My girlfriends 98 SE has a bose stock stereo. can you just change out the speakers with some aftermarket Rockfords or Infinitis? and what about the head unit? ive just heard that bose are pains in the izzass and didnt know if it was different than the normal stock stereo when it came to aftermarket replacements

 

yea its different than other stereos. the bose HU puts out a signal close to 0v which is amplified by the amps on the speakers. if you were to just swap out the speakers you wouldnt get any sound. you'de need to either install an amp to power the speakers or replace the HU as well.

BTW, nice avitar...sucks about the game right now top 9th sox down 6-2 to those bastahds.

 

thanks for the info, glad i didnt just go and swap them out first without asking someone.

yeah we lost game one, still got 9 1/2 on em, though!

 

I think you got something mixed up here, normal resistance on speakers is 4 ohms, but I think the B(l)o(w)se speakers are at 2ohm. Normal speakers will work, I hotwired two 12's into my trunk. However, someone gave me those 12's and I don't give a *** if running them at the wrong resistance wrecks them.

The B(l)o(w)se systems in our cars suck IMO

 

Sorry I dont mean to hijack but im just curious... How much power are your 12's getting by hotwiring them? Subs are commonly 2 or 1 ohms per voice coil, sometimes they are 4 ohms. Id like to add some lower powered subs without chaning my hu and stuff.

 

If you're getting powered subs, that's a different story. my rear speakers were completely blown, someone gave me the two 12's, they are loud enough for what I want...which is better sound than blown speakers.

 

The headunit is the weak link in the Bose system. It sucks. The speakers themselves aren't terrible, I get compliments on how great my stock speakers are all the time (I've got tons of sound deadening and some tweaking that make them a lot better than stock, though). Replace the headunit using a PAC adapter and wire in some new speakers for yourself using some new amplifier(s). Check the Audio forum on here for reccomendations as to how to do that.

 

what audio forum? the for sale section? so can I buy four new speakers and a new head unit and just put them all in or do i need an amp for the new speakers? im confused now.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/forumdisplay.php?f=25

that audio forum. i may not have been right about the voltage, but im pretty sure new speakers wont work with the bose HU. and im positive a new HU wont work with the bose speakers (unless you wire it differently).

edit-if you buy both a new HU AND new speakers it will work fine.

 

Wrong. I have an aftermarket headunit and Bose speakers. All it takes is the PAC unit I mentioned above to make it work.

 

i know...i said "(unless you wire it differently)." that would include the adapter. you can not take an aftermarket HU and simply wire it up like any other car. it will be loud as hell on volume 4 and not very clear. you have to use the adapter or wire it differently with RCA's. all the ways you can wire it up are in the audio forum FAQ.

 

OP, u have to SEARCH. There is an entire thread about BOSE HU and speakers and how to wire and what to use. I was apart of that thread but it was soooo long ago.

From what i remember, BOSE speakers will work very funny with an Aftermarket (AF) HU. U will need a signal conditioner to drop the voltage so that the BOSE speakers wont blow. I forget what it was called.

If u still wanna use BOSE HU with aftermarket speakers u will need special signal amplifer to boost signal so that the aftermarket speakers will work.

Honestly BOSE is so finicky. If either speakers or HU is messed up then, it will be less headache to replace speakers and HU with aftermarket. THe BOSE is so old, 13+ yrs, prolly time to replace anyway.

Musicman,

What kind of speakers are u using? BOSE speakers work on a differnet impedance than most AF HU and eventually with a AF HU, u gonna blow the BOSE speakers.

There are two metra harnesses u can buy. One with RCAs and the other without the RCAs. The RCA metra is for wiring BOSE HU to conditioner to speakers. THe non-RCA are for all other AF HU. U match up all colors and plug in to the car and the other end to radio. Kinda hard to mess up. Jus make sure open connections (like for the dimmer) is taped off. If any open wires make contact with metal its gonna blow the car radio fuse.

Edit:

Tatanko is right. get the PAC. Thats what u need if u still wanna use BOSE.

 

Get the PAC, or ghetto rig it like i did just search for my posts and the word "Splitter"

 

I like my bose and didnt want it to be expensive to keep it....unless your gonna upgrade to high end speakers keep the stock bose speakers and get a head unit adapter and go with an aftermarket HU

We did my brothers car (98 Pearl SE with Bose) with low end sony replacements and a Panasonic HU and it sucked...even with his Audiobahn Sub....

We swapped Memphis rear deck subs 8.5" i think and memphis for the front door speakers and memphis tweeters...and without the sub they sounded a bit better than stock bose. Memphis are close to $150 per set (fronts/rear) and that was at a discounted price because we work for an audio shop on the side

long story short...swap out the Head unit and get an adapter...keep the bose

 

let me tell you a story.

i at first really wasn't a fan of bose. till i heard it installed the right way on my 3rd gen

when i first got my 4th gen it had pioneer 3 ways, with an awia cd hu.
it was nice. but it lacked bass. and it wasn't loud.
everything was wired up the right way too. the previous owner did everything right.
hell my dad's (97 gxe) oem was louder than mine.
so i went and installed the bose amp and speakers. it was 1/2 way better.
then had installed a 00 pathfinder bose hu.
loud. bass. and clarity!

only "upgrade" i did was add rear oem tweeters.

i did this because i knew something was wrong if my q45 bose sound 2x's better than this.

