Bass reduction on Bose door speakers

Mountain boy · November 2, 2019

I have never liked the bass coming from the Bose door speakers in my AT4. I installed the factory sub and turned the bass down to -12 on the infotainment and up on the sub, better but not happy still. I bought a couple of PAC BB -1PR bass blocking caps on Amazon $9.00 they are small and go on the hot side of the input to the speaker, right yellow left blue. I cut the wires in the door floor panel tray and just put them in with red butt connectors. The sound is so much better it cuts out 0-300 on 4 ohms and 0-150 on 8 ohms. Not really sure which they are but it works. I can now set the bass to 0 in the infotainment center and turn the bass on the sub down quite a bit, maybe to half. The sound images much better and the mids and highs are much more crisp without all that muddy bass. A huge improvement for $9.00. I want to get in there with a real time analyzer soon and finish it up. The factory sub sounds much better now.

cltsig · November 3, 2019

When you say you installed the factory sub, do you mean the kicker sub?

tmo · November 3, 2019

The front doors are mid and not bass with the Bose.. you might have cut out all of that..

brendon444 · November 3, 2019

4 hours ago, tmo said:

The front doors are mid and not bass with the Bose.. you might have cut out all of that..

Actaully the OP is correct,

Mine do the exact same, Sound like shi*t . To much low frequency trying to come through the door speakers causing a vibrating sound from them. Bose sends to low of frequency to the door speakers. Call it mid or bass either way the speakers can not effectively play the low frequency they are being sent.

tmo · November 3, 2019

He shouldn’t be trying to turn the bass down and expecting it to drop in the door speakers though.. also without mid his system will sound like an Alexa paired with a sub.. look up YouTube videos.. it’s not great

Mountain boy · November 3, 2019

OK yes the bass is in the 6X9 door speakers, At most I cut out below 300 hz if the speakers are 4 ohm. I think they are 8 ohm so only cut out below 150 hz. This is called a crossover it’s used in many speakers. It does not sound like Alexa. Yes I have the factory Kicker sub I installed. I have been an audio engineer for over 40 years. I have designed $250,000 systems for church’s and $10,000 systems for cars not my own. I never spent more than about $2500 on some killer car systems for myself. I actually do know what I am doing. At this point I question that there is a factory Bose sub included with the Current Bose system, at least on my AT4. I believe it is a 6 speakers system not 7. The shitty bass coming from the doors. My system sounds MUCH better than stock Bose. I spent $610 so far. I was not out to build a ridiculous system. Been there done that. I just wanted to fix the factory one, that’s harder and more fun to me. I know there are better subs and speakers, I want my truck to be close to stock for resale.

Mountain boy · November 3, 2019

9 hours ago, tmo said:

He shouldn’t be trying to turn the base down and expecting it to drop in the door speakers though.. also without mid his system will sound like an Alexa paired with a sub.. look up YouTube videos.. it’s not great

I don’t expect people who can’t spell bass to understand. It is an in line crossover that just effects the door speakers now. Not that you know what a real time analyzer is but I used one to set up my system. I have a lot of clean bass now from the Kicker sub. Getting rid of the shitty bass from the doors not advised if you don’t have an add on sub.

tmo · November 3, 2019

Lol good for you.. mine is architecture and structural engineering not audio. You should be able to defend without attacking if you have been in the field for so long.. but I do know how to spell bass.. I’m not sure why you are feeling so attacked that you have to go after autocorrect on my iPhone.. [emoji23]

truck_newbie · November 5, 2019

On 11/3/2019 at 10:14 AM, Mountain boy said:

I don’t expect people who can’t spell bass to understand. It is an in line crossover that just effects the door speakers now. Not that you know what a real time analyzer is but I used one to set up my system. I have a lot of clean bass now from the Kicker sub. Getting rid of the shitty bass from the doors not advised if you don’t have an add on sub.

On 11/3/2019 at 12:22 PM, tmo said:

Lol good for you.. mine is architecture and structural engineering not audio. You should be able to defend without attacking if you have been in the field for so long.. but I do know how to spell bass.. I’m not sure why you are feeling so attacked that you have to go after autocorrect on my iPhone..

