Reggi914

iTrader: (3)

First of all please excuse my noob question, i know very little about car audio. Anways, i have a touring with Bose and i like it but dont love it. What can i do to get better sound quality? I do not want to change the head unit but i want better sound quality. Anyone who can help, i would appreciate it.

Thanks

bixby

iTrader: (2)

Welcome to the club.

You may keep your Bose HU and get excellent sound by replacing your front speakers, adding an amp and replacing the sub. The key with the sub is to NOT use the factory location if at all possible. However the factory sub location is a perfect spot for your new amp. You'll need to add a Bass *** to control the new & improved bass.

Oh, and I highly reccommend the Focal 165k2p's. Awesome sound.

Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

Replacing the front and rear 6.5" speakers followed by the whimpy woofer will help. The bad thing is that Boze has suppose to have equalized their receiver to compensate for the poor quality speakers - meaning a decent set of speakers will be bent out of shape with the equalizer.

I'm betwixed and between right now having started on the aft end changing out the two 6.5" speakers and subwoofer but kept the front and receiver/amp. The sound didn't get any worse ... but I know it's going to be a whole lot better when I'm done. I kept the large stock location but lined it with layers of fat matt and poly-stuffing. If that doesn't work out I'll do a closed box and give up half of that huge trunk!

The key is to buy a subwoofer designed for free-air vice one not if you're planning on leaving it in that rather large, rather open stock location.

I'm struggling tring to find amplifiers that meet my quality requirements that will fit inside the car still. I live in the desert so cooling is a bigger problem than in other locations.

gerthiekins

iTrader: (3)

i am also a hater of the stock stereo system i mean its ok but not wha ti am used to, first car to not have a custom system in since i was 16 and it sucks.

I am goign to save up a bit this year and wait to get my taxes back next year and do my stereo system with that but i am just not sure on what i want to do yet.

I am thinking of installing the minimac and a touchscreen where the nav would go, and maybe an aftermarket HU noto sure unless i could keep stock HU and hook it all up through that, that woudl be awesome. Then i woudl like to find one of those stealth boxes that go under the strut bar but i want it to be a single 12, does anyone know if that is enough air space for a JL 12w7?

bixby

iTrader: (2)

The only real issue keeping the Bose HU is you'll still not have any bass or treble response but the bass *** will take care of the bass & the treble is adequate.


I was pretty happy with mine as far as sound quality goes. And you really don't need to replace the rears at all. The key is the fronts, amp & new sub and if you can, put the sub under the rear strut bar. If you must use the factory location then at minimum have a nice inclosure made for it. You'll probably still be able to fit your new amp back there as well.

The only reason I did a "phase II" and replaced the HU was because of the inability to intigrate my aftermarket Nav and also stopping the parking attendants where I work from messing with my stereo which they did daily even though I complained on numerous occasions.

abcdeddie

What about stuffing an Infinity Sublink behind the driver's seat? I've heard good comments from others.

gerthiekins

iTrader: (3)

yeah i am eventually going to replace everything, when i do something i go all out so i will prolly just replace everything. i am thinking eclipse titanium 10 in subs on the under strut, and all 6.5 titanium eclipse compnenet speakers in front and just 6.5 titaniums in the back mmmmm thats gonna be mad loud.

jlimquest

iTrader: (2)

Check Frankmusic's Bose upgrade diagram below. I also added the Sirius digital system:

http://www.350zmotoring.com/forums/s...&threadid=9949

jkoc

if you replace the front and/or rear speakers, stilling using the bose amp and bose head unit, you'll get decent improvement, but at higher volumes the sound gets really metallic and ugly -- hurts the ears. the bose amp and/or headunit does some really retarded EQ'ing to it. . .. the only way to get a balanced sound is rip the bose amp and woofer amp and use a line convertor from the bose hu, then use your own amps to power the speakers and a new sub.

i replaced all the speakers and used the bose amp/hu.. wasnt fully satisfied due to the really harsh tones. upgraded to a new HU and the sound was MUCH better. then upgraded to an infinity basslink to cover the lows.

gerthiekins

iTrader: (3)

yeah i am huge on stereos and i think i am just going to wait until i can do it all right. i am going to rip it all out and redo everything. all new components, back speakers, subs all new amps and HU, but i am also installing a mac mini with a touchscreen in the nav hole as well. i am just not sure on what audio equip i am gonna get yet.

bixby

iTrader: (2)

Trust me. If you just do the amp, sub and fronts plus incorporate the bass *** you WILL be happy.

