Hey guys,

I have the Bose subwoofer like most of you. A month ago I noticed some rattling followed by a very bad clanking sound at low volume.

I am an audio enthusiast who builds my own drivers, cabinets etc. Its more than a hobby for me. I was surprised when I yanked the cover off the subwoofers to just see that the dust covers came loose. Usually the first thing to go on a OEM subwoofer is the surround of the speaker.

This is a failure thats easy to fix. I ended up pulling both dust covers off. Then used a 30 minute epoxy to set them back in place. You can use a glue especially for speaker surrounds but its not necessarry. Do not use any quick set epoxy or superglue because they are to brittle for this application. After you set the dust covers back in place make sure you lean a piece of wood against them for constant pressure while it dries. A hairdryer on the drying eposxy helps a lot to.

So far this has been a 100% fix and I am not easy on my speakers. In my opinion Bose is junk but in this situtaion its probably better off to fix these drivers then try and modify the system for something different.

Clay350 wrote: In my opinion Bose is junk but in this situtaion its probably better off to fix these drivers then try and modify the system for something different.

i would say bose isn't exactly "junk" if the only other thing you could compare it to was oem/standard stereo options.

that being said i have -always- changed out the headunits and speakers in my vehicles....until i got one that had bose in it. only reason i didn't mess with that was because of the stupid impedance they use.

however both vehicles (had an acura before) had a sub, so i simply spliced off of that and added a sub (or two). turn down the bass on the head unit and turn up the gain on the amp and you can clear up the sound coming from the bose head unit (since it doesn't have to pump as much bass), and the aftermarket amp picks up the bass.

also here's my thread on when i put my sub in:
http://thenissanpath.com/viewtopic.php?t=5913

Of course it is opinion. And for stock car systems it sounds good. Bose is a perfect example of what marketing can do for a product. Most people would think Bose is good stuff. The reality is that the quality is very poor. Numerous Bose speaker lines over the years have had issues with drivers breaking up. They also employ gimmicky methods that make people think they are hearing a good system.

Clay350 wrote:Of course it is opinion. And for stock car systems it sounds good. Bose is a perfect example of what marketing can do for a product. Most people would think Bose is good stuff. The reality is that the quality is very poor. Numerous Bose speaker lines over the years have had issues with drivers breaking up. They also employ gimmicky methods that make people think they are hearing a good system.

I've owned, or had in my posession, numerous Bose products in the past. There's a reason one hears "no highs, no lows...must be Bose." I personally only purchased the satellite system many moons ago because it was the smallest surround system on the market & I had a small room at school. All the other Bose speakers I inherited, or people gave me to sell/fix, were really an eye opener. Lots of paper cones & extremely cheap parts. I was surprised to see the sub actually has a foam surround instead of pleated paper.

Since this is more than a hobby for you, I have to ask: why are you not figuring out a replacement for these 2? Is it merely a fitment issue?

I guess I'm old, because I'm okay with the stock Bose I have. Every other vehicle I've ever owned has seen new speakers, amps, head unit, etc. I must not care much anymore, but I'm secretly wishing that mine dies on me so I can replace everything. I'm just not motivated to do so these days, unlike when I was younger.

Despite what I think about Bose this system is not that bad. Especially for stock. It would be time consuming and somewhat costly to upgrade it. Would rather spend my time and money on other things.

Ok, this sounds like the same problem I'm having on my 2010 Pathfinder, but how the heck do you get the cover off of the speakers back there? I don't have the screws shown in the photo above.

The correct way to access the subwoofer speakers is to remove the entire interior panel, not just the speaker grille. It seems like a daunting job to some, but it's really not that bad. You can remove it without removal of the third row seat, but you will have to move the seat into a position to remove the panel. At the anchor points in the panel, there is a blind plug that can be lifted up to expose a 10MM bolt head. Remove all of these, the welt mouldings, the rear trim finisher at the back of the trunk area (around the latch), the stuff on the bottom of the trunk area (jack, tools, etc.) and the driver's side rear seat belt bolt that goes through the panel. The rest of the panel is held in by clips. I believe I put the third row seat in a half folded down position to get the panel past it. As far as the speaker, I had one fail that did not involve separation of the cone. I just removed the blown speaker for now. The speaker is not available from Nissan separately; you must by the expensive subwoofer assy. to get it from them. Bose corporation will sell a replacement speaker. I have the contact info and cost somewhere on the forum, probably in the navigation and audio section. Simply Speakers in FL said they might be able to repair it, but I would have to send it to them before they could tell me. One of these days I'll get back to it!

smj999smj wrote:The correct way to access the subwoofer speakers is to remove the entire interior panel, not just the speaker grille. It seems like a daunting job to some, but it's really not that bad. You can remove it without removal of the third row seat, but you will have to move the seat into a position to remove the panel. At the anchor points in the panel, there is a blind plug that can be lifted up to expose a 10MM bolt head. Remove all of these, the welt mouldings, the rear trim finisher at the back of the trunk area (around the latch), the stuff on the bottom of the trunk area (jack, tools, etc.) and the driver's side rear seat belt bolt that goes through the panel. The rest of the panel is held in by clips. I believe I put the third row seat in a half folded down position to get the panel past it. As far as the speaker, I had one fail that did not involve separation of the cone. I just removed the blown speaker for now. The speaker is not available from Nissan separately; you must by the expensive subwoofer assy. to get it from them. Bose corporation will sell a replacement speaker. I have the contact info and cost somewhere on the forum, probably in the navigation and audio section. Simply Speakers in FL said they might be able to repair it, but I would have to send it to them before they could tell me. One of these days I'll get back to it!

SMJ

I just returned home from TDY and noticed that the sub in my Pathfinder is now making noise. I've yet to take the panel off, but wanted to follow up and see if you were able to order just a replacement speaker. I don't want to order the entire assembly. If it comes to that I'll probably do the repair method that Clay did.

Clay,

How has your repair method held up? The pathfinder is my wife's DD and she really does not play a bunch of music, I just hate noises that should not be there.

Thanks

I actually had the speaker repaired by Simply Speakers. They did a good job and I have not had any problems with the speaker. The biggest issue was the cost of shipping it back and forth. For another $7, I could have gotten a brand new speaker from Bose. Here's the thread with all of the info:

http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic.php?t=9674