[302Blue]

So at some point I'm going to need to take the door panels apart to do some sound matting on the speakers. They rattle horribly at anything above 50% volume. My question is what would your guys' thoughts be on doing some simple, very budget, speaker replacements while I'm there?

I've done full amp, sub, & component speaker builds before but I really don't want to do that again here (just not worth it for me personally). With the small trunk space and the difficulty of the stock amp, I would find the easiest thing to do is just replace the speakers. Do you think just replacing the speakers with some cheaper low-impedance high-sensitivity units would be worth it? Or should I just Dynamat the stock speaker units and be done?

Below are examples of the units I'd use along with the speaker sizes:

The 3 Dash Tweeters (3/4"): JBL GTO750T or Infinity REF-375tx

The 2 Rear Side Speakers (6.5"): JBL GX602 or Infinity Kappa 62ix

The 2 Door Speakers & The 2 Rear Deck Speakers (6X9): JBL GX963 or Infinity Kappa 93ix

[squish72]

It's worth a shot, I don't know how much eq bose puts on each channel but that could cause issues with using aftermarket speakers and have them not sound right.

[302Blue]

Originally Posted by squish72

It's worth a shot, I don't know how much eq bose puts on each channel but that could cause issues with using aftermarket speakers and have them not sound right.

Yeah, and with Bose having such low impedance (1-2ohms) I'm not sure that the 2.3 and 2.5 ohm impedance from the aftermarkets would be low enough to sound better than the Bose. Unfortunately with Bose not publishing any of their speakers specifications I can't tell how good or bad they are compared to some simple aftermarket units. Could turn out they're better and I shouldn't even waste the time.

If there was some easy in-line addition I could do directly after the amp without having to run new wires to each unit I'd maybe do that but I'm not sure there.

[17rsvert]

I'm a little disappointed with the high end of the Bose system. The highs are missing the top end that really shines. If it's possible, I would love to just swap out the dash tweeters, but have no idea what would match well with the modified signal coming out of the Bose amp.
Has anyone replaced just the dash tweeters and been pleased with the result?

How difficult is it to pull the top of the dash off to access the tweeters?

[302Blue]

Originally Posted by 17rsvert

I'm a little disappointed with the high end of the Bose system. The highs are missing the top end that really shines. If it's possible, I would love to just swap out the dash tweeters, but have no idea what would match well with the modified signal coming out of the Bose amp.
Has anyone replaced just the dash tweeters and been pleased with the result?

How difficult is it to pull the top of the dash off to access the tweeters?

I'm not sure the sound for upgrading them, but I imagine tweeters would be the ones that are the most likely to be a simple signal. I kinda see it as a tweeter is a tweeter. The other speakers may be a bit different, but as long as it's low impedance and everything I can't see how the Bose tweeter would be magically different from others.

For the process of actually replacing them, I've heard it's not too bad, just annoying. IIRC you take off the A-pillars but they won't come off completely due to some bungee cords. Under them, there's two bolts in each corner that need to be taken out. After that, the upper dash apparently just pulls off.

Annoying part is trying to unscrew the tweeters underneath because the screws are so close to the windshield there's almost no clearance. Once you get them out you'd also have to make a custom mount for new ones to be held in by the same screws, but I think you can get some tweeter mounts that are just bendable metal with holes and you just bend it around the tweeter.

[squish72]

The impedance difference will only change how loud the speaker is at each volume level. So if you swap a 2.5 ohm for a 2 ohm it will be a little bit quieter at the same level on the head unit.

The big problem would come with swapping all the speakers, tweeters might be a different ohm then the doors and the replacements will also probably be slightly different from each other. After changing them they might not be volume matched anymore (tweeters too loud or quiet) and make it sound funky.

Between that and possible eq making it sound off with replacements it's hard to say how it will turn out. The thing about audio is it's completely subjective, what sounds good to one person may sound like garbage to another. There's a chance that doing the swap will sound great too you. Just depends if you're willing to take that chance.

[SSport16]

Speakers would definitely help, the Bose ones are not so great. The Bose system is not bad, it is probably one of the better Bose systems I have listened to in an OEM setup. I thought about changing the speakers, but it is a PITA and really not going to be night and day.

[302Blue]

Originally Posted by squish72

The impedance difference will only change how loud the speaker is at each volume level. So if you swap a 2.5 ohm for a 2 ohm it will be a little bit quieter at the same level on the head unit.

The big problem would come with swapping all the speakers, tweeters might be a different ohm then the doors and the replacements will also probably be slightly different from each other. After changing them they might not be volume matched anymore (tweeters too loud or quiet) and make it sound funky.

