Bose Stereo Questions And Upfiring Vs. Downfiring

[Nova]

I just bought an 04 Silverado extended cab with the Bose system, equipped with OnStar, steering wheel controls, ect. I am going to have to do something with the stereo, and I just see this being a huge snowball effect IE: add subs, speakers won't keep up. Change speakers, they'll be under powered, ect. So I want to know what I am dealing with before I even start buying. I know from my time working at a GM dealer, that most vehicles have 8 ohms speakers from the factory, is this the case with Bose? I am still toying with the idea of retaining the factory head unit and swapping in aftermarket speakers and adding a sub or two.

 

In all likelyhood, I am going to end up swapping everything out and running entirely new wiring while leaving the factory wiring intact (just in case). I know there are harnesses that allow for an aftermarket deck while retaining the chimes, steering wheel volume controls, ect. Is this necessary for any reason? If it won't cause me any sort of electrical issues at all, I'd just as soon go without.

 

I know a fair bit about stereos, but have never really seen or heard of downfiring until I started visiting these forums. It seems like the majority of downfire systems I have found are in the NBS GM trucks. Is there a particular advantage to this, or is it just personal preferance?

[lerbud]

do a search there are lots of ways to go. i added downfiring subs in the back and the bose sounds great to me. it just depends how lound you really want it. once you add some subs the bose sounds 100% better for a lot less than a whole new system.

[FosgateElite]

I just bought an 04 Silverado extended cab with the Bose system, equipped with OnStar, steering wheel controls, ect. I am going to have to do something with the stereo, and I just see this being a huge snowball effect IE: add subs, speakers won't keep up. Change speakers, they'll be under powered, ect. So I want to know what I am dealing with before I even start buying. I know from my time working at a GM dealer, that most vehicles have 8 ohms speakers from the factory, is this the case with Bose? I am still toying with the idea of retaining the factory head unit and swapping in aftermarket speakers and adding a sub or two.

 

In all likelyhood, I am going to end up swapping everything out and running entirely new wiring while leaving the factory wiring intact (just in case). I know there are harnesses that allow for an aftermarket deck while retaining the chimes, steering wheel volume controls, ect. Is this necessary for any reason? If it won't cause me any sort of electrical issues at all, I'd just as soon go without.

 

I know a fair bit about stereos, but have never really seen or heard of downfiring until I started visiting these forums. It seems like the majority of downfire systems I have found are in the NBS GM trucks. Is there a particular advantage to this, or is it just personal preferance?

 

Almost all aftermarket speakers are 4Ohm. I'm surprised to hear the factory were 8Ohm.

And as for the Bose speakers, I can only assume they are 4Ohm as that is the norm when it come to higher performance speakers.

 

You need to get a special module to retain your OnStar when replacing the factory radio.

Visit crutchfield and use the outfit my car option, and it will find the necessary hardware for you.

[fej]

I just bought an 04 Silverado extended cab with the Bose system, equipped with OnStar, steering wheel controls, ect. I am going to have to do something with the stereo, and I just see this being a huge snowball effect IE: add subs, speakers won't keep up. Change speakers, they'll be under powered, ect. So I want to know what I am dealing with before I even start buying. I know from my time working at a GM dealer, that most vehicles have 8 ohms speakers from the factory, is this the case with Bose? I am still toying with the idea of retaining the factory head unit and swapping in aftermarket speakers and adding a sub or two.

 

In all likelyhood, I am going to end up swapping everything out and running entirely new wiring while leaving the factory wiring intact (just in case). I know there are harnesses that allow for an aftermarket deck while retaining the chimes, steering wheel volume controls, ect. Is this necessary for any reason? If it won't cause me any sort of electrical issues at all, I'd just as soon go without.

 

I know a fair bit about stereos, but have never really seen or heard of downfiring until I started visiting these forums. It seems like the majority of downfire systems I have found are in the NBS GM trucks. Is there a particular advantage to this, or is it just personal preferance?

 

Almost all aftermarket speakers are 4Ohm. I'm surprised to hear the factory were 8Ohm.

