I had a aftermarket radio before in my max and it was nice but it didn't sound as loud as the stock bose radio, however the stock bose radio can't play mp3s or cdrs so I'm getting another aftermarket radio and I wanted something that sounded good, really good. Since it's black friday I figured this is the best time to buy a radio...

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_158GT56...X-GT565UP.html

Is this a good deal? What can I expect to spend for a cheap little system? maybe a little amp and so forth.

I have a small 50x50 watt amp I can use but I don't know how much it would help.

 

Wrong. Aftermarket radio can connect to stock Bose amp. You have to have a radio with at least 4 volt pre-outs though if you want to get decent volume. Then all you need is the Metra 70-7551 amp integration harness.

 

Oh, and the ASWC if you want to use your steering wheel controls.

 

and the stock speakers can handle it?

Thanks everyone.

 

Sony is making quality HU's now but they have higher end stuff I would recommend over an $80 HU. Check out sonic electronics.com instead. With that HU the speakers wont be seeing much more than 20 RMS so yes they can handle it easily. If you want a good sounding system then invest in some middle of the road polk audio component speakers with a 4ch amp and then later you can scrap the stock sub for something better as well.

 

hell no **** Sony HUs.

But there is an adapter to make the stock amps work with an aftermarket HU. Thing is you wont get the punchiness of the stock bose HU to get it you have to turn the amps up which inturn means you will blow out the speaker, so if you are doing that it is a good time to invest in a subwoofer&amp.

 

Alright, I might as well just ditch the stock bose stuff?

Can you get a decent little system for sub 500 bucks?

Nothing big, just a improvement over stock?

 

I doubt you're going to do much with $500. Certainly not better than factory Bose. Find a different head unit and look for 4 Volt pre-outs. Make sure it has 2 sets front/rear (although anything with 4 volt pre-uts is likely to). The Amp integration harness doesn't use the amp built into the radio, it sends the pre-out signal from the radio to your Bose amplifiers. The reason your volume sucked before was because you likely only had 2 volt pre-outs (which is the most common) and the Bose amps are designed for 4 volts from the original Bose/Clarion HU.

 

Try this stereo. It's under $100 and it has 6-Channel 4 volt pre-outs (front/rear/sub). That will allow you to use the integration harness with your factory amp on the front and rear channels and add an aftermarket amp and sub later (or now if your budget is $500) to fill out the bass. This is basically the setup I have (just with a different head unit). With 4 volt pre-outs it sounds pretty close to factory...maybe a little better than factory with my EQ. I haven't added a sub yet but that's next on the list. I'm looking at a 10" Alpine Infinite Baffle Sub to replace the Bose sub in the rear deck. Just short on funds over the Holidays.

 

Thanks I went to audio logic and they have the newer model396 for 119 he harness was 15 bucks and the ASwc was 69.99. Installation was about 80 bucks or he said a little over 300 in total what do you think? Cheaper prices online?

 

That's not too bad. The ASWC is a little high.
Amazon has the ASWC for $43, the Metra 70-7551 for $13, and the Kenwood KDC-X396 for $120.

Almost forgot, you need an antenna cable adapter too. Metra 40-NI10 about $8.

 

So the factory BOSE amps are configured to run with a 4V headunit. A lot of receivers don't actually hit peak voltage until a really high volume is reached. Does this mean you'll get optimum sound when the H/U's line voltage is at 4V? Or does it take the spectrum of voltages that a 4V H/U would run through into consideration?

I had a similar priced Kenwood in my 3rd gen, and it was decent; 4V preamp outputs and all. But even a lesser priced JVC unit with 5V always seemed to push the amp/ sub a lot harder with better sound quality.

My theory is, if you went with a 5V head unit, the spectrum of voltages would be more likely to hit 4V without the volume on max resulting in a better sound with less distortion/noise.



If you're gonna spend close to $100 on a unit, go ahead and spend the extra $20 on something that puts yourself into the next bracket. Being able to adjust the colors on the face is always a nice option too...

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDAH...9.html?tp=5684

edit: also note the 'installation gear' it comes with, keep an eye out for that because you get mounting brackets, wiring harness, and the antenna adapter included.

 

Another tip. After I changed my HU I had horrible FM reception, took me forever to diagnose it. Turns out I had a poor ground. Ground the hell out of that thing. I'm running three separate grounds for my Pioneer AVIC. Of course I'm probably pulling more power than that Kenwood will but it certainly won't hurt.

 

Yes it's the spectrum of 4V. And you are correct a 5V will push it harder, that's why I said at least 4. Of course with my 4V HU I have no trouble hitting volume levels high enough to distort the sound quality so I doubt there's much need to push it harder.

 

All you need is the PACS OEM-1 unit, I'm actually selling mine that I used in 00 Maxima with Bose. You basically wire it to the radio harness and it's plug and play from there (plugs right into the factory harness).

Let me know...I'm getting rid of it for $16 shipped.

http://forums.maxima.org/audio-video...interface.html

 

Yeah, keep in mind I don't know a whole lot about the 5.5 gen specific system. All of my testing was done with an aftermarket sub and amp. In my particular application, the 4V Kenwood unit could get just as loud, it just seemed to have a lot less distortion and noise with two different JVC units I had in it running at 5V. Perhaps it was something integral to the particular headunit and didn't have much to do with the line voltage. I always sort of associated the two.

