Bose upgrades ?

lapoolboy · March 15, 2021

Any speaker can only be as good as the import source it is given.

capitalst · October 13, 2022

Great info as I just took delivery of my 2022 Sierra SLT with the Premium Bose system. It is defiantly muddy sounding. I was going do the front and back door swap outs with the JL Audio C1 using the factory amp as it seem on here it provides plenty of power. Did you anyone replace the dash speaker? If so what size is it and what did you put into it or is it not worth swapping? Any feedback would be great.

Edited October 13, 2022 by capitalst

shudog · December 27, 2023

On 10/13/2022 at 3:31 PM, capitalst said:

Great info as I just took delivery of my 2022 Sierra SLT with the Premium Bose system. It is defiantly muddy sounding. I was going do the front and back door swap outs with the JL Audio C1 using the factory amp as it seem on here it provides plenty of power. Did you anyone replace the dash speaker? If so what size is it and what did you put into it or is it not worth swapping? Any feedback would be great.

there's another thread on here with comments on exactly what model speaker people have used to upgrade.

typhoon186 · December 27, 2023

What is involved in replacing the rear door speakers? Do you have to completely remove the entire door panel?

Vincej138 · December 27, 2023

27 minutes ago, typhoon186 said:

What is involved in replacing the rear door speakers? Do you have to completely remove the entire door panel?

Yes. My speakers will be here tomorrow and hopefully install this weekend. Honestly, just a decent trim panel tool set is the biggest need.

Here is the install info from crutchfield for the 22+ non-boseCrutchfieldPDF-2641200009.pdfCrutchfieldPDF-2641200009.pdf

Edited December 27, 2023 by Vincej138

shudog · December 28, 2023

13 hours ago, Vincej138 said:

Yes. My speakers will be here tomorrow and hopefully install this weekend. Honestly, just a decent trim panel tool set is the biggest need.

Here is the install info from crutchfield for the 22+ non-boseCrutchfieldPDF-2641200009.pdfCrutchfieldPDF-2641200009.pdf

interesting, thanks for sharing. I'm 95% certain I could do all that with 100% certainty of breaking some fasteners and scuffing up the trim panels.

Very interested to hear how you feel the new speakers sound compared to your factory setup

Kerry Pulaski · December 28, 2023

Do NOT Fear the Door Panel Removal. Some good You-Tube from GM owner "Don's Life", and others, posted on GM-Trucks as well. Pix of My door removed on pass. side and "A" pillar driver side removed.

MY FEAR...is how to get the Denali '24 Dash top pad off, to replace the "Corner Speakers". These are 2-3/4" dia. paper cone speakers. One GMC owner , replaced them with Pioneer, # TS-A709, 2-Way with tweeters, and said an excellent improvement. I have these on order. Replacing the "A" Pillar tweeters tomorrow, with Kicker # 46CST204's. A Titanium Dome tweeter, vs. the stock Cloth Dome. Kicker's Will be brighter / crisper , with a metal dome vs. fabric. None of these OEM speakers have the "Bose " name on the speaker frame or magnet. China speakers , with Bose Name on the Grill Cover, and Marketing/ Hype $$ on the build sheet. "SMOKE AND MIRRORS" Advertising.

SOUND EQ control......

Such a high end Audio Manufacturer as Bose, They put their name also on a 3 band EQ adjustment, Bass , Mid and Treble for GM.... Car systems in y\the 80's had at least a 12 Band EQ.

The Plastic Auto Panel Pry Tools are a must, not to mar up anything. Cheap at any auto parts store.

Kerry Pulaski · December 28, 2023

19 hours ago, Vincej138 said:

Yes. My speakers will be here tomorrow and hopefully install this weekend. Honestly, just a decent trim panel tool set is the biggest need.

Here is the install info from crutchfield for the 22+ non-boseCrutchfieldPDF-2641200009.pdfCrutchfieldPDF-2641200009.pdf

Door Panel / Card removal is NOT difficult. Plenty of on-line Your Tube video help. Just get a Nylon / plastic Trim Panel removal set form the local auto parts store.

shudog · January 3, 2024

On 12/28/2023 at 2:02 PM, Kerry Pulaski said:

Do NOT Fear the Door Panel Removal. Some good You-Tube from GM owner "Don's Life", and others, posted on GM-Trucks as well. Pix of My door removed on pass. side and "A" pillar driver side removed.