And as for the Bose speakers, I can only assume they are 4Ohm as that is the norm when it come to higher performance speakers.

 

You need to get a special module to retain your OnStar when replacing the factory radio.

Visit crutchfield and use the outfit my car option, and it will find the necessary hardware for you.

 

 

 

Lots of Bose, or as I call it Blose, speakers are not what you would call normal ohm ratings. Generally anything driven by the headunit is 4 ohms (normal). Anything that is amplified using the tiny stock amps is 1.5 or 2 ohms. I cannot speak to what blose has done in the trucks yet as I have had the truck about 2 weeks and I am still in the process of buying a new system, however I do know for fact that this is the case in the Corvette with blose systems. Pull out the ol multimeter and check it out.

 

I do believe that blose does this for 2 reasons, one is that you cannot just replace their crap paper speakers with a better performing model as the power output of the tiny blose amp will not drive them, and two (linked to one) is that if you blow something up in the system, you are forced to either replace it using outrageously priced blose factory replacements, or rip the whole system out.

 

Just my experience with GM systems, and I have changed a few.

 

G'luck

Fej

[Nova]

After more extensive searching, it appears that you may be correct with regards to the Bose speakers being 2 ohm. I guess that pretty much ruins any possibility of simply adding speakers to the stock system. I guess the only other possibility is to wire in a 4 channel amp for the speakers and a mono amp for the sub. But I think at this point I may go completely aftermarket. I've got Boston 6.5" and a Concept 275 RMS mono amp that I plan on pulling out of my car prior to selling it, so I have a bit of a head start. Looking at probably going with a single 10" or 12" DVC sub, an amp for the highs, some new 4x6's and a decent head unit. May look into putting in some new tweeters and powering them off the head unit. Not sure about this though, as GM aimed the factory tweeters in a pretty useless direction, so I may have to modify.

 

I would agree though as far as the Bose being sub par. It really doesn't sound terrible for a factory sound system, probably good for the average Joe. But playing any song with decent bass will have the woofer bottoming out at half volume and sounding terrible. Not to mention, being that the hearing in my left ear is only at about 10%, I like my systems loud and clear.

[HJainoor]

The Bose speakers in your truck are 2 ohms. Kenwood makes a pair of two ohm components and coax speakers under their excelon series.

 

PAC makes an adaptor that "retains" your chime and provides you with a constant accessory (constant accessory is what enables you to turn the key off and still have your radio play until a door is opened in your truck). The reason I put quotation marks around "retains" is because it doesn't retain your original factory chime, the PAC adaptor has a black box connected to it that outouts a chime. IMHO, it sounds like crap. Just bury it deep in your dash and it sounds somewhat acceptable. You just get used to it after a while.

 

PAC also makes an adaptor that allows you to utilize your factory steering controls. Just make sure your aftermarket deck has a steering wheel input for the data wire coming out of the PAC adaptor.

 

Bose systems sound fine and all, but good luck with your bose highs trying to keep up with your aftermarket sub.

[fej]

The Bose speakers in your truck are 2 ohms. Kenwood makes a pair of two ohm components and coax speakers under their excelon series.

 

PAC makes an adaptor that "retains" your chime and provides you with a constant accessory (constant accessory is what enables you to turn the key off and still have your radio play until a door is opened in your truck). The reason I put quotation marks around "retains" is because it doesn't retain your original factory chime, the PAC adaptor has a black box connected to it that outouts a chime. IMHO, it sounds like crap. Just bury it deep in your dash and it sounds somewhat acceptable. You just get used to it after a while.

 

PAC also makes an adaptor that allows you to utilize your factory steering controls. Just make sure your aftermarket deck has a steering wheel input for the data wire coming out of the PAC adaptor.

 

Bose systems sound fine and all, but good luck with your bose highs trying to keep up with your aftermarket sub.

 

Bose hardly makes highs .. in fact the vast majority of there stuff has two big holes in its output, lower midrange (260-500ish) and about 12k and up. Most blose systems do not have a sub, nor a tweeter ,, just two small drivers trying hard to fill in what they can.

