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Instead of ripping out the radio system that came with my car as most do, I decided to "freshen up" the Bose system.
Since the Bose system came with only 4 speakers, I went ahead and added new Infinity Kappa 462.9CFP 4x6 speakers and Monster 42XLN speaker wire under the dash to replace the old Pioneers I threw on years ago. The passenger side speaker went in with ease but the driver's side was too tall. Fortunately the dash pad held the speaker in place with no modification; caution should be excersized while tightening the bolts that hold the pad in place as not to crack it. The new Monster speaker wire is very thick but it wasn't any trouble to route it to each of the Bose kick panels to each corresponding 4x6 speaker.
Once it was all hooked up, the sound difference was amazing. I hooked up my MP3 player with it's cassette adapter and the music was super clear and eliminated the infamous alernator whine while driving too. Turns out the older speaker wire was close to a hot wire and the extra insulation on the Monster speaker wire helped a lot too.
The only thing to do now is replace the Pioneer 3 ways I have under the sail panels and put some Inifinity's in their place along with the Monster speaker wire. I'll keep you posted.
Finally finished with the sound system upgrade. I got the Infinity Kappa 693.9i- 6x9's yesterday.
I went ahead and replaced the old Pioneer 100w 3 ways that I had installed a long time ago. Since the new Monster speaker wire was thicker, it took me a bit longer to route and hook up to the existing Bose speakers in the hatch area. But after about three hours (novice here), I fired up the radio and I was very impressed. Everything working together made all the songs from my mp3 player sound fantastic. I was able to hear the individual recording quality of every song from crappy to digitally excellent. Now I can totally tick off everyone in the car.
My car came with the Bose system option which is the two front kick panel speakers and the two rear deck speakers.
I added the 6x9's and 4x6's about a year after I bought the car in 1993. I was 20 and wanted a louder radio. LOL.
All I did was connect each speaker to each Bose speaker as they have their own amp already. Ex. left dash 4x6 to the lower left Bose kick panel speaker so on so forth.
The thicker wire does make a difference as it carries the signal much better to the speakers and is better insullated than say the stock crappy home stereo type speaker wire I used before. Btw, it is true on how a lot of people on this site that say to make sure not to have speaker wires close to a constant power wire or you'll get the dreaded alternator whine when you are driving.
I have eliminated that problem with this set up that I have just completed. But, each person has different preferences of speaker and wire. Also, if your car doesn't have the extra sound deadening, you might want to add it to minimize rattling. My car same with the quiet sound group that has more than the usual sound proofing in other F-Bodies that don't that the extra insulation. Dyna Mat or the other brands mentioned on these boards.
Oh no I'm really excited about giving my audio system a boost, and I wan't to do work on it, and tear apart what ever I have to to do so.
The only thing is that I want to keep my stock radio, so I would have to boost that too, but thats fine with me.
I want to retain the stock look to the car, but I don't want people to know that I have an audio system in it until I turn the radio on.
If I get it my way, I want it to be like it was, exactly stock, but sounding brand new with an extra kick and clarity that wasn't there when it was new.
Theres so much that I can do with it, but I think I'm off to a good start.
So far I got 3-way 150 watt Pioneer Speakers for the front(4x6's) and 4 way 300 watt Pioneer's for the rear(6x9's).
I don't have an amp yet, but I'm working on one.
I wish I could get something like the built in amps like you have but I'm just not sure about it, or how I would wire the whole system to give me the best sound.
I said in my thread that I don't care about getting the absolute best sound by getting an after market head unit, and I don't because I refuse to get an aftermarket HU, but I do want to get the best sound with my stock HU, so that means that everything else can go, but the radio stays.
Now thats a bit long winded lol.
Oh and by the way, I'm 17, so I'm in the same boat as you when you were 20 for wanting a louder stereo system! Haha.
Right on. Well I didn't want to get rid of my Bose system and I am fine with my Ipod on a cassette adapter I got. Honestly, you really can't hear the cassette adapter going when the music is playing and hey, everything sounds really clear. There are plenty of places where you can hide an amp in our cars.
Yes, there def. is, I just need to get up and go do it. It would be good to just tear apart the interior and clean it and protect it and put down extra sound deadeners and rewire it and stick it back together and call it a day.
