"Premium DSP Upgrade" Inspired by Musicar Northwest; Anyone tried this?

Had this amp/dsp reccomend to me by a local shop this week. Spendy at $1,500.00, but they felt that replacing the speakers in our 2020 GTR might not be necessary.
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Musica Northwest has an article explaining that adding an amp/dsp does bring out the Bose systems. Link below;


Hertz are terrific. Just actually listen to stuff before you buy anything. Let your ears be the judge. And take along with you music that you're intimately familiar with and play that. For me, that's Alice in Chains' MTV Unplugged, Jennifer Warnes' Ain't No Cure for Love, and Pink Floyd's The Wall. I've heard those album hundreds of times on dozens of stereos, and I've seen AIC and Pink Floyd live in concert, so I know what they're supposed sound like.

I actually have a set of MPKs that I originally installed in my 03 Audi A4. Sounded amazing, especially because the tweeter housing in that car points directly at you. Since then, I've sold the car and installed the MPKs in my girl's Scion iM. I can say that the MPK line is awesome. I've listened to their cheaper stuff and wasn't a fan. If I had to choose between Hertz and Focal, the major defining factor would be what music you I to. If you listen to electronic music (EDM, LoFi, pop, etc.), I can recommend the Hertz set I have. If you prefer to have more emphasis on vocals and higher frequency definition, I would choose Focals easily. As a matter of fact, if I end up deciding to just do an overhaul of the audio system in my 2017 CX-5, I'm going with Focals next, at least for my components and tweeters. I don't know if I'm going to retain the woofer concept in the front doors if I replace everything.

@theblooms , I completely understand overhauling the stock Bose system rather than spending $1500 on an amp. As a matter of fact, it's beyond the budget of what I would give myself to improve the system. However, I'm highly considering going the Musicar route that I linked above, as the amp/dsp costs about 700-900 on ebay depending. The thing about the Bose system is that they process the sound through their amplifier; this is to include things like time alignment (which I find extremely important, maybe even more than dampening itself). Adding an amplifier/dsp AFTER the factory amp will still retain that time alignment while adding a little more power and the ability to EQ the channels separately (this is another thing that I would like accomplished). Is it worth 700-800 dollars to gain this ability? For me, yes. But it's not worth $1500.

IMO, it's MUCH easier to overhaul and replace all speakers and amps, although it's a lot more work. I'll be planning to dampen my front doors with Soundskinz as well as re-lubricating the door seals to see if I get better tonality and a quieter cabin. With the woofers being in the door, I would imagine that dampening the entire door would do wonders. After modifying the subwoofer with polyfill and dampener, I've now started noticing issues with the woofers. It's quite muddy.

I'll dampen the doors as soon as the weather permits. Update will come so at least the forum can have anecdotal experience into how they can "improve" the Bose system. Dampening goes a LONG way.
 
Musica Northwest has an article explaining that adding an amp/dsp does bring out the Bose systems. Link below;




I actually have a set of MPKs that I originally installed in my 03 Audi A4. Sounded amazing, especially because the tweeter housing in that car points directly at you. Since then, I've sold the car and installed the MPKs in my girl's Scion iM. I can say that the MPK line is awesome. I've listened to their cheaper stuff and wasn't a fan. If I had to choose between Hertz and Focal, the major defining factor would be what music you I to. If you listen to electronic music (EDM, LoFi, pop, etc.), I can recommend the Hertz set I have. If you prefer to have more emphasis on vocals and higher frequency definition, I would choose Focals easily. As a matter of fact, if I end up deciding to just do an overhaul of the audio system in my 2017 CX-5, I'm going with Focals next, at least for my components and tweeters. I don't know if I'm going to retain the woofer concept in the front doors if I replace everything.

@theblooms , I completely understand overhauling the stock Bose system rather than spending $1500 on an amp. As a matter of fact, it's beyond the budget of what I would give myself to improve the system. However, I'm highly considering going the Musicar route that I linked above, as the amp/dsp costs about 700-900 on ebay depending. The thing about the Bose system is that they process the sound through their amplifier; this is to include things like time alignment (which I find extremely important, maybe even more than dampening itself). Adding an amplifier/dsp AFTER the factory amp will still retain that time alignment while adding a little more power and the ability to EQ the channels separately (this is another thing that I would like accomplished). Is it worth 700-800 dollars to gain this ability? For me, yes. But it's not worth $1500.

IMO, it's MUCH easier to overhaul and replace all speakers and amps, although it's a lot more work. I'll be planning to dampen my front doors with Soundskinz as well as re-lubricating the door seals to see if I get better tonality and a quieter cabin. With the woofers being in the door, I would imagine that dampening the entire door would do wonders. After modifying the subwoofer with polyfill and dampener, I've now started noticing issues with the woofers. It's quite muddy.

I'll dampen the doors as soon as the weather permits. Update will come so at least the forum can have anecdotal experience into how they can "improve" the Bose system. Dampening goes a LONG way.
Thank you for the information. The $1,500.00 didn't include installation or tuning. That was another $800.00. Obviously a non starter. Could you keep us updated on the changes that you make to your Bose system? Would like to make similar upgrade to our CX-5.
 
@Mike Allen, of course! It's been super windy and a bit chilly over the weekend. Hoping the coming weekend will be a bit warmer. It's about time to clean some of the salt on my carpet, so this weekend would be wonderful if I can get time to dampen the doors. Might have to order some extra Soundskinz for the job.
 
@Mike Allen , I did get around to dampening my doors this weekend. I created a new thread to detail my audio upgrades present and future. Link here.

Otherwise, I highly recommend dampening your doors at the least. It'll help bring out the other components. Sound quality is improved and I do believe that people's statement of "No Highs No Lows, must be Bose" may change once doors are dampened. With aftermarket speakers, they tend to be amplified towards the 50W+ range which helps overcome a lot of road noise, which really affects efficient speakers heavily (think low watt, factory speakers).

I prefer sound quality over SPL and enjoy clarity in music more than high output/loud speakers. The dampening process is definitely getting me closer to where I'd like my CX-5 to be. If you're like me, then I'm going to recommend you to dampen your doors with products similar to Soundskinz Pro. Basically, you'll need a product that dampens the vibrations in the doors as well as provides an acoustic layer on top. It's a bit pricey, but it'll make it seem like your factory speakers were upgraded.
 
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