Wanting better sound after new head unit (factory Bose)
 

Okay, yeah, a second new thread today. Different issue this time as I had NO CLUE how to word a search for this.

New head unit installed recently, a Kenwood with lots of bells and whistles. (DNX695S, a model from a year or two ago but still new in box.)

2005 Vette, factory Bose. Since installing and attempting to set the EQ to the best of my (non) ability, I've noticed some distortion on some songs but not all. Also, with the roof out at highway speeds, of course sound quality isn't the greatest. That's to be expected, but I do still want to hear my tunes without blowing my speakers. I LOVE music and it's a must when I'm driving.

So what do I do? Do I upgrade/change the factory speakers? Does that necessitate getting rid of the factory Bose amp in the passenger side footwell? (Would this increase leg room over there? I'm guessing no but my 6'3" husband doesn't like the lack of leg room in the passenger seat so I never get to drive my own car when it's both of us - at least that's his excuse! haha.) Or do I just continue to work with the EQ settings and maybe take it to an expert to work on the settings for me? Or both?

If a speaker change is warranted, what do you recommend? I know Alpine speakers were the way to go back in the day. But I also hear good things about Memphis, Polk, and some others. I don't want to break the bank, as I don't drive the car all that much anymore, but I do want to enjoy the heck out of my music when I do drive it. I don't know squat about crossovers, high pass and low pass filters and all that stuff. Completely clueless there. Willing to learn though, and hubs and I can do a lot of this stuff ourselves. He of course knows more than I do about car audio and has done some stuff with his vehicles in that aspect.

Changing the front 3.5 inch and rear speakers is the way to go
Very easy to do....do a search for the right ones..i used jl audio..and only had to use spacers for the rear as they were a little too deep..fronts dropped right in...i then added a mini amp to boost up the power..most head units have about 18 watts..alpine makes an amp that doubles it and pretty much taps into the harness so you can use the stock wiring harness for all the speakers.
Also have to make sure all the gain cotrols are set right..if you used an adapter to hook into the bose harness you should have one..

Who did the install
Which adapter harness did they use
Bose speakers are very low end
You do have to keep the bose powered door woofers
If you change the other speakers they should be adjusted to recieve only down to 100htz..they are too small to go lower than that..
Tuning a stereo is 1/2 the battle

Bose uses very different imaging and dynamics to achieve their sound from the pre-amp (head unit). The head unit, amp and speakers work as a whole and in unity. When you disrupt that balance, (as you are finding out) the sound is not to your liking. It wasn't to me also when I replaced my Bose with a Kenwood. It sounded muddy and overdriven no matter how much I played with the EQ settings. I put the original Bose head unit back in and sold the Kenwood. Much happier. Either change the whole system or none at all.

We did it ourselves; myself and a couple of coworkers.
Wiring harness was PAC RP5-GM11.
i have my EQ curve set up around the midline with the lowest and highest (bass and treble) frequencies set above the line and the mid range ones below, basically in a smooth wave. That’s the best I’ve been able to do so far.

That’s what I’m looking to do possibly, change everything for a better sound. I just don’t know if the Bose amp has to be replaced, pulled completely and the speakers go off the head unit alone, or what other things I need to do to get the best possible sound. I figured this would be a good place to start. Thanks! It sure is a completely different world, wow.

Change the speakers first..thats easy. When you do the fronts you have to change the spade connectors. Swap the large one for the small one and vice versa..bose uses reverse polarity..for the rears use an adapter so it just plug and play..do a search on here for changing the speakers..it will show you what fits and what to buy
Then see how it sounds
If you want to replace everything..you can leave the amp processors and bypass the whole thing. 5 chanel amp..wired up to the speakers and a sub all run off the head unit..that will be phase 2 for me..interior comes out..dynomat everything..
Right now your powering up Bose speakers with a headunit not designed for them..

The first question that must be asked is what kind of budget are you willing to throw at this? As a fellow music lover (a.k.a audiophile) that metric will determine all following advice.