It will be good for me to learn how to do it, and it will be good for the car and the speakers, and you know, things to just keep the car going!
After five years, I decided to try a different type of speaker wire than the Monster Cable wire I have in the car now. The reason I wan't to do this is to prove if the Monster wire is over hyped (and as it is, really thick). Going to be replacing it with Mediabridge 16AWG Speaker Wire which is advertised at 99% oxygen free copper construction. It can be used for multiple applications like automotive and home use. So we'll see if there is a difference in sound quality or identical to that of the Monster Cable brand. Besides, I got tired of the thickness of the Monster wire.
Took out the Monster wire from the front speakers today and put in the Mediabridge wire. There is a difference in sound quality right off the bat. Not super major, but a noticeable difference. Now off to replace the rear wiring which should be easier than the front was.
I'm sort of doing the same thing, but my head unit and two of the amps were missing when I bought the car. I tested all of the speakers and they all work great, so I am going to run them off of an Alpine KTP-445U 4 channel amp. The yet to be determined dash and sail panel speakers will be ran off of the new head unit. I am also going to re-wire the entire car with better wire and soldered terminals.
Done with the rear sail panel speaker re-wire and hooked up to the rear Bose lid. The sound from the new wires seems to be a bit more crisp. Although, in my infinite wisdom of trying to make it look factory stock and hide the new wires, I lost a couple of trim screws, and the rear carpet being the seats needs to be re-positioned which by the time i was done, I didn't want to deal with it. I just tucked it in sloppily and will finish up tomorrow.
The only way to tell for sure would be to use a scope and a sine sweep to test response. It's too easy to fall prey to the experimenter-expectancy effect with these kinds of changes without empirical evidence. Much like the expected "seat of the pants" increase when someone installs an airfoil or changes to synthetic oil.
Not saying it didn't make a difference, just saying that you expected it to sound better so it is more likely that you would observe it as such. After many years building and judging car audio, I can tell you that I agree about high dollar wire being over hyped.
Agreed on the overpriced and over-hyped wiring. I paid over $100 for the Monster wire back when I purchased it. This new wire, I paid under $30.
Sound differences and expectations. My original plan with the re-wire was just to get rid of the bulky and thick Monster Wire I had previously installed. I didn't really expect a change in sound since Monster is supposed to be a really good product. There was a noticeable change afterwards. Not "oh my god super ultra fantastic rock concert it changed my life forever" but a bit more crisp. Could have been a number of reasons for it such as new wire, etc.
As for synthetic oil, and airfoils, now that's a different discussion.
Were the Bose speakers from that era good? Still good vs. modern speakers?
People don't seem to think much of Bose now. They seem to have a reputation of being overpriced and they've been surpassed by a lot of other companies. But back in the 80s they seemed to build themselves a really good reputation and were thought of as technological leader. The first time I heard Bose speakers that someone installed in their home (small units embedded in the walls) in 1994, I was blown away by the clarity.
I've got a BOSE touchscreen in my 05 Trailblazer and think it sounds great. Certainly better than the factory GM system that was in my 04 Trailblazer. GM trucks has 2 different versions of BOSE: 'regular' BOSE and "LUX" BOSE; I configured the wiring in my truck so that I can run either type; didn't notice the "HUGE" difference that people claimed - they both sound pretty dam good for a factory installed system IMO.
I've noticed that the later ( late nineties + ) BOSE speakers seem to be better made than some of the earlier speakers.
I was looking at Crutchfield's website and found these speakers. They seem identical to the stock Bose units. They are 4" instead of the larger 4.25" Bose units and the rear of the speaker seems pretty slim but pretty sure it's also slightly bigger than the 1.5" Bose depth.
I've got a BOSE touchscreen in my 05 Trailblazer and think it sounds great. Certainly better than the factory GM system that was in my 04 Trailblazer. GM trucks has 2 different versions of BOSE: 'regular' BOSE and "LUX" BOSE; I configured the wiring in my truck so that I can run either type; didn't notice the "HUGE" difference that people claimed - they both sound pretty dam good for a factory installed system IMO.
I've noticed that the later ( late nineties + ) BOSE speakers seem to be better made than some of the earlier speakers.
