Hello i have a 06 touring with the bose cd6 HU, i changed all the speakers but not so happy with the sound so i decided to power all 4 speakers with an amp. what do i need to do? i understand there is an amp in the back driver side under the styrofoam can i just unplug the amp there remove it and put in a aftermarket amp there. Will that power the 2 rear and 2 front speakers?please help...

 

^^ Since you have installed aftermarket speakers, you have already accomplished the “hard” part.

Now… you need to swap out the Bose H/U for just about anything (a $150 or even less costly aftermarket H/U will be much better with more features than the OEM Bose H/U), and remove the junk OEM Bose external amp, and replace this with a decent aftermarket external amp to get much better sound to your new speakers.

But… How are planning to drive the SubW (if in fact you keeo this in place)?

--Spike

 

I plan to keep the factory HU for now. Can i just replace the bose AMP with an aftermarket one without running direct wires to the speakers? can some one provide me the color codes at he factory amp connector?

 

^^ I wouldn't worry about getting a color-coded wiring diagram. You don't need it in this case.

If you have replaced the OEM Bose speakers with aftermarket speakers, your next best step is replacing the OEM Bose amp and the Bose H/U. In fact, you are now committed since you replaced the speakers.

It would be a shame to drive your better speakers with the low-quality OEM Bose amp and Bose H/U (if in fact you can even successfully mate these components and get decent sound, which I doubt).

If your budget is tight, go for a single-din H/U for $150 or less, and an inexpensive external amp. This will outperform the Bose components and provide much better sound, and you can always replace these with better components when you are flu$h.

--Spike

 

Actually, you CAN improve the sound quality on your factory system by replacing the stock BOSE speakers with Infinity Reference Series speakers (a relatively easy swap). Since these speakers run at 2 Ohms, the factory amp does a good job driving them and you don't lose any volume. The problem I've encountered with the swap is that the highs are a bit tinny, which is typical for Infinity and the factory subwoofer does a terrible job filling out the low end.

After living with this less-than-stellar audio solution for a while, I decided to dump everything except the factory head unit and go with a JL-Audio dedicated system, starting with a Clean Sweep, 3 amps and 3 pairs of speakers (I'll post in the Audio Builds section in a few weeks.)

So for what it's worth, I'll confirm that a factory speaker swap is very doable on the Bose system, and it DOES improve sound quality. However, if you are really picky about your sound system (like I am), then invest in some better gear and do it right the first time, so you don't have to rip your car apart twice (like I did).

 

^^ I understand your point; however, your message does a good job supporting my original premise.

Certainly you get better sound by just replacing the speakers, but you can get a lot better sound by replacing the rest of the Bose components with very moderately priced stuff.

--Spike

 

^^ Oh, I absolutely agree with you there, otherwise I wouldn't have forked over $2K for a good sound system