I just purchased an 05 RL from my friend. Car is totally stock but the drivers lower speaker does not function at all. Any clues on if this is an issue I can fix. Was not sure if this was an issue with these cars or thinned just something on this car. Don't want to replace whole system.


Thanks

 

Only you know how mechanically and electrically inclined you are to troubleshoot this issue. The system is not very different than any other car stereo.

This is not a documented common problem. However, Bose quality is about as shitty as you can get, so it isn't a surprise this happened.

 

Fader?

I'd be surprised that the woofers are not working if the tweeters in the A-pillars are as the wires are tied together at the woofer connector.

I just replaced the front set as a tweeter went, one woofer showed signs of water corrosion, but was still functional.

 

only thing I really know is the tweeter seems fine. The woofer has no sound at all. Even if I turn the balance and fade to the left and front only the tweeter works. even when I use the HFL only sound comes from the right front speaker. Left totally dead.

 

have you pulled the door panel to visually inspect?

 

Going to do that this weekend. However quick question if it is blown can I replace that with a non Bose speaker? trying to research that and everyone I come across is about replacing the whole system. For now I just want to replace the broken on. Or the front pair if I can do a different brand. Thanks for the help.

 

you would need a speaker with the same specs.
I believe they are 2 ohm

 

I am still not entirely convinced they are 2 ohm speakers. The only evidence we have of this is "the guy at the shop told me", and we all know how negligent those guys are in their pursuit of factual information.

OP, do you have an extra speaker laying around that you could just plug in (not actually mount)? If the impedance is indeed different, the difference between that speaker and the others would be in the volume.

 

The service manual state to check the resistance on the speaker terminals and it should equal 2 ohms.

I just replaced my door speakers with infinity reference 6030cs (2 ohm). I needed to make a 3/4" trim ring spacer. This woofer magnet just clears the window. 7/8" might have been better.

Infinity speakers are know to be a bit bright and harsh, but there are limited 2 ohm component sets out there at a reasonable price. I have the treble down a few notches and the sq is an improvement over stock.

 

I was going to give you a "Thanks" and a big thumbs up, but that's not what my service manual says.


I am not surprised a 2 ohm speaker would be characterized like that.

 

I just reread the speaker test procedure in the RL service manual 2009 volume 2 pages 23-104 to 106:

front door speaker: 2 ohms
rear door speaker: 2 ohms
front door tweeter: 3.6 ohms
rear twiddler: 4 ohms
front center: 4 ohms
sub woofer: 2 ohms

Initially, I stopped reading once I saw the door speakers were 2 ohms and assumed they all were. I was mistaken. I am surprised Bose mixed the speaker impedance.

 

Measured with a meter:
front door speaker: 2.0 ohms
front door tweeter: 3.2 ohms
sub woofer: 1.0 ohm

I replaced the sub last week with an Alpine SWR-8D4 which is the updated version of the SWR-843D The 843 was designed for sealed, vented and infinite baffle. The 8D4 was not IB rated, but has almost identical specs.

 

What year is your car? Are the measure impedances on stock speakers?

 

2009 KB2. Pulled the stock speakers from the car and measured. The stock sub was popping or clipping at volume.

 

Hmm. I wonder why the 2008 manual says to check for 4 ohms (unless they changed them obviously).