Bose Speakers upgrade + Sound deadening

[Awfiretto]

Been while since I had the chance to dig into the Tahoe.

Fixed the random audio buzz, it was the rear audio controls. Disassembled and re seated the two circuit boards. Problem solved.

Still rear speakers are crap + blown, rattling at high volumes. Front stocks Bose speakers were fine.

Plan (successful) - replace front speakers with something better and sound treat the front doors. Then move stock Bose speakers to rear, and use rear speaker housings for new speaker mounts. (And re do my tint while the door card is off)

The front stock bose speakers are 1.9 ohms
The rear stock bose speakers are 3.6 ohms
The new Infinity RED6522ix are 3.0 ohms

moving the fronts to rear was easy plug and play took 10 min. Yes a bit of risk at the lower ohms... but I figure if it does kill the Bose amp... it will give me an excuse to upgrade . - they worked and sound considerably better. (See pic for size reference)

sound treated these doors

then came the fun part. Side cuts and pocket knife to snip the the old rear speakers apart to make the housing for new speakers. I used the mount provided and epoxy to create a surface for the new speakers. Worked excellently.

The Infinities came with a decent grill, and with sound quality in mind I wanted them exposed... turns out GM thought of this . Cut out the factory speaker grill and there you have it. Better tools would’ve created a better fit.

Then the fun of putting it all back together (soldering connections) and honestly the most frustrating part was getting the door card to fit back on (normal problem when sound treating). Got r dun.

took it for a cruise. I’m using an iSimple Bluetooth module, with Spotify set to HQ with the EQ turned off. OH MY gosh. A completely new system and sound ($133 from amazon for all stuff and 12 hours of work)

The mid bass and bass is incredible, it supports the factory sub perfectly, and the extra tweeters on the infinities do not over power the A-piller stock bose (was worried about that).

For those of you looking to upgrade your system... this is best value I can fathom.

There’s no doubt the sound deadening brings the best out of any speakers... but even without this I’d imagine vast improvements from Simply swapping tired stock speakers.

questions, comments, ask!

 

[Awfiretto]

More pics

 

[Awfiretto]

 

[mikeyss]

What products did you use for the sound deadening?

 

[Awfiretto]

I’ve used Noico from via Amazon. 18 sqft was enough for decent coverage (70%) of all four doors. 3 sheets each front and 1.5 sheets each rear.

the self sticking foam is awesome. I could’ve used more though. Where I cut out for the speaker, I placed that piece in the door behind the speaker. Just enough to make it work.

I used this stuff to cover my previous vehicle, and it worked beautifully with no issues. No smell, ext.

The foam is key to quiet and isolation.

 

[Awfiretto]

(Posting from my phone because lazy)

Missed this one showing the rear in the rear speakers, and size difference from
Front.

 

[NOSOK]

I might have to do something similar, sans the sound deadening. The Bose system in our 2011 Burb has terrible sound quality. Noticed the other day that there doesn't seem to be any sound coming from the rear. I'm guessing those speakers are blown.

 

[camaroz2887]

Nice install, I haven’t even looked at the speaker mounting on my truck yet so this is good to know.... hopefully at some point I’ll get to that lol...Like the idea of the sticky foam. Was it closed cell or open cell(did air pass through it)

Did the whole sound deadening thing in my ranger and it was a huge difference.

Looking back at your pics I’m now dreading doin the full treatment on this truck. Did you just lay the deadener across those access holes or did ya cover em first?

For anyone planning to do sound treatments look up sound deadener showdown. They don’t sell their products anymore but the info on their website is priceless.

 

[89Suburban]

Does anybody worry about water intrusion/corrosion on the sound deadener? Especially on the outer door skins? Just curious.

 

[Awfiretto]

Nice install, I haven’t even looked at the speaker mounting on my truck yet so this is good to know.... hopefully at some point I’ll get to that lol...Like the idea of the sticky foam. Was it closed cell or open cell(did air pass through it)

Did the whole sound deadening thing in my ranger and it was a huge difference.

Looking back at your pics I’m now dreading doin the full treatment on this truck. Did you just lay the deadener across those access holes or did ya cover em first?

For anyone planning to do sound treatments look up sound deadener showdown. They don’t sell their products anymore but the info on their website is priceless.

I did just lay it over top of the openings, placed with care and with the sticky back closed cell foam over it it seemed sturdy enough to save the time of cutting out wood/plastic.

The bottom of the door is un obstructed, so no real concern with the drain rod water for me.

When I do this I definitely plan to have a “weekend” or a afternoon to next day to knock it out.

The panels do barely fit with this, but to day to day I’m ok with them being a 1/4 out in some spots.

Over the past 6 months I have truly enjoyed the project. I regularly say to myself “damn, this sounds great”. We have a 2010 Z71 with the Bose, that was obviously less abused, and even though it sounds better than the 07 did when we got it... it doesn’t come close to the sound deadening and Infinities.

I don’t think you could get more bang for the buck out of any stereo Mod / upgrade.