aftermarket system to equal premium bose system

if u want a double din HU... go with Eclipse if you want to be different.... Alpine if you want to jump on the bandwagon www.eclipse-web.com

for the speakers... search around the car audio forums... many people say MB Quart's tweeters are a bit harsh with that being said go with silk tweeters

you can even go with horns in the front.

for the rear... coax should be fine...

and to keep the sound in... dynamat, hushmat, secondskin, RAAMat

and with the wiring... dont skimp on this... if you plan to upgrade later on and the wiring is not the correct gauge... you'll have to replace it.

1/0 gauge amp wire was installed by me with no drilling... so theres no excuse.

I got the eclipse AVN2454 double din nav off ebay for $800 but don't expect another deal like that, I just got lucky. However they can be had for $1100 - $1200 on ebay right now.

If you think the factory bose sounds good then that's great, b/c you won't be too hard to impress

I am really happy with my Bostons but they are a bit pricey. I had the Alpine S series in another car and they sounded great and to be honest as good as my Boston's at 1/2 the price so I would say go with that. Again buy on ebay and save a ton of money. In fact I have also ran a set of JL TR series and they sound really crisp and clean too, also have the price of my SL series Boston's so that is 2 very good $150 range alternatives.

You can run the speakers off the HU and it will sound better than the Bose so no need for a 4 channel amp, save money there and get the Double Din Nav.

And the most important part, install this yourself and save a ton of money b/c the installers will rip you off. They see the word Bose and their eyes have $ signs in them. The hardest part is running the speaker wire through the doors. There are plenty of tutorials on here so use them and save some money.

I will try to post some pics this weekend of the NAV, but I love it. Wanted it for a long time and just saw an insane deal on ebay and couldn't believe no one had bid on it yet so I got lucky, However it was time and I would have paid $1200 for it.

Email me i can help you with the install. They are going to charge about $150 for the HU install alone if you get NAV b/c of the need to tap into the speed sensor wire. reverse wire, install the GPS antenna etc.., it's a rip off. I would hate the think of the quote you would get to run all new speaker wire to each speaker, however I think there is a inexpensive fix for that but it didn't apply to me since I was installing JL amps. Hope this helps

G2-GS said:

thanks for the props.

I sure hope so... if you could take pics of your eclipse AVN2454 setup I'd greatly appreciate that. Were you able to set it up so you can still use your steering wheel volume controls? I'll also check into those speakers you listed...what did you use for the 4 tweeters? thanks!

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Here is some pics:



As for the steering wheel control, you have to use the PAC SWI-X the universal one. The SWI-ECL was designed for eclipse, but on the newer 5435 & 5495 because they have a remote wire. The SWI-X will work, the install is more complex. Not sure what you mean about the 4 tweeters but the componet set i am using up front i drilled holes in the doors and mounted them up top beside the door locks, it looks factory. Just buy 3 way coaxial for the rear.

Bang&Olufsen DK said:

what i do know is that the bose system is heavy on the mid bass amplification.

what would do you well is to have an equalizer present in your install. you'd be able to mimic the midbass heavy Bose style of sound production. but im not sure how you would be able to move it to the back like the stock head unit does.

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And that is the problem he will run into with an aftermarket system with no sub. The BOSE system is very heavy on the mid base just as B&O mentioned. What this does is trick you into believing your audio system has bass. This is called psycho accoustics. This is not a bad thing because to most people what they hear is good. That is unless they were exposed to higher quality systems. This gets me to the point. With aftermarket components, the entire system often plays much more linear than the BOSE system. That means the mid bass is closer to true vs the inflated mid bass of the BOSE. Back to back comparisons and you will think the aftermarket system has much weaker bass than the BOSE system had. This may or may not be true. More often then not, the aftermarket system has more lower end extention (The system can play lower frequencies better) than the BOSE, but has a flatter mid bass so the percieved sound is less bass. That is not the case though as it is actually more correct mid bass. Anyway, there are two easy ways to correct that problem. Either add a sub to play the low frequencies that it is designed to play, or add an EQ and boost the bass and mid bass frequencies to your liking. After all, if it sounds good to you that is all that matters.