This is my first post..I was a C3 Corvette guy, but wised up..I just traded it for a 1988 IROC Z It has a Delco/Bose system...I want to service the speakers in the kick panels, they sound muffled...I know its a Bose box..but cannot figure out how to remove them. does anyone has any pics or diagrams?

 

Are you wanting to remove them from the kick panel itself or remove the speakers out of the box? To remove them from the kick panel, there is a phillips screw going thru the center of the box(should be able to feel the spot by rubbing your finger around that area) and another screw in the sill plate and the box comes right out. To remove the speaker, there is a bunch of screws going around the perimeter of the box on the back of it. Might have to peel up the edge of the carpet around the back of the box to get to some of them and the box comes right apart that exposes the speaker and the amp. Sorry I dont have any pics of mine or diagrams but it is pretty straight forward to remove them.

 

thanks...I will check...there is a hole in the center of both kick panels, but no screw head, is that part of where the sound comes out?

 

Here is a couple pics to show you where the screws are. The first pic is the screw in the center of the box. Might need a longer screwdriver to get to the screw. The second pic is the screw in the sill plate. Remove those screws and the kick panel will come right out. Pics are for the passenger side and is the same for the driver side. Hope this helps.

 

Sorry for resurrecting this old post but I wanna connect my Bose kick panel speakers. My question is, How are your Bose speakers connected? How is it powered on? Could I just use the Blue Remote Turn on wire from the stereo to turn on the built in amp?

 

My IROC came factory installed, so there was a GM pig tail connector with three color wires. I assume one was power, one was for the amp and one for the audio. Honestly, I think we do better with running the sound to the dash pad level with 6x9 speakers. under the dash pad there two great positions for kick butt speakers.

 

How do u fit 6x9 in a 4x6 speaker mount under the dashpad?

 

sorry, you are right, it's a 4x6...the point is that the rear Bose speakers and box offer great sound up the rear glass and really over power the kick panel speakers. placing additional speakers under the dashpad will round out the front and rear. The technology in 4x6 speakers was not around in 88 and I think we you would be happier.

 

I just took apart the kick panels and got my subs out. I'm currently looking for new subs. I did it without taking out the box. I removed some interior trim and used a socket wrench to get em out. I just clipped the wires to get the sub out. Idk if i can find subs that line up with the screws

 

i'd be more worried about getting the right specs more so than the right screw holes; bose speakers are not typical ohm ratings and the box sizes are a bit small, so your output's going to be all over the place

 

how do i know if the ohms and watts will match up? I'm very bad with electronics and speakers. I'm not even sure what the amp is for the performance sound option i have. Also what is the wattage for the stock amp set up in this car if you guys know

 

i got 4 pins in my kick panel... its a factory option but i cant find the GM plugin to connect it....
so these Bose speakers are small subwoofers??

 

yeah small 5 inch subs they have 4 screws and a red and black wire going out

 

no such thing as a 5" subwoofer. If the 5 inch has no tweeter, then it is called a mid-range driver. If the 5 inch has a center mounted tweeter, then its called a full range speaker. If the 5 inch driver comes with a passive crossover and seperate tweeters to mount away or close to the 5", then that 2 speaker system is called a component speaker system.

 

a 5" subwoofer would be something like a basstube or bazooka tube, not a kick panel speaker.

 

but i still dont understand how to properly connect these kick panels?
it has 4 wires and i dont really understand what each are for...?

 

No worries. When I get home I'll take a picture of a diagram and post it. It's in the back of the Haynes 82-92 repair manual. But if you don't have it, I'll upload when I get home.

 

I have a set and I am pretty sure the harness runs to the amp. They seem to either have some sort of crossover or run all the way to the amp using 4 wires. Do you still have the factory amp for them?

 

Nope. The original Bose stereo had extra wires that came out the back of the stereo which was strictly for the kick panel speakers. When I get home I'm gonna take that picture and post up the wire guide. My plan was to T-Tap the speaker wires from the 4x6 speakers, ground the black wire, and connec the power turn on to the kick panel to the blue remote turn on from my stereo deck. But I'm not at that phase yet.

