PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Paul, I don't know about the 2000+ models, but the door mounting for the 99- models has raised mounts for the speaker to mount to, which leaves four gaps between the respective mounting screws when you mount the door speakers. I did a lot of tests on my door panel when I re-mounted my aftermarket Boston Acoustics door speakers, trying baffles and no-baffles, and my final choice was to mount the speakers like the stock ones, but to fill in the gap with closed-cell foam rubber weatherstripping. Someone else on the forum did the same thing with their Cadillac. It really makes a heck of a difference. If your door speaker mounting leaves that same gap between the mounting screws, I urge you to re-do it with foam rubber weatherstripping between the mounts. It made a world of difference.

Excellent suggestion Bugsi. I can imagine the difference was like night and day.

I'm not sure how the Bose speakers are set up in my '99 SSEi, but my Volvo with stock no-name speakers has the rubber seals that seal the speakers to the inside of the door panel, and they sound WAY better than the Bose in the Bonneville.

When I finally get to installing my system in the Bonney, I'm definitely going to put some weatherstripping around the door speakers if there's any gap.

Aftermarket speakers will take more power to make the same bass levels as the paper thin OEM ones. You'll get a small amount from a factory HU, more from an aftermarket HU, and the most from a standalone amp.

I did use the supplied foam strips to seal each speaker.

I am happy now with the sound. If I want more thump I'll move the sub from the Jeep into the SSEi eventually.

Does anyone know for sure how easy and compatible it is to install a supplementary amp for this system?
I understand that it's not the HU that makes power but the rear mounted amp. Can this amp simply be replaced with a more powerful unit?

Paul, I purchased the PAC AOEM-GM21C kit from SonicElectronix.com for installing an aftermarket amp in my wife's 2001 GPGT with Bose. The kit claims to be compatible with Grand Prix with Bose for 2001-2003.
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_111 ... GM21C.html
Am I correct to guess that the Bose unit for the Boneville and Grand Prix would be the same? Despite having purchased this kit, I've not yet got around to installing it in my wife's car. Before I ordered it I had to contact the PAC company to see if it was really compatible with the Bose unit or not, and they said it would work with both the Bose or non-Bose Monsoon systems. Not sure if that's true either, but you'd figure they should know their own product. I think this kit, if it is compatible, is the best way to add an aftermarket amp to drive aftermarket speakers, compared to working with the wiring harness that already hooks up to the Bose amp.

But regarding trying to just substitute something aftermarket for the Bose amp, making use of the wiring harness to the Bose amp: I vaguely recall someone did it before, and there's a couple considerations, I'm not sure if any of these are true or not, I'm going off old gray matter here, so I'm just going to throw it out there and people who know if any of this is accurate or not can chime in if any of it is known to be correct or wrong:
-I believe there are signal wires for both front and rear speakers going from the head unit to the Bose amp. If I recall correctly, the signal wires for the front speakers are already amplified by the head unit and merely pass-through in the Bose amp unmolested.
-There is no breakout wiring harness that you can buy to plug into the wiring harness that goes to the Bose amp, if you were to unplug it from the Bose amp with the intent of tapping off the various wires you'd want to feed an aftermarket amp, you're faced with either cutting the OEM connector off entirely (please don't) or unplugging it from the Bose amp and tapping off the wires you need using vampire taps or equivalent, or do a DIY wire tap on the wires you need to tap (best done by carefully stripping a centimeter of insulation off the wire you need, then spread the strands to make a space between them, slide the stripped end of your new wire into this gap then wrap the end around the OEM wire, hit it with solder if you want to, and tape it up).
-You can run those tapped wires to your aftermarket amp, but I also recall that you need ground lifting adapters inline somewhere as well.
-I believe people say the Bose amp for the 6x9 only works with certain frequencies in the audio band (probably low end to mid) and doesn't carry the full-frequency, making it less than ideal for just driving an aftermarket amp to drive either a multi-way 6x9 or a separate 6x9 and 4" speakers on your back shelf. (There's a separate 4" back there too, is that right?)

I think you'd also want a beefier amp power wiring kit to feed power to an aftermarket amp, rather than attempting to make use of whatever wire is powering the Bose amp, so I think that alone makes the PAC-AOEM kit a better idea if it will interface with a Bonneville. Other people here can probably answer whether the Bose head unit for the 2001-2003 GP is the same as on the Bonneville or not, and that should help fill in the missing info on whether this adapter should work or not. (For what it's worth the same adapter says it works on 1999 Bonneville, so maybe it really won't work for a 2000, but I'd think one could probably adapt it if not.)

seperate 5 1/4 in doors

i think the bose amp filters all the speakers but the fronts may not

Does anyone know if the Bose for 2000+ is functionally similar or identical to 96-99? If so I can use my FSM schematics to provide some answers.

Is the 2000+ Bose amp mounted in the center under the rear deck? That's where it is in my wife's 01 GP, but I've just not looked at a 2000+ Bonneville to know. What year did the 2000+ models get that nasty ribbon-cable at the head unit that makes upgrading to aftermarket a nightmare?

all 2000+'s have the same 32 pin ribbon up front according to my knowledge. the amp is mounted behind the back seat on the drivers side. pac makes a speciic adapter to keep door chimes and the like or you can buy a scosche adapter that is just a wiring harness on te other end.


to clarify what i said earlier the 6x9's get only bass and the 5 1/4's do not get much bass.

on mine it seemed like the tweeters are wired in with the 6.5's as a single speaker

all my info comes from my stereo install exp on my 2000 ssei with bose

Ah, thanks for that extra info, that makes sense about the rear deck speakers and sounds like what I was remembering about the frequencies being split among the various speakers. That's too bad about the ribbon cable, that probably makes the PAC-AOEM adapter that I mentioned not work with the 2000+ Bonnevilles. Odd that they'd use the ribbon cable in the Bonneville and not in the Grand Prix since they have so many similarities, but there you have it. I think the ribbon cable is the major stumbling block for aftermarket gear on the 2000+. It still may be worth exploring tapping the wires that go into the Bose amp and routing them to an aftermarket amp, provided they too are not on a ribbon cable. Anyone know if they're on a ribbon, or a standard wiring harness bundle?