As someone who has been exactly where you are now and taken the entire journey from start to finish, I can tell you that this is NOT an easy decision. The C6 is one of the most challenging cars to get quality sound from...and it's even worse trying to get clear VOLUME from it. The more you do, the harder it fights back. But, I'm happy to help as much as possible...I just need more data to give you accurate feedback. Here's my thread as to establish audio street cred. LOL!

Pb's system is Rolex quality..mine is Timex. Mine is under a grand all in and will take an afternoon to put together. At best I will be able to set some basic EQ on it but not time delays for the speakers..which is the most important thing..you need a sound processor for that.....you could start there and see how you like it. I'll give it a year or so and then go for the whole thing..
Youtube and this place are great sources of info.

I don't want to drop a fortune, but I don't want cheap crap either. I've always been a fan of quality like JL Audio, Alpine, Clarion etc. but I usually stick with the Kenwood area budget. I don't mind spending a little more if it will give me good results. I don't need stellar, mild-blowing no more than I drive the car... but when I do drive it, I'm in it for hours - sometimes roof in, sometimes roof out. I'd love to be able to enjoy it either way without significant distortion. I don't need major boom like I did back when I was a teenager (but a little doesn't hurt!) - however, if I drive it to work I haul a lot of gear for overnight stays and also account for the roof being out as well possibly. I spent a few hundred bucks on my head unit and I'm cool with that. I don't want to spend thousands, but I'd be find spending a few hundred more for good sounds quality. Maybe up to another $6-800, but in stages? A couple hundred or less at a time with the most important stuff first?

6-800 on the amp....then 6-800 on the sub...then 6-800 on the speakers...then 6-800 on deadening. Done.

Nah I don’t have that much cash to drop on a car I drive about 3 times a month that isn’t paid for, along with making three other car payments and attempting to sell our house and buy another. $1000 total tops, in stages, that I can sliiiiide around under the radar around my husband. 😎

I got ya...money is always tight. Then honestly, best bet is to just spend a hundred bucks or so and take it to someone that can tune it with an RTA. I know it's factory speakers, but they will be able to tell you the max volume you can play before getting distortion, handle time alignment, and EQ so it will sound as good as it can without breaking anything. Fortunately, this is also the cheapest route. Throwing money into speakers and additional gear is a waste right now as they will not give you the end result you're after without tuning. Another route is to install a DSP (which I'm not sure how you even could on a factory setup off the top of my head) and take that to the tuner. It will allow them much more control over the tune (larger amount of EQ channels and "Q" size) and sound much better than stock. But you wont get "volume" out of it as much as you will sound quality.

Good luck with it, and let us know what you end up doing.

I still think new speakers would sound much better..your still limited to the output power from the headunit so I would go with the JBL's that everyone says work the best..2 ohm and 91 sensitivity..The bose woofers stay and as long as you set the gains right like I did they will not muck up the sound too much.

Her HU doesn't "support" a 2 ohm driver. Power ratings are for 4-8 ohm. The equipped DSP is quite capable. The factory Bose stuff is 4 ohm. So DSPing her factory stuff with the HU will likely achieve the biggest bang for the buck. Ideally, she should do speakers AND DSP tuning...but if she has to choose one or the other, DSP would be the better choice IMO.

Ah..thats right..forgot about the 4 ohm. Speakers are pretty cheap though..How much is tuning?

IDK. I don't pay for mine. But I can imagine a shop charging labor on it, so maybe 60-80 dollars/hr. 60 minutes I all that should be needed for just EQing a stock setup.

Then 600 bucks all in....

Lord I have a bunch to sit down and learn... DSPs and ohms and capabilities of the head unit for the ohms... all this is way over my head! I do well with engine lingo but not audio! Y’all got any good beginner reading material? 😁

When I got into all this..well it was way before the web was invented but now you have ...youtube...anything on earth is on it.Start here: https://www.youtube.com/user/CarAudioFabrication
and when I teach people about electricity I use water as an analogy
thing of water running in a pipe from some source like a pump
volts is pressure
amps is gallons per minute
and ohm is the resistance through the pipe
the less ohm the less resistance..but you can pull too much power from the amp and burn it ..kind of like sucking a pump dry and burning it out.
check out sites like this as well: http://www.bcae1.com/