Hey guys, I want to add an amp and sub to my 92 GXE with disabled bose amps. I was thinking....can I take the power/ground from my disconnected bose amps? Also can I take accessory power from the antenna? This would save me running 3 wires. I hate running wires. Anyone ever do this? Think it would be ok? Thanks

Gregg

 

I have done kinda what you are saying
I tapped into the bose amp power to run my amp, BUT it was a 50 watt amp, so it's power requirements are very low. anything higher than about 100 watts will be pushing it IMHO.
you do however need to make sure that you wire up the amp turn on relay to the H/U otherwise no power goes back there.
also if you're already running an RCA cable back there, get one that has a trigger wire with it, easier to wire, and the antenna is switched by radio, not the cd/cass

 

the power wire to the bose is not going to be sufficient for a sub and amp you're also going to want to use a thicker ground as well. you don't have to run 3 wires either, your ground just needs to be a foot or so long to reach a metal spot in your trunk to connect to. if your antenna is always up whenever your deck is on (no anteana output, pioneer for ex) then go ahead and splice.

err, beaten to it..

 

Yeah I have a Pioneer headunit, and so the antenna is hooked up thru the acc (blue) wire, so I think I will splice the amp acc into that. I am only getting a 50W amp/sub tube. I only want a little bass and for $100 for the set its orth it to me.


What is this? I've never heard of a trigger wire.

 

This is better known as an amp turn on wire that goes from the Head unit to the amp/amps. Some cable companies like monster cable, intergrate the rca and amp turn on into one cable.

 

I had a monster cable one running back there. now the cable is sitting in my garage

 

ohhhh fancy back in my day you had to run the wires seperatly, of course this was after you mined the copper yourself!

 

are you referring to the remote wire?

 

I would never even think of using the power from the bose amp it is not even a good idea to try it, in order to have good clean sound from your amp you will need good power wire, probly 8 guage unless your running more than say 500 watts then i would go with 4 guage, you can run a ground to one of the bolts for the trunk latch it will work great. Also run you power antenna, and your remote wire for you amp off of the blue wire in the deck harness it is only a signal wire. You have to run RCAs also because if you stock amp is disabled then there will be no signal coming from your stock speaker wires, wich have a ****ty signal anyways.

 

Bump!

 

do it the right way. i take it you want to mount the amp in the trunk. i'm not sure how thick the wires are for the bose amps, but i doubt they're thick enough to handle the power. what if your 50 watt amp is totally underrated?

i don't know what your listening habits are, or how old you are...but, what if you want more bass later? 50 watts isn't that much. you'll probably want to upgrade later. you could probably get away with 10awg but you might as well go with 8awg. that'll be good for 500 watts. besides, it's really not that hard to run the wire. you'll have to run the rca's anyway.

 

8 gauge is good for 500 watts, but the cable length isn't that great. longer the cable, the more power loss. i'd go ahead and get 4 gauge wiring.

 

yeah I would love to run 8 or even 4 gauge wire, but It's a pain in the *** to get a wire into the car. For my fog lights I just ran the wire (10 or 12 gauge) around the door opening. You can see the wire when the door is opened, not that that bother me, but 4 gauge is kinda thick to do that with. I cant find a grommet thru the firewall and I'd really rather not drill. This is why I cam up with the ingenious idea of using the Bose wire, which now seems like a not so good idea.

 

yeah, it's a pain, but worth it imo. you'll know what i mean when you kick back and listen to the system that you installed all by yourself. i just drilled and ran 8awg throught the firewall. but that was before i found out that you could run it through that hole behind the driver strut. some people fish 4awg through that into the cabin. i'll be trying 2 or 0awg in a couple of weeks.

 

4's about all you can get through there.