The Bose head unit in my 97 SE is giving me some problems (turn volume down and it gets louder) and I need to resolve. I'm debating between just replacing the head unit and using the adaptor to hook it into the Bose speakers/amplifiers or replacing the head unit and all four speakers. Has anyone used the adaptor? What are your impressions? The adaptor costs $50-$60 and that money would almost pay for one pair of speakers.
If you have a head unit and/or speakers for sale, drop me a private at jbjerke@charter.net

Thanks-

Jeff

 

i replaced my bose headunit with the alpine 9815 unit. sounds great with the bose speakers.

 

you may want to post this in the audio forum the guys in there will be very helpfull to u.

 

i have Panasonic CQ-HR1003U and it sounds great with PAC adapter. this HU is touch-screen w/ aux mode so i can plug in to my DVD source.

but now i have it plugged in to my 15gb iPod

 

that's tight you input your ipod with it

 

Got any pic's? This is the exact head unit I'm currently looking at.

If you have some, send them to jbjerke@charter.net Thanks-

 

You know the same shiit is happening to me. Louder when you want it to go down and more silent when you want it to go up. Bose systems have a mind of their own.

If you are content with your bose system just get the adapter. But if you are planning on upgrading just get a new HU.

 

aiight well i need to get my gf's digi cam and i'll post it.

 

Where's a good place to pick one of these Bose adaptors up?
Crutchfield has them for $50. Any other recommendations?

 

the PD4 is the best.... http://www.linkmeup.com/ .....$150

the Peripheral NISAH4N is a popular choice..... http://www.cardomain.com/item/PERNISAH4N .....$60

I had the Peripheral NISAH4N and it picks up alternator noise. Not good for an audio phile.

 

Anyone try one of these? $50 at Crutchfield.



http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7BB6zv3...&avf=Y&search=

 

Jeff bjerke,----I bought one yesterday from them i should get it on wednesday i will tell you all about it after i install.

 

The real questions that you need to ask yourself is

1) Am I really and audiophile, or was I happy enough with the stock system

2) Do I really think the stereo is important enough (to me, not to audiophiles with $2000 stereos) to warrant spending real money?



Personally, I always have my stereo on when I'm driving and I was content enough with the BOSE speakers. When my headunit died I got the $50 adapter and a $120 JVC headunit that plays MP3's. For $170 total (installed) I have an MP3 playing system that I enjoy. Sound quality is almost (but not quite as good) as with the original (you lose the BOSE's built-in fine tuning) and the car looks clean because I didn't have to wedge new speakers into the maxima's wierdly shaped speaker holes (no aftermarket speakers are going fit perfect like the originals).

My audiophile friends would NOT have been satisfied and probably would have ended up spending even more money on a second upgrade. But they never would have been satisfied with the original BOSE system to begin with. But NORMAL listeners think the system sounds pretty good as long as it's not blasting (that's where you notice the lack of serious base).


YOU PICK BASED ON WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU! For me, the money I saved versus getting an expensive new system went to my y-pipe and cat-back (great group deals right now by the way). I enjoy the sound of the stock system.

If you've never been satisfied with the system, then use this as a great excuse to upgrade it. If you were satisfied, save your hard earned cash on other upgrades (or on something non-car related!)


GOOD LUCK! And don't let other people decide what YOUR best option is!

 

how much did that hu cost u i am interested in gettin a new dvd player. the ps2 is too much of a hastle

 

umm, i think it might be possible to do switch out the head unit without the adapter, because a week ago, i had my bose hu switched out for a panasonic one, and my installer never had any adapter or nething, i just remember him cutting up some wires, and testing it using some sort of thing, prolly a multimeter. and to sum it all up, my new hu is sounding imo much better than the bose, and the ability to read mp3's doesnt hurt either.

 

This is the deal with the BOSE stereo: The bose speakers have their own built in amps on EACH SPEAKER and run on only 1 Ohm from the HU.

Normal stereo systems run on 4 Ohm impedance (and have a single amp, rather separate ones in each speaker).

Some people have hooked up their speakers directly to a normal head unit, BUT (it's a big BUT), this is what they have found out:

1) if they managed to rewire to the built-in amplifiers in each speaker, then their system was ear-shattering loud at even the lowest volume settings! Plus, distortion was really, really, bad. The adapter compensates for both the impedance (1 Ohm) and the distortion. The adapter is not perferct, but works pretty well. You still lose use of some of the fine-tuning circuitry when you replace the head unit. As you may know, each factory BOSE system is calibrated to the model of car it is in. This is why it never sounds quite as good as original when you replace the HU but keep the speakers.

2) if they just hooked wires up directly to the speakers (by-passed the built in amps) their sound output was really, really, low, even at the highest volume settings. I don't remember if people mentioned anything about distortion, but the volume level was not acceptable.


Based on what I have read, the only way that you could hook directly into the BOSE speakers without the adapter would be to bypass the amps built into each speaker, and then add a separate amp to the system. I don't know how much distortion you would get from this type of setup... I'd say by the adapter for reasonably good sound quality, or change the entire system out with new speakers.

Ask your installer what he did on your system. I'm really curious to find out!

 

i had my Alpine CDA-9811 installed after my bose hu went out. my dealer also installed it WITHOUT the $50-$60 convertor.. its a waste of money, and my stock bose speakers sound fine without using the covertor/adapter. i would recommend doing it this way.

 

Why not wire up some RCA connectors to the Bose speaker wires and connect the existing Bose speakers to the RCA pre-amp outs on the new HU? I believe that can be done without any problems right?

 

well the volume is working just perfect on mine, so, maybe theres another way of doing it, that you guys just havent found out about yet. and i dont think my guy used ne rca connecters, or maybe he did, all i know is that there are only two things connected to my hu, the adapter that comes with the hu and another cord that i assume is the power cord.

 

Huh? Is there something different about the 95-96's speaker pods that I'm unaware of? In my 98 there were many speakers that were direct drop-in's for both the front doors and rear deck. Of course, a major point of concern is speaker depth, but there aren't many anymore that are too deep for either one of these applications.

On another note, TrackSmart makes a good suggestion ... it's all up to your tastes. The best reason I can think of for an aftermarket unit now-a-days is that you can get an MP3 playing unit dirt cheap. Other than that, if you like Bose, stick with Bose.

Oh ... and all this fine tuning stuff you're all talking about ... it doesn't really matter. I understand and cannot dispute that they calibrate stuff from the factory but, come on ... did your Bose really sound that great to begin with? It certainly sounds better than stock (my base, stock system was AWFUL and my wife's is equally sub-par), but the Bose name carries more weight than it should. For the extra (+/-) $600 they charged from the factory you could get 4 speakers and a headunit that sound better and still have $100 left in your pocket.

 

is there a way to splice an aftermarket amps L and R to rear speakers?

 

Someone thinks he's Michael J Fox bringing it back to the future lol

DW

 

Impossible.

 

in one more post im sure hell make his own thread askin that dumbass question.

 

this with a coke!!

 

Its not impossible at all. Your amp would just have to have the same ohm load and re wire a bit