Between that and possible eq making it sound off with replacements it's hard to say how it will turn out. The thing about audio is it's completely subjective, what sounds good to one person may sound like garbage to another. There's a chance that doing the swap will sound great too you. Just depends if you're willing to take that chance.

Yeah, the impedance problem is actually why I'd swap them all out all at once. Either with the 2.3Ohm JBLs or the 2.5Ohm Infinity Kappas. I wouldn't want mismatching impedances between some of the speakers replaced and the Bose OEM speakers.

[squish72]

Originally Posted by 302Blue

Yeah, the impedance problem is actually why I'd swap them all out all at once. Either with the 2.3Ohm JBLs or the 2.5Ohm Infinity Kappas. I wouldn't want mismatching impedances between some of the speakers replaced and the Bose OEM speakers.

Oh for sure you would want to replace them all with matching speakers. I was just kinda going extreme on what "could" happen. Even a pair of the same speaker can ohm out slightly different. Most likely won't make much of a difference.

But the chance better built driver sounding better then what's there is pretty good.

[302Blue]

Originally Posted by squish72

Oh for sure you would want to replace them all with matching speakers. I was just kinda going extreme on what "could" happen. Even a pair of the same speaker can ohm out slightly different. Most likely won't make much of a difference.

But the chance better built driver sounding better then what's there is pretty good.

True, but hopefully paying more for the Kappas would lower the chance of them being off from each other. Even then, Crutchfield and other sites return policies are pretty decent, could always just return them if there's ever any issues.

[17rsvert]

Anyone know the frequency range being sent to the corner dash speakers from the Bose amp?
I was looking at some low impedance, high efficiency tweeters on the Parts Express website but I want the low end range of the tweeter to cover the signal coming from the amp, if that's possible.

[drfeelgood]

Originally Posted by 17rsvert

Anyone know the frequency range being sent to the corner dash speakers from the Bose amp?
I was looking at some low impedance, high efficiency tweeters on the Parts Express website but I want the low end range of the tweeter to cover the signal coming from the amp, if that's possible.

The OP's idea will not sound good, and neither will yours.
The speakers in the dash are full range 2.5" drivers. Likely playing signals from 200Hz on up. Tweeters are NOT designed to be played anywhere near that low. If you send the signal from the BOSE amp playing frequencies that low to a tweeter, you will get horrible distortion quickly followed by a blown tweeter.

[17rsvert]

Originally Posted by drfeelgood

Likely playing signals from 200Hz on up. Tweeters are NOT designed to be played anywhere near that low.

Are you sure about the 200 Hz and up, or is that a guess? I understand that driving a tweeter below it's range will distort and damage it, that's why I'm asking. If you are right about the 200 Hz, that would certainly explain why the high end of the Bose system sounds so dull to me. A single cone speaker designed for 200 Hz would most likely drop off far below 20k Hz.

[drfeelgood]

Originally Posted by 17rsvert

Are you sure about the 200 Hz and up, or is that a guess? I understand that driving a tweeter below it's range will distort and damage it, that's why I'm asking. If you are right about the 200 Hz, that would certainly explain why the high end of the Bose system sounds so dull to me. A single cone speaker designed for 200 Hz would most likely drop off far below 20k Hz.

Depends on the design of the driver. If you guys follow my threads, you know I swear by Hybrid Audio Technology Drivers.

If you all want to replace the OEM speakers with a direct fit replacement , then HAT 2.7" U2 speakers are definitely the way to go.

We tested the wires leaving the amp when we set up my system, I believe that it was around the 200~250 Hz range on up for the channels going to dash speakers. For our needs, didn't really matter because we aren't using the BOSE amp anyway, and have a GM650 sending a flat signal to our DSP.

Originally Posted by 17rsvert

A single cone speaker designed for 200 Hz would most likely drop off far below 20k Hz.

The way that you get away with this is two fold

1. fire a cone speaker off glass which will help amplify the higher frequencies.

2. Use a driver that is actually designed to play frequencies that high, which can then be installed either in the dash (firing off glass) or on axis.
http://store.12velectronics.com/lega...e-speaker-set/

read up on this driver, and check the frequency response graphs of both the L2SE and L3SE.

The company's founder designed a vehicle showing proof of concept by setting up a two way front stage with only a midbass and this 3" midrange with no tweeter. This tweeter-less vehicle won foist place at an IASCA competition over vehicles with two way and three way front stages employing traditional tweeters.