Calm down fellas, lol. I have no doubt you are both well versed in your areas of expertise. There is another solution to this, a mechanical/structural one. After all, this is a mechanical/structural problem. Some of the bass frequencies from the front speakers is hitting the resonance frequency of the plastics in the door. This is the reason why the really bad vibrations and rattles only occur with some songs. I'm guessing GM's electrical and mechanical engineers didn't talk to each other when they were designing this.

Anyways, you should be able to dampen these frequencies with maybe different rubber grommets where the speaker mounts to the doors so very little of it gets carried to the doors. This solution should retain all the sound. This is how i intend to fix it on my end whenever i find the time. My 2 cents.

Memphis87 · November 6, 2019

On 11/3/2019 at 1:47 AM, tmo said:

He shouldn’t be trying to turn the bass down and expecting it to drop in the door speakers though.. also without mid his system will sound like an Alexa paired with a sub.. look up YouTube videos.. it’s not great

Adjusting the bass dramatically affects the door speakers. You would think the bass would only affect the Bose subwoofer , but I’d say all low bass comes from the doors and the mid bass actually comes from the subwoofer . Which makes sense as the stock subwoofer is very small in comparison to the 6x9s in the doors.

hardloaf · November 12, 2019

On 11/2/2019 at 2:19 PM, Mountain boy said:

I have never liked the bass coming from the Bose door speakers in my AT4. I installed the factory sub and turned the bass down to -12 on the infotainment and up on the sub, better but not happy still. I bought a couple of PAC BB -1PR bass blocking caps on Amazon $9.00 they are small and go on the hot side of the input to the speaker, right yellow left blue. I cut the wires in the door floor panel tray and just put them in with red butt connectors. The sound is so much better it cuts out 0-300 on 4 ohms and 0-150 on 8 ohms. Not really sure which they are but it works. I can now set the bass to 0 in the infotainment center and turn the bass on the sub down quite a bit, maybe to half. The sound images much better and the mids and highs are much more crisp without all that muddy bass. A huge improvement for $9.00. I want to get in there with a real time analyzer soon and finish it up. The factory sub sounds much better now.

Man, thanks! I'll do this ASAP. Assuming that amp is in the back - are these rear floor panels on both sides? Picture would be nice for some of us

Edited November 12, 2019 by hardloaf

Mountain boy · November 12, 2019

I just did the front so far the original post had the complete wiring diagram attached. Remember the amp is in the back so the wires come forward. I like the sound much better without the boomy bass from the front speakers. Still have bass from the door speakers just not as low. My sub has all the bass I need.

Codeman00 · March 1, 2020

On 11/2/2019 at 4:19 PM, Mountain boy said:

I have never liked the bass coming from the Bose door speakers in my AT4. I installed the factory sub and turned the bass down to -12 on the infotainment and up on the sub, better but not happy still. I bought a couple of PAC BB -1PR bass blocking caps on Amazon $9.00 they are small and go on the hot side of the input to the speaker, right yellow left blue. I cut the wires in the door floor panel tray and just put them in with red butt connectors. The sound is so much better it cuts out 0-300 on 4 ohms and 0-150 on 8 ohms. Not really sure which they are but it works. I can now set the bass to 0 in the infotainment center and turn the bass on the sub down quite a bit, maybe to half. The sound images much better and the mids and highs are much more crisp without all that muddy bass. A huge improvement for $9.00. I want to get in there with a real time analyzer soon and finish it up. The factory sub sounds much better now.

Mountain Boy...I'd like to also do this mod since I'm an audiophile with a normal stock stereo system for the first time ever.... I just want mine to sound better without adding a sub, etc.

Would you be able to take some photos of exactly where you spliced into the wires?

tvette1993 · March 3, 2020

On 3/1/2020 at 6:23 PM, Codeman00 said:

Mountain Boy...I'd like to also do this mod since I'm an audiophile with a normal stock stereo system for the first time ever.... I just want mine to sound better without adding a sub, etc.

Would you be able to take some photos of exactly where you spliced into the wires?

I would love some photos as well.

I have the kicker installed in the bass from the doors is not good.

ulises garcia · December 13, 2020

It would’ve been easier and better for Bose to put a 10inch sub on the rear rather than trying to amplify the bass on the door speakers and engineering and enclosure for the 5 1/2inch sub on the console. That itself would get rid of the door rattles. They should add more speakers to the trucks, like I’m skeptical on why only 7 speakers when the ram offers 19! It’s be bad ass if they could use centerpoint and those fancy technologies in the trucks rather than only in the cars.