 

My boy has the BOSE system in his 03' Altima and its good. If setup right, u dont need any additions to a BOSE system. For sounds, it dont get much betta than BOSE.

 

oh man, i remember when i was working for justtires, i pulled in a customer's car which was an altima which had the bose.
had on a particular jay-z song.
and WOW, talk about bass and i'm like well where's the distortion that some of these people talking about.
where's the lack of clarity these people are talking about.

then in came an 03 i30.
where it had the sub in the middle.
it sound awful.

infiniti m35 the bass was there...at low volume.
seems like some of there car's have the right set-up while the other's suck.

 

no no no Musicman...Factory BOSE require a low voltage signal. MAke sure the AF HU u got has preamp out RCAs. Take that RCA signal and connect to an RCA metra harness. Then BOOM u shd be good.

Bear in mind if u the AF HU only has 2 RCA outs then u wont be able to wire up a SUB unless u split that signal from 2 to 4. Good AF HU (like sony) will have 6 RCA outs. 4 RCAs for the speakers and 2 RCAs for the SUB.

 

this what u need...

http://www.installer.com/item/displa...php?it=70-7551

 

Make sure to tape off all loose connections.

Did the BOSE speakers work perfectly before?? I think the problem is the BOSE speakers work at a different impedance than the radio. U eventually gonna blow the speakers cuz they are the wrong impedance.

DOes the car have an external amp or are the BOSE amps on the speakers themselves?

 

hard to say. but i just read one of your post. you said when you used the rca output the volume level was low. you had to turn it up to a certain point.
thats normal.
most aftermarket h/u uses the preamp output's thinking of the person using an amp with a gain level. not factory bose.

as i did this when i had my 3rd gen.
the volume level was low also

 

Hello all,
I have a question perhaps someone here with Bose replacement knowledge can help me with. I have a 99 Max with the Bose system and after having the HU rebuilt twice I decided to finally get rid of it and replaced it with a double DIN Sony unit. I kept the original Bose speakers so I used the Metra power reducing harness to accomadate the speaker amps. I got it done yesterday and it sounds just great but with one problem, When I power it on, change tracks on the CD player switch sources etc, it makes a loud popping noise each time I do it. The sound is relevent to how high I have the volume at the time. Best way to describe the sound is kinda like plugging a guitar into an amp that is already turned on where you get that electronic "pop" sound for just a split second? I hope I explain it correctly. I guess I can learn to live with it but it is quite annoying. I have the system grounded with the big clipped ground wire from the aftermarket radios harness to the cars chassis. Is this something that might be common with adapting an aftermarket radio to the Bose system with the harness power reducer? I sure would hate to tear this thing back out of the dash, but I'm afraid it may be enough of an annoyance to have to do that.
You folks have always been great with advice before so I'm hoping someone would have a good understanding of this problem and provide a (very easy ) solution.
Thanks for your help as always,

Rowzman
99 MightyMax-Best car I ever owned hands down...

 

BOSE blows when it comes to using other stereo equipment. U might need that PAC so u can get a clean signal. Like i noted about the problem is that the BOSE speakers work at a differnent impedance then most speakers. SONY is good and can usually work on 2 or 4 ohm but is best suited for 4 ohm and i cant remember what impedance on the BOSE speakers are. Do the speakers have amp attached to them or located under the car seats?

U might have to get that PAC noted above or get new speakers so that the system will sound flawless. I kno with the SONY HU , it still dont sound as good as it used to.

DO a SEARCH too, there was a terrific thread i was apart of some time ago that dealt with BOSE setups.

 

agreed. THe BOSE HU prolly had a Gain assocaited with the volume control to step up the wattage.

 

Yes, I believe the amps are fixed to each speaker although I'm not 100% sure of that, I'll have to double check that.
If anyone knows of a link discussing these things in more detail please post it, meanwhile I'll hunt for it myself. Are you referring to this forum, I assume you were.

Thanks for your help

Rowz

 

Yeah bose isn't that terrible and can sound pretty decent when you swap out the headunit with either an aftermarket one or from a pathfinder. I was running the stock bose speakers with a pioneer premier unit for a while. Then eventually I got rid of the bose and swapped in rainbow speakers and a rainbow amp and now it just sounds amazing. But the average listener would be satisfied with the bose too once they swapped out the stock headunit. Not to mention keeping the bose is a lot cheaper lol.

 

Yeah aside from the problem I am having currently with this switching feedback noise or whatever you call it, a new head unit to the existing system I think sounds just outstanding, and I've heard a lot of different mobile sound systems. I got a big, noticeable improvement just by changing the HU.