NB Miata Clearwater Speaker Replacement for Bose System - Review and Thoughts

Prologue

If you're not already aware, replacing the speakers and/or head unit in a Miata with the Bose system can be a real pain in the ass. The Bose system apparently uses proprietary 1/2ohm speakers instead of traditional 4ohm speakers, and they are driven by a Bose amplifier that is hidden somewhere in the dash.

To replace the Bose head unit and speakers with a modern head unit and speakers, you must bypass or remove the Bose amplifier altogether. This requires running wire, cutting, crimping, etc. This is commonly referenced as a "Full Bosectomy".

To replace just the head unit for features like Bluetooth or other app level integrations while leaving the speakers, you can wire in a line level converter directly into the harness. You might prefer to do this if you don't want to mess around the Bose amplifier, or you want to be able to swap back to the OEM unit easily and without further modification. This is commonly referenced as a Partial Bosectomy.

When I opted to replace my head unit last summer, I went for the Partial Bosectomy. Shout-out to Crutchfield for their professional harness service. They delivered my new head unit and pre-wired harness with converter, and everything was plug and play. Beautiful.

Main Course

Now finally onto the speakers!

For reference, I have a 10AE Miata (1999 Model Year) that came standard with this Bose system. While people may disagree on whether or not this car is collector worthy in the Miata world, I do personally have a preference to keep my cars as close to stock/OEM as possible or with easily reversible and non-permanent modifications. I'm also cool with turning a wrench, but not so much running/cutting/crimping/soldering wires and harnesses. I'm not a huge audiophile but can generally tell when speakers are blown out or sound like crap.

This summer I figured it was time to maybe bring the rest of the audio system up to snuff. The system didn't sound too great on the road, and I couldn't really hear clear music when the volume was up during highway speeds. Whether or not that's due to the speakers being 20 years old, or even just the technology being that old, I was ready for a change. I didn't want to continue with the rest of the Bosectomy described above, so my options were limited.

My initial research pointed me towards the Clearwater Speaker kit. The kit claimed to be plug and play, and most of all, compatible with the Bose system in the car. The kit can be found on Moss Miata or Go Miata for about $279.

Installation

For all the reasons I discussed above I knew this was the kit for me. The installation was generally as follows.

1. Remove door panel. Three screws located around the door, and three push pin rivets and the panel is off.

2. Some more screws and you have removed the tweeter from the door panel, and the main speaker from the door. I had to pry off the bottom speaker with a plastic trim removal tool.

3. Installation of the Clearwater Speaker Module into the door cavity. It is attached to the door bar with zip ties. Both the tweeter and main speaker will be driven from this module, and the OEM tweeter wiring is tucked away into the door and of no further use. This module has terminal spades that plug directly into the main harness for the original speaker. Red to red, black to back (or yellow).

4. Installation of the main speaker and tweeter to the door. Again - everything here is plug and play via pre soldered terminals and spade connectors. The installation of the new tweeter to the door panel may seem a little tricky, but makes sense when all the pieces are in front of you.

5. General buttoning up and zip-tieing of wires, and re-installation of the door panel.

Epilogue and Closing Thoughts

During installation I finished the driver door first and wanted to compare it to the passenger units. I loaded a left/right audio clip from YouTube, and I will say from there I knew that I couldn't wait to finish the rest of the install. The difference was that clear. Maybe not so much at lower volumes, but there was way less distortion at greater volume.

I finished the install and decided to take a rip down the nearest highway. My exhaust used to drone out the noise from my music at higher RPM but that is no longer the case. The sound is much more full. Even at 80mph everything from the speakers was coming in clear to my ears. At that speed I previously had to either stop listening to music, or try blast it to the high heavens just to hear anything.

Overall I'm very happy with my purchase and wouldn't hesitate to do the same for any future Miatas in my life. Yes, the kit is certainly expensive compared to a similar set off Crutchfield. However, the value is in the engineering and everything fitting where it is supposed oo without any large or major modifications. I could go back to the stock system just as easily tomorrow, though I certainly wouldn't plan on it now.

This was certainly a lot longer than I intended it to be. Please feel free to let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. I hope this helps anyone considering the same in the future.