Sound System - time to upgrade!

[babycarlsson]

Bose - "no highs no lows"...

I did replace factory tweeters with Audax few months back, and it did make a big difference, but not enough to keep listening to 13 year old sound system, so it is time to upgrade...

I wanted to try entirely different components this time (stepping out of the box), and minimize the "custom installation" time. Cerwin-Vega HED65C 6.5" (actually oversized, so 6.75") for the front and Cerwin-Vega HED65 coaxials for the rear deck (exactly the same frame as components...

Front components have Approx. Mounting Depth: 2.59" and that is a perfect fit with no depth issues, and using all non-Bose factory brackets and hardware. But since I had Bose, I spent wooooping $5 at pick-a-part on the set of factory non-bose brackets and baskets. And with minimal modification (trimming the top lip flush with the flange) - fits like a glove:

http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-bq3FD9q/0/O/i-bq3FD9q.jpg

http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-4fsSHTF/0/O/i-4fsSHTF.jpg

http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-8qTG9wn/0/O/i-8qTG9wn.jpg

Grills I've always had to trim down to prevent the damage to surround, this is the line I trim down almost flush:

http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-vDXZXmw/0/O/i-vDXZXmw.jpg

No bulging grills, just as factory:

http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-PG8bgQ7/0/XL/i-PG8bgQ7-XL.jpg

Tweeters are small enough to fit into the factory locations, and x-overs are behind the kick panels...

Rear Bose speakers can be easily removed without removing the hat rack/deck, by removing the actual baffle grills (held by hex 4 screws) first, then just popping out and turning Bose enclosures sideways... Fitting these oversized coaxials - never had an easier install, fit right in to the Bose brackets, everything lines up perfectly:

http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-qt2T6jr/0/O/i-qt2T6jr.jpg

http://drphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-R227pPP/0/O/i-R227pPP.jpg

Going to take a little break from it, then - off to making an amp rack/cover for 5-channel Soundstream Picasso P5.610 (been using their amps since early 90's), and need to make an enclosure for Boston Acoustics G310-4 10" sub

Will post more pics as I go alone in the process...

Regards,
D

[chimchongdlight]

do you know if there is a way to tighten down the rear deck speakers? lol im running two 700 watt audiobahns with a 3000watt comp mtx thunder elite amp, and it rattles the shit outta those rear deck speakers to where i go into the trunk and try to turn them tight, but its just loose. haha and my rear dome light keeps popping out, still have to figure out how to fix that and to keep it on

with the bose components, can you just replace the rear deck speakers with after market ones? or is there a little modification needed? to my understanding the front door speakers and rear door speakers are fine, but since the rear deck speakers have that intergragted amp thing, it can cause some complication, is this so?

[babycarlsson]

I can certainly see how those rear Bose brackets would tend to pop out with good amount of sub bass (now that you mentioned that). And I will have to think about that as well (though would only be running one 10" sub)... One way to secure those baskets would be buying trim pistons (of appropriate size) and push fitting them into those square opening from the bottom, this way the little Bose tabs would likely stay secure in the most outward position...

Another way, would be to drill two little pilot holes very near perimeter of the opening in the rear deck, and screw in 2-3 very thin screws from the bottom, securing the actual baskets to the metal of the deck (right at the step lip)...

As for the Bose front and rear door speakers, I honestly don't know enough about the setup, my prior W202 was non-Bose, and with this one, I didn't bother doing the research. But what leads me to believe that both, front and rear are amplified, is the wire harness that was supplied with my new head unit, it actually has 4-channel RCA cables that had to be connected to aftermarket receiver (and so I did for few weeks)...

Regards,
D

[chimchongdlight]

yea the wiring harness you got has an extra blue wire correct? when i first installed my aftermarket deck, i got no sound what so ever, until i took it back to where i got it from, and they asked me if i had a bose system, and i said yea, so he showed me that it came with this extra blue wire that i had to plug into the harness and tap it into my remote wire, and bam got sound...and when i added my aftermarket amp, i had to wire the remote to that wire also

im scared if i were to replace the speakers in the rear, that i'll get no sound

as for the trim pistons, what do those looks like? how would i find those?

drilling a small hole and bolting them up doesn't seem like a bad idea either though

[chimchongdlight]

were your tweeters just plug n play? im thinking about replacing mine too, but they arent blown yet so maybe not

[babycarlsson]

That blue and white wire from the head unit is the one to be used, not a solid blue (at least on Kenwood decks)...