 

IMO go aftermarket if you are going that far in, even a modest speaker upgrade using blose power really is not that much of a difference.

 

G'luck

Fej

[firefighteremt3100]

I just bought an 04 Silverado extended cab with the Bose system, equipped with OnStar, steering wheel controls, ect. I am going to have to do something with the stereo, and I just see this being a huge snowball effect IE: add subs, speakers won't keep up. Change speakers, they'll be under powered, ect. So I want to know what I am dealing with before I even start buying. I know from my time working at a GM dealer, that most vehicles have 8 ohms speakers from the factory, is this the case with Bose? I am still toying with the idea of retaining the factory head unit and swapping in aftermarket speakers and adding a sub or two.

 

In all likelyhood, I am going to end up swapping everything out and running entirely new wiring while leaving the factory wiring intact (just in case). I know there are harnesses that allow for an aftermarket deck while retaining the chimes, steering wheel volume controls, ect. Is this necessary for any reason? If it won't cause me any sort of electrical issues at all, I'd just as soon go without.

 

I know a fair bit about stereos, but have never really seen or heard of downfiring until I started visiting these forums. It seems like the majority of downfire systems I have found are in the NBS GM trucks. Is there a particular advantage to this, or is it just personal preferance?

 

FINALLY! Nice to see someone with the same year truck with the same problem. Ive been reading different forums for over a year trying to come up with solutions. I've been looking at the Pioneer DEH-9800BT

 

 

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-mbin197zoSj/c...=130DEHP980#Tab

 

 

Now I am no audio expert. This head unit has all the features I'd want. Well except HD radio. Anyway, according to the people at Best Buy they suggest swapping the head unit out first, then go with the speakers after you hear what it sounds like. Now, I will say that I don't take what people from Best Buy say as the Gospel, I'm hoping someone here can confirm. With this radio, I would have to get the steering controls module, and the module for the chimes and whatnot. I'm debating if I even need the one for the OnStar anymore seen as how I think by the end of the year if you dont have the digital version, it won't work any longer. I dont use it anyway. Not sure what to go with for speakers yet. Hopefully some of this helps out...maybe

[omegafiler]

The 9800BT is a great HU. I had it in my OBS Tahoe - it also had polk speakers all around, kicker sub/amp, etc. It sounded great and had tons of the features. The bluetooth is what sold me on it, and it worked pretty darn well.

 

I actually started with the HU, sub/amp only. Unfortunately the stock speakers only lasted a few minutes before I was on my way back to the store to pickup all new speakers.

 

Of course, my old Tahoe didn't have to worry about door chimes, onstar, or steering wheel controls. But just make sure you get the wiring harness specifically for that model (if they have one). The standard pioneer harness I had wouldn't work with the 9800bt and it had to be hard wired.

 

And yes, the Bose "premium" system in my Denali is about as average as it gets. Fortunately it does have components in the front and a "sub" in the back. Honestly, the weakest link is the HU that doesn't properly drive enough power to the sub when it's needed (poor EQ adjustment). I hooked up my notebook w/ an audigy sound card to the aux inputs on my rear dvd entertainment system, and with some EQ tweaking, it actually sounded pretty darn good.

[Dyabolical]

The bose headunit does not supply power to any speakers. The stock bose head unit is a source unit and that is it. A vast majority of the signal processing and powering is done in the amp.

 

All crap, regardless.

 

Aftermarket is the way to go. A far as upfiring, downfiring, front firing back firing...it is MOSTLY user preference and whatever the space allows for. There is a difference between each installation, but it is minimal unless you are using super high class equipment. Also i am assuming you are gonna go sealed so that makes the difference even less. The most important thing is just make sure the sub will not be coming into contact with any surface while it is at peak excursion.

 

As far as the adapter is concerned...totally not necessary or needed unless you like hearing your speakers chime when you open the door. Your airbags are NOT routed through them like alot of salespeople like to lie about. The only adapter you may want to get is the steering wheel control module.