Factory Bose vs Aftermarket Replacement

[Kevin445730]

My baby is a 98 SSE with Bose. I've been stewing on the idea of replacing the Bose with aftermarket, but I have my concerns about stereo integration and sound quality/sound stage. Who has replaced their factory systems and what are the pros/cons of replacing it?

[nos4blood70]

Are you talking about replacing the whole system? Head unit and speakers and all? Or just the head unit.

[Kevin445730]

Yup replacing everything! Has anybody here installed speakers in the back doors? The 98 doesn't have a speaker location there but would be nice to have.

[nos4blood70]

Speakers in the back doors aren't crucial to the sound stage in my opinion. Having listened to a couple of Bonnevilles (2000+) with both Bose and Monsoon systems which had speakers in the rear doors, my system is just as immersive as both of the aforementioned. A good pair of 3 or even 5 way 6X9's in the rear deck should make rear door speakers unnecessary.

[MattStrike]

I love Bose, and if I had a one I wouldn't change it unless something failed and I couldn't get a replacement. I don't have one though...

Rear door speakers made a difference for me, helped balance the rear 6x9's in the upper mid to high ranges. It also made the rear seat tolerable at higher volume levels (something about your head being right next to the 6x9)

If possible, I recommend listening to some of the other sound systems to find something that fits your taste.

[yourgrandma]

Bose is complete and utter garbage with a pretty logo and some clever marketing people. The faster you ditch the bose setup for a decent pair of components and a sub the better.

Forget rear speakers unless you really want to take the time to stage them and have a deck with audacy controls to alter the timing. If you care about soundstage that is. Nice bonus of not buying rears is you can spend twice as much on your fronts, where it actually matters.

I think anyone on here who's headr my system will tell you I don't need rear deck or door speakers for a killer soundstage.

[Bugsi]

On its own I think one can be fooled into thinking it sounds pretty good. In practice I find the Bose systems to be severely under-powered and the speakers very cheap quality. The systems sound tubby to me, and I'm not a fain. Compared to even an inexpensive aftermarket head unit, amplifier, and speakers; I don't think the Bose system can compare.

Challenges you run into are the integration with the heads-up display, steering wheel controls, possibly door chimes (not sure on your year if the door chimes are through the audio system) and potentially the On-Star system if you have it and if it works. There are adapter kids to convert steering wheel controls to wireless that can work with head units that have wireless. I'm unaware of any way to get an aftermarket system to work with the heads up display.

I've looked over the wiring diagrams of the head unit to the Bose Amp, and I believe it should be possible to tap off signals to drive an aftermarket amp, while keeping the stock head unit, heads-up display, and steering wheel controls; but it is unclear what the signal levels are between the head unit and the amp, and I sold our 2003 Grand Prix with Bose before I got around to experimenting with it. Having it stock made it easier to sell, but I think I'd go ahead and rip it all out and replace with aftermarket if it were my own system, because I really find the Bose systems to just sound weak.

[yourgrandma]

Luckily (in an ironic way) we don't have a lot of whole-car electronics integration to worry about compared to newer cars. The hud radio section doesn't do anything particularly special. If it showed track names or the like, id try to save it, but I'm a hud junky and I still don't care that I have no readout from my HU. I really don't miss door chimes. I took the dinger out of my Tahoe and can't stand the bonging in the intrigue.

Steering wheel controls can be adapted with a wiring harness for almost any deck. No need for wireless.

[Bugsi]

Steering wheel controls can be adapted with a wiring harness for almost any deck. No need for wireless.

I mentioned wireless because the most common harness adapter used by Bonneville users moving to aftermarket equipment is the PAC SWI-X which converts the steering wheel controls to infrared to work with a head unit's IR remote functions.

[Kevin445730]

Its a 1998 SSE therefore (from what I can tell) the hud just displays speed, high beam indicator and any check gauges like low fuel. On that note I dont think I could ever own another car that doesn't have hud! Im addicted. It does have the chimes playing through the speakers and It's important for me to keep those. I have a sub running on the stock setup right now in fact. I ran the amp rem wire to the "radio on" fuse and for the rca cable a buddy hooked me up with a Scoche adapter that taps into the rear deck speakers. The stock Bose seems to focus on mid bass and some what tremble and my 1000 watt 2 ohm amp and 12" dvc Kenwood really adds to the sound.

Help me choose a good system? I listen to everything from classical to death metal so high volume reproduction and punchy enough to keep up with double bass and all that good stuff. For a h/u, I have been eyeing. http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/ida-x305s/ what do you guys think? Lets get a plan for a good setuo on a ..say $1,500 max budget.

[nbro3546]

Go get some aftermarket speakers and if that's not enough get a bigger amp. I had to replace my rear deck speakers (with alpine type R 5x7s) when they started rattling and I can tell the difference even over subs.

[andrewsowinski21]

i have only changed out my factory highs in my 2002 bonnieville ssei i left factory radio and amp in car i switched my front door speakers out to a digital designs 6.5 the rear 5.25 ares focals and i made some changes to the rear 6x9 subs to fit to digital design 1508s in the factory sub location and it sounds great tweeters in the front are cd technoliges

[Speedin Demon77]

Not sure of its worth starting a new thread.....but how difficult is it to swap out an aftermarket amp in place of the bose? The wiring is all there. Anybody have wiring specs on the bose amp?