MY FEAR...is how to get the Denali '24 Dash top pad off, to replace the "Corner Speakers". These are 2-3/4" dia. paper cone speakers. One GMC owner , replaced them with Pioneer, # TS-A709, 2-Way with tweeters, and said an excellent improvement. I have these on order. Replacing the "A" Pillar tweeters tomorrow, with Kicker # 46CST204's. A Titanium Dome tweeter, vs. the stock Cloth Dome. Kicker's Will be brighter / crisper , with a metal dome vs. fabric. None of these OEM speakers have the "Bose " name on the speaker frame or magnet. China speakers , with Bose Name on the Grill Cover, and Marketing/ Hype $$ on the build sheet. "SMOKE AND MIRRORS" Advertising.

SOUND EQ control......

Such a high end Audio Manufacturer as Bose, They put their name also on a 3 band EQ adjustment, Bass , Mid and Treble for GM.... Car systems in y\the 80's had at least a 12 Band EQ.

The Plastic Auto Panel Pry Tools are a must, not to mar up anything. Cheap at any auto parts store.

thanks for sharing! I've seen many of "Donslife" videos, he's done some cool stuff. I'm still looking to see what yourself and a few others do with speakers to see what a consensus is on the best upgrade

shudog · November 27, 2024

so I'm going down this road of replacing speakers and adding sound deadening but still using factory Bose amp/tuning.

Last night I dropped in Audiofrog GS25's in the dash, super easy install, top dash panel removal was a breeze, new speakers went in perfect. I did not use the base blockers they came with. Vocals and highs are much more clear. I didn't notice any loss of volume either due to changing ohms... I actually had to fade the system to the back a bit from center because the new dash speakers put out noticeably more sound.

next up will be front doors, going to do a decent job of sound deadening at same time. I think just upgrading these with a nice pair from JL Audio or Audiofrog, haven't decided yet, will make a really nice difference.

Octan3 · December 7, 2024

My truck is a 21 sierra 3500 hd denali. The bose system sucks. All vocals or really "sound" come from the front dash speakers (2) so the audio sounds so dead! bass is plentiful though. The front door speakers sound like they are inside of a cardboard box, muddy muffled... low-mids. There is no vocals or mid-high's from these speakers. The rear door speakers put out vocals but with fader in the middle they sound like the volume knobs down ~25%. So essentially when in the truck you don't hear them. Long short dealer confirmed its normal, listened to another 21 highcountry, same. BUT my co worker has the bose in his 1/2 ton gasser, I think its a 22 though. the bose sounds good enough all 4 door speakers put out vocals and bass is plenty for me. I wish my truck was like that. I believe the ~20,21's were a one off year. My 08 chev LTZ with bose was not like this at all, was "normal" with door speakers and vocals through them like any other vehicle.

Any ways to the point! I went with crutchfield and they recommended those JL c1-690x,650x speakers and ordered from them, but I also found some JBL series 3 6x9 3 way that the woofer is 2 ohms to try. Last night I popped my drivers door panel off. I compared the JL to the bose, Yep bose is ******, super muffled weird sound where as the JL,JBL sounded clear. But at higher volume levels the JL seemed to clip... odd... I tried the JBL and it sounded better and the cone moved more and was a bit more "clear" but the JL was good too, the JBL took the edge. I was disappointed to find that the system, assuming bose? head unit? has some sort of filter, "all pass filter?". The front drivers door speakers have the mid-highs cut right off. no vocals. BUT yes replacing the speakers will still sound much better.

I never installed them as the metra speaker adaptors have no foam on them so if you install them, they'll rattle in your door so I threw my door panel on for now. tomorrow I'll get foam and at least install my 2 front door speakers. I ordered some JBL 6.5" for the rear speakers too since I was more impressed with the 6x9 than the JL c1's.

I've confirmed-measured that the dash speaker is 4 ohms. the front door speakers are 2 ohms. I'll assume the rear door speakers are 2 but when I get there I will confirm that and update. Crutchfield told me everything was 4 ohms but yeah that's not the case.

