I know that the Bose system is problematic. I had an amp on my 300zx go and the bose system in my J died long before I got it. The new owner put in a el'cheapo JBL and Sony system. Sounded absolutely horrible. After living with the system for three years, I finally gutted the car and started over. So I thought I would share what it takes to put in a system so you know what you are facing and also add food for thought when you are thinking about spending $400 to rebuild the head unit. Because, it is a system like this and this type of work you are going to have to go through to get a comparable system.
To keep the budget in check, I ebayed a lot of the items. I was able to pick up a Eclipse 5504, Xtant 202m and 4180 amps, JLAudio VR525-Cxi speakers for rear fill and a xtant CH12HP high pass crossover all used but in perfect working order.
The Eclipse 5504 is a old standard in competition system that has six channels of 8volt, low impedance outputs. NO on board amplifyers. It should serve as a solid, low noise basis for a sound system (the finished systems has no real noise to speak of). The xtant amps are top drawer amps with a very solid reputation and can be had used for a very good price. There are better drivers out there the JL Audio but they are solid performers at a 'reasonable' price. These used items new would have run close to $2000 but I managed to get them for about $350 with careful shopping.
To finish the system, I bought VR650-csi components for the front and a 10w1v2-4 sub both from JL Audio and shopped until I got them for about half price, about $300. Both new. I bought a wiring kit for about $125. It was a 0/4 gauge system and came with most everything needed. Additional items included 6x9 to 5.25 speaker addaptors for the rear, foam baffles for the fronts, AGU fuse holder and assorted AGU and ANL fuses, MDF and various supplies for sub woofer enclosure construction, fastners, whole saws, grommets, LOTS of zip ties, paints, etc, etc.
I have about $900 in (so far, more to do at the end of the story) in a system that if you just walked into a store and had it installed would run you close to $4000.
Now the installation....... Begin by taking out your entire interior which includes front and rear seats, front door panels, all door sill trim, center console, kick panel trim, DIN unit with climate control unit, rear deck and third tail light and the trim located under the glove box. In the truck, take out all carpeting and trim except the piece covering the tail lights. Ouch.
Front speakers. The Bose boxes are useless for any thing but maybe a 4.5" speaker. Throw them away. You will need to make adaptors out of 1.5" of MDF for the speakers to clear the window assembly. The tweeters where surfaced mounted on the door panel at about the 1:30 position compared to the woofers. Fishing wire through the factory harness takes an act or god so new holes where drilled and the four wires run behind each of the kick panel trim pieces. Be sure to shrink wrap them, add grommets and don't forget to paint the new holes every time you drill one for rust prevention. Foam baffles with the bottoms cut out help protect the speakers from weather. Cross overs will mount behind the kick panel trim on the drivers side and over the trim below the glove box on the passenger side. Wiring from here runs to the trunk under the car near the door sills on each side and through the rubber grommets that carry all the factory wiring to the trunk (all wiring from the cabin to the trunk goes through these grommets).
Rear speakers. Mount the speakers to the 6x9 adaptor and bolt them in. Much easier. NOTE: The trunk is well isolated from the cabin. With out 'coupling' the two, the rear speakers will be like passive radiators to the sub. Cut a hole in the center deck and put a grill over it. It can be covered in fabric or in painted metal grill to match. You will need a 90 degree drill and hole saws to do this unless you want to remove the gas tank as well!
Head unit. Mounting to the double DIN is a snap, four screws and it is in. Get a pocket from Crutchfield and you will have room for CD's below the new head unit. Tying into the factory harness wasn't to bad with a diagram. Stuff some foam rubber between the bottom of the HU and the pocket and put a strap on it. There is a large phillips head screw above the HU that makes a good spot to strap it to. Since this head unit has no amps, three sets of RCA cables (front, rear and non-fade or sub) and a remote turn one wire where run under the console and carpet through the wiring grommet on the drivers side and into the trucnk. The power wire will be on the other side of the car... and this is a good thing.
Subwoofer. Build the ported enclosure according to the manufacturers specs and kiss some trunk space goodbye. You can carpet the enclosure with matching carpet or take the easy way out, spray it with speckle paint with matches nicely. Put a bolt up through the cabinet at the (when viewed from the rear of the truck) at the left front and right rear position and use L straps to mount it solid (you don't want this flopping around) to the body. Wiring runs behind the left hand and rear trim panels.