 

I have the build sheet and it says bose subwoofer package on it. And if you notice the switch is called a sub gain with the slider. I guess at the time those were considered subwoofers. They were made in japan btw says it on the back. There's a whole bunch of different color wires lying on the wheelwell behind the abs plastic you'll see it once you take off the kick panels follow them to the amp

 

I assume the IROC and Firebird wiring might be different but the location of the speakers is different (rear anyway). The amp for the IROC I thought might be in the rear? I truly don't now but I did have the Firebird setup at one point but sold it.... now I'm thinking I should have used it. Looking back it was a lot easier to hide than trying to find a Beechwood Bose setup for the rear (I have the fronts already).

 

i bought the care this winter it was in a real good condition just decided to strip off all the interior and there i found these, would be nice to hook these as i have all the other bose speakers in the car but am onlin runing the rear sail panel with an aftermaket deck (what the previous owner hooked up...)

 

diagrams would be nice as i dont have the Haynes, and it would probably help others one day in the futur

 

If you don't have the stock set up anymore you're better off going with an aftermarket set up. I had my subs refurbished thanks to a guy on this site. The stock set up when properly adjusted can sound pretty good. Crutchfield has good deals most of the time for aftermarket stuff

 

There is absolutely no need to go aftermarket if the OEM plugs are gone. I'm sure if the guy wanted to go aftermarket, he would of done it and not ask for the diagram for the wires. I'm gonna go and get my Haynes manual and take a picture and post up the diagram for the members who wanna keep the originals. Brb in 20 minutes.

 

Thanks Chevy and by the way ive seen in multple TPI thread that you seem to know lots about the Tuned Port Injection, is it ok if i PM you if i get any questions ?

 

Neighbor ain't home. He gots my dang manual. But rest assured. I'll get that manual for you. Sure. Pm me.

 

Here you go.

 

There it is. /\ /\

 

Thanks alot, now i know what ill be doing today lol

 

ok so if im correct, thers is an amplifier somewhere in the car? or is each kick panel equipped with a mini amplifier for each speaker? cause thers is this small silver box with chips ans relays inside the kick panel... lol just asking to make sure im not hooking these for notting

 

I just bought a set of these Bose kick panel speakers and am also curious about them.
Does each have a mini amp in it? Is that possible?
Can I upgrade these small "subs" in any way or do they put out decent bass for their size?

 

You have to watch, there is the amp and the ecm near the heater core box (stock) if you have that in the kick panels then the po put custom amps in the kick panels.

 

ill open it and take a picture when i have some time, Thnks Greek for the awnser

 

Wrong. There is a small amplifier inside the the kick panel box. If there is a box with wire coming out that is not inside the kick panel, then you have some aftermarket stuff. More than likely the box by the ECM is probably a passive crossover (seperates frequency signal to component speakers.

 

I'll be home at 1:30 pacific time. I can open my kick panel speakers and take a picture for you.

 

Thanks Chevy86. Now If I want to install these in my 86TA which did not have the system stock, is it too much work? The plug for the kick panel speakers have 4 wires coming off them, I'm used to working with 2 wires from a speaker, idk where to begin

 

2 wires are for the audio inputs. The other 2 are the power source (12 volt and ground).

 

I'll explain more when I get home in a bit. Currently driving home.

 

Okay. The chrome box is the amplifier. The way to hook up these kickpanel speakers is by T-Tapping into the speaker leads from the dashboard speakers. Many will say that this is a bad way to hook up speakers but it is pretty much harmless to the reciever (head unit) because the impendance isnt too low. But be care full. You must have a good ear to catch distortion. If you hear distortion at moderate volume levels, you may need to put an inline filter to filter out the low frequency bass. The first 2 pictures are t-taps in case your curious. The pictures that follow the t-tap pictures is what is inside my kickpanel enclosure.