The only other thing is to also not use the factory tweeter location. They are to far away from the woofers to be affective.

You can always add the new HU later and either choose to keep the bass *** or remove it.

Oh, and you should most def listen to some Focal speaks. They blow Eclipse away and I know because Eclipse is what I had in one of my other cars. Put some nice components in the front (Utopia's or 165k2p's) and later you can just put a set of their coaxals in the rear when you add the HU.

buletman

reggie, pm me, you can come check out my system...i have the 165k2p's and a 10w7...custom amp rack and subbox...we live close enough man...

later

gerthiekins

iTrader: (3)

mmm bulet man that sounds like a nice setup.

buletman

it's beautiful, on the eyes and the ears

here's some pics:
https://my350z.com/forum/showpost.ph...56&postcount=1

bixby

iTrader: (2)

That is very, very nice. So you're using the 300/2 for the front Focal's & the 500/1 for the sub and eliminated the rears all together? Did you put the tweets in the door panel with the woofers? That sub looks deep too. What's the performance difference between that sub and one that isn't as deep? I have the Alumapro 10" and it was important for me to keep as much rear cargo space as possible for the golf sticks. I get plenty of bass (for me anyway) but I'm only using the 300/4 to drive it plus my Focal coaxals in the rear (which I really don't hear over the 165k2p's).

The amps look awesome too. Why did you decide to do that versus putting them in the factory sub location?

buletman

I was worried about over heating and the JL amps are so beautiful (especially since they come in chrome now) that I figured why not put em there...as far as the sub goes, I haven't heard any other alternatives besides the stock bose, so the sub kicks *** compared to that one, but compared to one that doesn't use as much space, i'm not so sure, but I didn't want to get 10w6v2 as I wanted to go high end, and while two 10w6v2 is prob 5x better than my 10w7, it would have been lots more money cause of 1000.1 amp two subs compared to 1, plus i got 10w7 for 300 bucks brand new from a distributor i know... I do have the tweeters in stock location, and I'm no expert, but it really is a gorgeous sounding system and the only thing i would change is maybe getting 165k3p and getting kick panels...I was told bose did quite some engineering in designing where tweeters should go anyway... rears are eliminated, and you can't tell the difference, it still sounds good, only thing rears might do is help out passenger side which sounds a bit empty compared to driver side cause of staging set up...cargo space is not so important to me, if it was, i wouldn't have gotten the Z in the first place, but that's just me and my needs, everyone is different...I hardly put anything in the trunk anyway cause i don't have a grill and i'm afraid for my sub anyhow lol...I hope I answered all of your questions, and if you have anymore, don't hesitate to ask...

Chad

bixby

iTrader: (2)

Well you've done a great job. It looks as good as I know it sounds

buletman

ty kind sir...reggi, like i said, just pm me and i'll give you my cell...

Reggi914

iTrader: (3)

Thanks man i would love to meet up and check out your SICK setup. We will set something up for early July once i get back from a vacation. Thanks again, very much appreciated.

Reggi914

iTrader: (3)

Thanks so much for all the replys, helped me out a lot! Quick question, i do not want to put anything in the trunk because i need all the room. If i put the amp and sub in the stock bose location (behind drivers seat) is it really that bad? I would imagine it should be fine. Plus if using the stock head unit, how much better than stock can i expect the sound to be. Whats the approx price for replacing front speakers and getting an amp and sub?
Thanks again everyone!