hey guys, i tried searching this and found a few solutions, but most were to upgrade the whole system w/ a new headunit. I was wondering if I can upgrade my stock speakers to better ones and still use the stock headunit to improve the sound quality. I didn't know if this is possible due to the # of ohms that bose speakers have. If it is possible, is there much to the swap- like major modification? or just a direct drop in. Anyone wanna shed some light on this? Thanks in advance...

here are a few links I found from the search...you will learn how to find anything once you mess with the search more because I would bet that everything has been discussed at least once on here.

long story short, yes you can change speakers and keep the stock HU, sound will be very bright though because the stock Bose EQ boosts the highs big time to compensate for the piece of shit speakers that they put in this car, but there are tons of instructions on how to bypass the stock EQ...blah blah blah. The stock speakers are 4 ohm BTW, only the "sub" is 1 ohm, so you can directly swap them. You may have to do some cutting if you want a 6.5 inch speaker to fit, but basically a door speaker swap isnt hard at all.
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...er+replacement

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...er+replacement

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...er+replacement

thanks for the links... and info

no problem, PM me if you want to ask anything else.

YES you can use stock head unit for aftermarket speakers. Change the speakers, to components, i did the same, and had a set of Kenwood Excelon component system infront and one in the back, they retail for 279.00 a pair, but you can buy them from dealers on the ebay for 109.00. They work wonders, and you would be thanking me for the advice. They use a new technolgy known as Dual mag. The magnets in the abck are really small, but are weird looking. Once you cranck up the volume, i bet you this that you wont be able to damage them. Stock speakers, as one of my mate who works at tweeter told me, are worth $2 each . Anyways change the stockers to aftermarket ones, you will love um.

you can get better sound simply changing out the HU with the factory speakers too.

To take this one step further is there a way to replace the HU and not loose the wheel controls and the SUB?

yes and yes.

there are units to hook up to make the steering wheel controls work (with most not all hu's) and you can get the sub to work 2 ways. 1 either do a little custom wiring and hook up the wires from the HU to the factory sub amp (mounted behind teh rear seat- seat removal is necessary but very easy) or install a small after market amp. thats what i did. the sub is twice as loud.and sounds better having a real amp. as for longevity, ive had it hooked up like that for well over a year now and the sub is just fine

so u dont use ur stock sub?

Is the sound quality with the kenwoods clear and nice sounding? or is it more base? or how would you describe it. I heard if anyone replaced their stock speakers, the sounding isn't as good unless you bypass your stock eq. Something about, you might lose your highs and lows. I really don't know, I read this stuff on some other forums recently.
I would only be using components in the front correct? and maybe 3-ways in the rear? or both components front and rear. Were there much modification or any that you had to do to the doors or did the kenwood speakers swap with no modification.
Your solution sounds good. Just trying to get some more detailed feedback from you. Thanks for fillin' us in on this. thanks again!

which units work with still hooking up and using the steering wheel controls? What option should i look for when buy a CD headunit, well in this case for me I want a DVD/CD Navi system.