OEM subwoofer questions

[SF944]

Does anyone know the impedence of the OEM Bose sub? (I know Bose speakers traditionally have odd-ball impedences)

Can it be run by an aftermarket amp? (Anybody tried this?)

Does the OEM amp have a built-in crossover or were only low frequencies sent to it by the head unit?

TIA, Scott

 

[ChrisK]

Does the OEM amp have a built-in crossover or were only low frequencies sent to it by the head unit?

TIA, Scott

I do not believe it has a x-over. It uses accoustic wave guide design to filter out higher frequencies. When my passanger amp went out, I could definately hear lower midrange vocals coming from the sub. As for the impedence of the sub, I don't know.

 

[4AU4LIFE]

Can it be run by an aftermarket amp?

Not to my knowledge.

Does anyone know the impedence of the OEM Bose sub

I think it is 8 ohm.

 

[ChrisK]

Not to my knowledge.



I think it is 8 ohm.

If it is a nominal 8 ohm impedence it definately can be run with an aftermarket amp. As long as it is not lower than 2 ohms most automotive stereo amps will handle it. 4 ohms for a brideged amp. Anyone know if it really is 8 ohms? That would actually be kind of rare for BOSE and automotive use, but if it is, than I might try and hook my OEM sub up to my amp until I can make my custom sub system.

 

[jrehner]

email Bose

U can always send an email to Bose and ask them [email protected]

 

[SF944]

Good idea jrehner, I'll post any useful info I find out.
Thanks, SF

 

[SF944]

Stock Bose Sub amp for sale........

Well, I emailed Bose almost 2 weeks ago and never got a response, so I went out on a limb and tried an experiment:

Had a low-wattage amp collecting dust in a closet (20W x 2 RMS, 35 peak). The amp is NOT bridgeable. I found out that the amp in the stock sub housing powers both the sub and the center speaker between the seats.

If ChrisK is right, the sub runs full-range and the wave design filters out the highs. I looked at the center speaker and it has what appears to be a resistor on it, which probably acts as a passive crossover and filters out lows (any audiophiles out there, please correct me if I'm wrong...).

Soooooooooo, I hooked up the two channel amp and ran one channel each to the center and the sub, without any further crossovers.
And, IT WORKS! Not only does it work, but it sounds nice. Not the thump of an aftermarket sub with a monster amp, mind you, but for my purposes it sounds fine ((the rest of the system is an Alpine headunit with MBQuart seperates), and the added soundstage of having the center speaker back helps, too. I guess a track with lots of stereo seperation would mess things up, but I'm willing to take that trade-off for now.

BTW, I now have a stock Bose subwoofer/center channel amp that I don't need if anyone does.................

Regards, Scott

 

[Acura NsX Pilot]

Usally bose uses weird impedences and ohm values on there systems ......if you wanted to know what the impedance was all you needed to do was get a ohm meter ...available at radioshack and check it across the coil on the speaker.if i were to take a guess id say the ohm value was between 2 and 4 ohms .