A lot of people, particularly on another site, really rip Bose. They think that Cadillac needs to offer something better. And it does seem to be a fairly common opinion that they've fallen behind. That Bose name used to be pretty special. Remember that Wave Radio they used to push? Expensive little thing that looked really ordinary but produced amazing sound. I've heard that Bose stagnated and are now behind their rivals and are overpriced.
I had a Bose system in my 2004 CTS which was okay but the criticism did definitely apply: "No highs, no lows, it's Bose." But in my 2019 ATS I think the Bose sound is really good.
Best factory sound I have was in a 1996 Dodge Avenger coupe. Infinity sound system was really great.
4 OHM vs 2 OHM BOSE; Mounting depth is going to be really important inside the kick panels too......
What was wrong with your original Thirdgen Kick panel speaker(s) ??
Originally Posted by MY87LT
I was looking at Crutchfield's website and found these speakers. They seem identical to the stock Bose units. They are 4" instead of the larger 4.25" Bose units and the rear of the speaker seems pretty slim but pretty sure it's also slightly bigger than the 1.5" Bose depth.
The speakers up front have lost their good loud and clear sound. The rears are working fine even though I did replace them two years ago with Alpine speakers and they were a tight fit in the original enclosure. The amps on the kick panels are clean, with no capacitors leaking or bloated.
Mine are original to my car from the factory. But, now that you mentioned Corvette and the date of my speaker build, it could very well be from a Corvette.
Got lucky as the amps at the kick panels were still good. The speaker was dead though. Replaced with Alpine. I did have to cut a circular hole behind the box so that the new speaker magnet could pop out a bit and allow me to seal the kick panel back up to look stock. The new speakers have made a big difference.
So you never used the "match" brand above? Id like to replace the bose speakers in the kick panels, but i dont want to have to cut them up if possible.
So you never used the "match" brand above? Id like to replace the bose speakers in the kick panels, but i dont want to have to cut them up if possible.
Honestly, I can't afford the speakers I mentioned above. I didn't want to cut the box, but I am not too concerned about totally stock anymore. I'm on the improving my car for the current times trip while keeping it looking stock. No one will be the wiser on the speaker box as the back end is hidden. I haven't inserted the center screw that secures the kick panel speaker yet, so I'll snap a pic if I can tomorrow.
Yeah, id like to see that. Are you sure the magnet wont contact the sheet metal? Those speakers dont look expensive, i mean they dont even have a tweeter.
carbon fiber-reinforced plastic woofer cone with specialized rubber surround
3/4" silk dome tweeter
handles up to 45 watts RMS (140 watts peak power)
frequency response: 97-22,000 Hz
The extra orange and green wires connect to the Infinity Kappa speaker on the dash. It's the same on the right side as well. I didn't use heat shrink tubing but will be going back to it when I fully secure the kick panel. The speaker does come out a bit. I've owned my car since I was 19 and now 47, chances are slim to none that I will sell it. Hence the butchering of the factory stock sound system.
How noticeable is the drop in volume ?? I know swapping BOSe for aftermarket speakers can be done,..... and has been done; but I also understand that it causes a significant drop in volume. From https://www.carstereohelp.com/aboutus.htm
Bose speakers can not be replaced with aftermarket speakers. Aftermarket speakers are four ohm. Bose speakers are one to two ohm. Installing an aftermarket speaker in place of a Bose speaker automatically cuts the Bose amplifier power 1/4 to 1/2 it's original output.
How noticeable is the drop in volume ?? I know swapping BOSe for aftermarket speakers can be done,..... and has been done; but I also understand that it causes a significant drop in volume. From https://www.carstereohelp.com/aboutus.htm
I didn't notice any drop in volume. They sound good. The only thing I was wondering if when you go to full front or full rear only on the balance, should either end still emit sound at a very low volume?
So the kick panel still attaches with the center screw? Is the magnet in contact with the sheet metal?
I do need to get a longer center mounting screw. As for the magnet touching the sheet metal, not really sure. I'm going to have to get like modeling clay to see how much it touches. and if it does, I have to get some sort of a non conductive spacer.
......The only thing I was wondering if when you go to full front or full rear only on the balance, should either end still emit sound at a very low volume?
Almost positive there is still sound from all 4 channels - even when the FADE is fully adjusted to all the way to the front or rear. I'll re-post here to confirm the next time I set up a factory BOSE for testing purposes.
02-23-2010, 02:28 PM