Amp board. This thing is large and heavy. If you look below the rear deck and on the gas tank, you will see five good mounting points. Three on the bottom of the rear deck and two on the tank. Drill them to take well nuts and get bolts to fit. On mine, the smaller amp is on the left, larger on the right, power comes up from the bottom in the center and RCA and speaker wires come from the top, except the front RCA which come up from the rear. Keep the RCA cables away from you power and ground as much as possble. With the rear trim back and place and it bolted (I used M6 bolts) in place, it is very sturdy.
Power and ground wiring. This is 0 gauge wire and it about the size of your thumb so it can be a pain. The ground was easy, drill two hole in the floor pan to the left of the gas tank and behind the trim panel. Grind off the paint, coat the bottom of the ground connecter with dielectric grease and bolt it down. Paint to prevent corrosion and remaining exposed metal. The power wire, takes a lot more work. Cover it in 12' of split loom cover leaving 4' uncovered on the end that will go in the trunk and zip tie it every foot. Drill a 1" hole in the trunk floor near the 1 o'clock position outside the spare tire well, behind the trim that covers the tank. Paint the hole and install a 1" OD grommet. Under the car, snake this cable following the fuel lines, over the rear suspension and up through the grommet all the way to the split loom. Follow the cover that leads the fuel and brake line to the front wheel well. Take the cover off the lines in the front wheel well and you will see a hole that is not being used. Apply the same treatment that you did to the hole in the trunk and into the engine compartment. Replace cover and modify so it fits snug. Route up the inside of the strut tower and around the fuse box to the new fuse holder for the system (plus the fuses on the amp board) and to the new battery terminal. Zip tie the crap out of it to keep it out of harms way. ANY place that any of the power wires may rub make sure it is armed with split loom, grommets, or hose sliced length wise to cover the sharp edges. Use all the above or a combination.
Wired it all up in the trunk connecting the front to the 202, rear and sub to the 4180 (with the sub being bridged). Used the amps to run low pass to the sub and high pass to the front and rears all 90HZ 12 db active.
Now you have a system installed whose level of components rival, and for the most part, exceed Bose. This is not one of those 'blow womans clothes off' type of systems but it has a very low noise floor and is very 'musical'. Much better bass response and extended highs.
So are you done (am I done)? Not by a long shot. What Bose lacks in top quality components, they make up for in signal processing. Taking care of careful equalization, phase and time correction. So, what to do?
First listening tells me I will need a higher order crossover (24db) for the sub and probably a band pass for the rear fills. Both of which can be added to the amps (don't go buy a cheap passive or active crossover or you will destroy the system).
Now comes equalization. Several tests locations and frequency plots will need to be made to flatten out the response curves. If I can't do that with the equipement I have, then trunk mounted equalizer(s) will have to go in. These can easily add hundreds more to the system.
Then careful testing for phase and time will round it out.
In the end, it will exceed the stock system.
But at what price? I have a solid four+ days, so far in the system.... and it is not even tuned yet. Additional equipement may be required for the system to perform at its peak. Compare the time and money it takes versus having the Bose head unit rebuilt or one of the amps/speakers and you imagine the value of repairing the stock system.
But if you want to upgrade, you now of some idea of what it is going to take... lots of time and careful shopping and tuning... or a LARGE check.
Would I do it again? Over the crap that was in the car... you bet. Over the stock system... I am not sure. I have a buddy with the stock BOSE in his J and we are going to do some side by side comparisons. I will let you know then!
Stereo install
Re: Stereo install (rdorman)
Good read, and very detail. Do you happen to have some pics. A picture worth a thousand words.
Re: Stereo install (NismoChi)
I have not taken any, but I can. Can we post them hear or do we need to host them off site?NismoChi wrote:Good read, and very detail. Do you happen to have some pics. A picture worth a thousand words.
Re: Stereo install (rdorman)
Just an update.......
I am still trying to cook up a plan to put that 10" sub in the rear deck or couple it to the rear deck. If I ever really cross that bridge, I will let you know.
After playing with the system and making a number of plots with test tones, the system needs more equalization then I am going to get from just a bass, mid and high tone controls.
Where it is at, and they way it sounds now may satisfy many folks but I hear the problems, therefore, I have to do something about them! For less 'critical' listeners, like my wife who thinks I am nuts and it sounds great ("Best I have ever heard" she said)..........it is done.
