deputydog95

Just picked up my 02 cab. Bose system is okay. I'm an audio nut and there just isn't room to do what I want so I'm not going to bother. I've never owned a car with less than two twelves. Anyway, I have a sweet Alpine din and half head unit in my closet at home doing nothing. It's got no internal amplifier. Is it possible to get rid of the factory head unit and replace it with my alpine? I still need to be able to control the factory cd changer as well? Will it require a separate amplifer? I assumed that the Bose system speaker are not powered by the factory head unit? This alpine head unit plays MP3's and I'm dying to get at least that going again.

SPR

yeah sure get a separate amp and a harness adapter from becker and just use the factory speakers and dump the oem amp. Dunno if it's most but basically it's not an issue if you dump the deck and amp.

deputydog95

i'm probably wrong, but aren't the bose speakers individually amplified with amps on each of the speakers. i had a friend with a maxima and a corvette with the bose systems and they were both that way. i was hoping to not have to dump too much money into a system i know i'm going to be dissapointed with

kilrgt

Change the head unit, change the Amp and there is NO problem. The speakers are passive NOT active all the power comes from the factory Amp, Need any help just ask

deputydog95

any suggestions on the amp? how many channels will I need to do this right? I may change the stock speakers out someday for some BA's or MB's, so I'd prefer something that will accomodate my future needs and not just barely powerful enough to run the stocks. I don't need anything that will power a future sub though as my bass obsession will most certainly require a seperate amp for that when the time comes

deputydog95

one other thing...my head unit will control an alpine changer. is there a way to rig it so that i can control the factory changer with my alpine head unit?

docjackson1

i had the same setup in a previous car, and the installer was able to make my alpine head unit control the cd changer.

deputydog95

cool. that's good news. now, what kind of amp (channels, brand, with or without crossovers) do I need?

SPR

that is pretty cool about the changer control I haven't heard of that one- I know the cartridge is a sony so I wonder if the interface is as well that might help you. I am running a PPI 5440 5 channel with cdt audio separates in the front, focals rear, and a jl 10w0 in the back off a hk traffic pro, I am very happy with it.

deputydog95

how do you run the mids and highs? are they all amplified separately? what about crossovers? i know i've got mids and tweets in the dash with a mid bass in the door? what speakers are in the rear of an 02 cab? what is the best way to amplify and crossover this bose system?

deputydog95

anyone, anyone? how many channels do I need to run this setup properly? Are the midbass in the door and fronts considered one pair? What's in the rear? Will I need a crossover? Do the speakers get any power at all from the factory head unit or is it all from the amp?

acourvil

Not sure I can help much since you have an '02, but I can give some info about the Bose system in the '04.

The front and rear speakers consist of a 1-1/4" tweeter and a 3-1/2" mid/woofer. The door speakers are a 4" mid/woofer. Both are (IMHO) low quality. I haven't opened up the rear, so I'm not sure exactly what is there.

The amp is 6 channel. Although I'm not sure, I _think_ that the door speakers and front speakers are on the same channel. The '03-04 amp is a 100watt switching amp with 5 25watt linear amps (although I'm sure what that really means)

If I were in your situation, I would change out the speakers before doing anything, or change out the speakers at the same time that you do the head unit. I think the speakers are the weakest part of the system.

deputydog95

Docjackson: Could you give me the name of your intaller? My guy didn't think I could use the changer. I'd like to give your guy a call to see how he did it. What year was your 911 that they were able to do that?

Acourvil: Where did you get that info on the bose system? I'd like to find out more about the amplifier. I don't know what the linear amp thing means either.

SPR

I am running everything off that ppi 5 channel amp. The separates came with cross overs for the mids and highs front. The rears are focal coaxials. My 5 channel amp has built in independent crossovers to boot for earch f, r, sub. I am using those aslo- my sub is hooked to the separate sub out on my hk traffic pro so I can tune it on the fly- very nice improvement! That's about it.

acourvil

The info about the amp was from various official descriptions. Unfortuantely, Bose has a policy of not releasing technical info. I think I did see someone post here indicating that he designed the MOST amp used by Porsche, but I'm not sure what additional info he would be allowed to add. There is also a reference design available from the company that does the MOST system architecture, but I don't know how closely the Porsche/Bose amp follows that.

The speaker info is from hands-on. I've pulled the front, rear and door speakers and replaced them with Infinity speakers. Although I just finished it and haven't had much time to evaluate, my initial impression is that merely replacing the speakers makes a major improvement to the sound. For about $150, the sound went from kind of painful at times to sounding pretty good (although part of the problem was a blown speaker in one of the doors).