Guys,

Just took all bose components out of my 1998 max and bought some Infinity Kappa speakers as well as a headunit. What do I need to do? Will these speakers work with the new headunit? Do I have to do any wiring for these new speakers or will they work with the existing wiring. I know an amp is needed, but wht kind? I was hoping that the head unit woud power the two fronts and an added amp would power both rears and a sub. Please help me!!! Let me know what I have top do to replace this POOR system!! I search the site for answers, but no one gets to the point. I appreciate it.

JR

 

You have your whole system set already. You just use the existing wires. As for the amp, try to find a multi amp that powers speakers and a sub. Like 75 x 2 + 1 x 200. The speakers will work with your system, but make sure they are 6 1/2 oversized or 6 3/4. Good luck.

 

Which head unit?

Assuming it has an amplifier in it you can definitely use it with the Kappas. You should be able to use the existing wiring if you want to mount them in the existing locations. Many people prefer to mount them in the kick panels instead so rewiring is very easy.

I think you'll need a harness adapter to connect the head unit to the Maxima's wiring. I just replaced the Bose unit with an Alpine but I'm using the existing speakers. In this case there's an adapter that modifies the head unit speaker outputs to be compatible with the speaker amps in the Bose speakers.

In any case the car's harness carries the speaker wires, power, and antenna/remote turn on wires so you'll need to connect those correctly to the head unit. Check in Best Buy or Circuit City for the adapter. Crutchfield may also have it.

 

i think the bose harness has 4 wire,the two skinny wire will be the speaker wire,the other 2 will be power and ground.so you will have to check for the pol +/- ,by open the bose speaker box on the amp it should label +/- ,but i found that the wire were a bit smaller than the non bose HU system,don't know if it can handle too much power,goodluck!

 

One other thing. If you have the Nissan diversity antenna you'll need an adapter for that too. I think that's about $20 at Crutchfield.

 

If you want to use your existing wiring you are going to have to by-pass the bose amps....since you are planning on getting an amp its probably easier to just go ahead and run new speaker wire....but if not try searching in the audio forum about bypassing the amps...its been talked about many times....

 

how does your system sound now compared to the stock headunit. i was going to do that too but someone told me that i needed to replace all the speakers too. is there any danger of blowing a speader with the new headunit?

 

Was the "someone" a salesman?

To me it sounds much better than the Bose but the original unit was 8+ years old and had refused to play a tape for a few years and a CD for a few months.

I don't think there's much of a chance to blow a speaker even without the adapter unless you bypass the amps on the speakers. But if you do that you're taking a bigger chance by driving the HU's internal amp into a very low impedance load. Otherwise you're amplifying the signal twice and that will probably sound pretty bad.

The Scosche adapter (FAI-1A) will connect to the Maxima harness and allows yo to adjust the gain on the individual channels. Works fine and the instructions are clear. It was about $50 at Crutchfield but to me that was a better option than the cost of good replacement speakers and the time it would take me to install them.

 

are you planning on selling your Bose headunit? if so, i might be interested.

 

with everything you have you will be fine..you dont even need an amp if you dont want one. Depending on what size speakers you buy you might have to make a plate to cover the factory bose speaker holes... if you got 6.5'' speakers you should be fine...any smaller you will have to make a plate to set them in. You will need an adapter to plug the factory bose headunit harness in to the new head unit..these are like 15 dollars at any stereo shop...to use the factory wires there are 4 going into the bose speakers.... two for the actual speakers and two other wires that power the amp.... in the front there will also be two more wires that went to the tweeters in the factory system. Just splice into the speaker wires and use those for the new speakers...let me know if you have any more questions... i had to do this on my new max as well as my 93..so ive done it twice

 

Am I like the only one on this .org that likes the BOSE system? I always find everyone changing from the BOSE system. I think the BOSE sounds awesome compared to other systems that are stock.

 

I liked mine too but it had to go when it wouldn't play a tape or a CD. Everything I'd heard sounded like repairing it wouldn't be worth it and that the units are prone to fail. So a good aftermamrket head unit seemed like a good idea. Besides that, I can take the new unit and put it in another vehicle later if I want.

 

I agree, I think the Bose is top notch for a factory system. Im not looking for total volume, but clarity as well. The Bose really makes CD's come alive........

My .02

P.S. anyone ever come up with a place that repairs the headunits???

 

www.davescoolstuff.com

www.carstereohelp.com

there was a 3rd place, but I can't recall the link now

 

i love my Bose system too. the only thing i really wish it had was a little more bass. my complaint with them is that i now own TWO Bose headunits, neither of which are fully functional. one has a display that doesn't light up and the other has a CD player that doesn't work.

also, i wish it were easier to add an aftermarket CD changer (non-FM modulated). from what i've found, the only ones out there are OEM for way too much $$$ or USA Spec, a brand i've never heard of. anyone know of any others?

 

I don't know for sure but IIRC the head unit is made by Clarion (not Bose) so there may be a Clarion changer that would work.

BTW, the media expander (MX) function on the Alpine units really lets the factory Bose speakers shine. A nice bit of sound processing.

 

why would you want a headunit that can't play tapes or CDs?

 

i don't think he mentioned anything about his HU not being able to play CDs or tapes. unless i missed something...

 

Ken from JRNissan is selleing these on eBay for $160 you can also get it from courteyparts.com for $190