Colonel

I would like replace the speakers in my 5th gen but keep the factory Bose HU because of the neighborhood I live in. I have a few questions.

1) I need to replace the A pillar speakers, front doors, rear doors. I have no idea what the A pillar size is or what type of speaker to use?

2) For the door speakers, can I replace and still use factory wiring/harness for the speaker? What colors are associated with +/-?

3) I have not pulled the door, is their any amps or other items I will have to content with in the connection of new speakers. SHould I buy a bag of the plastic door clips when I re-install? How many are per door?

4) Without getting obscene prices, what are good speakers that deliver good sound (I know its fairly objective) for what the Bose can provide.

Any other suggestions/comments would be appreciated in helping me do this small project.

Thanks for the time!

CanuckAMP

I wouldn't consider this type of an upgrade. It will sound worse than stock. The reason is that all aftermarket speakers are 4 Ohm drivers. The stock Bose system uses separate amplifiers that are matched to 1 Ohm speakers. When you put 4 Ohm speakers onto your amps you will cut your power output on your amps by 3/4. Assuming your system is 50Wmax per amplifier that means now afther the "upgrade" to aftermerket speakers your amps will deliver about 12.5Wmax.

The only way to really upgrade onto a Bose system without changing the deck is to replace the speakers and the Bose amplifiers as well.

Colonel

would it be worthwhile to remove the external/per speaker amp and put in speakers? Or does the HU not have enough "juice" to properly driver the speakers.

Its a shame that the Bose system is not very tweakable. I have to leave everything on my car looking as stock as possible due to my neighborhood. Kinda sucks.

Thanks again.

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

Well, you can achieve the stock look with certain head units. I have an Eclipse and it blends in with my dash rather nicely. Like you, I am in an area where that type of thing can happen. I wanted something that would not call attention to the fact I have a nice radio in the ride.

But Canuck is correct. The Bose has 1 ohm drivers with their own separate amps. Most head units can only run under 4 ohm loads. What would have to happen is that you would have to upgrade the speakers in the stock locations. Stick with a stock size (I believe you have 6.5" in the front). Then get yourself a nice 5 or 6 channel amp from JL Audio, a/d/s, Phoenix Gold, Precision Power.

CanuckAMP

Actually that's not possible either. The reason being is that the Bose headunit doesn't supply any amplified signal to drive speakers. What it puts out is a differential balanced low level signal that the Bose amplifiers use as an input and then amplify and deliver to the speaker. The voltage amount being delivered is similar to the line level output signal voltage sent out by aftermarket decks via their preamp output RCA's.

Colonel

are
1) to replace the whole system. (not to desirable)
2) get an external amp and run wires all over the car
from the head to the amp and back to the speakers.

Is option 2 even valid? Seems like it would, but be a pain in the *** to accomplish.

CanuckAMP

Option 2 is viable and running new speaker wires into the doors is not much of a problem in actuality. Be sure to use new speakers as well though if you're going to go this route. A 1 Ohm stable amplifier is very expensive and will certainly overpower the stock speakers.

Keh mon

does overpowering stock speakers (bose or not) cause any problems at all? like distortion? or does distortion come from underpowering. I had been under the impression that it was ok to overpower speakers, but underpowering causes problems.

CanuckAMP

Underpowering can cause premature failure due to increase in distortions when the system is played loud. Conversely overpowering speakers can also cause premature failure. It's not necessarily the distortion or clipping of an amplifier that kills speakers, it's the point where they either can't dissipate the heat generated within their voicecoils or become mechanically stressed by being overdriven. Now this can be caused by both an undersized amplifier driven into clipping, but it can also be caused by a large amplifier driving a speaker to the same stress level.