So I am adding yet FOUR more 'boxes' to the system. Audio Control EQT 30 band mono equalizers (one for each set of front speakers), one EQL 20 band with half (third?) octave equalization for the sub and a 6XS 6/8 channel active crossover. Remember me mentioning that Bose spent a lot of time and money on things like equalization, phase, crossovers, etc? Now it is my turn. Once it is all in, I found a top notch SQ tuner in the area who is going to tune the system to perfection. This could take him any where from 4-8 hours.
Just for fun, here is what the component (newer versions) would cost to build this system. Remember, I ebayed a LOT and at the end of this, the savings should be obvious. So, here are the retail (not suggested or MSRP but what you pay) prices of new off the shelf compariable peices from retailers:- Xtant 2.2 and 4.4 amp - $1120- Eclipse head unit with 3 sets of 8v pre-outs - $550- speakers (front components, rear fill and sub) - $550 - two audio control eqt's, one eql and one 6xs - $850- ALL the wiring (there is a BUNCH!) - $300- Proper sub enclosure - $225- Misc: wood, fastners, adaptors, dash pocket, etc - $125
Grand Total is $3,720 PLUS if you don't do it yourself, you will be looking at $1000-1500 for install and $300-600 for the tuning. And trust me, this is not that high end of a system and I am only running a total of 370 watts RMS. Don't get me wrong, once done it will sound great. It is very dynamic and has a very, very low noise floor (even on a zero bit track cranked all the way up I did not hear any thing). But, sure does make fixing the Bose sound like a good value doesn't it?
Now, if you are willing to do all the research and all the work, you can save a fortune. Before the car goes to the tuner, I will have under $1200 in the system! You can save bunch by buying used in the amp and receivers. High end folks tend to constantly change their systems so the used market is ripe. Plus, many of the shops performing these upgrades test the equipement and resell it at a very, very good price.
I am still trying to cook up a plan to put that 10" sub in the rear deck or couple it to the rear deck. If I ever really cross that bridge, I will let you know.
After playing with the system and making a number of plots with test tones, the system needs more equalization then I am going to get from just a bass, mid and high tone controls.
Where it is at, and they way it sounds now may satisfy many folks but I hear the problems, therefore, I have to do something about them! For less 'critical' listeners, like my wife who thinks I am nuts and it sounds great ("Best I have ever heard" she said)..........it is done.
So I am adding yet FOUR more 'boxes' to the system. Audio Control EQT 30 band mono equalizers (one for each set of front speakers), one EQL 20 band with half (third?) octave equalization for the sub and a 6XS 6/8 channel active crossover. Remember me mentioning that Bose spent a lot of time and money on things like equalization, phase, crossovers, etc? Now it is my turn. Once it is all in, I found a top notch SQ tuner in the area who is going to tune the system to perfection. This could take him any where from 4-8 hours.
Just for fun, here is what the component (newer versions) would cost to build this system. Remember, I ebayed a LOT and at the end of this, the savings should be obvious. So, here are the retail (not suggested or MSRP but what you pay) prices of new off the shelf compariable peices from retailers:- Xtant 2.2 and 4.4 amp - $1120- Eclipse head unit with 3 sets of 8v pre-outs - $550- speakers (front components, rear fill and sub) - $550 - two audio control eqt's, one eql and one 6xs - $850- ALL the wiring (there is a BUNCH!) - $300- Proper sub enclosure - $225- Misc: wood, fastners, adaptors, dash pocket, etc - $125
Grand Total is $3,720 PLUS if you don't do it yourself, you will be looking at $1000-1500 for install and $300-600 for the tuning. And trust me, this is not that high end of a system and I am only running a total of 370 watts RMS. Don't get me wrong, once done it will sound great. It is very dynamic and has a very, very low noise floor (even on a zero bit track cranked all the way up I did not hear any thing). But, sure does make fixing the Bose sound like a good value doesn't it?
Now, if you are willing to do all the research and all the work, you can save a fortune. Before the car goes to the tuner, I will have under $1200 in the system! You can save bunch by buying used in the amp and receivers. High end folks tend to constantly change their systems so the used market is ripe. Plus, many of the shops performing these upgrades test the equipement and resell it at a very, very good price.