without replacing all speakers and amps? I engaged in major argument while drinking This guy with loaded 99 SE said there's no way one can replace the BOSE HU w/o major $$. Is it true?

 

HAHA! Major money? WRONG... I replaced my Bose with a Sony deck and Rockford 6.5's in the rear and compoonent 6.5's in the front. I think that whole setup cost like $450 ($300 deck at Breast Buy, $100 components and $50 rears off ebay)... well the deck is gone now, see my thread on hiding my head unit...

Well $450 might be "major $$" for your buddy, but it's a couple day's work for me.

 

He asked about replacing only the HU, without replacing all of the speakers.

Yes, you can replace only the HU. You have to get a special wiring harness that adapts the aftermarket HU's signals to the Bose system's signals. I don't know how much the adaptor is (maybe $20 - $50).

 

Replaced my BOSE HU with a Clarion DXZ815 HU. You need an adaptor like others have said. You can get the $50 LOC adaptors which convert the speaker output of your new HU to the BOSE signal, or, get the PD-4 from www.linkmeup.com. It's kinda pricey, $180 with the appropriate harness. BUT, it is the only Bose adaptor which takes your new HU's Line out RCAs and BOSEifies the signal for the rest of your stock BOSE system. Much cleaner that way because you don't wind up amplifying the audio signal twice, therefore less distortion.

DW

 

basically all you gotta do is swap out the harness.....and u gotta wire the speakers a little differently......dwapenyi's response was accurate

 

No swapping of harnesses, just add a new one. No re-wiring of speakers at all. I never even touched my doors when I did my install. All I removed was the center console.

You need an extra harness to adapt the wires from your BOSE adaptor (in my case, the PD-4)to the Stock Nissan wiring harness. Just plug it in and go!

The wiring plan goes like this;

Clarion HU---->PD-4---->stock bose amp/speakers

The one part of connecting wires is when you connect your new HU to the PD-4, but the PD-4 is well labelled. No brainer.

DW