Hey,
i will be getting an alpine deck shortly (not sure on the model number but its like 499$ and plays dvds....anyway, im goin to replace the stock bose speakers eventually, however, im going to use them until i have the funds for some components. Well my question is is there a wireing harness that i can buy at best buy or whatever so i dont have to cut the factory wires. I no im going to have to run new speaker wire but do i have to tap into the ignition wire and powerlead, ect., or is there a harness i can buy. I hate bose. Makes things so difficult. Any input in needed! Oh and i have a 98....thanx

 

Best buy or any car audio place would have the car adapter so you don't have to splice wires. If you are really desperate, you can probably order one on Crutchfield.

 

really? i mean i just checked out bestbuy the other month and they had an adapter but still needed to splice

 

i think its a scosche wiring harness thingy

 

but if i just use the wiring harness, then arent the speakers going to my attached to the head unit using the stock wires? or so i just not connect them to the harness and do them seperately...

 

Metra P/N: 70-7551 no splicing needed.

 

ITS ABOUT TIME I ADDED THE FOLLOWING TO THE CAR AUDIO FAQ STICKY, SO I DONT HAVE TO KEEP COPYING AND PASTING IT FOR THOSE TOO LAZY TO READ THE THREADS HALF A PAGE BELOW THEM!!!

/rant Enjoy everyone, and to Don or any other regulars who see these threads all the time, you can now just direct people to read the last post of that sticky, as it has links and all.

Putting an aftermarket radio on stock bose speakers: This applies to any generation maxima, and #4 applies to 4th gen and up.

Your factory Bose head unit sends an unamplified audio signal to the Bose amps. So you want to replicate this as close as possible for the best sq, in theory. There are a few options:
1) You can wire it up as a normal head unit without any Bose adapters, and have a small risk of burning up the Bose amp(s).
2) You can buy the $50 PAC or Scosche adapter, such as the one here
4th gen and up: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7pnyu0E...51&I=142C4NN03
3rd gen: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7pnyu0E...51&I=142C4NN02
3) You can wire the deck's preouts to the wiring harness in the dash, which will send an unamplified signal to the Bose amps. You have front a rear preouts. Each of those has a left (white) and right (red). So youd plug in RCA ends to the front and rear preouts, leaving a few inches of wire for you to play with. For the front left RCA, there will be 2 single wires inside it. Wire those to white and white/black. The front right, wire those to gray and gray/black. Do the same for the rears, Rear left will be the green and green/black, and Rear right will be purple and purple/black.
4) You can buy the Metra 70-7551 (which is usually hard to find locally) which will already have all of Step #3 above done for you, so you can just plug stuff in.
http://www.metraonline.com/i/METRAHANDOUT_2005.pdf
Page 25 of 36 is a pic of the Metra 70-7551

If you need your radio installed asap, the most cost effective way is Step #3. But if you can find the 70-7551 harness, or have time to order it online, it will probably save you some headache. Those are the easiest, most cost effective methods of this installation.

Good luck.
-Kevin