I have taken the plunge and upgraded my sound system and got rid of the crappy bose speakers and sub in exchange for aftermarket speakers, sub, and amps on my '02 GLE.

Here is my new setup:

Front Doors: Diamond Audio D661S 6.5" Component speakers
Rear Doors: Diamond Audio D661I 6.5" Integrated speakers
Subwoofer: Diamond Audio D610D4 - 10" Subwoofer
Sub Amp: Alpine MRP-M650 (600W RMS into 2 Ohms)
4 Channel Amp: Alpine MRP-F550 (90W RMS x 4 into 4 Ohms)
Line Out Conv: Audio Control LC6i
Ipod Adapter: USA SPEC PA11-NIS
Siruis Receiver: Sirius Stilleto-100
Capacitor: Tsunami 1.2 Farad
Power Wiring: 4 Gauge from battery to trunk and capacitor and 8 gauge from distribution blocks to amps.

I also used a lot of Dynamat in the head liner, doors, and floor. I will also be putting dynamat in the rear deck, trunk, and license plate. Hard to believe, but that single 10" sub is extremely powerful and is over powering causing my rear deck to rattle a lot. My system sounded better with my new front door speakers (amplified by Alpine Amp) alone when compared to the entire Bose 4-Door Speakers, AMP, and Subwoofer.

I installed all the audio myself and had Ultimate Electronics install a remote start alarm system for me: Viper 7900.

I am now pretty familiar with what works well for wiring such a system, so if anybody wants more info, let me know.

This sound system sounds way better than the stock bose setup, but unfortunately, I had to keep the factory head unit because my car has factory navigation, and the AC controls are integrated into the Navigation Unit. I feel like having my factory bose head unit is not allowing my aftermarket gear to reach it's potential in high fidelity, so I have now purchased a Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty.1 processor to improve the quality of the signal going to my amps. I was told that this unit will make my system sound much better. I am hoping for better frequency response and more control of the equalization of my system. I will update this post once I have that unit installed and let you all know how it performed.

Has anybody else installed a Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty.1 or .2 processor? One of the installers at a local car audio shop told me my system would sound a lot better with this unit. Any thoughts?

 

Welcome...

Plenty of people keep their factory HU. Processing always helps, but you get the largest marginal difference when running an active set up. You can only do so much with the flat Bose sound, and unfortunately because factory navi, your hands are tied. Good luck with it.

 

1) Did you use the stock speaker wires from the bose amp for the components?
2) When you pop out the factory 6.5's what's the process to get the new one's in? When you put the 6.5's in the door did you build an mdf ring? If so does this ring go on top of an existing bracket, does anything else need to be removed besides the stock speaker?

 

I personally don't have Bose but I ran all new wiring anyway.

Yes, 3/4" MDF rings. Replaces the plastic bracket that's there. You can make them using the stock bracket as a template and then use nuts/bolts on the factory holes, or just make straight rings and screw through the sheet metal to mount to the door.