W210 Bose speakers with Alpine head unit

[UtterPiffle]

Hi all..

Question to the audio experts that I hope someone will be able to answer...

I have just bought a new head unit for my e55 - an Alpine CDE-136BT. Really nice unit, bluetooth, parrot and DAB all built in. Works brilliantly with the Galaxy S4.

The '99 e55 just has a standard sound system, but my scrap '98 e430 has Bose. The sound quality in the old car was obviously significantly clearer. I have read what a swine of a wiring job it is to retro-fit the Bose and it probably won't work too well with the new head unit anyway.

I had the idea of just putting the Bose speakers in the doors, and the sub in the boot, then using an old amp driven from the Alpine sub pre-out to the Bose sub. So the head unit would drive the 4 door speakers, and then use the extra amp for the sub.

It seems like an afternoon removing door cards and some wiring and I will have a much upgraded system for no money. But... would this work? I have no clue about different impedances or voltages or whatever!

Thanks in advance, Chris.

 

[V12]

No, unfortunately not.

Your Bose speakers will be 2 ohm and your head unit will drive 4 ohm speakers. If you drive lower ohm speakers at any decent volume you risk frying your head unit.

Do the whole swap with all components or none at all.

 

[AshC63]

Bose are fine with Oe fit & when you have all the matching components ie..amp ,speakers,woofers& tweeters.

Bose don't do aftermarket Incar audio so stick with the likes of all Alpine etc.

 

[UtterPiffle]

Brilliant, thank you for the advice! Very glad I asked now

I take it the Bose sub is also 2 ohm then? I know my amp is a good quality Alpine, but I bought it over 10 years ago. I am sure it had some switch for the speaker impedance, but will have to check when I'm back in the UK next weekend.
To buy upgraded door speakers is no problem, but I liked the idea of using the Bose sub as it fits nicely tucked away behind the rear panel.