is there a sub woofer with this car. I picked car up at a auto auction on a whim so really just starting to learn about car.

[JBRO69]

The headunit is not a Bose part, I beleive it's a Clarion. The Bose amp is in the trunk next to the spare tire, you'll need to disconnect it when you change out the speakers. You'll need a 90 degree phillips head drive to get the front speakers out. The grills should just pop off with a small flat head screwdriver.

[AppleBonker]

New member here with a new to me 08 A/C 3.5SE. Car has the stock Bose system with navigation package. I want to replace all the stock speakers and keep the Bose unit. Has anyone replaced the dash tweeters and middle dash speaker? How hard and what did you replace with. The doors and rear speakers are a no brainer I guess. Also, is there a sub woofer with this car. I picked car up at a auto auction on a whim so really just starting to learn about car.

This is possible, but it's probably not going to sound very good. The Bose system is established as a complete system. To improve upon it, you would basically have to replace everything. You're best option is to live with what is there, or plan on saving up to replace everything.

Read here for more info...

[JBRO69]

I beleive he is planning on taking out all of the speakers. It's just that he has questions about the IP speakers. And btw, there is no subwoofer "box" in the a/c. The 6X9's provide the bass by using the trunk as an infinite baffle I beleive. Old trick.

[AppleBonker]

I beleive he is planning on taking out all of the speakers. It's just that he has questions about the IP speakers. And btw, there is no subwoofer "box" in the a/c. The 6X9's provide the bass by using the trunk as an infinite baffle I beleive. Old trick.

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain well enough. The head unit is definitely Bose, and it's tuned to match the speakers (the non-Bose HU might be Clarion). If you were to replace the speakers, the tuning would not match. Also, you can't run speakers right off the Bose HU as there is no amplification from there, hence the amp in the trunk. Either way, it is possible to replace just the speakers, but it probably wont sound that much better (that Bose amp isn't powerful enough to power any reasonable speakers). Also, the speakers would have to be the right impedance (which I'm not sure what it is off the top of my head - I'd need to check the speakers I removed and are now sitting in a closet somewhere). Also, to get to the left/right tweeters, the A-Pillar finisher needs to be removed. In my opinion, either gut it all and start from scratch, or leave it as-is.

[JBRO69]

Bose does not make headunits and they are not in anyway part of the tuning EQ done by Bose. The EQ is supplied by a DSP chip in the Bose amp. There is no need to buy a new headunit when modifying a Bose system in any vehicle other than a Ferrari.

[AppleBonker]

Bose does not make headunits and they are not in anyway part of the tuning EQ done by Bose. The EQ is supplied by a DSP chip in the Bose amp. There is no need to buy a new headunit when modifying a Bose system in any vehicle other than a Ferrari.

I guess it's certainly possible that the HU that comes with the Bose system is not made by Bose. However, I'm still not sure how you'd go about replacing speakers without replacing the HU. If I'm not mistaken, the Bose HU is not really amplified, so you can't really power any speakers off it. Even if it does supply more power than I'm thinking, no head unit really puts out enough power to supply even entry level aftermarket speakers. Therefore, you'd either need a different amp, or you'd have to run off the Bose amp (although that is still underpowered really). If you were going to try to run directly off the HU, you'd need to rewire the car to run speaker cable from the HU to the speaker locations, since it currently runs to the amp in the trunk. Am I missing something here? So if it's to the point of getting new speakers and a new amp, might as well get a new HU that can easily outperform the factory one.

Edit: Also, the HU does play a role in the tuning. It might not be performing any of the equalization, but the system is tuned to that HU. Throw a different HU in and it'll sound different. Same will hold true for speakers. The system is tuned as a complete system. Swapping out any component will require retuning (which the OEM HU doesn't really allow you to do).

[Rellz CT]

im in the same situation

i was looking to replacing the amp and the rest of the bose system but leaving the head unit in and adding some subs

is this not a good idea bonker?

[AppleBonker]

im in the same situation

i was looking to replacing the amp and the rest of the bose system but leaving the head unit in and adding some subs

is this not a good idea bonker?

In my opinion, no. It can be done, but would probably require some other way to tune the system. JL Audio's Clean Sweep is one possible option. I know some people have already purchased the car with nav. Most aftermarket navigation units will have so many more features than the OEM one (and for cheaper) that this is the ideal solution. If you want to keep the OEM head unit, I would highly recommend a Clean Sweep or similar to tune your system to get the best possible sound out of it. You'll still need to rewire the entire car too (because the stock speaker wires are pitifully small in gauge).

[Rellz CT]

apple

what do u think about the Rockford Fosgate 3SIXTY.1

i heard it performed better than a cleansweep

[rjdmmfl1]

apple

what do u think about the Rockford Fosgate 3SIXTY.1

i heard it performed better than a cleansweep

I'll chime in on the 3sixty.1,

if you can save the money, I would HIGHLY recommend going with the 3sixty.2 A simle glabce at their capabilities and you'll see that they aen't even remotely close to each other. My built in EQ and crossovers in my Kenwood DNX-8120 are almost identical to the functions of the cleansweep and 3sixty.1

The only thing that may annoy you is that, with the rockford 3sixty's, you need a palm or laptop to tune your car, but other than that, the 3sixty.2 is the way to go. There have been a number of folks returning the 3sixty.1 and the number one complaint that customers have is the horrible engine noise that you get with the 3sixty.1

[AppleBonker]

Sorry, I just mentioned the Clean Sweep as an option. The 3sixty.2 that Doc mentioned is a great product (based off what I've read). I've never actually used any of these as I've always ripped out the HU first when I've done my cars. As Doc said, it's not that terribly much more expensive. Also, you may be able to find a lightly used one somewhere and bring the price down even more. However, as for recommending any of these over the others, I'd be going off the same reviews Doc has read (and that can be easily found on-line). Sorry I don't have more personal experience here...