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View Full Version : 99 C43, what is BOSE and what ain't?



toamend
09-24-2003, 05:36 AM
Looking for a temporary upgrade to the factory stereo to hold me over until I can really do it right.

From what I can tell, the Becker head unit powers the tweeters in the dash and the tiny 4"ers in the rear doors. Then the BOSE amp powers the mid/woofers in the front doors and the subs in the rear deck. The BOSE amp is connected to the fiber ring by a coupler of some kind in the trunk.

I say this because in the 99 sales brochure it speaks of "4 BOSE middler drivers" and I pulled all of the speaks (except the rear doors) and only the 4 I mentioned say BOSE on them. So, we know that the BOSE are 2 ohm, and to leave them alone. But why not replace the 8 ohm tweeters and the rear door speakers with something better than stock for a cheap and easy upgrade?

So far I have replaced the dash tweeters and simply unplugged the rear doors (cause they are just sucking power and sound like crap) and I'm happy with a slighly better sound.

Can anyone validate mu understanding of the system?

pnsji
09-24-2003, 10:29 AM
It is easily spotable by the rear deck speaker grills. It should have bose emblem on it.

The connection from the head unit to the amplifier is NOT fiber optic. The fiber optic is the connection from the head unit to CD changer.

If I were you, the first upgrade would be the head unit. Changing the head unit will change the sound day and night. You will notice more bass, more separations.

toamend
09-24-2003, 10:36 AM
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I have the BOSE system, but from what I can tell only the front doors and the rear decks are actually BOSE related. The other speakers seem to be the same as the non-BOSE system.

Changing the headunit out will me part of what I eventually do, but it's not cheap and easy for right now- maybe in a few months. I'm just going for an icremental upgrade in what I've got.

I see the fiber going into a plastic box right next to the BOSE amp in the trunk. Maybe I'm mistaken, but it looks like fiber to me. I don't see any of the usual RCA type inputs on either one of these boxes in the trunk.

pnsji
09-24-2003, 11:50 AM
This is the BOSE amp:
http://gilbreth.ecn.purdue.edu/~nkumala/pnsji/misc/left%20cavity.jpg

They do not use RCA, but they use regular coax cable.

The rear door speakers from bose and not bose is different. The same goes to tweeters.

toamend
09-24-2003, 02:25 PM
This is what I'm looking at, see the orange fiber going into the plastic box on the right side? Maybe that is the phone box or something. Isn't that the BOSE amp on the left? And there are the grey wires plugging them together.

I don't really know, just trying to figure it out.


http://users.rcn.com/dulces/temp%20pics/SSCN2168.JPG

nokia8860
09-24-2003, 02:47 PM
i think that is for e.t to phone home :bandit:

the one pnsji posted is the amp for the sound.

toamend
09-24-2003, 03:00 PM
Ok, that makes sense. So what I've been looking at isn't even the amp, I've gotta get behind the panel.

Thanks!

pnsji
09-24-2003, 03:23 PM
Yes, Nokia is correct. You need to get behind carpet.