Hey all, I just bought an 03 and I quickly found out the stock sub is blown. I have been in car stereo's for some time now and have always had systems in my cars so I think its time for an upgrade. I am considering putting in an open air 8" in the stock position with a new amp. The other option would be to throw in my 2 10's that I have already in a box ready to go, but at the same point I kind of want to be able to utilize the folding seats if necessary. I also plan on installing conponents up front with their own amp as well. What do you guys think is best? 8" or 2x10s?

Also adding in to this is a question. I have never worked with bose stock system but I want to keep my stock head unit but I think there is some sort of "plug" that is necessary to run amps of the stock head unit. Can someone please point me in the right direction. Much appreciation. Thanks for your opinions!!

Phil

 

There are plugs you can buy, but theyre not necessary. The Bose head unit is a low level out so you can simply buy a very small set of female-female RCA's and splice them into the factory wiring to give yourself RCA outputs. Do this for all 4 speakers, then use the RCA output (if applicable) from the 4 channel to feed your sub amp. However, I STRONGLY advise against anything along these lines. You may have had other factory head units that have decent output, but in a maxima, this is going to be a HUGE downfall. If I were in your shoes Id get rid of ALL Bose, most importantly the head unit, before even thinking about subs.

As for the sub though, it really depends how much bass you want. Infinite baffle is going to take a little more work to sound good, a good bit of deadening, and wont give you a deep boomy bass but itll sound clean. The 10's are going to be simply that, 10's...similar in any car.

That being said, Id say use what youve already got if you like it. Theres a ton of room under each front seat. Throw your amps under there, put some male/female quick disconnects on the speaker wire going to the sub, and call it a day, so you can take the box out if necessary, and still not worry about the amps.

Good luck

 

Get creative. Take one of your tens, or both, and build fiberglass backed enclosures that fit on either side of the trunk (aim the subs towards the front of the car). If you don't have enough time to really do that, go ahead and go with the quick disconnects.