WaLieN

Well, my center Bose speaker wasn't working, so I bought a new amp. That didn't work, so I checked out the speaker.

Does anyone know where I can score a new center Bose speaker?

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Wow! and that one's in good shape!
Makes you wonder if it really does add any soundstage at all. Personally, I'd can the Bose setup and go aftermarket, you'd get much better sound and you could gain more hatch space by getting rid of the snake.

Regards,
Frank

WaLieN

I would do that, but I already got one of the speakers repaired, so only the center speaker isn't working. I'm not *too* into car audio, so I figure I'll just stick w/ the stock setup.

InsaneGideon

You could rig up something like the speaker on the bottom of this page:
http://www.eclipse-web.com/products/av/av8533.html

I'll be installing one of Flyrx7's center speaker triple 52mm gauge pods--when I get a hold of some gauges. This 2" speaker could possibly fit in one of the pod spaces. :P

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Any idea on the price of that speaker?
Nice headlights in the avatar BTW!

Frank

WaLieN

I was thinking of setting up a different speaker, but I don't know how much the stock Bose amp puts out.

InsaneGideon

Frank, I dont know the price, but in general, Eclipse == $$$ Even though you probably get what you pay for.

I don't know the power specs on the center channel amp either. It really couldn't be much. Mine is in perfect shape and it's VERY faint. It's only meant for mid-high freq "center fill" to elevate the staging a bit.

nillahcaz

iTrader: (2)

trust me eclipse ==

you can get a pair of 3.5" from half.com for $35

Larz

Eclipse has made some of the best car audio products I have ever owned.

WaLieN

I think that'll require some cutting of the stock bracket, if I were to use a larger speaker.

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

The thing to watch out for with Bose speakers is not the power handling but the OHMS they run. Most speakers are 4-8 OHMS but Bose are like .5 or 2 ohms. That puts alot of strain on the Bose amps when your running more resistance on the speakers. So, if you get anything other than a Bose replacement speaker for the Bose amp you're looking for trouble. That is why I recomend a REAL system, something that runs on normal power and resistance, like 99% of the stereo world does.

Frank

InsaneGideon

Oh yea, Eclipse's stuff IS awesome! But how much will that little 2" speaker be?

Hmm.. My non-bose system in my R2 has the center channel speaker, but I wonder if mine is 4ohm like the rest of my speakers. The center speaker amp is shared among the different models. Maybe they decided to make this one "standard" for this reason?

I'm fairly sure a higher impedance speaker will pull less current, less power, and also put out less sound on a given amp & signal. If the replacement had more impedance, it'd effectively have it's volume turned down in relation to the other speakers. It's faint enough as it is...

Sheesh. Walien, just buy on of Flyrx7's center speaker pod and forget all about this!

DJ Kontakt

I would go with that eclipse speaker. It shouldnt be more than $20 in the right place on the web...

That speaker is so beat it looks like something out of a first gen :P like mine

WaLieN

That's what I was worried about... though, I only need *one* more speaker until this "OEM" system is complete. I'm too far into this Bose journey to turn back now. I think I'll call up carstereohelp.com and see how much they'll send a replacement speaker for. I'm sure it'll be under $50 shipped, seeing as how they repaired my other speaker for ~$30.

[edit] I found some useful information saying that the Bose Center Ch. is actually used on all of the FD models, and the speaker is ~4ohms.
http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/stereo_upgrade.html
I don't think this would make it *too* difficult to find a replacement speaker, should the need arise.

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

That is interesting to know. Makes me wonder why however, as Bose's big thing has always been the lower resistance drivers and amps. I wonder why they would put a 4 ohm unit in with there own, seems like the variation would be more difficult to engineer a proper soundstage. Weird.

Frank

WaLieN

Yeah, I thought that was somewhat odd as well. The rest of their speakers are of low resistance, yet one is 4 ohms.

DJ Kontakt

Flyrx, it is reallly weird that that speaker would be 4 ohm. BUT. Maybe this explains it.
Running more resistance on the bose amp will put LESS strain on it. the amplifier will put out less power with more resistance in the speaker.
If you put a normal bose amp, I have heard they are 1 ohm, with the 4 ohm center speaker, it would get 1/4 the power. So it wouldnt be very loud, and would just serve its purpose to fill in the hole. Such a cheap way to work it out that way, but effective.

InsaneGideon

That speaker and the center channel amp are on the non-bose system. I imagine Mazda first placed the speakers and chose components for the non-bose system when designing the car. Probably later in the design, they told bose to do their thing... which resulted in the wave tube and side speakers & amps. They probably just left the center speaker alone.

If I were designing a system, the only reason I'd use 1ohm speakers is because of the 12v supply voltage.

Here's what I mean:

Say you want to put out 100W peak (instantaneous power, not RMS or anything, for simplicity).
P=V^2/R. Solving for R, R=V^2/P=(12V)^2/100W = 1.44ohm. [I have to stress that we're ignoring a lot of other factors.]

This means, if you can only supply 12V to the driving transistors/tubes/whatever and you want to run 100W peak, you can't use a load bigger than 1.44ohm, since you can't drive it with more than 12V.

The reason a car audio amp can run 4ohm is because the amps have switching DC-DC converters to up the supply voltages to the +/-50v range.

By running the low impedance 1ohm speakers they can get more power than a 4V and probably avoid using a DC-DC converter. This can reduce part-counts and avoid DC-DC converter noise & supply problems.

The center speaker channel is probably only a few watts, so running a 4ohm speaker isn't a problem, and they can choose an off-the-shelf part from a speaker manufacturor that comes with a 4ohm voice coil.

HYDOUKEN

iTrader: (1)

I have a 93 R1 and was curious if my rx-7 has any internal amplifiers?? I and if so where are they located on the car. So far all the wiring I have done on the stereo I haven't noticed or seen an amplifier.

WaLieN

Your center speaker is powered by an external amp.

If you wish to remove it for some reason, go here... http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereor...RX7FTwtAmp.htm

HYDOUKEN

iTrader: (1)

thanks WaLieN but when I bought the car(1993 R1) there was no center speaker in the dash.....but there was a plug for the center speaker. Does that mean i still have an amplifier for the center speaker? And is there anything else(amps/crossovers) in the R1 that I should know about. Do all 3rd gens have a center speaker amp? And if I decide to put an aftermarket amplifier to my front speakers(using the factory wiring harness behind the radio.....because I cant run a wire through the door harness) would that be ok.....? Would the factory wiring hold up to alittle bit of juice and would it hurt the center channel amplifier?

Thanks for all your info

911GT2

Thats exactly why I'm replacing my entire sound system real soon.

WaLieN

Yes, all US FDs should have an amplified center speaker. Though, they vary between the "base/R1" and the "touring" models (at least in 93s). The base and R1 have a different amp/speaker than the Bose system.

You said you wanted to add a different amp, but I would really question where you would want to mount it. Also, from what I hear, the center speaker isn't worth that much trouble.

InsaneGideon

Hmm... I don't recall anyone saying the amp was different.

WaLieN

Non-Bose


Bose