Hi amstang66,
Did you installed the Focal 3 way component set 165AS3? I can buy it for almost the price of the IS200 + ISC100, but I don't know if they will fit in the car, and what it's most important what could happen if I install them without the crossovers.
Cheers,
T.

 

I went with my installers suggestion after. he is the expert and has done all my cars. I ended up with the Focal 3way 165 AS3 with Soundstream amp and Pioneer head unit. He resealed the stock sub and rewired the rear Bose stock speakers for rear fill. This is the best sounding car I have had. The installer had worked on some high end systems but stated this was the best sounding convert he as ever done. I am very impressed with the sound. I showed him this thread on the 8" vs the 3way but he was not convinced that (8") was the best way to go. I am happy with the sound.

 

I would say the crossovers are needed

 

The integration series has built in cross overs making them ideal for this application. If you use speakers with external cross overs you should use them, but you open yourself up to a whole world of possible rattles and potential interference.
If you check the thread, I ran the 6.5" speakers and the 8" speakers. No comparison, the 8s were much better.

 

Glad that worked out for you. Just wondering how much it ended up costing.

 

Total cost for components and install was 3K. Don't forget I am located in Canada where components are a lot more expensive.

 

Sounds about right. Not quite the budget upgrade anymore but I'm sure it sounds nice. Biggest thing about the budget upgrade is retaining the stock PCM, yet upgrading the sound. One also has the easy ability to revert back to stock.

 

Sorry for the late reply. The Focals (either 4" component or 8" component set" ) come equipped with a high pass crossover. It is wired with correct polarity -Porsche wires are Stripe negative/ solid positive. Focal red is positive Black negative. It crosses the tweets at about 3000HZ with a 6db/oct roll off. Current Bose active crossover seems like the crossover is much lower- abt 1200 hz. At that low crossover point, the tweets are asked to produce slot of mid range frequencies. In the higher crossover they can focus on high freqs. Letting the 4" door midrange handle the Mids.
Regarding the subs, I have a 991 can, which only uses one sub. I have both to test- the Tang Bang 5 1/4" 1138( which by the sticker looks like Bose uses this manufacturer as well for their speakers. I also have the W5.
The W5 weighs three times more(ferrit vs. Neo magnet on the 1138. But the 1138 has a higher sensitivity. I have yet to try both to see which gives equal or more output since I won't change the sub amp.
I will keep you guys updated.
Also the scans peak 4" midranges are beautifully voiced. Nice match to the Focals.
I replaced the rears with the focal 4" component set , and though nicely balanced have considerably less output than the old 2 ohm Bose Mids and tweets.

 

Could someone please elaborate on how to replace the existing larger Bose Center Speaker with the smaller Focal 1.5 one as I am not exactly sure the best method to do this and I am a complete rookie. I acquired a FocalTIS 1.5. Also I am guessing for the side dash tweeters, some tape wrapped around (once you remove the cover) will allow them a snug fit.

 

Getting old really sucks since 1) I was the one who initially came up with dissecting the housing of the tweeters AND wrapping them with rubber tape and 2) replacing the middle factory tweeter with same focal tweeter...yet I can't remember how I installed the middle focal tweeter. LOL

I can look tomorrow if no one answers.

 

I'm getting old too! I believe I simply wired the center tweeter into place. Indeed, credit to my friend who thought to use the tweeters "naked" saving a lot of work cutting away space for them, which I originally did in another car.

 

Anyone else done the conversion? My car is now living happily in MD with its new owner! I've got a full set of Bose speakers if anyone wants to buy them.

 

I did not replace the center speaker but installed a volume control to lower it. This volume control is called at L-Pad and I put the **** under the dash on the center "hump" side. See my instructions for this here:

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...2-15-a-38.html

I did this for the simple reason that the center speaker is bigger to provide a lower frequency range. So I didn't want to install a smaller driver (bigger = lower as it has to move more air for lower frequencies). The problem using the original driver is that it is more efficient than the Focal drivers. In other words, the Focal drivers play softer and you must lower the volume of the center channel.

The total cost to do this was just a few bucks and an hour or so of time. Very easy to do if you are handy with a soldering iron.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

I've since moved out of my turbo, but I hope others have done these simple mods to dramatically improve their Bose systems.

 

Any updates? Would love to see this thread reach 100,000 views!