About 6 months ago, I installed a Pioneer Head Unit using a Bose Conversion kit. I wired the harness so that I may use the Factory Bose speakers which seems to work like a champ since day one. I ran the front speakers and rear speakers via RCA. Picture below



Ever since the install I get a popping sound coming from the speakers when I am dialing in a new radio station, or changing tracks on a CD/MP3. My question is, is that normal or is there some wiring problems that I ran across.

Secondly, in order to operate the radio of course you need an antenna wired into it. So I went a purchase a antenna converter from Bestbuy and plugged it in. Weather it be listening to the radio or playing a CD, the antenna is ALWAYS up. Switching from CD to radio has the antenna go up and down which puts A LOT of wear on my antenna which now needs replacing.

My question is if the antenna should even be going up for CD use?

 

i think the antenna is up whenever the hu is powered on... thats the reason i didnt even hook the antenna up to my hu (plus I saved like $10 on not buying an adapter)

 

While I've seen that happen from time to time, most of the time it's because of one of three things:

1) Poor Ground
2) Speaker wire pinched
3) Problem with HU pre-amp

Unfortunately for you, that's a feature/limitation of the HU. Each aftermarket HU is different in their design on when to roll the antenna up and down. Typically, it's the same for the manufacturer's entire line, with the exception of their upper-end products, which may differ from the normal product line.

 

the popping happens because the bose amps are temporarily shut down during the station change as they have a hard turn on that comes when the signal is emitted from the head unit. it always happens with bose amplified stock speakers used with aftermarket headunits. as far as the antenna, u can run a switch for that, i did, its installed in the din pocket that i used for install so i only need to turn the switch on when im listening to the radio, and the antenna stays down when i have the cd player or cd changer playing

 

If what nismos14 said is true (which I haven't tested to verify it), you could use the PAC kit to convert the signals. The PAC kit does not remove power from the amp while the aftermarket radio is on. Read the Audio Forum's FAQ for more info on the PAC kit (read the Bose post by me).

 

i installed mine without the convertor and luckily my alpine HU does no keep the antenna up while playing cd's; only when i used the radio.

 

Thanks guys,

I am leaning towards the Bose Factory amps causing the popping while changing stations. Reason I say that is because I installed a Pioneer HU in a non-bose equipped car and the popping does not occur.

Is the converter I am currently using(in picture) the PAC kit? Also, I am going to see if I can try what nismo suggested about using a switch for the antenna.

 

no thats not a PAC, thats just a regular adapter. I bypassed all my bose amps and i still get popping. The popping i get is when the radio is at a real high volume, so i watched the bose speaker move and my conclusion is that when i blast the aftermarket, it makes the bose speaker travel too far from the magnet which causes it to pop. Im not a car stereo genius but thats just want it looks like. I havent had the bose in my car since its first year of existance, just did that to check and thats what i got. If i were u, id get a 4channel amp and power the bose speakers without their amps, it should be much better, when u get more money, then lose the Bose completely and buy some components.

 

You could be right Certified about the speakers moving too far away from the magnet causing the popping sound. I have considered some 4-way pioneer replacements for the interior powered by a (small) amp.

 

you wouldnt even really need an amp for the pioneers if u decided to get them, they'd play real clean and loud with just the HU's power or u could get the amp lol

 

How much cleaner could they really get with an amp? Each step I take with this audio stuff is like something totally new, but seems to be pretty simple.

 

depends what speakers you get. The main advantage is that you get cleaner louder sound with less distortion out of an amp than you would get from the head unit.

 

I'm not 100% sure what you guys are talking about when you say that you are bypassing the Bose amp, but I want to make sure that you aren't hooking up your aftermarket HU directly to the Bose speakers.

The Bose speakers are only 1 ohm. If you hook up your HU directly to those speakers, and the HU is used to seeing 4 ohms at each speaker, the power is flowing too fast through the speaker. When done over a period of time, you can caused damage to the speaker, the HU, or both.

That's the main reason you should use the PAC kit when keeping part of your Bose system. The PAC kit adjusts the voltages and resistances correctly so that no problems arise from the change-out of audio parts.

The PAC kit is only $60, which in the audio world is expensive, for what most people call a line-level convertor. There are cheaper kits out there, but they are not designed in the same manner as the PAC kit. Since I have replaced every part of my Bose system, but did it at different times, I've had my car in many different configurations using many different kits. It's only when you compare the kits side-by-side do you notice the difference.

Just my $0.02 worth again.

 

studman's right, i was gonna post basically the same thing but he summed it up superbly

 

I havent bypassed my Bose amps, they are still running at their standard 1ohm rating. I ran the bose speakers off the low level RCA lines. At the next meet, maybe I can give you a little demo of what it sounds like running with this setup.

When I decide to replace them, I will most likely try powering them by the HU alone and if my preference calls for more I will run a seperate amp for them.

 

i had a mustang in which i replaced they headunit and got the same issue. It had a headunit which ran through amps to the speakers just like the bose. t hey said it was a relay or something they could install to stop the pop. The headunit turns off and the amp still creates empty power for a second then pops.

 

"as far as the antenna, u can run a switch for that, i did, its installed in the din pocket that i used for install so i only need to turn the switch on when im listening to the radio, and the antenna stays down when i have the cd player or cd changer playing "

Does the wear on the antenna, cause it to break down that quickly? and how was the installation of the switch for it?

 

no it just looks ugly when ur drivin with the antenna up all the time, and it was simple add a switch and two 6 inch wire extensions to the antenna wire on the harness and put the switch wherever you like.

 

why not wire the antenna to the amp turn on signal from the aftermarket hu?