hubris140

Hi guys

My car is an 08 3LZ that came equipped with the option 11.5inch Bose speakers in the door. A few days back, the Bose front speakers died on me. From reading some posts here it would seem that the Bose speakers are self amplified units, and if I replace the speakers with aftermarket alternatives, I would need to spring for an amp and possibly a subwoofer to get any discernible value from the audio system, adding a ton of potential labor and parts expenses.

Since I do not have the budget for a $3-4k audio overhaul job I wanted to ask if there's any viable middle ground here. Should I spent almost $800 (parts+labor) on getting new OEM Bose front speakers+tweeters and stick with the old rear speakers or are there any aftermarket options where I can just replace the speakers and still get the same or similar audio performance (the OEM audio performance on these cars are nothing to write home about but I'd be happy if I could get retain that same audio performance thru the aftermarket and rather save the big bucks for the car's performance or maintenance updates rather than a $4k audio system)

From what I understand, there are no aftermarket options available if I choose to just replace the front speakers alone due to the weird self amplified nature of the OEMs? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Homer3D

$800 for one speaker? That's crazy talk. I would rather spend the money on a complete audio upgrade.

You don't need to spend $4k to have way better audio that the stock Bose. I mean, if you spend that amount of money you should have a fairly high end audio system but you can spend a lot less.

If you are happy with the stock bose head unit, you can save even more. You would just need 6-1/2" component speakers (front), 5-1/4" coax speakers (rear), 5-channel car amp and sub. There are a few other parts you will need (cables, wires, speaker brackets,etc) but you can probably put a decent lower end audio system together for about $1200 - $1500. A little more if you plan on changing the head unit.

If you don't want to go that route, check out the for sale section. When I did my audio upgrade I sold all my stock Bose items. $400 for the stock Bose Nav head unit and $100 for the complete set of stock Bose speakers.

hubris140

The $800 figure includes 2x Bose front speakers and tweeters (basically both the door components) and labor for installing the speakers+tweeters on both doors.

hrt vlv

My son was showing me a conversion. It replaces part of the center console. It mounts a Ipad Mini where your OEM double-din radio. It offers a carbon fiber finish, and ability to link a backup camera. I am usually not a fan of " other than stock". But this looked very factory like in fit and finish. Saw it on Pintrest and another on a Youtube video:
My question is, is there a company that offers this already set up? Just adding the Ipad Mini? Any links or advice would be greatly appreciated.

hubris140

Oh boy, this is the dream right here. Wonder if there are any vendors like DoubleD mods who can hook me up!

TorchRedFred

You can buy used Bose woofers and speakers in the c6 parts for sale section from guys who have gone to aftermarket systems. I just sold mine recently for almost nothing. Cheapest route is to replace with used and maybe then replace the head unit with aftermarket if you want.

EVRose

You can get those Bose replacement speakers for $70 on ebay. It takes less than 10 minutes to pull the door panel.

FAUEE

This. Are all the speakers blown? Tweeters almost never go bad. I'd be more inclined to buy replacement Boss speakers, and pay best buy to do it if you're not comfortable. It will be a LOT cheaper.

The C6 Boss system has 8" subs in the doors. Making it sound better would be tough. Louder, sure. But the front bass of the 8s makes it hard to beat the staging of the oem stereo.

That said, I don't see why it would be the speakers. It's probably the factory amp under the passenger floor or something in the signal path. The odds of all the speakers going out at once from something other than a loss of signal are virtually 0.

custompainter99

DoubleD Mods is no longer around for us...