Bose Upgrade of Speakers ..etc
 

Hi,

I have the BOSE Rear Deck, I know bose speakers run at 2 OHM so can I use ANY amp that is capable of running at 2 Ohm to power them?

Also has anybody completely upgradeds all the BOSE speakers in the rear ddeck to better after market speakers ?

Thanks.

Technically yes, but why would you want to? Out of everything bose makes their drivers are by far the worst part. Why would you even want rear speakers in the first place? Throw out all that junk, put some good components up front and a good amp driving them and enjoy life :)

Patrick

I think the Bose drivers crank out some pretty decent bass considering how small they are. I'm not impressed with the dash units at all though. They sound very hollow and tinney and the ones in the door don't seem to do a whole lot. Many people want speakers in the rear to give a more full surround sound experience. The rear speaker kit(the non bose one) is one of the more popular upgrades for boxster owners.

2 Ohm or not 2 Ohm that's the question
 

Hi,

I am just in the progress of installing a Bose rear unit in my car (see http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=11577) I should be finished this wekend and will then update the thread.
Might be interesting for you as the speakers in the Bose box are 3 and 1 Ohm not 2 Ohm

to be continued ...

I purchased the rear BOSE deck off ebay for peanuts and ideally want to remove all the BOSE speakers and to custom fit my own, it WILL sound awesome I can assure you. 2 JL 6inch subs in the rear should fit nicely, might have to hack the box up a bit but it won't be visible to the eye. :)

To have a custom rear box made up would have cost me £400, approx $790 :eek: and that's just the box.

You know the old saying "No highes no lows, must be BOSE." You don't need rear speakers. I installed a Pioneer Premier deck with a JL Audion 4/100 amp driving JL Audio 5.5" speakers in the doors and 1" tweeters on the dash. Sounds great. Would sound better with a sub, but that means taking up leg room for the passenger. Besides the wind, road, and engine noise takes away from the sound.

Hi,

If you are wiring the 3 Ω and 1 Ω Speakers in parallel, your total impedance is 2 Ω - see: http://www.986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9180 Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Have you been in a boxster with a rear speaker kit installed and listened to the difference on the road with the top up and top down?

Having rear speakers makes all the difference in the world and is a must for any future boxster I own. Every other Boxster owner who rides (or drives) my car says, "man, those speakers make a HUGE difference. I gotta get some rear speakers now."

I agree with RandalN about the need for rear spkrs. While I was upgrading mine, I drove around without them for several days. Amazing how the sound felt one sided (guess I was getting sound out of the OEMs). Am very happy with the upgrade to Kickers and it really fills out the interior with great sound.

Does the Bose unit you're talking about have the spkrs in the center (vs on ea corner)? That should give better sound than on each corner. The corner spkrs point towards the windows. I'm sure they will lose their umph when the top goes down. But at that point, who cares?

When I bought mine, it came with the Bose premium sound package. It consists of the PORSCHE branded amp and 6-Disc CD changer with BOSE speakers in the side doors, front dash mounted ones and on both sides behind the seats. It also came with a built in graphic e.q. I love the way it sounds. I adjusted it so that there is a little more balance towards the rear and it sounds amazing even with the top down. Best stereo/O.E.M. set-up I have ever bought that already came with the car. I would not change a thing. I can't even turn it up all the way with out going deaf! Plenty of highs and lows. The AMP that came with the package provides more than enough power. Only downfall is I have no cup holders. I say so what. I don't want anyone spilling their drinks in my car anyway. :cheers:

Rear speakers are definitely nice. It's one of the options I was lucky to get in my pre-owned Boxster. With the top down and the volume up a little, you can tell they are there.

Given the PO had a small box put in the front of the passenger footwell, but subsequently removed the speaker and amp... I'm thinking about getting a halfway decent 1 channel amp and a decent 8" speaker, and have it put in there to fill in the lows a bit. My Sony head unit doesn't sound half bad, but needs bottom end to fill it up a bit more. Might see what I can do about it, and it shouldn't cost too much since the box is already there.

I'd be interested to hack up the factory rear speaker box for a pair of JL 6W0s to get some real bass in the car, but for those of you that are curious, I'm in the process of installing the Hertz Mille 3-way kit in my Boxster that uses a gorgeous ribbon midrange driver and 6 1/2" mid-bass drivers with a 1" supertweeter. Should be quite decent without a sub. Good low end extension down to about 40hz, albeit no slam. Incredible mids and highs however (for $3000 speakers they better be, dont ask how much they cost me ;) ). Driving them off an Audison VRX 2x200 amp and Eclipse Nav head.

I understand that rear speakers can provide nice fill, however you lose any imaging you would have had once you add rear fill. Its a bit different in a convertible with the top down, but if you look at any competition audio installs in almost any car, they never use any rear speakers.

With regard to the Bose thing, if you talk to anyone who knows anything about audio, they will explain to you just how bad the Bose components really are. Better yet, ask Bose yourself for a spec sheet for any of their products. They wont give it to you, saying "well our technology is proprietary and we dont divulge our secrets to our competition bla di bla di bla." If they consider foam surrounded, paper cone full range drivers and minuscule power supplied amplifiers their "proprietary technology" we must all really be missing something. Even the cheapest professional companies will give you full specs sheets on their products, as they have nothing to hide. Is a Krell amp better than a Rotel? Absolutely, but Rotel is still perfectly willing to share test bench results with the public. I'm sorry, but Bose is simply a company that has made a fortune off good marketing while putting out an absolutely sub-par product.

Just my $.02

Patrick

I haven't even wired in my rear Bose Rear Sub Deck yet but as you mentioned above my intention was to eventually rip out the BOSE kit and add 2 JL 6's with some tweeters.

Do you think that the JL's 6inch subs will fit though??, looks like it might be a tight fit to me.. :confused: Aslo could you recommend an amp that would drive the crrent BOSE speakers but also eventually be able to drive the JL's too.? I'm not an Audiophile so I don't want to spend $hit loads of cash on an AMP either ;)

Bose
 

I did a BOSE system swap into my Boxster.

1. Deck Rear subs
2. Right door
3. Left door

Sounds awesome until i blew out the twikers. I enjoy listening to my force induction and exhaust note

I havent really looked into it yet, as I'm planning on running sub-less for a while, but as far as amps for the front components, being reasonable, I would look at Zapco, JL (the slash series), theres a new Line of Focal amps that are excellent and not ridiculous.

For a car like this, I'm fairly content to just give up on the idea of getting great bass, and just focus on the mids and highs, hence the Hertz 3-ways.

Patrick

I have the factory premium bose system, and it isn't that great.


Bose sucks.

Mine came with the BOSE too. I enjoy how adjustable the sound quality is front to back and, yes, with the top down, you can hear the stereo- no problem.
I drove a Cadillac STS with I don't know how many (16?) Bose speakers and I wasn't impressed. With the set-up for the Boxster, though? Put it this way, it wouldn't be worth my while changing anything for the time-being.

laws of physics
 

Jim, thanks for the tip,

but the formula for putting resistors (speakers) in parallel is:

1/RTotal = 1/R1 +1/R2
==> 1/RTotal = 1/3 + 1/1
==> RTotal = 1 / (1 + 0.33) = 0.75 Ohm

No, I am not a teacher just an electrical engineer (no kidding)

Cheers

Would you happen to know the model number of your setup? M490? Also please post a picture of the amp. How many channels is it?

Thanks,
James D

Lol - Or more likely: age-related hearing loss :D
Bose are fine and it's nice to have sound from the back. The 986/987 aren't designed for SPL competitions anyway.