what is the deal with the stock bose systems

some stores are telling me you cant add an aftermarket amp or sub without replacing all the speaker amps, other stores are saying all you need is a converter....did anyone else go through this cr*p.

yeah its normal crap, shops hate bose for some reason.

You can use an adapter, but see the speakers run at low ohms not compatible with most amps so there is the main problem.

so you think i should replace all the speakers like the one store is telling me or use the converter, or does the converter screw up sound quality

The converter will allow you to run an aftermarket headunit.

As for the speakers and amp, Im not sure if they are 2ohm or 1ohm. 1ohm you pretty much need to go ahead and replace amp and speakers, 2ohm, you can add a good amp that will run 2ohm stereo.

Yea replace the bose setup and put in some MB Quart componets :D

Or better yet, DynAudio or save yourself some major dough and use CDTs :)

mb quarts all around. sound hella nice. hehehe, take it from me, if you got the money to spend on the Q series, go for it, if you're around audio equipment and stuff as much as i am, then yeah, you would definitely know the difference. love them in my car. =)

Audio pure personal preferece, I use MB Quart Qs in my Tahoe, and have since they were released, but there is much better in my opinion.
(my tahoe: http://members.sounddomain.com/hybriamp/ )

Some of my favorites:

Rainbow Reference (going to be use in G20)
MB Quart QSD
CDT HD and EuroSports
DynAudio System 3Ways

and a few others. Remember that what you have isn't always the best and is never the best to others. :)

Just a friendly note.

I'm running my amp and subs with my Bose head unit and works fine. Get the adapter and carry on.

Originally posted by Mrcoilover
I'm running my amp and subs with my Bose head unit and works fine. Get the adapter and carry on.

Same here, i got my own amp and sub with the stock system... sounds nice, but the sub is a bit too much for the bose tweeters... might have to ad some tweeters and mid ranges. More fun! hehe!

You all have any wiring color codes or anything like that? And what mounting Kit/Wiring harnesses did u use?

I say just get a whole new system since the stock system sux. (That is, if it's not going to burn a big hole in your pocket.;) :D )

F*&C that man i ghetto wired my "G" by connecting the amp getting installed in the roof of my trunk next to the stock amp, some wires are connected to the stock amp so it gets the input and then another wire going to the rear left speaker, and it sound phat, until i get enough money to rewire the whole car. But hey the amp turns on when i turn on the radio and i also control the bass thru there :smoker: im ghetto, not really

I just installed my amp and sub using the convertor today. I went to Best buy and bought an RF 8 gauge wiring kit (which included the main wire that goes from batter to the amp, a ground wire, and fuse) which was 40 bucks. Then I bought 3.3f RCA cables which were like $3.50. And finally the inline convertor which was $23 bucks. Dont buy the big wiring kits that are like $100 because they have long RCA cables which you dont need.

We wired the main wire from the battery, through the drivers side door, on the floor and to the back. I had to pull my backseats off so I could easily slide the wire into the trunk.

Then pull the connector that has like 20 wires from the back of the stock amp. Its a white connector. The wire that I used was a green wire with a silver line through it. Dont cut that wire, but just strip it of its insulator about 3/4". Then take another separate speaker wire, rap it around the uninsulated part, and then use some electrical tape around it. This is called the remote turn on wire, which will later go into the amp, and turns the amp on and off when the car turns on. After you have it connected, put the white connector back into the stock amp.

This is a long post, but bare with me, Im explaining on how to do a hard process. I would recommend printing this out and reading it carefully if installing it this way.

Then running from each of the 2 speakers in the back in the trunk, you will see 2 wires. The right speaker has an orange wire and a black wire. The left speaker has a green and black wire. Strip all these wires of its insulators about 1/2" or so. Attach to the each of 4 speaker wires (2 for left speaker, 2 for right speaker) a separate wire, which is about 3 feet long. You will need these to connect your inline converter soon.

Take out your inline converter, and look at it. Mine had 6 wires running from it. 2 brown (which you dont need, dont worry about it), 2 white (1 plain white and 1 white/black) and 2 gray (1 plain gray, 1 gray/black). Now make sure you dont get this mixed up....Attach the plain white wire to the black wire on right speaker (attach it to that extended wire that you ran). Attach the white/black wire to the orange wire on the right side. Attach the gray plain wire to the black wire on left side, and attach the gray/black wire to the green wire the left side.

Now your inline converter is plugged in, which is probbaly the hardest thing to do. Then just plug in the RCA cables from the inline convertor to the amp.

Attach the remote turn on wire that is coming from the stock amp connector, into your new amp (there should be a spot there). Then just connect your subs into your amp, and you are ready to bump.

Did I miss anything? Its been a hard day trying to install this, and Im just recalling everything I remember. Peace

I wouldn't recommend stripping your insulation as it can cause problems down the line.
What you want to do is buy little splice connectors that just barely splice through the insulation into the wire. Then you buy the connectors for those splice pieces and there you go! (I can't exactly remember what they are called, but if you go to Home Depot or somewhere similiar they should have them in the electrical section)
No messing w/ the stock wiring and you can easily go back to stock.
I did the above with stripping the insulation at first and it actually ended up causing a short and blowing my stock amp so be careful!

it would cause a short only if you have certain bare wires touching each other. If you cover up the wires with electrical tape, you should have no problem

It seems if you stripped the insulation like you stated, it would be very possible to short something out if you ever decided to go back to stock.
I'm not trying to argue, I'm just suggesting a cleaner way to do it.

My ghetto way is easier and cheaper

Originally posted by frogg
It seems if you stripped the insulation like you stated, it would be very possible to short something out if you ever decided to go back to stock.
I'm not trying to argue, I'm just suggesting a cleaner way to do it.

Ya it would be cleaner, but if I did decide to go to stock later, I could just insulate the wires again and it should be fine.

Another neat trick w/ electrical tape is (if you splice wires w/ electrical tape): after you splice the wires and tape 'em- use a lighter to melt the electrical tape-preventing it from unraveling.

I sorta "grew out" of having a dumper in my whip. I sold my JL's and amp when I got my G.

But I decided I wanted a little bump (somethin' low for stereo effect), so I bought a 10" Orion and built a bandpass enclosure. I also bought a small Kenwood w/ "speaker line in" connectors on it (so I don't need an adapter).
All I need know is... Which wire going into the stock amp is the remote wire? Koojo said green and silver in this post (I too have a 2000) but Koojo also said "It's a white connector"- mine is grey!

Anyone (Koojo) know where color codes are published for my bose amp???

Thanks

The connector might be gray, I dunno, I had a long day that day and I was writing the post after I finished it. But I definatly 100% remember that we sliced into the green wire with silver lines to get the remote turn on. If you dont believe me, you can buy one of those small test lights to check for yourself. But that's the wire (green/silver)

When looking at the back of the harness I'm pretty sure it's the top middle-right wire.
Hah, probably didn't help any :eek:

Kool! I thought maybe we had different setups (amp harness). Oh~ and I do have a voltage tester (good idea!) except mine is the kind that beeps :flash:

Peace!

Originally posted by hybridamp
Audio pure personal preferece, I use MB Quart Qs in my Tahoe, and have since they were released, but there is much better in my opinion.
(my tahoe: http://members.sounddomain.com/hybriamp/ )

Some of my favorites:

Rainbow Reference (going to be use in G20)
MB Quart QSD
CDT HD and EuroSports
DynAudio System 3Ways

and a few others. Remember that what you have isn't always the best and is never the best to others. :)

Just a friendly note.

Heh... I would take those Rainbows over the rest without a second thought. The Dyn's behind them. I wouldn't spent the $$ for the MB Q series though. Diamond Hex components sound (to me, of course!) far superior and cost less. MB's tweeters are... sharp? Harsh, even. I haven't heard the CDT's though. None of the local dealers demo them. (What a shame! I've heard awesome things about CDT.)

I love Diamond Audio. Thier stuff is such good quality. And the best part is not very many people have heard of them!!

I just installed my amp and sub using the convertor today. I went to Best buy and bought an RF 8 gauge wiring kit (which included the main wire that goes from batter to the amp, a ground wire, and fuse) which was 40 bucks. Then I bought 3.3f RCA cables which were like $3.50. And finally the inline convertor which was $23 bucks. Dont buy the big wiring kits that are like $100 because they have long RCA cables which you dont need.

We wired the main wire from the battery, through the drivers side door, on the floor and to the back. I had to pull my backseats off so I could easily slide the wire into the trunk.

Then pull the connector that has like 20 wires from the back of the stock amp. Its a white connector. The wire that I used was a green wire with a silver line through it. Dont cut that wire, but just strip it of its insulator about 3/4". Then take another separate speaker wire, rap it around the uninsulated part, and then use some electrical tape around it. This is called the remote turn on wire, which will later go into the amp, and turns the amp on and off when the car turns on. After you have it connected, put the white connector back into the stock amp.

This is a long post, but bare with me, Im explaining on how to do a hard process. I would recommend printing this out and reading it carefully if installing it this way.

Then running from each of the 2 speakers in the back in the trunk, you will see 2 wires. The right speaker has an orange wire and a black wire. The left speaker has a green and black wire. Strip all these wires of its insulators about 1/2" or so. Attach to the each of 4 speaker wires (2 for left speaker, 2 for right speaker) a separate wire, which is about 3 feet long. You will need these to connect your inline converter soon.

Take out your inline converter, and look at it. Mine had 6 wires running from it. 2 brown (which you dont need, dont worry about it), 2 white (1 plain white and 1 white/black) and 2 gray (1 plain gray, 1 gray/black). Now make sure you dont get this mixed up....Attach the plain white wire to the black wire on right speaker (attach it to that extended wire that you ran). Attach the white/black wire to the orange wire on the right side. Attach the gray plain wire to the black wire on left side, and attach the gray/black wire to the green wire the left side.

Now your inline converter is plugged in, which is probbaly the hardest thing to do. Then just plug in the RCA cables from the inline convertor to the amp.

Attach the remote turn on wire that is coming from the stock amp connector, into your new amp (there should be a spot there). Then just connect your subs into your amp, and you are ready to bump.

Did I miss anything? Its been a hard day trying to install this, and Im just recalling everything I remember. Peace

Hey dude,
My only question is were is the stock amp located at? In the trunk or in back of the stock stereo?