Question about Bose stuff

[Loudog]

Okay so I think my Bose sounds nice, but my old car had a huge system in it. I can’t stand the lack of bass in anything, so I took off the cover in my trunk to expose the speakers and I noticed that after the amp it was just 2 speaker wires, now does anyone know if there is a built in crossover or anything like that? Reason being is that if there is no crossover present from Bose then I would like to put my four channel amp in my trunk use the speaker wires from the little Bose amps as my input on the amp and from there use the pass-through on the 4 channel to go to my giant mono amp for subs. If there aren’t crossovers ill probably replace the 6x9s to eliminate distortion from both the upped power because with the amounts of distortion I get now I don’t think they would handle being on a bigger amp.

[Cadillac Jim]

I the 1997 Bose system which is probably identical to your 1996. The woofers are in the front (and, in the DeVille, rear) door panels below the armrests. The crossover is electronic, and is in the radio itself. All of the speakers, including the 6 X 9 in the rear, are "active" which means that the audio signal is sent on a high impedance shielded line and the amplifier is on the rear of the speaker. Thus there will never be a passive crossover network, like conventional systems, anywhere in a Bose system. The bass, mid-range, and treble are separated electronically in the radio before they are transmitted to the active speakers.

The front door speakers are wide-range, a special patented Bose design. The cone moves over large distance like a woofer cone but is small and hard like a tweeter. They couple the bass out of the small cone with an acoustic coupling chamber, like the Acoustic Wave radios. Thus you get living-room full-range sound out of speakers that will fit in the door panels. Conventional systems must get their bass out of the rear speakers and use the trunk as an enclosure. The rear 6 X 9 rear speaker appears to be a center-channel fill-in. It is not a woofer.

If you want to upgrade your bass, then look to replace the wide-range speakers in your doors with those from a later model, or an aftermarket active speaker. Be sure and replace the whole active speaker -- the amplifier and speaker assembly. I'm not sure that anybody but Bose can get you really good bass in a door speaker, so look for the Bose type speaker in the aftermarket replacement, and listen to it before you buy it.

[Loudog]

hmm if i have time before work i may mess around and see how it sounds with a different set of 6x9s on i have a pair of fosgate speakers somewhere.

[Cadillac Jim]

The rear speaker is an active speaker, and comes with its own amplifier. No audio power comes from the radio to the speaker, only a signal, like the AUDIO OUT jack on a VCR. If you replace the speaker, you must replace it with an active speaker or it won't give any sound. It might even short out the audio output for that channel on the radio and hurt the radio.

In principle, you might leave the amplifier on the audio speaker in place and just replace the speaker itself in the active speaker assembly. If the 6 X 9 is "loose" and can be easily separated from the amplifier, you might be able to try a different 6 X 9. On my diagram fo rthe 1997, page 9A-31 Figure 22, the amplifier screws on the back of the speaker, which is shown with an oversize magnet. If you use a diferent speaker, make sure that the amplifier has visible heat sinks on it (ribbed aluminum castings, probably anodized black). If it doesn't have one, get one from Radio Shack and screw the amplifier to it before you button it up.

Remember, the 6 X 9 isn't a woofer. The woofers are the door speakers on a Bose system.

If you are getting distorted bass at reasonable volume levels, or if bass doesn't seem right, look at the speakers in the front doors. They are below the armrests near the front seat edge. If they have been wet or are bad, that might explain it.

[Loudog]

Well what im going to do is completely remove everything Bose except for the console, changer, and 2 little amps from the 6x9s other than that im running a 0 gauge to my trunk to power my amps which is my four channel Rockford amp with a pass through to go to my two Alpine mono amps, to power my Type R's, and then I’ll have to fit the door for a new speaker because im just going to run the other 2 channels from my amp up front. It’s going to be a *smurf* to wire but I’ll be happy in the end.

[molves]

The rear speaker is an active speaker, and comes with its own amplifier. No audio power comes from the radio to the speaker, only a signal, like the AUDIO OUT jack on a VCR. If you replace the speaker, you must replace it with an active speaker or it won't give any sound. It might even short out the audio output for that channel on the radio and hurt the radio.

In principle, you might leave the amplifier on the audio speaker in place and just replace the speaker itself in the active speaker assembly. If the 6 X 9 is "loose" and can be easily separated from the amplifier, you might be able to try a different 6 X 9. On my diagram fo rthe 1997, page 9A-31 Figure 22, the amplifier screws on the back of the speaker, which is shown with an oversize magnet. If you use a diferent speaker, make sure that the amplifier has visible heat sinks on it (ribbed aluminum castings, probably anodized black). If it doesn't have one, get one from Radio Shack and screw the amplifier to it before you button it up.

Remember, the 6 X 9 isn't a woofer. The woofers are the door speakers on a Bose system.

If you are getting distorted bass at reasonable volume levels, or if bass doesn't seem right, look at the speakers in the front doors. They are below the armrests near the front seat edge. If they have been wet or are bad, that might explain it.

hi All,

I am looking to do something similar with my 1996 Cadillac SLS...I have changed the deck and there is a module that has line level outputs connecting to the bose amplified speakers. So I want to leave the bose amplifiers and use new speakers and connect them to the bose amplifiers. Im just trying to figure out whether this is a good idea or bad idea and what the impedance is of the Bose amplifiers. Any suggestions?

[CadillacETC1997]

bad idea

youll cut the power of the amps AT LEAST in half

the bose speaker have 1 ohm independence and push 100 watts at 1 ohm

the lowest independence aftermarket speaker that can be had is 2 ohm infinity kappas

now by increasing the resistance from 1 ohm to 2 ohms you are doubling the independence and therefore cutting the power in half

now your 100 watt capable amps are only powering the speakers by 50 watts.

if you went to a standard 4 ohm aftermarket speaker then your cutting the power into a 4th or 1/4 of its true potential power and now only pushing 25 watts of power to the speaker

so besides losing potential power you are also dramatically decreasing the life of the amps by making them work harder with increased resistance

my opinion, dont do it