Tweeters - not even sure what is the impedance of the factory units, but with tweeters, there is much more headroom when it comes to the load, my "replacements" were Audax 4 ohms, with no issues... I assumed there is a x-over built into the system somewhere. I simply cut the pig tails from the factory tweeters, soldered them to replacement tweeters, and really was "plug and play" after that... And the difference was amazing! Staging and imaging was brought up so much, that's why I didn't bother replacing anything else for few months after that...

My car was in the shop (for a little touch up, f*****g deer) then, so I drove my SUV for a week (with full Kicker sound system I've installed few years back), I got back into the car, and sounded soooooo lifeless! And while looking for a grill trim replacement, finding a wrecked C-Class at the junk yard with what use to be an exceptional sound system (Morel and Vifa drivers), just kinda ignited my "want better sound" again...

Now, those trim pistons, just have to find the right size, but these (or alike) is what I'm thinking:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/wcsstore/CVWEB/staticproductimage//N3102/large/22147203_dor_963015_pri_larg.jpg

There are tons of varieties, at least at Pepboys or Advance AP...

Regards,
D

[chimchongdlight]

interesting, i'll have to look in the trunk and see where to put those pistons, seems legit though, i kind of know where your getting at

[anf6789]

very nice!! looks similar to my setup. http://www.club202.com/forums/showthread.php?16214-Boston-Acoustics-Speaker-Install-Pics-and-Info&highlight=boston+acoustics
you have much nicer mounting up front though!! ill post some pics when i transfer my system into the c36...

[kowalski]

I can certainly see how those rear Bose brackets would tend to pop out with good amount of sub bass (now that you mentioned that). And I will have to think about that as well (though would only be running one 10" sub)... One way to secure those baskets would be buying trim pistons (of appropriate size) and push fitting them into those square opening from the bottom, this way the little Bose tabs would likely stay secure in the most outward position...

Another way, would be to drill two little pilot holes very near perimeter of the opening in the rear deck, and screw in 2-3 very thin screws from the bottom, securing the actual baskets to the metal of the deck (right at the step lip)...

As for the Bose front and rear door speakers, I honestly don't know enough about the setup, my prior W202 was non-Bose, and with this one, I didn't bother doing the research. But what leads me to believe that both, front and rear are amplified, is the wire harness that was supplied with my new head unit, it actually has 4-channel RCA cables that had to be connected to aftermarket receiver (and so I did for few weeks)...

Regards,
D

do you have a facelift 1999 w202?
I want your drivers side front door speaker!!!
Partsnumber should be A202 820 87 02

Is it in 100% working condition?
Any damage to the speaker papercone or coil, wireplug pins?
No rust on speaker?

How much you want for it?
I need drivers left side door speaker.

[babycarlsson]

Thanks, anf! I actually had those very same Bostons in my A4, I liked them very much! Indeed, mount them into C36!


do you have a facelift 1999 w202?
I want your drivers side front door speaker!!!
Partsnumber should be A202 820 87 02

Is it in 100% working condition?
Any damage to the speaker papercone or coil, wireplug pins?
No rust on speaker?

How much you want for it?
I need drivers left side door speaker.

Yes, those are the speakers came out of the car, A202 820 87 02. 100% in working condition, and exceptional in appearance with absolutely no damage to the paper cone, surrounding or rust of any kind. Car still has only 55K miles, and always been garaged.

I was planning on selling them as a set on ebay, but PM me with the offer, I'm flexible...

Those wires/pigtails, since I didn't have to remove the door panels to remove the speakers, wires are still inside the door, and to be honest, I'd rather not take the door panels off to get to them. If those pig tails are the same as the rear Bose woofers (part number on the plug is 012 545 84 28), I can include that, otherwise, no wires, sorry...

I'll take few pics tomorrow, and will respond with them in the PM...

Regards,
D