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I am 100% sure I am not the first, and 100% sure someone has some photos and advice.
I want to change out my bose - and I am ready to change all wiring, amp and headunit.
Thinking of doing a Workshop12 Tablet headunit, all speakers, amp and the woofer.
Just wondering if anyone has done it and have some pointers, photos, vids or anything? Any help or pointers is appreciated
I have a 04 Roadster that arrived from California to cold *** Norway this last summer. I have only had it on the road 2 times before starting some small dent repairs etc
Now stereo is next.
New rims and tires will be fitted soon, exhaust as well (Aodhan DS06 and AO52 sticky rubber)
Thank you for the vid!
I was thinking more in the line of changing out all the wiring for speakers, woofer and amp due to changing from BOSE setup to something new
is there something wrong with the OEM speakers? obviously you're talking about better quality here. just asking because you could just start replacing speakers, the low-hanging fruit ones that are easy to get to. as I recall the amp is in the back? so that's easy access. are you also going to run all new wiring to handle better amps? should be a fun project! please share photos here.
If you're going with a tablet install, then you need some type of head unit or amplifier to process the input and send sound to the speakers. Depending on how in-depth you want to get, you could simply use the tablet to control a standard 4 channel head-unit and wire those 4 channels to the front and rear where you will be replacing the OEM Bose speakers. Use the RCA outputs on the head unit and run it to a dedicated amplifier for a new subwoofer.
Or, you could use a 4 channel + 1 mono amp with the head unit, a 2-channel amplifier and a 2-channel +1 sub channel amplifier, and so on and so on.
BUT don't just throw a free-air sub in the stock location behind the seat. It will rattle everything to death and sound terrible. Some people have tried to "seal" that area with dynamat or other sound deadening material and it's still trash. Your best bet is to build a small box that fits back there. There are some good threads floating around here for subwoofer installs in that area using custom boxes.
I am 100% sure I am not the first, and 100% sure someone has some photos and advice.
I want to change out my bose - and I am ready to change all wiring, amp and headunit.
Thinking of doing a Workshop12 Tablet headunit, all speakers, amp and the woofer.
Just wondering if anyone has done it and have some pointers, photos, vids or anything? Any help or pointers is appreciated
I have a 04 Roadster that arrived from California to cold *** Norway this last summer. I have only had it on the road 2 times before starting some small dent repairs etc
Now stereo is next.
New rims and tires will be fitted soon, exhaust as well (Aodhan DS06 and AO52 sticky rubber)
Thanx anyone!
350z in Norway
Doing a stereo upgrade is pretty simple. Especially if you're swapping out Bose and ready to re-do everything from the HU to amps, speakers, wiring. I say that because the Bose, while a decent system back in the day, it's pretty lacking now that the last Z rolled off the production line some 15 years ago.
The Bose system runs some weird impedances (amp, speakers, etc) so to do it right, you start from scratch as existing hardware is incompatible with aftermarket HUs. (There is a way around that using a product called a PAC ROEM but since you're replacing everything, won't discuss that here.)
I have no knowledge of in-dash computers but suffice to say that if there's RCA line outs (low level, bass, etc), it should be pretty straightforward.
Only recommendation I'd make is to focus your attention on the number one improvement (even to a stock system): speakers. You can do a pretty simple HU/amplifier combination (and good wiring of course) but if the speakers aren't good quality, everything else is a waste of money. In my various cars, I've run basic two way Pioneers, JBLs, Infinitys and up to some not-quite-audiophile-quality units. My favorites for what I listen to in the car: Focal. But YMMV depending on type of music and whether you're doing straight MP3 or Hi Res Audio like FLAC or ALAC. If you're doing Hi Res (and I'd suspect that you are/can since you're talking about a computer with lots of memory and storage), you simply must have the best speakers you can afford else your investment isn't up to the value of using Hi Res sources.
Not going to reinvent the wheel here so just go here if you want to learn more about how to upgrade your Z's sound system.
is there something wrong with the OEM speakers? obviously you're talking about better quality here. just asking because you could just start replacing speakers, the low-hanging fruit ones that are easy to get to. as I recall the amp is in the back? so that's easy access. are you also going to run all new wiring to handle better amps? should be a fun project! please share photos here.
When I got it from the US it had(still has) a 2-din Kenwood unit that seems like of the first ones made. Haha, the interface is ooold.
and only 1 speaker(right door), is working. Checked wires on the HU but no luck.
know that the original setup is not the greatest being that we now are in 2024, Im thinking just a redo.
i’ve heard the BOSE setup wont let me just swap speakers due to Ohm, so prepared to just change all wiring and amp.
never done a full stereo job before, just swapped HU’s and Speakers/Subs. So just don’t wanna mess it up
If you're going with a tablet install, then you need some type of head unit or amplifier to process the input and send sound to the speakers. Depending on how in-depth you want to get, you could simply use the tablet to control a standard 4 channel head-unit and wire those 4 channels to the front and rear where you will be replacing the OEM Bose speakers. Use the RCA outputs on the head unit and run it to a dedicated amplifier for a new subwoofer.
Or, you could use a 4 channel + 1 mono amp with the head unit, a 2-channel amplifier and a 2-channel +1 sub channel amplifier, and so on and so on.
BUT don't just throw a free-air sub in the stock location behind the seat. It will rattle everything to death and sound terrible. Some people have tried to "seal" that area with dynamat or other sound deadening material and it's still trash. Your best bet is to build a small box that fits back there. There are some good threads floating around here for subwoofer installs in that area using custom boxes.
I hope you have a decent budget.
I’m thinking of duing the Workshop12 tablet kit, amps, speakers and sub. Did not know about the woofer build being needed. Thanks for the tip!
I’ll check with Workshop 12 if their wiring kit would be «plug and play» for a new amp, or if I need to do a bunch of homemade stuff.
I have a first gen Cayman, '06, which has a ridiculously overengineered audio system. fiber optic lines everywhere! lol. The speakers are driven by fiber. it's ridiculous. so when I installed an aftermarket head unit, I had to get an adapter to convert the fiber signals to regular speaker lines. so the head unit outputs surround 5.1 I think via wires, and that's converted to fiber out to the speakers. crutchfield has some amazing adapter kits if you need something check them out. that kit made the steering wheel controls on my OEM wheel work with the aftermarket unit.
I have a first gen Cayman, '06, which has a ridiculously overengineered audio system. fiber optic lines everywhere! lol. The speakers are driven by fiber. it's ridiculous. so when I installed an aftermarket head unit, I had to get an adapter to convert the fiber signals to regular speaker lines. so the head unit outputs surround 5.1 I think via wires, and that's converted to fiber out to the speakers. crutchfield has some amazing adapter kits if you need something check them out. that kit made the steering wheel controls on my OEM wheel work with the aftermarket unit.
Sounds similar to the M.O.S.T. Bus system in my Volvo. Literally, everything is connected through a system wired in series with a fiber optic line. If there is a break anywhere, the entire system doesn't work. I was planning on upgrading the audio system to give a little bump to my grocery-getter/baby-hauler dad wagon and it was going to get way too involved and not worth it in the end.
Stereo Roadster - Not the first
