# Newbie wants a stealth sound upgrade ~ Suggestion please.

Mooshu

I need your input as I've never upgraded my car's sound system.

I just got a 2013 370Z Base (no BOSE.) The plan is to add a new Navigation head unit and update the sound setting some who.

I am thinking of replacing the 2 pairs of speakers and add maybe some type of rear speakers, subwoofer setup of some sort. My local installation house tried to get me to install a long list of stuff that may be overkill for my needs. I don't need super bass or wake up the neighborhood. Most music I listen to range from POP, ELECTRONICA to Jazz. I would like to achieve crisp, clear sound with decent bass when I am jamming.


My 3 possible options I was thinking are:

(1) Buy a used BOSE sub/amps combo from Ebay and connect to a Navigation equipped HU (Pioneer or Kenwood)? Does it sound any good? I like the fact that it fits within the spare and doesn't take up any more space. Will this make sense or a waste of money?

(2)Anyone tried the slim subwoofer with amplifier combo? How do they sound? (Similar to Pioneer TS-SWX251 or Kenwood Car Under Seat Super Slim Powered Subwoofer) Will it fit in the space behind either seat? Do they sound any good?

(3)Any other suggestion that will not sacrifices the trunk space?


Last question- Will it dramatically improve the sound if I replace the other two pairs of speakers? Any suggestion on what to purchase?

Thank you in advance

Cheers

Elan

1. Don't waste your money on Bose. Might as well get all new speakers and an amp. Even though I pieced mine together, a component system with an a solid amp would have been much easier.

2. I have a powered Rockford Fostgate 300w 12inch sub and it booms very well for the car. It's not the loudest bass you can get, but it certainly gets the job done and shakes the car (not in a bad, lets rattle everyone within a 100 foot radius, kind of way)! I love it.

3. Oh I have no trunk space. Sub and Amp! :P Good thing about my powered, if I ever need trunk space, it all unplugs in 2 seconds and is Velcro'd in place, so I can have half a trunk if I need it. But you can always get creative!

4. With a minimum of an aftermarket HU, yes. With a HU and an amp hell yes. My sound is crystal clear and loud without distortion (Just don't forget to install your crossovers like me. Tweeters do not like the lows! )

There are some great guys on this forum that will be happy to help such as bigaudiofanat. He gave me some solid advice and is an audio guru. Hopefully my amateur advice helped you out a little bit.

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Shadezz

Kenwood or Alpine HU, Alpine 5 channel PDX amp, and some Polk Components for the fronts and rear filler speakers.

Under 1000.00 budget...and will make your car sound very nice.

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osirus

So here are my thoughts on this after doing a lot of reading in regards to the AV/and HU topics in this forum. BigAudio is one the best resource guys on here to get acquainted with. I would like to get into his status on here in this regards soon as well. I'm an MECP installer on the side here in DFW, so I will share what I have found so far.

1. Bose - in all my years of installing and using in Home and Car = Buy Other Sound Equipment has been the moniker for years. Dont' waste your time on this equipment for the money. Invest wisely and in other brands. Kenwood, Alpine, Pioneer, Eclipse, Boston Acoustics, MB Quart, Infinity Kappa, Polk DB, just to name a few.

2. All Single DIN units will require the Sleeve by Metra or Scosche to be installed , which will feature the pocket unless you wish to go into some heavy duty style fiberglass enclosure modifications to your dash. Most of the time, the average user will not do this. For most of all the DD or DoubleDIN units, they will fit with OEM screws (TORX) in the factory location. I have NOT confirmed the exact units which will, but I can say that anything 6.1" Screen size or some of the 7" will fit just fine.

3. As for the BASE model with speakers, they are a short depth speaker in the doors, and no tweeters in the dash, no speakers in the rear. The solution for this , would be to upgrade your doors with the adapters to fit, with a 5 1/4" if my memory serves correct, 2 way (cheapest) or 3, 4 Way speakers (bit more in cost) brand as mentioned above. This will greatly enhance the sound you hear when coupled with a good unit in the dash.

4. If you wish to add any of the additional types of speakers, you will need separate amplification and enclosures unless you wish to modify the panels existent in the rear of the 370 as it stands. Best recommendations for Amps would be anything 4 channel to power the speakers which don't include a Sub. Dedicated 1 mono block digital class amp to the subwoofer alone, which allows for discreet power and channel signal from the HU to the AMP and then to the SUB = Least amount of interference from other speakers and having to 'channel' down the signal coming into the 4 channel amp say you power the hypothetical REARS on channel 1 and 2 of the 4 channel amp, and then bridge 3 and 4 channels to power the sub with a low pass crossover to ensure no highs hit the sub. These are both ways to do it, however the cleaner signal way is 2 amps , 1 to power the 2 rears and the 2 fronts in the doors (4 Channel Method) , or 1 AMP to power the rears you install, leaving the doors to be powered by the HU - (2 Channel AMP Method), and the installing a Single Monoblock Digital AMP for the sub.

5. If you wish to do any of the DDIN units you will need to understand that you will be tapping in most cases the speed sensing wire, which there are many of posts on here which I will link to later when I'm on my mac as I dont' have them bookmarked on this machine. Tennessee has a great tutorial on install for Single DIN, and AK370 has a great one on the D-DIN unit which Big installed.

