100 watt rear amps

[We Gone]

How many of you know you can change the rear bose amps from the 50 watt to 100 watt amps..did mine a few years back after Gordon K. told me about it.

Lots more bass out of the rear speakers.

[Z Factor]

How many of you know you can change the rear bose amps from the 50 watt to 100 watt amps..did mine a few years back after Gordon K. told me about it.

Lots more base out of the rear speakers.

I saw a few amps on ebay a while back that were either 100 or 150. I called Bose to ask about them, and the tech said they were aftermarket amps. He recommended against using them.

You are actually the 1st person I have heard say they upgraded their amp watts, so where did you get them, and how much of a difference do they make for overall sound quality?

[We Gone]

Well I was at Gordon’s ZR-1 class in 02 and he told me about using 99 100-watt amps in the rears, in fact he gave me one and I had to find the other. I would have to pull one to find the part #, Anyway I called one of the Bose radio repair company’s and talked with them about it. I believe they where out in Oregon anyway they can take any C5 100-watt Bose amp and change the plug so it will work in the C4 box.

The amp is a bit larger than the one that comes in our C4s but will still fit. The depth of sound is much better and so is the bass. Hope this helps.

More power is alway better :mrgreen:
Steve

[Z Factor]

I believe they where out in Oregon anyway they can take any C5 100-watt Bose amp and change the plug so it will work in the C4 box.

The amp is a bit larger than the one that comes in our C4s but will still fit. The depth of sound is much better and so is the bass. Hope this helps.

More power is alway better :mrgreen:
Steve


I'm with you on the more power front Steve. :thumbsup:

I will call Bose to check and see about any adapter that might be needed and look into whether or not they would do it if the speakers were sent directly to them.

:cheers:

[Z Factor]

I spoke with Bose Car Audio on Friday. They said there is no upgrade in wattage available, and further stated that C5 amps put into C4 speakers could cause damage. I told them about your story and that things are working fine for you, but he said they will not retro fit anything like that into a C4 speaker. :(

I will be sending in all 4 speakers to have a complete change out of components including the speakers and amps this coming week. The only drawback to using Bose is the turn around time which is running 3-4 weeks at present.

:cheers:

[We Gone]

Jim,

Well you got my curiosity up…so I went down and removed a rear speaker from old blue..As you can see it is in fact a Bose 100W amp out of a 99-rear corvette speaker. No mods were made to the AMP plug. It was a plug and play and has been playing with no issues for the last 3 years and trust me I play it loud. As the amp was a bit larger, I only used the lower two mounting holes. I do think Gordon was right on, if you get an opportunity drop him an e-mail about this.

Now run that by Bose they can even check the part # 182670-0199 on the amp.

Some things in life you just have to find out on your own :mrgreen:

http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c4/wegone//bose_2.jpg

[Z Factor]

As you can see it is in fact a Bose 100W amp out of a 99-rear corvette speaker. No mods were made to the AMP plug. It was a plug and play and has been playing with no issues for the last 3 years and trust me I play it loud.
Now run that by Bose they can even check the part # 182670-0199 on the amp.

Some things in life you just have to find out on your own :mrgreen:



I certainly believed you, but Bose makes it sound like sacrilege, and wont do it for me regardless. I think the tech said the amp for a C5 was running at 2 ohms as opposed to 1.

I will get on the horn with them to present this info with the picture and see what their thoughts are. I might just try looking for used amps from a C5 myself since you have had such good luck with yours.

:cheers:

[We Gone]

:thumbsup: Just be sure you look at the plugs..they changed after 99 and will not work.

[zr1mom]

I usually see these higher amp amps in Carlisle every year for sale.

[Z Factor]

I usually see these higher amp amps in Carlisle every year for sale.

Well if you do please drop me a line as I might buy a few if the price is right. I should hear back from Bose tomorrow, but considering WG's luck, I might go this route now.

:cheers:

[FU]

GM part number ??

[We Gone]

Only thing I could ever find was a GM part # for the speaker unit. You will need to look for the amp by the part # on it and it only works for the rears.

part # 182670-0199 on the amp.

[Tom]

The change from 50 watts to 100 watts may seem like a large change but the speaker powered with 100 watts will only play 3dB louder than the speaker powered with 50 watts. The increased bass noted above probably comes from the equalization curve built into the 99 amp. The curve in the 99 amp probably has the bass boosted relative to the original ZR1 amp since Bose/GM have supposedly tailored the amps and speakers to get their desired frequency response in the particular model of car they are installed in.

[Z Factor]

Ok, I just finished speaking with Bose again, and they are ready to send a hit squad after me at this point. :mrgreen:

For obvious reasons they say not to put the 1999 Corvette 100watt amps into our ZR-1's since the sound quality will not be perfectly matched. They implied that it could also damage the speaker due to various theories regarding ohms/impedance/wattage incompatibility. However, after explaining that we had at least one member who has run 100watt amps in the rears for 3+years, they conceded that it "might not damage" the speaker. Still they feel that any bass gains from the extra wattage will be offset since the fronts are not matched. They sounded slightly annoyed that some of us feel the system could use improvement since according to them, our system is perfectly balanced for the interior and acoustics of our cars. Of course when I asked if it would be better to put 100watt amps all the way around (assuming you could get the amp to fit in the front), they had no comment. :wink:



Anyway, I am left with the dilemma of either shipping off all 4 speakers and amps to them, or trying to find a handful of the 100 watt amps at a good price. If anyone comes across a source, let us know.

:cheers:

[We Gone]

I guess the Bose Police will be knocking on my door soon :wink: They better have some big amps :mrgreen:

[Tom]

I shipped all 4 of my original amps to Bose after they failed. They didn't bother fixing mine they just sent me 4 brand new ones. This was several years ago and the new amps are still working and have so far been far more reliable and had none of the problems of the old ones. The new amps had some minor differences but they mounted and plugged in just like the originals.

[tomtom72]

Another vote for letting Bose do the work. I'm late on this but I would like to echo what Tom has said about having the work done at Bose. They were a bit long I guess in the turn-around. Mine were gone for 4 weeks but three out of four were bad so I had no audio anyway.

The speakers came back and the only parts that were re-used were the chassis that their amps & speakers mount to. I know because I marked each chassis' location...I know, rookies, ugh!...and the magnets on the speakers also. The chassis markings were there but the speakers were new...just like Bose said they'd be! It sounds good, not great but at least it works & Bose said the amp failure probably would not happen again. They did exactly what they said they would do...replace speakers and amps and I had one grill that was broken on the left front speaker and they replaced it too!!

I'm happy with their work & thought the fee they charged was fair. :thumbsup: to Bose repair guys.

:cheers:
Tom

[Locobob]

I have 100 watt amps in the rear and 75 watt amps in the front. Been running this for about 3 years with no problems. If I remember correctly the 100's are the same as the ones pictured here. Not sure about the 75's. All of them plugged in with no modifications. I bought them from a place that advertised in the Corvette Trader, don't recall the name though. Anyhow, it sounds great to me, I'm pretty happy with my set-up.

[FU]

The part part # 182670-0199 on the amp is NG from GM parts direct.

[We Gone]

The part part # 182670-0199 on the amp is NG from GM parts direct.

It may be a Bose # not sure its the only # on the amp.