I'm not sure what I'll do from here. I wish there was a way to get, or re-introduce the full range signals to the speakers while still using the factory bose amp. Axxess offers their bypass with a dsp to correct it all but thats big $$$$ then again running wiring and power to also install a amplifier and all that fun-not so fun stuff. I figure on the flip side, I'll need to replace the speakers regardless.

That's where I'm at. Will report back with more info as I go.

shudog · December 10, 2024

been 2 weeks now since I just replaced the factory bose speakers in the dash of my Denali. They seem to be fully broken in now and I'm very happy with the choice. I turned down the treble & bass last night in the settings a bit - the added volume and clarity has made a big difference. Excited to do the door speakers and sound deadening over christmas break

Octan3 · January 27, 2025

I replaced the rear door speakers with the JBL Stage 3627F to match the front 6x9's. Still have to have the fader way back. The tweeters are a bit harsh like but they do sound better overall. Being the back seats It's not as dead back there as it was for sure but not obvious the speakers are on. and if you do open your doors the speakers sound twice as loud as the bose ones and much clearer at any volume position.

Up front its still not surrounding me with sound due to the front doors being frequency limited by the... amp BUT it no longer sounds like they are in a cardboard box, It sounds less dead again up front but not where I want it to be (again lack of vocals from the door speakers)

I tried front dash speakers twice and 2 different models, I just was not happy. I put the bose ones back in. the price point vs return on them just wasn't there.

door speakers made a good change.

Now what I'm disappointed at is all the door panel rattles. Mostly up by there the locking nub that sticks up is, if i hold my hand there it stops. Having the panels off I could not identify any obvious causes of said rattle.

Edited January 27, 2025 by Octan3

Original Hatman · January 29, 2025

Hey guys, I bought Infinity Kappa 693C for the front and the tweet will go up in the dash. These speakers are very clean and are 3 ohm. The Bose are a 4 ohm speakers. So the 3 ohm speakers will play loader than the stock speakers. This was verified by one of Crutchfeildxs advisers. I am going to use the Infinity Kappa 63XF in the rear doors. Will be using dynomat on all 4 doors. I'm going to see what that sounds like, then if I need more power go with Kicker 47KEY200.4 channel amp. It's rated at 50 watts at 4 ohms. For 3 ohms it's about 67 watts. I f I go with this amp the I'm going to go with 10" power sub- Kicker 51HS10 . I have used Infinity speakers before in my 2005 GMC SLT 1500 with Bose. With that truck I used a 50 watt amp and it sounded great. I used JL Audio in my boats and they are great speakers also. So that's my 2 cents on my 2018 GMC 2500 Denali Crew Cab 4x4

shudog · March 2, 2025

On 12/10/2024 at 8:45 AM, shudog said:

been 2 weeks now since I just replaced the factory bose speakers in the dash of my Denali. They seem to be fully broken in now and I'm very happy with the choice. I turned down the treble & bass last night in the settings a bit - the added volume and clarity has made a big difference. Excited to do the door speakers and sound deadening over christmas break

I finished my front door speaker upgrade this morning. Ended up doing JBL Club 964 6x9's in the front doors. Also did sound deadening on the outer door skin and "soundskins" material on the inner door panels. Took my time doing the install and watched lots of install videos. Very happy with the outcome. These front door speakers were about $150 from crutchfield and I bought about $120 of sound deadening.

A few tips to share.

1. Take your time removing the door panels.

2. I made a template out of visqueen plastic for the soundskins material. They also offer pre cut templates for the specific model but that was $200. The kit i bought was $100 for 11 sf which wasn't really enough but it turned out fine.

3. Buy a little roller tool if you're going to do this install.

4. Overall the stereo sounds amazing now. I put quite a bit of sound deadening on the outer door skins also. Haven't really driven much yet to get a feel for the reduction in road noise but overall very pleased.

For those on a budget, looking to do speaker upgrades themselves, I'd highly recommend this. The Audio Frogs in the dash were a 10 min easy swap. The front doors were not hard but more involved since I added so much sound deadening. I plan on keeping this truck a while though and i'm in it all the time so it was a worthwhile upgrade.