Which order to upgrade Audio?
 

Hello all

I've been doing some searching and I think its time to do a little upgrade on my car audio wise: to start I have the Bose system (aka Blose)

Ive found very helpful threads and I'm getting more confident in what I need to buy and do myself.

For right now - i'd love to jut replace the factory speakers and tweeters with something more professional, looking at Inifinties, Focals, Boston Acoustics.

Several questions:

1) what type of difference would I notice if I JUST replaced the speakers... i.e. take out the bose ones and dropped in some nice Infinities, or Focals?

2) If I go the route of getting an amp for the fronts and rears, tapping the signal straight from the head unit , and replacing the shitty bose amp with my own would the stock speaker wire be capable of handling 100W per speaker?

If you like your highes go with sound stream. and accually orion isn't bad. I would also match that with a little 200watt amp to power the speakers. Yes the wires for the speakers would def. handle the new speakers easly. I had a old blazer pushing 100 to each of mine. I dont know why it would hurt.

awesome - i think what I will more then likely do is upgrade my bose amp and drop in 4 new speakers (2 component sets for the front) and two (2-way 6X9's in the back)

since everything converges in the trunk at the bose amp it should be a pretty simple install wouldnt you think wiring at least?

good question. I haven't really considered it before but now I ask myself.........

Without serious surgery, could simply swapping out my stock speakers make a difference???

I put an amp 150 watt per channel (no need for that much power but I had the amp) on the rear with mb quart 6x9 components in the rear deck. I also put a pair of blaupunkt 6x9 3 ways in the front doors. They are driven by the Bose amps in the front doors and sound great compared to the 9 inch Blose, but they are week on the low end, I get plenty of low end from the rear. If I were going to by speakers again for use with the Bose factory amps I would use the Infinity Kapa 7I series because they are 2 ohm same as Bose rear speakers so you should get more power, about double the watts as 4 ohm speakers. The front 9"Bose are 1/2 ohm. I never heard of another speaker with that low of resistance. The amps up front are rated at 100 watts each at 1/2 ohm so theoretically 25 watts at 2 ohm and a mere 12.5 watts at 4 ohm. By the way the rear speakers are getting 12.5 watts at 2ohm so probably only 6.25 at 4 ohm. The Infinity Kapa 692.7I or 693.7I would probably work best at 2 ohm and a high sensitivity rating they would receive enough power.
693.7I specs:
3-way 6x9" speakers
2-ohm impedance
Plus One+ woven-glass-fiber woofer with hi-roll rubber surround
Emit Tweeter and M.M.D midrange
computer-optimized outboard crossover with tweeter level control
power range: 2-110 watts RMS (330 watts peak power)
Frequency response: 35-25,000 Hz
Sensitivity: 95 dB
Top-mount depth: 3-31/16"

just replacing the speakers will yield a slight increase in sound clarity, although they say that amplificaiton has always been where the battle is won. A muddy (distorted) signal deams high quality speakers useless, because most of the "damage" to the sound has been done before the speakers even get the chance to show their true colors.

(1) I know no one really likes to hear it, mostly because the first step is usually one of the biggest, but changing out the front deck AND adding a high quality amp should be your first step if you can afford it.

You could always do speakers first, but until you change out that deck and amp, you'll only be going from so-so to so-so-ish.

(2) one thing bose did so right is the wiring at least. They are aware that a system is only as strong as it's weakest component, making a higher gauge wire a must. Be it Bose or Mazda that made it so, the gauge of wire in the car is more then sufficient for anything you'd wanna do with satellites.

Bypassing the stock amp shouldn't be all that tough, although running that 12V to the rear might prove to be a lot of fun considering how little room i'm imagining that you'll have drivers side.

And one last word to the wise about that...although it's more convienient and less time consuming, you should NOT run you'r 12V and signal wires to the amp down the same side of the car. Send yur 12V down the drivers and signals down the passenger side. The difference in noise dampering has always proven to be amazing to me...especially if you're planning on going high power with this system.

Good Luck bro.