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Presently I have an aftermarket head unit that is wired so that the speaker output goes to the Bose input--- someone else did it this way, but it appears the speaker level output is too much for the Bose amps. My Pioneer headunit volume goes from 1-60; by the time I get to 10, the volume is crazy loud and there is a huge amount of distortion. This also wreaks havoc with my newly installed sub amp-- while the mids & highs (Bose amps) are getting high level speaker input, my sub amp is only able to use a low level RCA preout. Even with the amp gain for my subs set at the absolute max, the mids & highs are at a much higher volume than the subs are. I thought about using a line driver to give the sub amp a higher level signal, but this does not solve the distortion problem.
I plan on replacing the headunit with one that has 3 sets of preouts, and using an adapter that will let me use the preouts to feed the Bose amps. However, I'm debating whether to replace the HU and speakers, do the whole shebang so I have no more Bose stuff in there. I'm happy with the Bose speakers though, they actually sound pretty decent and keeping them would save me the headache of replacing the door speakers and tweeter that's up high in the door. But if I can improve the sound quality some with aftermarket, it might be worth the time. Anyone know how much power the bose amps give? Would using the headunit to drive aftermarket speakers be a step backward, or forward compared to the bose amp, power-wise? I realize if I retain the bose speakers, I have to keep the bose amps, just curious if I will be sacrificing some power by using the Bose amps instead of HU.
Does replacing the Bose speakers (1996 Maxima) require adding/replacing speaker wire from the head unit to the speaker? I seem to recall reading this, is there not wires already going to each speaker (or amp) in the rear and door locations? or is it one existing wire to each location for just the signal? Does each speaker have its own amplifier and if so, where is the amp located? Just trying to get the layout figured out before I decide what I'm going to do.
Any help or info on the subject would be greatly appreciated.
The Bose head unit sends a low power signal to the speaker and the Bose speaker has a printed circuit board on it that is an amplifier board. So when you replace a Bose head unit, you have to A) get a signal attenuator. B) get a head unit that has a low level outputs (usually indicated by RCA jacks on the back of the head unit) or C) install non-Bose speakers. If you replace the Bose speakers, you should run new wires to the speakers. Because of the low power signal that Bose uses, Nissan used a small gauge wire between the head unit and speaker that would be insufficient for a high wattage after market head unit.
There are 6 wires going to the front door Bose speaker - 2 for the audio, 2 for power and 2 to connect to the tweeter.
There are 4 wires going to the rear door Bose speaker - 2 for the audio and 2 for power.
I just hope that whoever replaced the Bose head unit used a wiring adaptor such as Metra and didn't butcher the Nissan wire harness.
Thanks a bunch for that info-- definitely good to know about the way the Bose speakers are set up and how the wiring is done. Curious how large the signal wire is-- A speaker at the power level we're talking about for an aftermarket HU shouldn't need anything even remotely large gauge, but alas I'll probably just leave the stock speakers alone to save myself the trouble of rewiring-- they sound pretty decent IMO, the rear 6.5" put out a surprising amount of bass for their size. The fronts could be a bit "brighter" though.
Whoever replaced the Bose HU did use a Metra adapter- but it's the plain jane one that simply takes the high-level speaker output and sends it out to the Bose stuff. It works but not the best solution as there's hardly any fine tuning to the volume (it goes from quiet to super loud in about 1/8 a turn of the volume control) and there's a lot of distortion at higher volumes when there shouldn't be.
I've decided to just replace the HU with 3 sets of preouts (current one only has 2 sets, one mid/high and one subwoofer) and the correct wiring adapter that uses RCA preouts to the Bose stuff, so it receives a low level signal. Am I better off looking for a head unit that has 4V (or higher) preouts? Not sure what the Bose amps work best with.
I don't know what the voltage level the Bose unit would output, so I can't answer your question. I always took the easy way out and used a line level adapter in the 3 Maximas that I had to do replace the Bose unit in. I used the PAC ROEM NIS2 adapter that can be gotten for around $35. If you use one of these, you do not have to get a Metra harness adapter.
01-20-2019, 11:26 AM
