Lets talk about the 10 Speaker Bose...

remmy · 2026-05-11T20:21:13-0500

Like I mentioned in my introductory, I cant believe how underwhelming this system is for a truck that commands a $95k+ price tag. The highs are disappointing and the lows roll off and fall flat on its face. Its literally the definition of what people make fun of about Bose "No highs, no lows, must be Bose". Now, I fully understand this isn't necessarily Bose's fault here, its GM. I know what goes into development with OEM car audio systems and 9/10 its the OEM that restricts the audio engineering for $ reasons. Bose can and will make you a fantastic system if you'll let them (Audiophile here, regardless of jokes being at Bose's expense, they really can), its just the leash is too tight because of GM. This extends to my old '17 XL SLT as well. I'm so over OEM systems that are tied into the vehicle so hard you can barely do anything with them. We wouldn't be here if a decent system was there to begin with. I had a '18 Buck Regal TourX which had a pretty decent Bose system but still could have use the depth of a real sub. I would peg all of these systems as slightly 'adequate' and that's where it stops.

At minimum I'll be adding a sub to this system but I refuse to start cutting up and splicing wires on a brand new and expensive truck. Its the first brand new vehicle I've bought since 2013 and the most expensive at that.

I've made this thread not just for questions but more collaboration and to work together to get this licked. Sadly, at this point in time there is no 3rd party hardware that supports these trucks. PAC Audio and NavTV are the usual suspects that develop plug and play add-ons but they dont have anything as of yet. Ill check regularly an update everyone.

Two problems I see to over come firstly the need to a plug and play solution that doesn't interfere with the onboard amp. Then there is a potential problem with ANC. I believe my truck has it as I see microphone slots in the headliner but they could be for phone systems. A couple of people on another forum have done this with success and claimed there wasn't any problem with ANC and even one of them had the performance system found in the Ultimate.

john151ama · 2026-05-11T21:20:52-0500

Not really sure what your question or proposal is. Very easy to tap your speaker wires coming out of your Bose amp (without cutting them) to feed a signal to an amp and sub if that is all you are wanting to do.

I would call sounds good stero to confirm their wire harness kits also fit your rig. They can put on different connectors to work with the various Bose amps to give you the signal you want for a sub.

I rebuilt my whole system in my HD while leaving the factory amp in place. I cut and ran all new speaker wire however to separate the tweeters and woofers to their own channels.

The trucks do not have ANC. I had no issues. I have read the SUVs are the same and do not have ANC either for what it is worth.

Firehead · 2026-05-11T21:22:17-0500

yeah, Ive been wondering what to do to mine. The B&O systems in the f150 I test drove when deciding on my truck sounded a bit more full? if thats the right word for it? I feel that the bass is ok in my truck but no matter how much I play with the positioning settings, the soundstage still feels like its in the dashboard and there's just not enough coming from the rear to really fill out the cab. I was thinking of adding a kicker PTRTP or the new PL7TDF in the back in either the 10 or 12 but I'm not really convinced adding more bass really fixes my complaints with it. I talked to the guy I bought my truck from and he's keeping an eye out for one to get ordered with the kicker sub installed just to get an idea if adding a sub helps what Im describing.

remmy · 2026-05-11T21:30:39-0500

john151ama said:
Not really sure what your question or proposal is. Very easy to tap your speaker wires coming out of your Bose amp (without cutting them) to feed a signal to an amp and sub if that is all you are wanting to do.

I would call sounds good stero to confirm their wire harness kits also fit your rig. They can put on different connectors to work with the various Bose amps to give you the signal you want for a sub.

I rebuilt my whole system in my HD while leaving the factory amp in place. I cut and ran all new speaker wire however to separate the tweeters and woofers to their own channels.

The trucks do not have ANC. I had no issues. I have read the SUVs are the same and do not have ANC either for what it is worth.

Ill hit them up! I didnt see this in my searches.

john151ama · 2026-05-11T23:25:44-0500

Firehead said:
yeah, Ive been wondering what to do to mine. The B&O systems in the f150 I test drove when deciding on my truck sounded a bit more full? if thats the right word for it? I feel that the bass is ok in my truck but no matter how much I play with the positioning settings, the soundstage still feels like its in the dashboard and there's just not enough coming from the rear to really fill out the cab. I was thinking of adding a kicker PTRTP or the new PL7TDF in the back in either the 10 or 12 but I'm not really convinced adding more bass really fixes my complaints with it. I talked to the guy I bought my truck from and he's keeping an eye out for one to get ordered with the kicker sub installed just to get an idea if adding a sub helps what Im describing.

Totally agree. That is why I rebuilt mine as well.

A sub makes a big difference to give you the low frequency that is non existent.

Rear speakers get virtually no signal. You are seeing that by playing with your fader. When you fad to the rear, they do not receive more signal, power is just reduced to the front the more you fade to the rear.

Almost all OEMs are doing this however, Ford B&O included, Tesla, Lexus etc. the current rage is “concert” sound stage. So most of the sound is coming from the dash speaker and front doors to make it feel like your listening to a performer on a stage.

You can swap out speakers all you want and that will not change. The programming in the system is dictating that.

Using a Digital Sound Processor is really the only way to change that. You can cut the speaker wires coming out of the Bose amp, run them into a DSP, then change and clean up all of the signals, then run them out of the DSP back into the factory speaker wires and that solves the issue. Take it a step further and use a DSP and amp or amp with DSP and you can change the signal and amplify it, replace the speakers with better ones and you have the sound many of us are looking for. That is the route I chose.

Just sharing info, and don’t waste money changing out speakers, you won’t hear the back ones any better. The Bose speakers are just light weight junk, made as light as possible with very small magnets and running at 3 ohms to get as much sound out of as little wattage as possible. Better speakers are nice but they will be underpowered and receive the same low wattage crappy signal unless you fix the signal with a DSP.

Hope that helps some.