Hey guys what's up? I have a 03 Coupe w/ the Bose sound system. I have a 10" sub powered by a Fosgate amp. I was looking to upgrade my speakers inside the car and while doing some searching I found that the Bose amp located in the trunk is the weakest link.
I've seen that a lot of people go w/ the Infinity speakers (2 ohm) but they don't upgrade their amp.

What are the best speakers and amp to go w/ while keeping the crappy hu?


Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

You can keep the HU and add any amp and speaker combination you want. When adding your own amp, you can use 4 ohm speakers. The choice of amps is up to you and will depend on what you want out of your sound system.

Are you going to power just the front door speakers or the front and rear?

Do you want to keep it simple and have one amp for your sub and interior speakers?

 

I wanted to get a separate amp to power the front door speakers and the rear.
Also, I noticed in the stock system, as you increase the volume, the bass goes down (probably to prevent you from blowing the speakers). Will this still happen even after adding a separate amp and new speakers?

 

that is caused by the Bose amp and is one reason to ditch it.

 

hey guys, im in a similar situation. i have 6.5 boston aquatics, 6x9 jbl and a Rockford's Fossgate amp that use to power my 12 inch sub. i just wanna replace or add my amp and use my new speakers. is this easy to do myself or should pay to get it installed. btw, im not TOO knowledgeable on DIY car audio. thanks guys!

 

if you are planning on keeping the stock HU and adding amp(s) and speakers, you will need to install either LOCs or a product similar to the JL Cleansweep with your new amp(s).

If you are not comfortable in doing it yourself as you will have to tap into the wire bundle in the trunk before the Bose amp, connect the LOCs, run RCAs from the LOCs to your amp, utilize the stock speaker wire or run new wire, properly ground and run power wire to your amp, remove the back seat, install the new speakers with custom MDF spacers, etc etc, then either have someone who has done G35 work(!) professionally install everythin or if there is a G35 AV guru from these forums who is local to your location help you with the install.

doc

 

I thought I read that the LOCs were only needed if you don't plan on bypassing the Bose amp... that you didn't need one if you planned on replacing the Bose amp with something aftermarket...

 

how would you connect the stock HU that has no preamp RCA outputs to your aftermarket amp? And how would you convert high level speaker output to low-level input?

Also, my understanding was he was going to replace the Bose amp altogether....

hope this helps...
doc

 

I didn't use an LOC with my bose HU installations. I just cut an RCA cable in half and spliced the left and right + and - leads on the cut end of the RCA cable to the front and rear, left and right, + and - wires right before they entered the Bose amp. It has worked fine for both of my cars.

 

shhhhhhhhhh.... i secretly have stock in LOC technology.... j/k.

I guess I was told by the original G35 DD'ers back in 2004 that you needed to ideally convert high level outputs to low level inputs for aftermarket amp addition.... made sense.

doc

 

^ You are right about converting high level to low level (as with the non-Bose systems) but the Bose HU is very low level already at about 1 volt. Even the cheap aftermarket radios these days have at least 2 volts. If anything, a line amplifier might help with the Bose HU signal. A JL CleanSweep would do that.

 

thanks a lot guys, but i think im not smart enough to do all that. i read and re-read all your guys stuff and used the DIY section here and i think ill **** up more then ill improve. i think im gonna end up buying new door speakers with new tweeters then install my sub amp with a smaller sub (10inch, my 12 is way too big for our trunks i think). what do you guys think, it seems like that would be a lot easier...

i hate bose

 

I just did everything Doc mentioned above. It wasnt that it was difficult its that it was very time consuming. I was a complete newb to car audio prior to this but with the help in this thread and about 20 hours of labor i managed to install four new speaks, an amp, and everything that comes along with it. I wouldnt be all that quick to say the stock bose HU is crap, imho all said and done everything sounds real good.

In any case, id me more than happy to guide you along the way. Possibly not with the best advice, but what worked for me.

And to touch on Gilleys comments regarding not having to install a LOC, i believe thats because he used a JL Amp(correct?). Somewhere in the Stickies it mentions that the Bose HU puts out differential balanced signals, and only a few amps accept that type of signal. JL is one of them.

If you just want to get your feet wet, replace the speakers in the door with new components. With that youll get a taste of everything to come to do a full install...remove panels, cut into harnesses, splice and solder wires, and save yourself a bundle of cash by ordering it all on Ebay!

 

My Xtant amp is connected to my sedan's stock HU like that too.

 

sounds good guys. i think ill take ur advise, Jimmyyahoo, and just get front speakers with tweeters and install those my self. is there a thread DIY on that? or maybe just how to take the door panels off?

one more question guys: what do u guys think about running my RF 2 channel amp to power my stock 6x9s? worth the work and time?