So I went out and bought my mounting kit, wiring harness, and antenna adapter.

Then I read the 4th gen Max FAQ and it says that it advises against installing a CD Player unless you replace the entire BOSE system, which I am unable to do =( My brother said if I run speaker wire the 4 speakers I should be good to go, but the FAQ says something about how the speakers won't be accurate if you just run speaker wire to them. What's the verdict? I've also heard of something like a "peripheral adapter" which could be used if I don't want to run speaker wire.

EDIT: Also, if its easier just to keep the stock head unit, whats the best/cheapest way to connect an MP3 player to the car while keeping everything intact? Thanks!

 

Basically, if you just do a normal install, there will be 2 amps powering everything, the amp in the head unit, and the Bose amp, which will still be connected. The Peripheral Adapter takes ur RCA front/rear preouts (unamplified) and converts it to speaker wire, which you hook up to the wiring harness, so that only the Bose amp will be powering your speakers. The Peripheral Adapter is $39 at the audio shop near my house, so it should be around that price.

There are two types of setups for Bose generally: An amp in the trunk that powers everything, or 4 separate amps in the doors or rear deck. It depends what year your max is. I did an install of head unit and 4 speakers on a 96, and instead of running new wires, i tapped into the speaker wire right before it joined each bose amp. i ran another 6 inches of speaker wire from each amp to the back of each new speaker, so essentially the speakers were powered by the head unit using factory bose wiring but not bose amps.

To keep the factory head unit and add like an iPod for example, Im not sure if they make an adapter to make the CD Changer plug into an RCA Input, but if they do, use that (might try searching google for one or something). If not, you'd have to use an FM Modulator, so basically when you turn your radio to a certain station it will broadcast whatever is playing on the mp3 player.

either way, its gonna be a lot of work, cuz bose is pretty tricky

good luck, hit me up on AIM at kpr10is if u have any other questions

Kevin