A friend of mine gave me some extra Bose speakers for the front door with a manufacturer date of 4/2008. Are these in any way an “improvement” or “updated” model compared the the ones that rolled out of the factory in 1999? Or are they the exact same?

 

pretty sure c6 speakers are not PnP into a c5

 

This is a C5 Bose speaker/part #.

 

got pics?

 

@Vader_C5 first off, thanks for the follow on Instagram, I'll toss one back at'chya. As for the speaker conversation, I have a friend also with a 2008 C6. I'm not sure what speakers were optioned with his car, but I assume they were the "Bose premium" or equivalent judging by a few other options his car had. Either way, he swapped his out for some aftermarket ones (I do not know the brand) and switched to an aftermarket double din radio because, quote "the factory speakers are basically the same as the C5, so they aren't awful but they aren't good by today's standards." He had me listen to the radio while parked in his garage and the new system sounded good -- nothing over-the-top expensive was used but with the newer music and the way music has practically all been "remastered," his new speakers. the

The way I understand the sound systems in the C5 are that aftermarket (current aftermarket) speakers are a great first step in improving the sound quality. However, the factory radio won't take full advantage of the new speakers' capabilities, so to really optimize it all, you want to try to buy an aftermarket radio which has a DSP built into it. This will allow you to fine-tune the sound to best suit you AND, per a Best Buy Geek, almost any aftermarket radio "pushes more power" than any factory radio to provide an improved sound. I installed new JBL and speakers (click the hyperlink to find their listings on Amazon) with the necessary in my 2000 C5 optioned with the Bose system. I never had any complaints about the Bose, but I had some spare cash and was going to be trying sound insulation anyways, so I figured I'd hit two birds with one stone. I'm happy with the results but the initial change, for me, is minimal. The swap was fairly easy as I already had the car apart to do insulation, but if you're doing just the speakers, the hardest part for me was removing the plastic panels in the halo or around the speakers themselves.

A new radio is on the to-do list, and I'm looking at a Joying Snapdragon unit (an improved unit with better performance is rumored to drop this summer). When that time comes, I'll put together a write-up on it as there aren't too many forum articles about what I'm shooting for, and I think it will be a valuable option for some owners to consider.

Good luck with whatever you plan to do with the speakers! feel free to reach out (I'll respond faster to Instagram since we follow each other now) if you have any questions that I might be able to help with!

 

 

Hmmm...looks different to me. I believe my OEM ones were like the top pic.

I guess you can plug them in and see if they work?

 

I look on ebay the front and the back look the same. I think just age of the speakers may be an improvement, I would keep them as a free backup if yours fail.
Last fall I installed sound insulation in the front doors of my car the mid-Lows improved to the point I am going to keep the stock speakers in my car.

This spring I changed the head unit and used the EQ to fine tune them a bit more. The rear speakers are junk and will be going there is no hope for them.