Someone sent me a link to that sub box, don't know where it is now. The big challenge is the power going to the Bose sub is inadequate for another amp. So you'll need to buy another amp. Then you'll need to route a power cable just for the amp. And you'll need to either feed the power cable all the way back to the rear or you'll need to mount the amp in the frunk. I'm just not going there.

 

So, just spent three hours upgrading the door woofers from 6.5s to 8s. That was as efficient as possible really, but also included modifying the spacers to accommodate the new speakers. In the meantime, also found that the midranges were not secured well enough - make sure they have a nice seal to the doors.

I was getting very good performance from the 6.5s, anyone wants them, let me know. The IS200's were just not available at a decent price at the time (would have saved me money just to pony up in the end, ah well). You can see there is quite a difference in size. Stated response is 40hz versus 60hz, so these babies should go much lower. Initially they sound a bit muddy, but that's not a surprise, they'll need to break in.

One installation tip. The small cap behind the door handle. The Rennlist thread recommends using a razor blade. DON'T! The hot tip? Just push firmly on the bottom of it. Pops right out. No problem.

Wow, this thread is going to need an index - we're up to 21 pages! Anyone wants to pass on rep points, feel free!

Some pics of the install:

 

Questions:

1. Are you guys running new amps and taking the stock radio signal as inputs? Or using the stock amp? How is the power to the front woofer? I see most of you are running Focal Integrations (Polyglass)?

2. Any current change if I unhook the center stage speaker? I'm running it now, and as mentioned, it's overwhelming my tweeters (Hertz Energy).

 

yes i agree with the op….well actually now the ops because so many are now contributing to this topic, we should try to keep to the topic of simple upgrade and not divert to a full sub - amp- speaker - headunit upgrade. these are covered in other topics. thanks to ryem3.
i think the center speaker is also overwhelming the tweeters i have it seems. is the cover similar to the side tweeters? simply use a thin plastic thingy to pop it out and we will see the tweeter in the middle?

 

Just use a credit to remove cover. Be careful and lift up. The cover had parts attached to it.

 

It is a bit tricky to pop out. (You can search I actually started a thread on the topic) The edge closest to the window is actually secured with a clip. Best to use a trim tool and lever it up over 1/2". The cover will then pop free of the clip. You need to pull it up straight and dont twist it. You'll see that the center is actually a 3" full range speaker.

 

Maybe that is why it sounds so cheap. That 3 inch full range is giving too much mid range that the sound lacks separation and too tinny. My daughter also noticed the right rear speaker of the car is not working. Had a nice long drive with her and the wifey yesterday. Im going to ask dealer to warranty the rear speaker first before moving on. They might say i caused the failure.

 

Totally running stock PCM and the Bose amp. For signal I'm feeding uncompressed music files from my ipod through a NavTV unit into the PCM.

The power from the Bose amp will surprise you. It has stunned me, frankly.

Not sure what you mean by current change or what hertz energy tweeters are, but they are probably less efficient than the center speaker. Disconnecting the center is easy and the sound should be much improved.

The choice of the focal integrations was because it seemed a popular, quality choice and the speaker is engineered to be a drop in replacement as they have built in crossovers. External crossovers will provide better sound, but may need new wiring and can introduce hum.

 

Yep on the center.

Be sure to check the fader for the rears. Did you try to take them out? I thought you were going to disconnect them. Good luck.

 

So, are your doors still intact with the 8's? Hahaha. The 8's can really rattle the doors. Mine should be fully broken-in and I'm fully contented.

Question about the subwoofer: do you think I will have better subwoofer performance if I were to invert the subs? In other words, the cones will be facing the roof. Obviously, I will need to cut the carpet.

 

No kidding! The bass output with the 8s in addition to the sub is really good. The sub is a touch muddy, but there is certainly plenty of bass. I think the 8s will get snappier after they're broken in - mine are only in the early stages.

I wouldn't do that. It would be more than cutting the carpet as the panel below would need to be relieved somehow. Also, you are effectively reversing the polarity of the sub speakers and would thereby have a canceling effect with the fronts.

If you die to experiment, buy the 5.25" JL Audio drivers and drop them in. Two will run you $320. I suspect they will improve the bass quality. Go for it!

 

That probably explains why the sub's smaller spade is the positive.

 

Fiberglass is a great material for saving weight and making curves, but it's not really a great enclosure material. At the thicknesses usually used for car audio fabrication, it'll easily resonate, and yes it's audible. There's really no great substitute for a 3/4"-1" thick (or thicker) MDF with internal bracing. Consider the high-end home theater subwoofers - they all use internally braced thick wood panels. If sound quality were my #1 priority (and weight and aesthetics were not), then I would definitely go with MDF. That being said, for my 13" flat sub, I went with a hybrid MDF+ fiberglass in order to create a shape that capture the volume of the rear shelf.

 

Just so you know, the sound quality of a subwoofer is predominantly a function of the linear xmax (excursion) x the surface area. Not much to do with the voice coil size. This means that larger drivers with greater excursion are going to perform better. With subs, you can easily plug in the thiele-smal parameters into a software program and predict how much output you can achieve at what frequency, given a particular enclosure design/volume. I can say that based on my experience, if you'd like better quality bass, you really would need to go with larger drivers in a bigger enclosure.

Keep in mind that the manufacturer's "frequency range" specification for a subwoofer is a completely useless figure. Your first clue-in would be that they don't tell you what the db cutoff points are (Is it 40Hz at -3db?, -20dB?) The driver's true frequency response will depend on the enclosure design/volume and the acoustic environment. You cannot use "frequency range/response/whatever" specs to predict how a subwoofer will sound.

 

Thanks for chiming in! You're comment to go with 8s instead of 6.5s in the doors was a valid one. I think they are a better overall match.

Didn't mean to confuse anyone with the"response"numbers. Those response numbers were not for a subwoofer, they referred to the 6.5" and 8" door woofers. I'm fully aware of the relative response of speakers compared to their quoted response. I think my comparison was valid as I used reference numbers from the same mfg to refer to two sets of comparable speakers. Seems pretty clear I'm going to get deeper bass response from those 8s!