Project 'BOSE BE GONE!' audio upgrade completed

[siddious33]

I have a 26 sport, music sounds amazing, I think 20 is highest level I’ve tried

To be fair, my wife does not, in any way, understand why I'm spending money on this, lol. She's like, "It sounds fine." Meanwhile, I'm in the same car saying, "How can you not hear how bad this sounds?"

 

[latestarter]

Nice work, and some great choices in there. Bypassing the Bose is the only way to realise the potential of all other components. As I've mentioned before, the Bose amp has baked in EQ which fundamentally screws up the tone.

Coupe's are hard to tune as the space is cramped. Might take a few tweaks to get right.

Looking forward to the photos.

 

[jacksonmagnet]

Is the 26 z sound system different than you guys’s

 

[_ds_]

Yeah, Freeman's is great. I have done a couple things there. It is all about talking to the right person. For best results talk to one of the folks that have been there since the early 2000's.

 

[latestarter]

Not sure if there is a country difference, but in NZ we have simply the Nissan Z Coupe (manual or auto) and the Nismo. I have the manual Coupe, which has (had) the Bose system.

If you like the system your car has, whatever it might be, that's great news. I wish I had felt the same way. Tires and audio...main things I needed to fix from brand new.

 

[Who.Am.Eye.2716]

SoundShield damping and Vibrofltr blocking treatments were applied throughout all interior panels, doors, floor, cargo well area, etc. to control unwanted resonance and leakage.

@Mr. Mac
Sorry if this was asked. Why did you use a little bit of sound deadening material in the back? Compared to a lot of others who engulf the trunk with aluminum trying to communicate with Aliens

Where did you get the door panel treatment and what did you use on the door?

I happened to find a roll of 11 Sq Ft of SoundShield I bought a couple yrs ago. Found it when I was looking for Butyl Tape for another project I was working on.

I stripped the plastic panel to add a Nismo brace bar. Never knew how loud a trunk without the foam can be While I have it out, might as well do some sound deadening treatment. Any insight on where to apply with what stuff, and how much is needed would be appreciated This will be my future project of adding subs and upgraded speakers down the road. Will 11 Sq Ft if SoundShield be enough?

 

[siddious33]

Update: Starting the actual work on this project on Monday. Dropping the car off at a shop near home here in Charlotte. Here is the plan:

• Keeping the factory head unit and building everything to be stealth/look like stock
• Bypassing the Bose amp completely
• The components being used for my build are:
  • Audison Forza C8.14 amp with DSP - will run active to each new speaker with bridged channels to the woofers in the doors
  • Kicker 51LX850.1 mono amp for the subwoofer
  • JL Audio CF275 wideband speakers in the dash corners
  • JL Audio CF690W woofers in the doors
  • Audison DRC AC remote custom mounted to the right of the steering wheel
  • JL Audio C2-400X speakers for the rear side speakers
  • JL Audio 12TW3-D4 shallow mount sub in a custom box underneath the cargo floor in the rear
  • Full sound deadening application in doors and cargo area
  • Run all new 16 gauge speaker wire to each active location
  • Full RTA tune from the shop with presets in my remote for driver position, balanced, spirited driving

Will definitely have pictures of the build starting soon!

Picked up the car this morning with this build and all I can say is "wow." I'm nearly speechless at the difference. I knew this would be a huge step up but this is a whole different world. I might cry... lol.

Seriously though, this sounds like proper audio now and it just goes to show what you can do with time, research and a lot of money. lol.

Here are some pics from the build:

The CF275s fit perfectly into the dash corners.

Check out the difference in the magnets for the stock Bose speakers on the right vs the JL Audio CF690W on the left.

The JL Sub in it's enclosure underneath the cargo floor with the rebuilt storage around it. (Everything is tied or can velcro down tightly around it/above it.

Interesting note for those of you that are interested. The signal AFTER the Bose amp is godawful, but the signal that goes into the pre-amp from just the stock head unit is this screen (with all four channels summed) and it is super flat. Good starting signal to work with.

Here is the link to all the other pics from my build if you want to take a look - https://qrco.de/bh2KSh?trackSharing=1

Happy to take any questions about my experience and can only say again, this is a massive difference. Like, it's hard to even explain how much better it is unless you hear it in person.

 

[Who.Am.Eye.2716]

That looks amazing. And the detail of putting protection tape to protect the paint is top notch professionals that care.

 

[siddious33]

That looks amazing. And the detail of putting protection tape to protect the paint is top notch professionals that care.

Ha, I also went to pick it up this morning and the shop manager said, "Hey, this was no cost to you, but when we were working in there we couldn't believe the reading lights and cargo lights were old yellow, incandescent bulbs, so we swapped them all out for LEDs."

They were like, "This car deserves better."

 

[Who.Am.Eye.2716]

I need to upgrade those bulbs too. I dont understand why Nissan cheaped out on $0.30 LED bulbs