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Bose ICE weak link; head, amp, wiring or speakers ?


inspiral

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Hi All

 

Had my 350z less than a week and the one thing that's made the biggest impression is the ICE setup. It sounds rubbish :wacko:

 

I rather naively thought that I wouldn't need to touch as it was a decent brand in a premium car. How wrong I was.

 

So is there one weak link or is it all bad ? And leading on from that what should be upgraded first ?

 

Thoughts please.

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Hi All

 

Had my 350z less than a week and the one thing that's made the biggest impression is the ICE setup. It sounds rubbish :wacko:

 

I rather naively thought that I wouldn't need to touch as it was a decent brand in a premium car. How wrong I was.

 

So is there one weak link or is it all bad ? And leading on from that what should be upgraded first ?

 

Thoughts please.

 

I think you should buy my set up thats for sale :teeth:

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Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

Headunit first, make sure when you fit the headunit you do the "Busters RCA mod" to make the most of the rest of the standard set up.

 

 

Ah the wire your speaker outputs into the low level inputs mod. This is obviously wrong and stands a good chance of melting the amps it's feeding, alright I suppose if you don't mind replacing them if it happens.

 

 

Unfortunately its all pretty poor

 

HU - rediculously out of date, no MP3, Tape Deck etc...

 

Amps - puny and underpowered

 

Speakers - probably the weakest part, absolute rubbish and made by mexicans :lol:

 

Just 'cause it's old doesn't mean it should be rubbish, of course it is though. The head is first thing I'm replacing, mainly because I already have one. This isn't cheap though, I've just spent £70 on cables and a new fascia bit.

 

It'll be interesting to hear what it's like with a different head. Though it has to be said I'm not sure how I'll drive the amps, I'm thinking about a couple of variable high(spkr) level attenuators.

 

Conversely of course the biggest gain may be replacing the speakers but then as far as I can tell there's not many that'd fit in the space available. And of course the old amps may/wouldn't drive the new speakers.

 

And the amps ? I'd be surprised it they where the weakest link, them seem to move the speakers anyway ;) It's probably either a case of garbage in garbage out or that the speakers are distorting the signal.

Edited by inspiral
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I changed HU first which made some difference and of course looked/worked better but changing the speakers and amping them really made a huge difference as did putting in an aftermarket sub.

So basically changing any part will improve things but what is left will still be the weak link until you change everything :surrender:

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All I replaced was the HU, which made a big difference IMO, as well as the rear speakers behind your head. That for me was enough to transform the sound. Also see my thread http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/63775-free-mod-thats-well-worth-doing/

 

Yep everyone has different expectations / goals, I have seen some people on here singing the praises of the Bose :wacko:

 

All comes down to cost and how much a decent sound system means to you, I never wanted to sit in supermarket carparks with it blasting I just wanted clarity and depth :bose:

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All I replaced was the HU, which made a big difference IMO, as well as the rear speakers behind your head. That for me was enough to transform the sound. Also see my thread http://www.350z-uk.c...ll-worth-doing/

 

Yep everyone has different expectations / goals, I have seen some people on here singing the praises of the Bose :wacko:

 

All comes down to cost and how much a decent sound system means to you, I never wanted to sit in supermarket carparks with it blasting I just wanted clarity and depth :bose:

 

Exactly; I had a Type R before so I was used to a stereo that resembled music being played on a mobile phone :lol:

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All comes down to cost and how much a decent sound system means to you, I never wanted to sit in supermarket carparks with it blasting I just wanted clarity and depth :bose:

 

Absolutely. I'm not interested in a boom box, I did that 20 years ago with an old skool mini and half a dozen speakers etc. Personally I want clear accurate sound free of distortion at volumes loud enough to hear when driving.

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