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I think those kick panel speakers are 1986 versions of mini-subs. Correct me if I'm wrong but why would you put tweeters or mid range speakers by your feet (thats where subs usually go). And they have a mini amp for each speaker, and a ported enclosure, that all seems unnecessary for anything less than a sub. Yes they are small speakers, but Bose is known for getting big sound out of small speakers.
I don't really need any more tweet or mid range in my stereo system, so I'm hoping these can pack a punch, bass-wise. If not, I might see if I can fit some other speakers in there if need be.
I like the quick splice terminals there, but if I have to sacrifice any low-end, I'd rather just put them in the back of the stereo.
Thanks for the pics also btw.

 

You won't get no "real" bass. You'll get full benefits from mid-range frequencies. First of all, a ported enclosure reinforces low frequencies such as 80 Hz and all the way down to 40 hz. But frequencies that low need a lot of air the displace to hear the sound. Givin the fact that the speaker is pretty small, there isn't much air to move. Plus to make matters worst, the internal volume of the enclosure is waaaaay too small. In addition to that, the port is too long and too close to the wall. Plus the enclosure is made of flimsy plastic so there will be flexing at high volume thus losing bass volume. Yes Bose makes very good quality stuff. But if the equipment used doesnt jive, then you won't get top notch quality. Besides, that tiny amp inside probably pushes less than 50 watts RMS. Most head units push 45 watts RMS. so other than high volume distortion, there won't be much bass coming out from the kick panel. Oh, and some people do install tweeter in the kick panel to achieve a good sound spectrum. It's like door speakers. Some cars have them down low close to where a kick panel would be.

 

My 89 was equipped with the delco/bose system. The camaro amps are 25 watts. I upgraded my kick panel speaker/amp with the door speaker/amp combo from a 97 Cadillac STS. those are 100 watt amps. I cut the plugs off my speakers and wired them to the Cadillac units. I used my kick panel enclosures. The only mod is the amps are thicker so I had to cut the enclosers to make everything fit. I re-glued the carpet so you really can't tell what I did. I also installed the STS's 6X9 in my sail panel. Again I had to cut the wiring going to speaker and wire my plug on the Cadillac speaker and move the wires from the rear deck to the sail panel. The system sounds amazing compared to the original. I went from the 4 25 watt speaker/amp set up to the 4 100 watt setup used in a Cadillac. I did this 2 years ago and it still works great.

 

Thanks for the lesson, that all just made a lot of sense. My stereo lets me adjust the frequencies to my front speakers, so if I tweak them for the kick panel ones I should be able to avoid the distortion and add some more surround sound. I just hope its worth it to add them. I've already got 2- 6x9s and 2-4x6s all with tweeters in them, I hardly need any more high frequency.
Also, are the speakers paper like our stock ones are? if so its just a matter of time til they blow

 

So you had no dash speakers in your 89 Camaro? Is the Bose system just the two rear and two kick panel speakers?
If so thats pretty weak.

 

Thats correct it came with the four small speakers. The 6X9 was a nice up grade from the small rear speakers. I also added a separate 10inch sub in the well area. It's tapped in from the head unit at the right rear speaker. The amp is crossed so it's only amplifying the low frequency sound. So bass isn't a problem. I have a head unit from a newer Camaro that had the CD Player. The CD player is starting to wear out and it won't play certain CD's otherwise it looks stock and sounds way better than the stock setup. There is no doubt the newer Cadillac speakers with there bigger amps are a vast improvement over the original setup.

 

Pretty weak? Ha! Some people don't even have a stereo or speakers.

 

Haha, for the first time in 5 years I am actually one of those people. I'm in the middle of a full interior restore right now. Seats, carpet, plastic, console, dash, heater box, its ALL out right now. I find myself singing more than usual too, probably to counteract the stress.

ive got 6x9 and 4x6 Alpines and a Kenwood Excelon and it sounds great. i shouldnt even be complaining about bass because my configuration works pretty good already. I guess the grass is always greener eh.