since spin9k put in his tweets, do you guys think you could just swap out all the speakers for "better" ones, or ones that are positioned "better" or whate have you, if you so desired?
________
LovelyWendie99

 

I spoke with my brother who has this system in his Z:

http://home.comcast.net/~wegetourmai...ID-446413.html

He suggested I check out the sound system of the Sports package first and compare it to the Bose. So I took two CDs with me (U2) and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. I am not kidding when I say I was stunned at the lack of any appreciable difference between the two systems. When I test drove the car with the Bose system it was fine. When I compared it to the base sound system it was fine. I can not justify the price difference any more. As my brother pointed out I can take that money and upgrade the existing system for about $500.00 and have one really fine sound system.

So the test drive really surprised me. I like the base audio system for the money so I am switching to a Sports package over the touring package. I guess the final factor for me was headroom. You get an extra 1 1/2 inches approximately when you lose the sun roof and frankly, it is so far back that it does not matter to me if I have it or not. I am 5' 10'' but I am a little claustrophobic (not a lot) and I like the extra head room.

I think the exterior of the car looks better from a purely aesthetic perspective without the sun roof. Just look at the factory website and note how many photos show you the Sports Package sans the sun roof.

The homelink, well I have never had one so my life won't end.

Now what to do with the money I save? Accessorize baby accessorize (both dealer and aftermarket.) My bro convinced me to wait for some seriously fun after market items.

Ironically they have my color in the Sports Package in stock.

 

The position of the sunroof bugs me too.

But back on topic, we need to find out a few things. For one to be able to swap out the speakers, we need to check what their ohmage is (1 ohm, 2 ohm, 4 ohm, etc.?) for either the base or Bose system. Normally, the non-Bose system is much easier to simply upgrade speakers and/or amps.

Since the Bose system has amps pretty well integrated with the front speakers, you might have to include aftermarket amps after all. Especially if there is some active crossover included in those separate amps, because those crossover points are for the 2"/9" speakers, and will probably not work with any readily available aftermarket setup. Knowing Bose, there is also some equalization factored into the electronics tuned for the Bose speakers, and you would want to eliminate that with aftermarket speakers too.

Most of us will want to add some subs if we're swapping out the speakers (whether it's a set of 8s or 15s), which again calls for some aftermarket amps with crossovers on board, or a separate active crossover unit.

---jps

 

My brother said Bose actually makes it difficult as they often use 3 ohms speakers and other limiting factors.

http://www.bose.com/auto/faq/?txtSel...on=5&x=19&y=11

Don't do it Ethel.

 

Thanks, Charleston, for your impressions on the base stereo. I've been waiting for someone to compare it with the Bose system. The fact that you couldn't see much difference makes me lean even more to the Sport Package. As you said, we can always upgrade the speakers or whatever later on, using the bucks we saved not getting GT or Touring package.

 

No problem. Even Bose says listen with your ears. I add don't listen with your check book. I have got pretty good ears. I took CSN for their singing voices-harmony so I got the low end 500-2500 hz and U2 to get the instrumentals >2500hz.

 

I am shocked, Charleston, that the base radio sounded that good to you. I have heard only the Bose and I was for the most part quite impressed. My general thoughts since not everyone has been able to audition both systems which includes myself:

1. The base system is 100 watts into 4 sets of speakers (25 Watts per location). This is the maxium BTL radio amps can do into standard 4 ohm speaker sets (10Vrms*10Vrms/4ohms=25 Watts) The Bose wattage numbers are not currently known, but at the volume I was listening it was more than any 100 Watt factory system I have heard. My estimate on the Bose power is 50 Watts for each door woofer, 25 watts for each door tweeter and then 25 Watts for each other speaker location for a total of 225 Watts. Once again I haven't heard the base radio but I doubt it can play as clean and loud as the Bose.

2. The Bose has its own equlization true, but in order for it to sound good, it also needs a ton from the user as well. If you don't set the trebble on the Bose to the max at +6 and the Bass to at least +3 then the music sounds very flat. This is an artifact of what most consider a weak link in the Bose system: the wimpy front 2" tweeters. I would look for an upgrade there; there are better extended frequency range tweeters on the market than the ones Bose is using up front.

3. The Bose images wonderfully due to the center mount front speaker. And with the sound stage positioned squarely up front (I had the fader set to front: +1), the imaging was better than any factory system I have heard shy of the Volvo's own three speaker set-up (and the Dolby Pro-logic II system in their 2003 SUV is to die for) Some don't like the music front and center but instead more around the listener and that could be where the difference in opinion is originating from.

