Bose speaker replacement help

[TJay74]

Unless you are willing to drop $4k on the Alpine head unit that is a direct replacement for our trucks I would leave the head unit in the truck and put the stock speakers back in and do the sub route. As said Bose runs funky ohms on their speakers, I've seen the home speakers run 1/4ohm before. The car stuff runs 2ohm from my foggy memory.

[truckguy82]

People are crazy for changing out the bose system. People used to spend thousands and thousands of dollar to get a system this good. I can see wanting some additional low frequency maybe, but thats it.

 

Combine that with the complexity and cost of upgrading and integrating it.

 

Just want to shake people that want to get rid of it. Makes no sense.

 

<former installer and owner of some rediculous systems

[ZEBuckeye81]

Hey Batman, sounds like you've had some experience with overhauling the systems in these trucks, I have a 2008 LTZ that came with the Bose system. It does have the navigation head unit, however the nav is not real user friendly, I end up using my phone. Between that and no blue tooth, I opted to start looking for a replacement and came across a Pioneer avic 6200 for a pretty good price.

 

I am wanting to keep the stock steering wheel controls as well as hopefully the factory chimes mainly because of the backup sensors. So for harnesses there is the pac and the maestro. Not sure which is going to be the most cost effective route to get the results I'm looking for.

 

Also, I decided since I'm upgrading the head unit I'm going to replace the speakers as well, going with something midrange. I may decide to add a sub as well and just eliminate the factory under console unit.

 

So I guess what I'm after is advice on speakers, amp, as well as the harness and overall install. I had a local place quote close to $500 just for the labor to install, plus he said he wasn't real familiar with the Pioneer units as he mainly does Sonys and Kenwoods. I am fairly handy and all and figure I can probably do it myself, I just don't have much experience with car audio.

 

I know it seems crazy replacing the Bose, however after hearing some decent components run off an amplifier I decided it's worth it to do this. In fact the ones I listened to, amplified, made me think twice about even adding a sub, particularly if I would be able to utilize the under console sub and amp.

[gregrob20]

If a person thinks the stock Bose sounds good they have never heard anything better! It's very flat and lifeless, no stage, no depth, period.

 

To a lot of people, even "installers" they think it sounds good because it has a lot of bass. Blah

 

The Harmon Kardon in my BMW BLOWS AWAY the Bose crap. Not to mention the Hertz components in my 2000 GMC 1500. I have JL amps, passive crossovers and the Hertz HSK 165s in the front, stock speakers in the rear doors, and a JL tw10 under the rear seat. A GOOD sony head unit that has a nice EQ, does time alignment, etc and it sounds ridiculous. I would much rather drive the old truck just to listen to music than the turd Bose in my new truck.

 

It will be getting a full Hybrid Audio 3 way active processing setup in the front, new sub in the center console, all ran by arc amps and either a Mosconi or Helix sound processor.

 

I love this truck, HATE the Bose.

[ZEBuckeye81]

I hadn't heard of Hertz until yesterday when I went to a shop and he had some on display.. They sounded great! A guy at another shop today tried to push the focals on me, which sounded good but not nearly as good as the focals. He also said it should return the Pioneer I just bought and buy an Alpine.. From them of course lol. They priced me at over 3k for the Alpine, focals all around, and a custom sub box (under console or under back seat, same price.. I can buy an under seat box for $100) and Alpine amp. My math shows the labor being like a grand..

 

Thinking I'll go back to the guy I talked to yesterday, as he was under $500 for install. Or I may just venture to do it myself

[Brian Long]

ZEB - you will need to install kits. One for the head unit, and one for the steering wheel controls. The head unit swap in your truck is not bad at all. The biggest things to watch out for with the dash are 1) head units that are too deep, thus requiring you cut out the back of the head unit section in the dash, and 2) making sure you plan out where you are going to pack in the adapters and cables. Fortunately the glove box on your truck drops by pushing a tab, which gives you some nice access to where most of the cables will likely get routed. You should also be able to find plenty of places to snake things through when you pull the covers off the side (fuse panel covers) of the dash.

 

If you buy tweeters, you will want ones with inline crossovers. Do not try to stuff the crossovers into the A pillars. Find a place to strap them inside the sides of the dash and then route both ends of the wires up to the factory tweeter wire for splicing in.

 

The factory door speakers, and the tweeters, are formed with mounting panels. To replace the speakers you must either buy new adapters, or get a little creative and figure out how to cut the old speaker away from the mounting panel and secure the new speakers to the panel. Also, you may find it easier to create jumpers from the factory door speaker wires to the new speakers rather than splicing -- I would keep the factory speaker wire in place, which means you need a higher end head unit to drive the doors/tweeters without an amp. Amp the sub(s) only.

