Dask Speaker Upgrade for '13

[bamirault]

The old ears of this old fart could use a minor audio upgrade in my '13 GT with BOSE sound to improve the image and high frequency production - desirable as this aging body begins to turn on me. To this end I though replacing just the dash speakers would be a relatively inexpensive improvement. A local vendor/installer visited today assured me that the OEM speakers come with individual speaker amplifiers integrated with the speakers, and if I did not intend to upgrade the head unit (and I don't) then I would need to replace ALL of the speakers.

!!&@???! I know this to be true for the BOSE speakers in my '01 Miata, but was surprised to be told this as the case for the CX-5. Is this in fact correct, or should I be going to another dealer/installer?

Regards;

Brian

 

[ColtX-5]

I bought my GT used and did not notice it had the Blose audio system. The Sound is typically Blose sucky. Woe on me for my oversight and interest in driving dynamics over the gadgets. My poor ears! Please post any solution you find.

 

[yrwei52]

Dash Speaker Upgrade for '13

The old ears of this old fart could use a minor audio upgrade in my '13 GT with BOSE sound to improve the image and high frequency production - desirable as this aging body begins to turn on me. To this end I though replacing just the dash speakers would be a relatively inexpensive improvement. A local vendor/installer visited today assured me that the OEM speakers come with individual speaker amplifiers integrated with the speakers, and if I did not intend to upgrade the head unit (and I don't) then I would need to replace ALL of the speakers.

I've been critical on lack of tweeters for directional high notes on CX-5 Bose system. With almost all mid-range 9 cheap paper-cone speakers and front-center-heavy Centerpoint surround sound design, it may be good for movie watching but NOT a good audio system for music listening. You'll see similar 11-speaker Bose system in Mazda6 with two extra tweeters on dash, and cheaper 7-speaker Bose on CX-3 which has not only tweeters but also a subwoofer!

I'd not do the speaker upgrade from the local installer you visited as they had no clue on CX-5's Bose system. There is no dedicated amplifiers "integrated" with any speakers. You can upgrade any 9 speakers you want from our CX-5 Bose as long as you can find a proper size and impedance. The easiest and most popular speaker upgrade for Boss is to replace two side 3" mid-range Twiddler dash speakers with Polk Audio DB351 3" coaxial speakers so that you add two tweeters for better high notes. You can leave the front-center 3" mid-range Twiddler dash speaker alone or replace it with the same Polk Audio DB351 speaker and have an extra for spare. You can read this 2016 CX5 Audio upgrade thread and follow dash speaker upgrade part as they're all the same among all model-year CX5's.

Personally Polk speakers have always been good to me so I was happy to use them. The specs are good and build quality is good. Infinity speakers are also pretty good, but I'm more of a Polk person.
Here are some comparison pictures of the stock bose left/right dash speaker (shown left), the stock bose center dash speaker (shown middle) and the polk db351 (shown right). The polk weighs the most obviously, the center channel bose speaker weighs slightly less, and the left/right speaker weighs 1/3 of the Polk. The bose speakers have a much smaller woofer cone too, so I wouldnt say they are truly 3.5" speakers.

These pictures of Bose speakers on 3rd gen Mazda6 are from Mazda6Club as we can see we have the same Bose speakers other than tweeters, and may be rear D-pillar speakers, on 2016 CX-5:

Corner dash speaker location w/o 3" Twiddler:

1" tweeter hidden beneath corner dash speaker grill:

9" Nd woofer in front door:

Front door speaker location w/o 9" Nd woofer:

5" full-range speaker in rear door: