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After replacing my tweeters last week with a pair of Audiofrog GS10s, I decided a good compliment to that upgrade would be to upgrade the factory Bose dash center speaker. While the tweeters took a decent amount of filing down the factory Bose tweeter mounts (due to them being a good bit larger than the factory Bose units), this upgrade was too easy not to make a quick little guide. Starting with the dash center cover removed and factory speaker removed (just takes 3 T15 Torx screws and a couple of trim removal tools).
Side by side comparison of how the factory Bose center (left) looks in comparison to the new 2.5" Audiofrog GS25
Bose left, Audiofrog right. Much larger magnet on the Audiofrog as well as much more depth to the cone. That of course creates more surface area on the speaker face as well.
Foam ring to "seal" off the front face of the speaker to the grill along with a few other adhesive backed foam donuts to go around the screw points to prevent rattles there. Also a Crutchfield "Bass Blocker" (capacitor) to create a passive 300Hz -6dB slope high pass filter. The Bass Blocker came with blade connectors already installed with a larger blade for positive, and smaller for ground. The larger blade fit snugly on the GS25 lead, but the ground was loose. Crushing it with pliers solved it
The GS25 comes with a few different OEM mounting tabs for lots of popular vehicles. To my surprise, these are actually a lot stronger than I was expecting. But the point of them is to break off the unneeded tabs and only use your required ones. The 3 pairs of tabs are GM mount, Toyota/Mercedes-Benz, and another style Toyota mount.
The 958 center doesn't exactly line up with any of these perfectly, however one of the GM tabs and the further T/MB tab line up perfectly with two of the factory mounting points, seen in the next image as well.
Like I mentioned regarding how surprisingly strong these break off tabs actually are, this is probably all that's really needed to mount this speaker into place reliably and firmly. I decided to keep the 2nd T/MB tab and make a third mounting point just because it wasn't going to take but a few minutes of extra work.
With the speaker sitting exactly it would mount, I marked a drilling location with a silver metallic Sharpie. Not even sure of the size drill bit I used, I really just eye-balled it. This is also a good time to do your wiring. On my vehicle, the center speaker wires were both blue for positive and negative. But the positive was a blue with a black stripe. The striped wire has been the positive wire for the center speaker as well as both dash corner tweeters which I replaced last week.
I then slipped over a mounting screw plate (or whatever these little suckers are called) which was included in Crutchfield's "Install Bay" kit they like to sell you or add in for free with a speaker purchase. This screw mount is the perfect size for the factory speaker screws as well, so you don't even need new screws for this.
I applied one of the foam donuts to the new mount, and stuck the other two directly onto the speaker on the other mounting tabs as well as wrapped some thin foam (also included in the Install Bay kit) around the back side of the speaker mount as a further rattle/noise isolation measure.
Then around the opening, I applied some small, crudely cut strips of Soundskins Pro (sound deadening stuff) just to seal off the dash chamber as little better as well as another layer of prevention towards any rattles. Can you tell I like to go overboard on rattle prevention?
And booyah! Time to crank up some tunes. Along with the new tweeters, these speakers give a very transparent feeling to my music that the factory Bose system lacks. It gives the Bose system a much more truly linear sound in my opinion, with perhaps a touch of brightness from the new tweeters, though I think this has more to do with them perhaps being a bit more efficient than the tiny little Bose units. The new center helps vocals feel more full and clear, which is exactly what I was hoping for out of it.
But, what is the downside to purchasing the Audiofrog GS25?! Well, the only downside I can find is that they only sell them by the pair ...which of course means I just so happened to have one extra of everything if one of you have the itch to do this upgrade as well! So for $160 shipped (USA), I can send one of you the other Audiofrog GS25 speaker, Bass Blocker, and the Install Bay kit to take this on yourself. Let me know if you'd like it, or send me a DM! (Sold!)
So glad I did the Ferrari tweets/Burmester center a year ago. That way I'm only somewhat tempted to take this project on.
That project was almost completely plug and play, which is how I like it.
I was actually quite tempted to go that route as well since I saw your posts in the Ferrari tweeter thread, but figured I’d give this a try since I feel like a new amp and DSP will could likely be the end result of my audio upgrades once I get to the front doors.
I was actually quite tempted to go that route as well since I saw your posts in the Ferrari tweeter thread, but figured I’d give this a try since I feel like a new amp and DSP will could likely be the end result of my audio upgrades once I get to the front doors.
@RhinoComp Slippery slope...but you already knew that.
In the distant past I did some of my best musical listening in the car (and at one point installed ADS separates in a Volvo wagon)...but now I'm mostly listening to recorded books or podcasts, so...
@RhinoComp Slippery slope...but you already knew that.
In the distant past I did some of my best musical listening in the car (and at one point installed ADS separates in a Volvo wagon)...but now I'm mostly listening to recorded books or podcasts, so...
Been down that slippery slope too many times before One thing starts just a simple component upgrade, next thing you know you’re replacing your Avalanche’s midgate with a subwoofer box! …or maybe that’s just me… I’ve gone a lot more down the road of podcasts as well just since I spend 10 hours in the car a week just commuting, so I run out of music pretty quickly. But the next little project of removing the inner door cards for adding Soundskins Pro to the inner door metal surfaces will hopefully show the most benefit of all on that front! Hopefully I’m able to get to that on Friday
That’s a whole other project. I’m getting ready to install some black hole tiles to my inner doors..Have to pull the window regulator to get access to the full door. I did what I could though the factory mid bass hole, but couldn’t reach much. The Soundskins speaker ring foam made a big difference getting the sound inside the car.
@RhinoComp Slippery slope...but you already knew that.
In the distant past I did some of my best musical listening in the car (and at one point installed ADS separates in a Volvo wagon)...but now I'm mostly listening to recorded books or podcasts, so...
Ohhhh ADS speakers. Some of the best warmest sounding speakers to ever grace a vehicle and home.
18820477[/url]]That’s a whole other project. I’m getting ready to install some black hole tiles to my inner doors..Have to pull the window regulator to get access to the full door. I did what I could though the factory mid bass hole, but couldn’t reach much. The Soundskins speaker ring foam made a big difference getting the sound inside the car.
Yeah I had to replace a door lock actuator on one of the rear doors a couple weeks into ownership, and I’m very glad I took that time to put as much Soundskins in that door as I could while I had the card out. Since I have rear sun shades, it made for an even less fun job detaching the window. But I figure the fronts at the very least won’t be worse than the rear. I do need to get some of the Soundskins speaker rings though.
So glad I did the Ferrari tweets/Burmester center a year ago. That way I'm only somewhat tempted to take this project on.
That project was almost completely plug and play, which is how I like it.
familiar with the ferrari tweeter substitution. you have a link to the burmeister center thread? I can't find it (search feature is not great here lol).
probably going to do those this summer after I get done moving, selling a house, etc...
familiar with the ferrari tweeter substitution. you have a link to the burmeister center thread? I can't find it (search feature is not great here lol).
probably going to do those this summer after I get done moving, selling a house, etc...
05-23-2023, 08:06 PM
958 Bose Center Speaker Upgrade - Audiofrog GS25
