First, a hello from a newbie to all veterans in here.

I just bought a 03 AT CL-S last week. The Bose system is a POS. I went to several car audio shop, and they said there're not much they could do.

One guy said he could add an EQ (Alpine ERE-G180) and an amp to it. He will by-pass the amps in the OEM speakers.

Here are the questions:

1. Will this setup work? Or he just wants make money? From the beginning, he knows that I don't know anything about car audio (and it's true)

2. If it works, is it worth the money? He quotes the whole thing will cost me about $900 (including laboring, kits,...)

3. Can I just keep the OEM head unit, replace all OEM speakers, and add an amp to the system?

4. If none of the above works, what are the other choices I can have? The last thing I want to do is to replace the HU. I read some forum members add an Infinity Basslink to bring up the bass, but the high range still sucks, doesn't it?

Thank you all in advance. All advice will be very much appreciated.

Smurf

 

the only thing to do is add some bass...the interior speakers sound awesome (when you arent trying to pump bass through them) so get yourself a pair of subs and an amp...or a basslink, and turn down the bass on your factory deck and it sounds awesome....unless you are a major audiophile, in which case you should just gut the whole damn car and get all new speakers, deck, subs, etc..because otherwise you wont be satisfied

 

no, you cant keep the oem deck and replace speakers, the bose factory system runs on different ohm settings than typical stereo equipment

 

I think you can add an EQ to make the stock Bose sound better??????

 

I would think so. Since most of the EQ in market nowaday also boost the signals and I heard Earnie (eclipse23) said stock Bose speakers sound nice when boosted so it's worthed a try.

 

Incorrect. I replaced all the interior speakers with MB PSC 216 and run off the stock deck and Bose amp. Sounds just fine.

 

Thanks all for quick replies.

I am not an audiophile. I used to own a 91 Legend, and was happy with the stock system (with built-in EQ). After reading the replies, I decide to add an EQ.

1. If I just want to add an EQ, do I need an amp to go with that?

2. If an amp is required, what do I need? 2 channels? 4 channels?...How many watts, powers,... is enough for the OEM speakers?

3. What type of amp do I need, if I want to add a sub later on (when I have extra money)?

Thanks

 

I will add a little to my previous statement from a concurrent post:

Rear 6x9 question

I have the MB tweets set at -3db.

 

Get a 4 channel amp and replace the Blose speakers, you can keep the stock head unit . Run the set up through the rca converter, and you will be able to hook up a EQ to that amp.
Good Luck....

 

At first I planned to use RCA with an external amp. I tapped the lines coming from the deck and wired an RCA line directly to that. I got HUGE amounts of line noise. Will the convertor extinguish the noise and give me a good signal? May be worth a trip to Best Buy and take a look.

Here's a topic I just started about my kickpanels and the amp I plan(ned) to use:

Fiberglass Kick Panels

About 500K in pictures, but worth the wait if you are on a dialup.

 

You got line noise or alternator noise? If it is line noise, lower the gain on your amp. If it is alternator noise, get a ground loops isolator from Radio Shack. That should take care of your problem.

 

RCA feedback noise as in alternator noise and whining when the dimmer switch activates upon closing doors, and pops when I switch between CD-FM, or turn volume down to zero.

 

I dont know what caused the pops. But with the whinings when you operate other things (i.e. sliding seats, headlights, AC) then a ground loops isolator would help. There are 2 end on this isolator, if you hook it up and it doesnt work, reverse it. It should work. Good luck.

 

Thanks for your input. I am sure the pops are part of the same problem that should be solved by a ground loop isolator.