rickshobbies

I have searched the forum and found some good information on replacing the stock head unit (97 3.0 CL with Bose system). I actually like the way the system sounds, but you have to raise the volume too high to get any bass out of it. What my local pro stereo shop tells me is that I can change the head unit for one that gives a lot of adjustments for low freq attenuation. He says that the stock head unit is in fact line level into the Bose amp (they had to go down this road before and insists that they have verified this) and that a good head unit used with the Bose amp and speakers will produce nice results, far better than the stock head unit will because it has very poor low end attenuation.

Has anyone done this and found an improvement? I don't listen to music at loud levels and I am not after heavy bass, just something that sounds rich and clean at lower volumes. I need the full use of my trunk, so I don't want to throw a sub in there.

Any comments before I sink the money into this project?

Rick

DanMan1464

i dont think you should use the amp with the speakers.....bypass the amp if you replace the headunit

wilp99

i replaced the h/u and directly used it with the bose system/amp and i honestly think it sounds 100% better. probly about as good as the bose speakers are going to sound with out replacment. try it and if ur not satisfied then replace the speakers... also dont let them tell u this crap about how the aftermarket deck will not work with the bose amp cause it will. thats what i did.

rickshobbies

OK, cool. So did you use line level or speaker level output to the Bose amp from the head unit?

rickshobbies

I figured I would bypass the amp if I was going with after market speakers, but the stereo shop says that it's very hard to beat the performance of the high end factory speakers by any large amount unless you go to a full setup with amps and subs. He says that you can replace the speakers, but for the money, you don't gain much. So, we are going to try the new head unit first and see how it goes. I can always swap out the speakers later if I want I suppose.

wilp99

i used speaker level directly from the h/u amp.

rickshobbies

Speaker level? The shop says it should be line level. Would that still work OK as long as you didn't turn the volume up too loud? Or is the shop wrong about it being line level? I trust the shop as they have done a lot of work for me in the past and I have always been happy, but I also don't want anything messed up either. Hmm...

wilp99

i guess it is the "right" way to do it. speaker level is ok. ive had mine like this for 1 year now and no problems yet. and i listen to my shit loud. it will sound exactly the same if u use line level.... well maybee alittle better. i dont think i could blow my bose. i can turn them up to where they sound like crap but theres just a sweet spot to where they sound pretty fly. i would do speaker level. instead.

rickshobbies

Out of curiousity, how is the bass response now? I am looking mostly for lower to mid volume bass response myself.

wilp99

it is decent for a speaker with a cone tweeter. all my bass now comes from a 1000w rockford amp and 2 800w 12's. but the bose speakers do sound clear.