Went a different way for the Bose Center speaker

[gk1]

Decided to go a different way replacing the Bose Center speaker.
Some of you may be familiar with this thread regarding the Bose Center speaker.

Many people had success with a Kenwood replacement 4" speaker. However, after taking careful measurements of my own car I saw that the magnet on the Kenwood would be too large to fit as the bottom of the dash speaker hole is closed off on my car and there is only about 36mm of usable depth.
I decided instead to go for the Retrosound ultra-thin 4" speaker R-452N
While it is a lot more expensive than the Kenwood it hits all the measurement marks needed and it is a two-way design has a poly cone with Santoprene surround, and Neodymium magnet.

Stock speaker measurements (mm):
speaker depth-27
screw holes-115
basket diameter-100
basket lower diameter-92
magnet-43
total height with plastic protrusion-42
base mount up to plastic protrusion-14
Re-3.8 Ohms

Retrosound measurements:
speaker depth-33
screw holes-115
basket diameter-102
basket lower diameter-92
magnet-53
total height with tweeter-46
base mount up to tweeter-12.5
Re-3.5 Ohms

Here's some audio specs if you don't feel like looking on the website.
Frequency Response-65Hz-21kHz
Sensitivity (SPL@1w/1m)-88dB
Power Handling (watts RMS/peak)-40/80

It fits and looks fine. Sound is a good match to the rest of the system (not too loud or too soft), no buzzing. With the grill in place you have no idea it is even changed.

[Nully]

Thanks for posting this. I have a 2012 and never had the fitting problem. I wrote a DIY on this way back; I will update it with a link to this thread. Cheers!

[kpriv]

Agreed on the thank you. I have no real reason to upgrade mine but haven’t done anything with the car in a while and maybe this fits the bill to satiate the itch. I like it!


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[acr89]

I was picking up some DEF at WalMart today and came across these in the car audio section: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Scosche-H...122566&veh=sem

The depth is right and they look decent, will try one out and report back. The center speaker can't be doing much anyway.

[PeytonBrandt]

Do all of you have an A6/S6? Apparently there is not as much depth space in the A/S/RS 7 cars, and I’d like to replace my center speaker. I have the B&O sound system, and there’s a hissing/buzzing sound coming from the center speaker.


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[gk1]

Do all of you have an A6/S6? Apparently there is not as much depth space in the A/S/RS 7 cars, and I’d like to replace my center speaker. I have the B&O sound system, and there’s a hissing/buzzing sound coming from the center speaker.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

Have you measured how much depth you have? Most users are replacing a Bose speaker. The B&O should be a bit better and be careful as I believe the B&O is a two-way separate system with the tweeter in the other hole in the center dash. Make sure to diagnose which(or both) is failing first.
The Bose paper center speaker is $170-200 of a total unknown system cost but presumably a cheaper system than the B&O. The B&O is only $100-125 (on a $6000 system) and appears to be of better quality but I assume requires the B&O tweeter $170-200 (but maybe your tweeter is ok) So percentage of cost to replace vs. original cost of that system is also a factor.

Bose paper center $170-200


B&O center $100-125

[krwalkman]

There's a center speaker? Darn that dash cover, I had NO IDEA.

[FastLane1000]

I replaced mine with a cheap Boss Speaker from Amazon. Which wire is positive? negative? I believe I used the one with brown in it as negative

[gk1]

I replaced mine with a cheap Boss Speaker from Amazon. Which wire is positive? negative? I believe I used the one with brown in it as negative

Honestly I did not look at the OE wire color. The connector on the old Bose speaker was marked with a red dot. I verified that was positive with a AA battery and cut the connector off the Bose to rewire to new speaker so I would not have to disturb the connector in the dash at all. (Plus, god forbid, you could always easily go back to a new replacement Bose speaker....if wanted.)

[jpru2001]

Hey! that was my original thread over on Audiworld. I've had people message me for years thanking me for that thread lol. And still never figured out why it fits in half the cars and not in others.

[FastLane1000]

Honestly I did not look at the OE wire color. The connector on the old Bose speaker was marked with a red dot. I verified that was positive with a AA battery and cut the connector off the Bose to rewire to new speaker so I would not have to disturb the connector in the dash at all. (Plus, god forbid, you could always easily go back to a new replacement Bose speaker....if wanted.)

Ok, I'll take a look at the old speaker and connector. Thanks!

[acr89]

I measured my 2014 A7 w/ Bose just now, and the depth slopes from front to back. Measuring at the middle - it's right at 1.5" or a little less. So I figure that the speaker will need to have a shallow and small magnet.

[Audisthesia]

Installed the retrosound in my C7.5, I have a spare speaker leftover since they are sold as a pair. If anyone wants one I'll selling it HERE.

[MihaK]

Hi,
I also replaced center speaker recently on my c7.5 allroad with this one: https://www.ground-zero-audio.com/en...t/gzif-4001fx/
Fits okay, but the contact terminals needs to be cut off and soldered directly to the wire (they stick too much out).

I also replaced original bose tweeters (they sounded to me like they were covered with a blanket) with ESX ones: https://www.esxaudio.de/english/quan...-tweeters.html
Sound now has a lot more clarity and precision. Acoustic guitars really sounds as they should!

Now the sub replacement is waiting :)

[Audisthesia]

Yeah, I haven't done my dash tweeters yet, but I can tell quite a difference with just the center speaker being replaced.