 

I've never tried a 5V system so it's possible you could get improved quality. Of course that could just be because most 5v HU are generally higher quality to begin with. The HU I have now is the Pioneer AVIC-Z140 though. I doubt you can get much higher quality than that. Half the reason I'm broke. lol

 

I've got it hooked up with my Pioneer AVH-3300BT and sound is excellent. I don't have to have the volume up at all.

I just have to figure out how to suppress the notorious rear deck rattling from the sub.

 

Is that jvc better than the 396? I'm buying a radio today and I need one with the mounts included.

 

What do you mean by mounts?

 

I think a lot of it comes down to personal preference. I've always had really good luck with JVC but there are die hard people in every brand.

As far as which is the better deal in this particular case, the JVC has a little bit more customization with it's user interface and allows you to change colors and whatnot. It also has equal or better tech specs, plus all the included install stuff...

To me the extra $20 is worth it.

 

installation kit

 

I don't know of any aftermarket radio that comes with the install kit. Some stores will include them for free with a stereo purchase though. There are two that I know of for the 5th Gen Max. Scosche NN1648B and the Metra 99-7416. Some people have more luck with one over the other depending on what stereo they are installing. I'm using the Scosche because I have a Double DIN unit and it seemed to fit well. I bought both at the time and just returned the one I didn't use. YMMV

 

thanks ill get the jvc one

 

 

Isn't that what I said?!?

 

the wiring harness it comes with isn't the metra 7551 so I still need that right?

 

The one included is the same thing. It might even be the Metra.

 

^Yup. If you're getting it from Crutchfield's it looks like they do include the correct harness for factory amp integration.

 

wong.

 

This! Alpine or GTFO! Anything else is crap the best bet is to strip out the blose and replace it with quality.

Sent from AznRyan's Cat Farm

 

Fanbois

 

Already ordered the jvc, looking forward to installation it.

 

nah i wouldnt say all that. Alipine, Eclipse, Pioneer, Clarion are all quality HUs. Kenwood is mid range, the rest is crap.

 

Everybody has their favorites. I've had luck with most major brands over the years and have some crap from most major brands. For instance Clarion makes the Bose 6cd system for the Max and it's complete crap but I had a very nice Clarion in my old Lincoln.

 

All within the last 6 years or so, I've had Alpine, Pioneer, Clarion, JVC, and Kenwood head units, plus a variety of different speakers, amps, subs to toy around with.

While I agree Eclipse and Alpine are very decent manufactures to go with, the JVC's I've had are at LEAST on par with the fanboy favorites that are $50+ more.

I'd really love to find a double din with an android interface.

 

Have you looked into Pioneer's options? I haven't tried it but I hear the AppRadio2 is pretty cool.

 

Great info guys. I just started looking to replace my BOSE head unit with a similar double din and needed to know the line voltage the bose amps are expecting to see. Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like anything with 4v or 5v pre amp outputs will work. How many outputs do I need on the HU if I am only replacing the HU and keeping everything else BOSE? I haven't pulled the factory deck yet. Can you tell me do I need 4 or 6 pre amp outputs? That is, does the sub amp share preamps somehow or does require its own pre out?

 

You only need two sets of pre-outs (4 total), front L/R and rear L/R. The Bose sub pulls the signal from the rear channel.

 

Has anyone used a 5v pre out with the BOSE system? How did it work? I have found a JVC unit that I like but the pre outs are 5v.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KWR9...er-reviews-tab


If I am understanding this correctly, the OEM Bose/Clarion head unit was a 4v pre out. So I assume that moving up to a 5v preout would be similar to increasing the gain on an amplifier. If this is true, using a 5v preout will increase my volume at lower levels and give less volume control. Some might equate this to making the stereo louder but that is not true. You will just hit peak volume earlier. The amp itself will still clip and start to run distortion at the same output, no matter where the volume **** on the receiver is at. So my concern is that if I go to a 5v setup I will in essence be at full volume when my volume **** is only turned halfway up. In which case the volume control **** could be overly sensitive.

Does that sound about right to you guys? Has anyone had luck using a lesser preout like 2.5v? Of course the problem there is that you would never reach full volume on your amps. And when the receiver is at full volume, I expect the reciever would start to clip at full volume sending a 'dirty' signal to the amps which would of course again cause the amps to push distortion to the speakers. So the trick is to find the correct voltage output. That is unless BOSE was kind enough to put a gain control on the amps. Anyone ever find a gain control?

Speaking of amps. Does each speaker have its own amp? I've never really looked for the amps in my system other than knowing there is one with the sub.

OK so a lot of thoughts. Here are my questions:

1) Do we know for sure the Bose HU is 4v? Anyone ever put a multimeter on one?
2) How aggressive will the volume **** be on a 5v preout if their are no gain controls on the amps?
3) Are there gain controls on the amps
4) How many amps do I have and where are they located? (2002 Maxima SE with BOSE)