Someone's bound to know this Bose answer
 

Ok,

I have a '90 GXE with leather Bose and all the bells and whistles. The front driver's side speaker would kick off and on. Probable cause, bad amp. I bought a replacement speaker from someone on the forum. It was from a '93 I think. It looked exactly the same except the connector was blue and had a little tab on the inside that prevented my harness from going in. After researching and asking around here it seemed that no one was aware of any differences. I shaved that little piece and my harness connects perfectly. The volume is very low though. The seller was generous enough to send me the other speaker and amp. I swapped them and got the same result, low volume on that speaker. I have been digging through the junkyard and they have a ton of 3rd gens. No 90's with Bose though. All the 90's have Active Speaker. The system still works great has a CD changer directly wired in where it turns off the stereo for the CD changer to play etc. I don't want to scrap it. Any ideas. I know there are some units in the car (clock, doorlock timer etc) that suffer from bad sodering. Is there any way to resoder my original amp?

Thanks

just be careful when you solder... its a 17 year old car :lolrun:

Shop around for a used Headunit. $20-70 is pretty common, and speakers can go for similar prices. Its really not that expensive.

But bose 89-90 will work, and maybe 91. The difference and a work around has been mentioned before though..

~Alex

why do i need another headunit?

The bose just isn't worth messing with. The clarity and quality of the sound is so much better with even the cheapest headunits.

But if you really want to mess with the bose, I should be able to find both of my old ones and ship them to you for free if you want...

~Alex

I like the factory look on my dash, so I took a Bose headunit, and then spiced into the speaker output wires and connected an Alpine amp. I've got Pioneer and Alpine speakers and it looks and sounds like a kiss *** factory system. I tried an Alpine heaunit in the car and quickly realized what I hate about after market audio--its all highs and lows. With the stock headunit feeding the amp it sounds completely different than aftermarket, the mid-range is super strong. Vocals are amazing. Have you ever noticed in an aftermarket system you keep turning the volume up becuase you can't hear what you want but your ears start to hurt before you are satisfied with the volume? I know everyone will tell you to pitch the Bose, but I say create a hybrid.

hope you didnt splice into wires that are connected to the hu. thats a big nono

Hey Alex V- those 2 old head units you have....are they still working? I have a 94 max but my bose decided to crap the bed.....not going aftermarket cause i was happy with the sound of the bose until it stopped working.....so if your have dust collectors i'm interested!

thanks

OH i only wish mine even worked...its ipod jammin for me <):- ) Woot

thanks pm sent

What was your concern?

What I did was take the wires going from the headunit to the speakers and put them into the speaker level input on the amp. Then I came back out of the amp's output all the way back to the dash and used the original speaker wires to go to the new speakers. I know this is probably discusting to most people. I understand I can't crank 300 watts through those wires, but I don't listen to the music loud. I also set the gain on the amp so that even if someone cranks the headunit all the way up its only moderately loud with no distortion.

If you are worried about the power source, its a big amp wire straight from the battery, ground is to the body.

I just followed the instructions that came with the amp.

its better to put all new speakers and a headunit in my left front speaker is starting to go on my 5.5 gen. and its a bose stock system.

Equalizer....

so there is still no definitive answer that the amps changed slighty and are not interchangable?

Yes,earlier model bose systems(89-91 iirc) have different amp plugs and wiring schematics than the later model amps. Also, the later model plugs have a harness connectors on the amp circuit board,while the earlier model wires are hardwired to the amps.

I am not positive,but i believe the amps are not interchangable due to the plugs harnesses being different.

what happened Alex? Been sending u PMs

oh sorry I didn't see the new ones. Computers a little screwed up. YGPM tomorrow....

~Alex

So can anyone answer me this question..i replaced my Bose sterio with a CLarion, kept all the speakers as they were, now when i play the radio, all speakers work but if i pop a CD in just the back speakers work? And is it worth fixing th amps on the speakers or just replace them?

When I replaced mine I left the amps where they were and just bypassed them. While I was in there I replaced the speakers, but it's not really necessary. The BOSE headunit just puts out a really weak signal (hence the need for separate amps on each speaker). Bottom line, you don't need the amps with an aftermarket headunit.

I don't know about CDs not working for the front speakers though. Maybe it has something to do with your amps still being hooked up? Unless you've got separate settings on your clarion for CDs and radio as far as balance and fade.

ok cool

thx

I'll guess that someone wired up the amp setup wrong.
some aftermarket H/Us come with 2 blue trigger wires, some with one
nissan uses 2. one for the antenna, and one for the amp. when you are listening to the radio the antenna is up so that was probably tapped and triggers the front speakers, but the rears are either not triggered at all or triggered off the second (amplifier) trigger wire.


We just went through this on my brother's G20 when he installed his H/U.

So my best option would be to check how the wiring was done? im really not to suave in this department...ill have a friend check it for me..thanks a bunch!! is there any wiring diagram that i could find? keeping in m ind, i didnt have it hard wired in, i bought a harness specific for my car

if you bought the specific harness, then it should have the 2 blues. one solid blue and one with a white stripe.
Personally, I won't hardwire a radio in anymore. I buy the harness cheap enough, and wire it all together while sitting at the table then just go out to the car and plug it in.

when i got the car from my grandfather somebody else already hacked into the bose system and put new speakers in it so i had a bose tape player w/ off brand speakers, now i have a pioneer cd player and 4 infinity speakers in the car w/ 2 subs and amp on the way. Im very happy that i wasnt stuck w/ having bose when i got the car b/c its so hard to switch them up. Also, if any of you have a power antenna u can sell me, message me back (my dad broke the one on my car by closing the trunk on it). Thanx, peace!

i love my BOSE it rocks effortlessly. Except I still need a working amp for the driver's side door that fits a '90

Are you talking about an amp or speaker b/c i have an extra speaker for the driver side door, i also have a '90 so it should fit, message back if interested.

How could this be misunderstood?:easter:

Yeah I need an amp. I got some from a '94 but doesn't work right. Never heard from Alex either