Must sound awesome. That's the way it should be done! props

 

Even though I could return the stuff, it was a big gamble for me! No one wrote on these boards about a speaker mod to the Bose system and many had written that it would be risky or it would actually sound like crap! Just followed my gut that it would actually sound good. Doing the install takes a lot of time and there is only limited DIY available. I hope others can at least benefit from the DIY and make the change much more easily than I did.

Only you can decide that. Too bad you can't audition it. For me, these were the alternatives. Live with the Bose and NavTV playing lossless files. Lack of treble and muddy bass. Swap out the head unit for about $2000, lose all the dash display while retaining the steering wheel controls, but run it through a bunch of crappy speakers. Do the evhudson conversion and replace all the speakers, change the amp and add an equalizer. This would be great, but is even more complicated because you need to stick the amp and eq somewhere, wire power for them and possibly even rewire the speakers. You're also going to spend $600-700 minimum for the amp and eq. OR go whole hog with the new head unit, speakers and amps. You get the decent system for $3000-4000. All just WAY too much money for a car that makes lots of nice engine noise. I'm stuck in traffic every now and then and tunes are good. For $500, my conversion was WELL worth the money. The time investment was expensive, but I enjoyed the satisfaction of doing it myself. I would not be surprised if an installer would charge around $700 to do the job. Swapping out the head unit is easy by comparison.

Anyway, hope others take the leap and report their results!

 

Hey ryem3 just did thenbose stuffing and it is so simple. Do it. Its a 15 minute job to do right. For a 997.2 i just took out two bolts that hold the sub a the back and pulled it out. Man was this thing cheap! Plastic hollow no body just a plastic case withi 2 6" drivers underneath. Try knocking on the casing and you ealise this thing is hollow plastic how is it suppose to produce deep solid bass????proceded to remove a thousand bolts going around and then laid down the polyester fiber fill. Not in the vents but on the open space. Bolted the thing up again and walahhhh done. Put back and test. It seemed more solid.it seemed better. Yes the bass sounds better!

 

if you can get to the inside that easily I would dynamat the insides as well

 

Listening to the sound it produced, it seemed that the woofers in front just added body to the bass produced by the rear. I think it might be best to just use a 4" component set to get the mid and high range done. Playing the music loud i tried to use the fader and it seemed to me less irritating if i put the fader one notch to the back. Seriously, i thought this cant be right but the dirty sound of the mid and hi frequecies were lessened. Im going to look for a 4 inch component set now.

 

Forget about basslink. It does not fit. And i doubt anything substatial will fit at the back. That space is small.

 

It's almost impossible to smoothly blend a 4" midwoofer to a subwoofer. 4" drivers are lucky to provide usable output down to 100-150Hz or so. So you'll either have a midbass suckout (the system will sound "thin") or you'll have to crossover the sub about an octave higher than you should - which means the midbass will localize to the back of your car and you'll have an awful driver reproducing frequencies it has no business reproducing. This is the exact same problem you see with the Bose "cube" satellite/subwoofer home audio systems. However, a LOT of people consider these Bose sub/sat systems "high end," and if that's the case, well...never mind then.

You could, if you wanted to attenuate the main speakers. It's a bad idea to do this for the sub. You're looking at high-power resistors that will get very hot, and they're also not particularly cheap.

Oh, no, I have NOT done this mod, nor would I recommend it if you're looking for serious sound quality. If you're looking for an incremental upgrade for the least amount of $$, this will suit you just fine.

Go for it, let us know how it goes!

 

Comments inserted into the quote.

 

I was thinking about the focal flat sub or the sound ordinance flat 8"one. I was thinking that it could fit in the Bose sub spot, but it won't. The Bose sub has those tiny speakers so nothing with a bigger driver is going to fit. However, one of those flat subs will easily fit on the shelf behind the seats on top of the Bose. Then you could use the power and line feed from the Bose.

 

Gasongasoff, i was referring to the 8 inch drivers on the door rather than the 4" ones. I think the 8" ones are blending with the subs at the back. What im saying is the 8"'s seem ok and that the bad ones are the 4 inch drivers at thedoor and the front tweeters. Very irritating to listen to.

 

Exactly what ryem3 said. Hehehe i made a comment before reading the rest of the posts.

 

Gang i now have a is 200 on the way and maybe i will put that in. I hope it blends with the stuffed sub woofer though i really think the stuffed sub and oem bose 8" blend. I guess mynears are not that audiophile yet but that good it will be easier tomsatisfy me. My questions is if i put in the component 8" would this cover the whole range? Or would i still need a 4" mid speaker like ryes setup. Should i still get the 100ca1?

 

Any updates to this tread? Ryem3? Comments from gas?

 

I think the is200 will be a good choice. From an installation point of view, adding the 4"coax is very easy. Just cut off 2 tabs and it drops in. If you have the door panel off anyway, I would recommend it. I believe the tweeter and 8" of the is200 are meant to integrate well together, but there will be some suck out of the mid range. However, many people eq there systems with a "smiley face" so many probably wouldn't fine it objectionable! Just kidding. I would recommend the 4" coax for those reasons, but that's my view.

 

focal seem to do an integration series 4" coaxial

so I've ordered a set for the rear

IS200 seem a good shout for the fronts, possibly with another set of coaxials but I reckon a pure 4" mid would be better