6. Wires to be tapped to get features to work - Orange Wire at either the driver kick plate or rear trunk driver wire bundle for Reverse Sensing Engagement - (HU Wire will be or should be Purple / White) , Yellow Wire in MS80 connector, pinout 18 in the Factory OEM harness will be where you connect the aftermarket HU speed sensing wire. If you wish to use reverse camera backup , follow the instructions on AK's install for guidance, it's the easiest to follow and the cleanest. (if i mispoke on the wire colors, the family here will correct my post and I apologize if it's in error). All the other wires in the Aftermarket Scosche NN04B Wiring Harness or Metra Nissan 2007 - Up Wiring Harness will be pretty straight forward in solder or butt connections (wiring codes are on the back of the bag which it comes in)

7. As for the slim line types of enclosures and subwoofers, I personally have not used them however in my years of installing, they are often not a chosen item, only because the sales teams i have worked with understand the physics behind the motion of sound and displacement of sound a crossed a medium (IE the speaker baffle which is the cone). When you cram low frequency sounds into a small enclosure with no room for air to travel, your sound becomes very tight and not full in the intended fashion that a sub-woofer is supposed to emanate. This being said you don't need a large band-pass box with everything to get that sound. Doing like Elan has mentioned above, creating plug and play type connections for easy removal is your best idea. I would personally recommend a 12" in a front facing box with a aforementioned amp scenario which would do the trick. Just cause you sacrifice space with design by a manufacturer for a sub, doesn't mean you won't also sacrifice sound and clarity and correct replication of low frequencies from the song.

Lastly, Feel free to reach out to the people on here like AK, TenneseeZ, BigAudioFanatic and myself if you have questions. These guys are always willing to lend a hand and information as i have noticed on other posts and even my own. I just recently installed the AVIC-X930BT in our 370Z and just had to find all this information, which some questions asked i was able to get everything i needed from the above guys. It's a great resource and family here, reach out if you need something, and remember in most cases, no question is a dumb question. Part of learning and understanding is asking questions. ;-)

Hope this helps.

-Osirus

37Z

I built a fiberglass sub box and false floor located between the rear shock tower brace and the space tire space. It houses an 8" sub, signal processor, and 5-channel amp so it is all out-of-sight. A 6.5" or 7" HU with nav will fit in the stock double din space (I had a Kenwood in my Z). Best to add new speaker wires instead of using the stock speaker wires (see SikNik sticky for details). If you Z is with a manual transmission, you can install a power wire by removing the rubber plug located behide the battery to the rear hatch area to the amp. Pricewise, budget a $2-3K for a good sound system.

Good luck!

jaycz

Wicked Cas makes sub box that goes in the spare tire area while keeping the spare tire. Works great and it's very stealthy.

H2O_Doc

I replaced the door/dash speakers and also added speakers behind the seats. I know a lot of people (esp. Audiophiles) like fronts only, but adding the 6.5 behind the seats with the tweeters in the pillar hole really helped round out the sound.

This is my second 370Z. Last time I put the amps behind and underneath the seats. This time, I put them in front of the spare so they are now out of sight.

Mooshu

Thank you guys for the great feedbacks so quickly. I will research more about these.

Mooshu

Hey H2O-Doc. I like your idea of putting the amps in front of the spare.

Where did you put the Subwoofer?

How did you install the 6.5" behind the seats?

Can you share picture of each and the list of components you choose?

Thanks

H2O_Doc

I got a Zenclosure for the sub. It takes up some space, but it is affordable, looks custom fit, and I still have enough space for grocery runs.

For the 6.5s, there is a person who makes custom holders on this forum that fit the shelf - they look great. There is also a very good guy on ebay that will do fiberglass pods for $75. Finally, there are some large volume boxes that will sit on the shelf that you can get for about $25 that strangely sound great.

On the amps, if you mount like I did, it will take you about 2-3 minutes to access the amps to make adjustments. Having said that, I can tune the amp and never need to touch it again, so it isn't a big deal.

I can post pics later.

osirus

Nice one H2O thats some high quality nice install there. How did you sync the signal for the Reverse OEM cam to your HU, which wire feed did you tap? I have tapped all the other wires , Speed Sensing, Reverse Orange in the trunk and I have the OEM Mirror cam. Just can't get the Signal feed. Thanks for any help. PS I have the AVIC X930BT.

Nice job btw.

peleincubus

This sounds pretty much like what I want to do to my car. I didn't think I would be able to fit an 8" sub. I thought I would have to go even smaller. I am going to keep my stock head unit and get what bigaudio recommended me to get.

Some hertz component small sub and amp should pretty decent hopefully.

And until this thread I thought there were tweeters in the base. I guess not though.

RonRizz

there are tweeters in the base

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osirus

Possibly so, but nonetheless they are nothing in compliment by any fashion to the mids in the doors which drive most of the audible range of music. IN this fashion to me, IMO, it's a shitty design. They should of done a 6 1/2 in the door with either a 2 way design, with better powered tweeters / crossovers for a more active range and better acoustic footprint. Quite possibly even added 5x7 for the rear panels on the pillars. However we all know that is not the case. IMO best setup would be a component set driven by a 4 channel digital amp, with the sub if you go that route in the end, driven by a monoblock digital amp. HU at that point would be mandatory for upgrade.

YzGyz

Osirus, great breakdown. Very informative for the everyday lay person.

For a clean 1k, you can get decent system. My system cost me ~ $1300. This includes 2 a a pair of drivers for the door, 2 budget amps but plenty strong and clean (do your research), a sub, and a HU.

my list:
-Soundstream class a/b 2 channel amp for my component @~ $130 shipped
-Soundstream class D 2 channel bridged for my sub @ ~$120 shipped
-focal Something A.. lol.. there entry level 6.5" *nice bass, ok mid but can use more, but highs are way to piercing IMO @$150 otd local store
-Alpine Type R shallow @IIRC $260 shipped
-New Kenwood DDX470 HU @~$265 OTD from local Fry's
-Misc power/ground lines, speaker cable, @~$120
-Custom made box @~ $200 for mdf,fiberglass, resin, bondo, sandpaper, vynle, speaker terminal.