Hello Everyone,

I'm looking to upgrade my audio experience and would like to receive some guidance and suggestions from the community. I have a 2003 Coupe with the Bose system. In 2020, with significant help from the forum, I installed an aftermarket head unit (Kenwood Excelon DPX594BT) with JDM double din. My hand was forced on that one due to the climate control circuit board failure that's common and made all of my **** go haywire. My audio improved slightly after the head unit upgrade. But, though it's nothing special, I know the head unit is capable of much more with some additional upgrades. To the best of my knowledge, the remaining components of the audio system in the vehicle are the stock OEM Bose garbage. I suspect one (or both) of the Bose rear deck woofers are torn and perhaps others are damaged as well. Another issue I have is the loss of audio altogether during the colder months - the sound will randomly be restored after its warmed up. No idea what the cause of that is, maybe the amp?

After doing some research on the forum, I've come to the following conclusions:

• There's no point in upgrading anything else unless you upgrade the amp.
• The front door speakers are the best location to upgrade and will provide the most noticeable improvement.
• The rear deck "woofers" are trash and replacing with 6x9 subs doesn't work well. Dedicated subwoofer is the only route if more bass is desired.
• Putting speakers in place of the rear deck woofers isn't advised and can mess with the sound experience.
• The entire system is 2 ohms. I'm not super familiar with audio terminology so this doesn't make much sense to me.

Does all of this track with what others have learned? If so, it sounds like the best use of my money would be to replace the factory amp with an aftermarket one (4 channel?), replace the front door speakers, and replace the front door tweeters. In addition, unplug/disable the rear deck woofers and possibly the rear side speakers as well (if damaged).

My goal is to have quality audio, where it matters, and to get the most out of my head unit. Bass is important to me but I do not wish to install a dedicated subwoofer. I am handy and intend to do all the work myself, but I would like to avoid running custom wiring or any drilling into the body of the car if avoidable.

I appreciate any feedback you have on the conclusions of my research and recommendations or suggestions to help me achieve my goals. Thanks!

 

Welfare check on g35driver community!!!

Just wanted to update the situation in the event someone replies. I have purchased a set of 2-way component speakers to replace the factory front door speakers & tweeters (Pioneer TS-A1607C A-Series 6.5" 2-Way Component Speaker System). 80 watts RMS. So, I should be set from a speak perspective. I'm not opposed to upgrading the rear 6.5s but have no intention to do so for the time being.

That leaves me with a decision about what to do with the amp. I could just install the new components and call it a day, but all my research compels me to upgrade the Bose amp. So, my new ask is for suggestions and guidance for an aftermarket amplifier to go with my Kenwood head unit and the new Pioneer components.

• How much power would I need to run the Pioneer components and stock Bose rears and "subs"?
• How many channels? The components would take up 2, another 2 for the rears, what about the "subs"? Do I need 4? Or maybe do 5/6 to have headroom to add a sub down the road.
• Would I be replacing the Bose amp? Or is it adding to it and running 2 amps? The sticky for adding a sub retains the Bose amp but taps into it before it.
• Is a mix of 2ohm and 4ohm speakers a problem? The new components are 4ohm but I've read the stock Bose system is 2ohm. How would this work and would I need anything special to accommodate it?

 

It's a big undertaking as I'm sure you are aware. If I were you I'd try your new door speakers with the existing Bose rig first and see what you get. The amp shouldn't care if its driving 2 or 4-ohms although it may be slightly quieter. (Fade forward!)

If you don't already have it, grab the FSM from here:
https://www.nicoclub.com/service-man...F2003%2Fav.pdf
Scroll down below the "viewing window" and click on "Click here to download a copy"

In there you'll find all the info on your Bose system (2nd half of the book after the Base system). Just to get you thinking about it, it looks like your Bose amp is 6-channels - front doors x2, "rear speaker"s x2 and "woofers" x2. And I believe the amp gets 4 full-range channels of input - L & R front and L & R rear - from the head unit so there are no active crossovers involved. Those shelf-mounted woofers probably have capacitors on them acting as low-pass filters and your front door 2-way speakers also have passive crossovers.

Good luck!

 

One possible correction in what I said there ... the 2 "woofer" outputs from the Bose amp may already be "low-passed". I kinda doubt it but I can't tell from the manual.

 

Thank you very much for the reply. That's kind of what I'm leaning towards as well. Can't hurt to start with just the front speakers and see how it goes. I'm going to have the panels off already to do door lock actuators.

Still curious to hear others thoughts on the amplifier. Hope @Wrathernaut is still out there dropping audio knowledge!

 

Sorry, must have missed this when it first hit. I'm still around, just not 10x a day like I was when this forum was truly bumping.

A two-channel amp will be fine, but if you get a bridgeable four-channel amp it can do fine also. Those speakers are wired together, probably with a capacitor as a high-pass filter on the tweeter. It doesn't appear they're made to be run on separate channels (active crossover), so while you could do it that way with a four-channel amp, they're configured to be just wired together to a single channel.


At 80w RMS each side, you'll have plenty of headroom even with a 100w RMS x2 amp. So long as you don't crank the gains up and don't crank the volume up, you're fine with "overpowering" your amp. I've always been happy with RF Punch and Prime amps, especially for the cost. R150X2 | 150W Full-Range 2-Channel Amplifier | Rockford Fosgate (sonicelectronix.com)
Going without a woofer you won't really know what you're missing, but I won't go without one. It's like looking at a rainbow missing the blue, only you're listening to music without part of the audio spectrum. At least throw one of these under a seat: Kenwood KSC-PSW8 | 8" Under Seat Powered Subwoofer Enclosure (sonicelectronix.com)

 

Thank you, @Wrathernaut - you're a true gentle manne!

So let me get this straight - in layman's terms since I don't fully understand audio terminology:

• If I add an aftermarket amp to power the fronts, a 2-channel 100W RMS amp would be sufficient since the Pioneer components I'm installing have "in-line" crossover, meaning each door's woofer/tweeter only take 1 channel?
• If I want to add aftermarket amp to power the fronts plus allow for the addition of a subwoofer, I would want to get a bridgeable 4-channel amp. 2 channels for the components, and bridge the other 2 for the subwoofer?
• For installation, I can follow the Add Sub to Bose Coupe STICKY. I would need to run a power cable (what gauge? 4?) from the battery to the trunk and also tap into the blue connector wires going into the Bose amp (BEFORE the amp). I would splice RCAs into those wires and connect those to the new amp?
• In either case, am I essentially running two amplifiers? The Bose amp is still powering the rear sides and rear "woofers"?

 

Yes. The wires just split in a "Y" with one side going to the door speaker, and the other to the tweeter.
If the amp supports that mode, yes. Some require both sides to be bridged, but most will be ok in 3-channel mode. If this is your goal, a 300w RMS (75w x 4) 4-channel amp would be a good way to go.

Depends on the total power you're doing - 4 gauge will get you 600w at 8 feet, so there's capacity there to do a 300w amp and a small powered sub on the same line. Good reference is here: Recommended Power and Ground Cable Sizes & Speaker Wire Size and Length (the12volt.com)


If you keep the bose wired up, yes. You might be ok keeping the rear woofers going, but I wouldn't keep the rear sides powered with better speakers up front.

 

Any update?

 

Bots!