 

For the sub(s), your options get limited based on how much storage space you are willing to part with. You can get a replacement console that already has a powered sub. I have read some mixed reviews on these. You can buy form mounted boxes for under the rear seat which are very pricey, but they will look better. Any box must be size matched for the subs in terms of volume (find the volume of the box before you get set on a particular sub). Unfortunately your front seats have too many electronics to mount powered subs under them, but you could, with very minimal effort, mount 2 powered 8" subs under the rear seats. One may be enough, but 2 goes a long way. My truck has Apline's, and each powered sub (so has the amp built in) is confined in a 14x9x3 case. Doing something like the powered subs saves a bunch of time.

[ZEBuckeye81]

Thanks for the input, rpm, I have seen the aftermarket under console subs, and they have a hefty price tag. If I were going to go that route, I'd just let the one shop do the custom box with a good sub. As for under the back seat, I've seen a couple of good pre-built boxes today do just a single 10 or 12. Not sure going with two under the backseat is a feasible option first me as I'd like to keep part of that space for storage.

 

As far as the speakers go, if I do I on me own, I'd probably go through Crutchfield since they include adapters/brackets for a small price. I'm leaning towards replacing the speakers, running new wire, and powering with an amp. I've already ordered the head unit, the Pioneer avic-6200nex.

 

As far as head unit install, I'm just trying to figure out what harness would retain the most factory experience, ie steering wheel controls, factory chimes and back up sensor warning (versus the reported by some annoying ones that are produced from an accessory speaker).

[gregrob20]

I've had Focals too, they are too harsh for listening long periods of time loudly. Like a steak with too much salt. First bite is awesome, by the end it's too much. They just grate on your ears after a while. Don't listen about the Alpine either. The Pioneers that have the 13 band eq, 4v preamp outs and time alignment are awesome. I built my buddies Ford with a pioneer Hu and Hybrid audio components and it was phenomenal. Do yourself a favor and go active processing and don't waste money on passive crossover sets. They waste power and you can get much better control and sound from an active network.

[ZEBuckeye81]

Greg, newbie question, but can you explain active versus passive; perhaps a basic overview of how the active system works/what I need to look for on terms of components? What do I need to double an active system versus passive?

[gregrob20]

Passive crossover is a box full of resistors capacitors coils etc designed to attenuate the frequency to the desired levels. They are set and can not be usually adjusted, other than say a +-2 dB for the tweeter. Active crossover involves an amp with a sound processing engine or a dedicated sound processor to break the signal apart (in the case of high level full bandwidth input) recompile the sound then send it out to the amps at the specified frequency, level, eq, dB slope etc per channel... So let's say you have an 8 channel processor, you can run 8 different speakers and have different crossover points, level, time delay, eq, etc for each speaker and / or each pair. The processor lets you use a microphone and an analyzer, usually with pink noise (all frequencies at once) to flatten the response curve of each driver and set the crossover points for each particular vehicle and install. Then you set the time alignment (synchronizing each speaker so all the sound reaches your ears at the same time), then move on to fine tuning the EQ, etc.

 

Passive networks eat up a lot of wattage so you will gain much more efficiency from your amps going active, and if you spend the time tuning the sound will be "the best" possible for the equipment you have.

[ZEBuckeye81]

Thanks for that breakdown and explanation, makes sense now. Does running an amp that handles the processing, order using a separate sound processing unit, eliminate the need for individual crossovers at each speaker? I was looking at the Alpine PDR-V75, but can't tell if this unit serves in that capacity. Or, am I missing the point and actually would still need a dedicated sound processing unit?

[gregrob20]

Do you mean the physical crossover? Yes.... Going active eliminates that.

 

That Alpine amp does not do sound processing. The Zapco DC amps have a sound processor built in. You need an amp like those or a dedicated processor.

[ZEBuckeye81]

Yes, that's what I meant.

 

Ok,I'll look into those; the route I go may be cost dependant though, I'm not looking to spend thousands on the sound system in my truck, just looking to do a decent upgrade

[gregrob20]

Find a used Mosconi 4to6 or 6to8 and run whatever amp you wish. The savings of buying drivers and tweeters a la carte (no passive crossover) will help offset the cost of the processor. Hybrid also has a full range 3.7" I'm thinking about running in the dash. No tweeters needed as they will play up to 17k hz. Could run that and factory door speakers for mid bass only. They do a decent job at that.

[Brian Long]

>snip<

 

As far as head unit install, I'm just trying to figure out what harness would retain the most factory experience, ie steering wheel controls, factory chimes and back up sensor warning (versus the reported by some annoying ones that are produced from an accessory speaker).

 

Crutchfield will point you to two different adapters. One gets you from the head unit harness to the factory harness and includes an adjustment for the door chime, the other is for the steering wheel controls. I would plan on wrapping both in an old bicycle tube to keep them from rattling.

 

I am not sure if your truck came with a backup camera, or if you are planning on getting something to run to the head unit. If you are, and you want to put in a reverse override, best to wire that in when you do the harness rather than later.