Hey guys....I was wondering if it's possible to upgrade the audio (speakers, sub, and new amp) while keeping the stock headunit? I want to upgrade the sound, but I like the clean look of the stock headunit. And just FYI....I have the Bose system.

 

most people upgrade the HU because its the weakest part. The components that come w/ stock are actually not bad. I did just that, and i like it. I plan on upgrading the front components and trashing the rear speakers all together and adding a 10 inch sub. It should be a 500 dollar job if done right..

 

i swapped out my speakers, amps, and wiring with my stock head unit...it sounds fine as long as you dont cut corners

 

i will always say that when it comes to stock headunits, the best things to do is to swap it out...

like modding anyting on a car, its always a trade off, often between stock looks versus performance...

say if you had a civic, so you want it to make it fast, so you turbo it, build a new engine, suspension, everyhign tricked out...then you are like...well, i want it to be a sleeper so i want to keep these 13" stock rims and wheels on...

waht would you get? a potentially fast car really limited by the crappy traction of stok wheels and tires...

doing the same with your audio system is much the same...if you do the rest, sure it will work, and heck, if you arent too discerning, you may acutally think its fine...but in most cases a very good amont of increase in performance can be had with even a moderately priced headunit

b

 

thats the last part of my install...

 

tag

 

I respectfully beg to differ.

In all my years I have never seen a poorer example of an amplifier or subwoofer then the ones I discovered in my 2005 350Z. The rear speakers were of poor quality but "good enough". The front door speakers were the pits and far less than the rear speakers. The tweeters were OK but were lacking a real crossover.


Yeah, that's the stock Bose subwoofer amplifier and not the pitch/yaw sensor - honest!


There is a single capacitor on the back of the stock tweeter to act as a 3dB/octave crossover.


Most of the front speaker is plastic framing.


The stock subwoofer is missing it's magnet! That large silver thing between the two speakers is one of the variable pole pieces from the Infinity - not the missing magnet!

I'm an electronics tech so I had to break open the "massive" rear amplifier that feeds the four fullrange speakers to see what quality of components I would find inside the Bose amplifier. I found IC circuit rather than power transistors to drive the speakers - meaning they have about 10-12 watts maximum output.


Looks kind of small ... wonder what's inside?


The amplifiers are those three IC circuits in the right middle - the "large" round silver things are just the capacitors.

 

That bose stuff is garbage

I'm writing up a HOWTO on using the factory hu with aftermarket amps/speakers. I'm using an AudioControl LC6 and grabbing the signal right off the back of the deck (I removed the bose amps and speakers) and its as clean as you could ask for and the LC6's hot output lets you keep your amp gains low.

The remote signal wire on the factory HU is weak and will not activate aftermarket gear but the LC6 will act as an amplifier for the signal.

 

derek, while the LC6 is a fine piece, one thing you cannot get is a flat response, i have seen response graphs on many factory haedunits, and its a bit choppy, espeically with drop offs at the low end...

you can get an okay response from what youa re doing, perhaps even a better one from a cleansweep, but i still strongly believe a good headunit will easily outperform the stock headunit even with the LC or CS.

in the end, it all comes down to what people want right? but for my ucstomers who say they truly value sound, there is rarely a time that i kept the factory ehadunit...i reserve those situations where it is literally impossible or MUCH MUCH too expensive to change out the factory head...

b

 

What about swapping a non Bose HU with a Bose one? Would that require i install an amp, or can they be simply swapped?

 

I do plan to eventually replace the factory HU... but it will be a while before I do that.

I share your concern about flat frequency response. That is the main reason I grab the signal before the bose "amp", not after, since it applies a lot of EQ in order to compensate for the crap speakers. The HU itself may very well have some issues with getting a flat response (no telling what Clarion is doing in the output stage) - I'd definitely like to run some tests to see just how flat it is. I've got some audio test CD's, but I don't have an RTA.

 

From this post, it seems that if I replace my factory bose speakers, sub, and amp that I can get much better sounding system. I like the clean look of the factory HU but I don't plan on replacing it anytime soon. Also, what if I just replaced my front door speakers, and highs then added two 10" subs, would I get a much better sounding system. I want some half descent sounds in my 06' Z and it's difficult trying to do it with the stock head unit. Could anyone please elaborate on this topic?

 

Bose does make some ok stuff. Nothing great. Especially for the money they charge! I do have to say that their wave radio is one of the best small portable radios I've heard. Their home theather stuff is way over priced for what it is. You can get a much better setup for less money.

Bose stays in business because of their name and advertising. A lot of their equipment is designed to be easy to install so people who have no clue about audio equipment like their products. That's why their home theater in a box is so popular. Any idiot can open the box and have better sound than their TV's speakers in only a few minutes. Because most people haven't heard a real home theater setup they think it sounds great. Here is a good comparison. If you give your dog only dog food since it was a puppy it loves it. But once you let it have a few pieces of steak it will never look at its dog food the same way again. Most people have never heard a quality audio systems so the majority of people are more than happy with what Bose produces.


In terms of the Bose system that comes in our Z's I don't think it is really that bad. It is by no means audiophile quality but it is decent compared to many other stock radio setups. I think the main problem with the Bose system is I believe Nissan told them to make the system as light as possible. You have to keep in mind how heavy our cars already are. With that said I'm sure Bose could have made it better than it is but maybe $ was the other reason for it's short comings. I'm sure Nissan wanted it to be as cheap as possible to help keep costs down.

In terms of the magnet sizes on the speakers it is possible, but I have no idea, that Bose used rare earth magnets. They are like 100 times more powerful than normal magnets. Rare earth magnets are normally used when weight or size is a concern. Maybe that is the reason the magnet, especially on the sub, is so small. I'm sure someone else here has more knowledge on this subject than me.

 

front and rear speakers are 6.5 so make sure your components are 6.5 all around your sub 10inch will fit the factory sub location might need a spacer tho but it will sound like A$$ i've had for like 2 months a jl10w3v2 in the factory stock location and its just terrible the constant rattling is awful someone described it 'good' at best, i'd honestly said 'fair' at best you need to have a box for your sub i dont think anyone has really kept a free air space sub in the stock location for more then a few months its garbage

if your still going to go on a budget and use that same sub setup i'll sell you my jl10w3v2 used for roughy 2 months with spacer 140 + shipping same price as yours but you get a jl sub