Ok, my brother picked up a sweet 1990 SE model, so we are ready to play. It was a sweet deal, and the car is perfect. One owner, meticulous detailing, it was just perfect. So, we want to know, how can we put a CD player in the BOSE system? How about a head unit? Will that work with the wiring? I know the BOSE system is very complicated, possibly too much so. So, will an aftermarket head unit wire up? What about a CD changer? I think that may be the solution. Ok, next question. How do we advance the timing? I know how to do it on my Mustang, but I'm clueless as to how to change the timing on the Maxima engine. Thank you for the help.

Jon

 

A new head unit would be compatible with the wiring, but not with the rest of the system (speakers/amps: you'd need to replace those too, ideally).

Now, your Bose head unit has a 5-pin DIN plug on the back for a CD player input. The pin-out is on/L/off/R/gnd (that's looking at the input, starting at 9 o'clock and going around the top until 3 o'clock). The only problem is that I don't quite know how this input works. But here's my guess:

L, R, and Gnd are for the CD-player's preamp outs.
"on" is an output to tell the player to turn on.
"off" is an input to switch the head unit over to CD mode.

Could someone verify this, and find out which voltages do what?
Thanks.

If my guesses are right, you can just hook a switch between "on" and "off" to select the CD input.

Regarding the timing, look at the recent post on this exact topic.

 

You can buy a harness to hook a new HU up to your BOSE system. Most car stereo shops will be able to get what you need.