4. Audio pilot works great. The base sytem has a speed correction circuit as well which is nice but not the full audio pilot. Audio pilot worked seamless. I thought to myself during the test drive where I blipped 100MPH for a minute, the system sounds great at high speeds. Oh, that's the audio pilot correcting things. I quickly decelerated and yes I noticed that the audio pilot was helping out.

5. The front 9" neo woofers are awesome. having such a large woofer upfront really helps the soundstage. Many cars (including my Lex) I get the impression that most of the music is coming to from the front but most of the bass is coming from the rear. Even if you want to change out amps. I would still keep the woofers. Personally, I don't think changing the amps out is necessary; I would just lesson the amount of deep bass work the front woofers have to do by supplementing the overall sound system with say a 10" sub with 100-200 Watts behind. With the front woofers doing less sub bass work, they can play mid-bass cleaner and louder.

For factory systems, I give the Bose a solid A and I haven't heard any other 100 Watt factory system sound even close.

My curiosity is peaked. I need to take a listen to base configuration and see if it is on level with the Bose. I just need to find one that I can get a listen to.

-Mr. Wigggles

 

I have the standard audio system in my car, and as soon as I figure out what kind of speakers I'm going to use, I'm gonna replace them all.

For the time being anyway, I plan on using the factory head unit with no additional amplifiers. Efficiency then becomes a critical in choosing compatible speakers. Also, I'll have to consider cost, and of course, sound quality. (which is highly subjective)

I've had the front, left door panel off, and the speaker mounts to an inner plastic panel that is is screwed to the door, and has a shallow enclosure molded into it. The stock driver is a 6 x 8?, (5.375 x 7.625 hole) with a whizzer cone, 4 ohm impedance. The molded-in mounting screw positions for the Bose woofer are visible, and it looks like the flat area around the hole for the 6 x 8 is just trimmed away to give it the proper hole size for the Bose.

I don't know why they found it necessary to use such a shallow driver, (Bose) but it looks like with the window all the way down, the lower right corner of the window protrudes into the opening, (not quite to the center) leaving a maximum driver depth of about 3.125". Best I could measure, it looks like the Bose cutout would be about 8.438" dia. (can someone confirm this?)

I'm thinking about using 6 x 9's both front and rear, as this is about the largest commonly available speaker size that would fit; yielding good bass response. Because of the less than robust mounting surface in the front doors, weight of the speaker might also be a concern. Neodymium magnets would help keep the mass and depth low. I haven't decided what to do with the front tweeters, but some coaxial speakers allow you to aim the tweeters toward the listeners, so to simplify matters, I might just remove the existing ones since they would probably just muddy up the sound.

If I had more money, I think I'd search out some raw speaker drivers and buy or build a crossover, but for my purposes, I think good quality 6 x 9's should do the trick.

I unfortunately don't have a digital camera; I would like to have gotten some pictures of the door panel, and the pieces underneath it. I haven't had the rear speaker grills off yet: has anyone else? It looks like maybe the front lower edge of the panel clips in behind the seat back on each side. I think the rear seat backs have to be removed first, but I don't know how they unbolt or unclip.

 

So did anyone actually take off both door panels and whatever is necessary to get at the rear speakers as well? I'm also looking at getting the base stereo and replace the speakers, eventually install a subwoofer. So instructions how exactly to take apart the interior without breaking anything would help a lot.
If someone went through this exercise already, some step-by-step guide (with photos if possible) would be great, of course.

 

sorry, I think the only mod was done to tweeters so far.
I put subs in the trunk but thats it thus far

 

I actually replaced my rear 6x9's with Infinty Reference series 6x9 3-way speakers. It makes the whole car sound much better, and the high frequency sounds from the 3-way setup seem to fill the car up and supplement the 2" speakers up front very well..

In terms of how to get at the rear speakers, I did a whole write up and step by step with pictures in this same area, here: http://www.rx8forum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9991

I also did some more mucking around with the head unit, like tapping in a AUX line in to the tape module.

I think the sound system sounds much better now, but I still think it needs a trunk subwoofer..

I'd like to see a how-to for opening the front door panels.. Please post pictures..

Here's a pic of the entire rear deck lid convers removed from the car, with the new speakers in place..

OverLOAD

 

nice set up