MetaOrbit

iTrader: (19)

Well, I went home (from college) for the weekend and decided to take my LCD TV and FM modulator out of the car. As it turned out, I hardly ever used it, so I figured I'd just get rid of it on Ebay. Well, I told my dad as I was bringing the parts in, and he said he wanted them to send them to his brother, and asked me how much.

I added it up in my head and he said that was fine. Well, I also had some Infinity Kappa 1" tweeters that I had bought a long time ago that I had been planning to put in for a while. Well, I finally got around to it, popped off the A-pillar, and found that the tweeters were too big. That and the fact they had a screw thread sticking out of the back of them made them practically possibly to install.

So, I went shopping with my parents later that day, and my dad and I go into a car audio shop. I ask him if he'd just be willing to get some tweeters and for me and have them installed. He said that'd be fine, so as of now, I have swapped out my stock BOSE tweeters for a pair of Kicker R13 (I think that's the model) tweeters.

It sounds so much better than stock. The highs are much clearer, and a lot less muddled. Still not as great as the amped Memphis components in my old car, but decent for the price, nonetheless. Hehe, it's nice having someone else install things for you, especially when you're not paying for it Ordinarily I wouldn't have anyone install this stuff period, simply for the fact that it costs money and someone else is in your car, but I knew the guy, and it all turned out all right.

So, after all that, if you want a simple and cheap upgrade to the soundstage in your BOSE system, swap out the tweeters. I know I'm not the first to do this, but I recommend it highly.


Now to work on that sub...

frankman

yeah i had a stereo shop put in 1" MB quart tweeters in my I35. sounds a lot better.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

i have a 2k2 non-bose, and i wanna throw in 2 tweets because my system is not loud at all and i dont have $ for a new hu right now. i think i will do this cuz apparently installing just tweets does make a difference.

CJLax

I've been looking to do this change to my car however I guess I'm not utilizing the search function properly. I want to change out my tweets only but need to know how do you wire in the new ones? What tweets will fit my car? Do I have to do a special install due to the fact that I have a Bose system. I've gone to a couple of local shops for car audio and they don't want to touch my Max because of my bose unit. Any help will be much appreciated.

Maximum Velocity

iTrader: (3)

The 5th gen BOSE system has each speaker amplified off of the HU, and each speaker is not individually amplified. Therefore you can change out each speaker (I'm not sure about the sub though) and retain your stock Bose HU.

Scrimbo

Actually, the amp is separate from the HU, but otherwise you're correct. In older BOSE systems, each speaker had it's own amp, which made them both expensive to repair and difficult to upgrade.

CJLax

So all your saying is that all I have to due is find a pair that will fit the tweets in the a pillar and replace. No special wiring needed?
Also does anyone have a list as to what tweets fit? I beleive that they are 1". Any brands to recommend would help. I also know that one must listen first, but all I need is a good starting point and naming some brands would really help me here. Thanks all

2k1i30

yea, i first swapped out my bose sub for some JL 12w3s and that alone did make the bose sound hell of a lot better...but after a few days i got sick of it and bought some MB Quart Premium components for the front ,5.25s for the back and a amp for it.. sounds like night and day. My next mission is to put some tweets in the rear pillar for more fill, id recommend u to try that too.

MetaOrbit

iTrader: (19)

1" tweeters should fit with no problem. Smaller will go in even easier.

Anyways, I still need to figure out what I'm going to do about that sub. I used to have the conventional huge box in the trunk and such in my old car, but this trunk is a little smaller, and has the pass through, which I'd like to keep functional. I'm thinking of doing a deck-mounted 8 inch sub and box, or <gasp> an Infinity Basslink.

I wonder though, whether the Basslink would be that different from what I already have..

DARKMETH

I too couldn't stand the lack of bass in my car so I tweaked my setup. I tapped into the low level signal from the bose amp and ran it into a separate amp to power my Kicker soloberick sub. Since it's a soloberick sub, the box is very small but delivers a huge amount of bass, specially in the 5th gen trunk. The key is to make sure that your amp has a croosover and that you can set the gain level to match the rest of the speakers so that it doesn't boom you away! End result, a nice add on to my Bose system that doesn't take up much space and makes a world of a difference...
Hope this helps.

juice

iTrader: (6)

Now to work on that sub... [/B][/QUOTE]

I switched the bose subwoffer for an 8 inch kicker comp VR (I think $60). I added an amp to that and it sounds great. No drilling just dropped it right in. Before that I had a 12 inch fosgate in the trunk and that sounded great but I wanted the trunk space. This sounds just as good if not better because its coming right into the car and not muffled by the back seats. Most people think I have some sort system in my trunk. I recommend trying this if you want more bass.

swallac2

Quote:

I switched the bose subwoffer for an 8 inch kicker comp VR (I think $60). I added an amp to that and it sounds great. No drilling just dropped it right in. Before that I had a 12 inch fosgate in the trunk and that sounded great but I wanted the trunk space. This sounds just as good if not better because its coming right into the car and not muffled by the back seats. Most people think I have some sort system in my trunk. I recommend trying this if you want more bass.

I checked your page, but no pics. You just dropped the sub in, no box? Or did you have to build the box? Is that Kicker a free air? I ask because I want to do it, and I would do it sooner if I knew I didn't have to build a box on the bottom of the decklid. Also, where did you draw your power for the new amp? Did you just tap the Bose Amp feed or did you run a wire from the front of the car.

Thanks
Steve

MetaOrbit

iTrader: (19)

Ditto on that post..

BTW - sounds like an awesome setup man. I've been told that dropping another sub in "free-air" wouldn't sound very good, but if this is what you did, I'm about to start ordering parts now..

If you did do it free-air, did the holes for the sub match up with the stock BOSE sub, or did you just drill new ones...do tell...do tell..

sascuderi

For me the bass is fine but the system needs more highs from the back. How would you add two tweeters to the back, say on the rear deck?

jefferdy1

I'm thinking of doing the same thing as you had done to your car. A couple of questions though.
1. Do you know where the installer put the crossovers for the tweeters during the install?
2. Not being an audiophile what exactly do the crossovers do and are they needed if I'm keeping the Bose HU with aftermarket speakers. I ask this because some sets includes crossovers and others do not.
3. What did you pay for the Kicker R13 speakers? There is an electronic place on e-bay that is based locally that is selling them new for $50.

TIA

MetaOrbit

iTrader: (19)

1. I'm not sure where the installer put the crossovers. I can't see them at all, so they're hidden well. I can't remember if they were more like inline capacitors or a big crossover unit, but if they were slim, I imagine he put them up in the A-pillars as well.

2. Crossovers filter out unwanted frequencies. Namely, in the case of tweeters, they filter out the low frequencies, the ones that could harm or damage a tweeter.

3. I think the list price was like $69 for the tweeters. I knew the price was high versus what I could find on the internet, but LOL, I wasn't paying and it was the convenience of buying them and getting them installed now (or then). $50 sounds like a fair price.