So, Best Buy Said It Can't Be Done
 

I asked about takin' the head unit out and keepin' the factory speakers and they guy at Best Buy said it could not be done. I asked why; his response:

The Bose factory speakers are pulling 1/2 ohm and a new head unit is uncompatable.

So, is this right? Am I screwed on using the head unit and existing Bose speakers?

Damn...:icon22:

You're talking about replacing the H/U right?

never believe anything best buy or circuit city installers say, at least not in fredericksburg, va. those guys don't know the first thing about audio equipment, they can just crimp the wires.

take it to a custom shop and pay the money, or learn how to do it yourself so it is done right. don't trust those guys, they hire anybody.

i found this link while exiled on the other site during the DNS trouble :)

http://www.pac-audio.com/oem1kits/ro...or+ROEM-1+kits

it should allow you to keep your bose speaker and replace the headunit

Bose tends to be incompatiable with almost everything....

I would buy new speakers anyways.

it can be done. i had it done in my old Z32 but, honestly, for the extra labor they would charge you, you might use the money instead to buy some decent components.

it can be done...what perhaps they may not realize is that while the bose spearkae are like 2ohm or osmething, if you keep the bose amp in the picture, then its the bose amp that seems this impedance.

so you basically have to wire it up so the bose amp is still running the speakres. you will, however, run into the issue of more background noise, more hiss, etc etc...and may infact, sound worse than stock...

but overall, yes you can do it and it will work...

b

What I'm trying to understand is why you would want to send a high-quality signal to speakers that are not designed to reproduce it well?

Save money until you can at least afford budget speakers. Even without an amp, they will sound A LOT better than stock.

You can just wire it up to the regular harness, the only disadvantage is that since it's going to have a higher output with the aftermarket head unit, you'll notice that the volume increase will not be a smooth. jump from 1 to 2 on most head units will be more like a 1/8th turn on the factory radio and you won't be able to turn the volume all the way up on the new unit. Just make sure when you wire it up, you use the remote turn on lead... otherwise no sound. I think that with most aftermaket radios you will find that you have a much better sound than the factory head, esp if it has any kind of built in eq.

Well, crap...

Okay, can I do this:

Add an Infinity Basslink to the factory system? Or, is this impossible, too, with the factory Bose H/U?

its bestbuy employees.. what u expect?

If you are dumb enough to go to Best Buy to have anything installed then you are dumb enough to believe that.

yedah you can add a basslink when you hav an aftermarket headunit...

where are you in SC? arent there any good shops you can take your car to? you should read some of the best buy horror stories posted on here

b

Why would you want to use the Bose speakers? They are awful, tiny magnet, paper cone, made in Mexico pieces of crap, as is the rest of the system. Bose has to spend a lot of money on advertising to try and convince the world that their stuff is somehow better because they reinvented the wheel. Even their home theater systems don't compare well with budget high-end stuff from PSB or B&W. (Best Buy does not sell Hi-Fi.) And the 6CD change will stop working when it gets cold outside.

I know Bose isn't all that great, but for now, and on my budget, I need to keep it simple.

I'm going to use the stock Bose H/U, get a Sirius FM modulator, and add the Infinity Baselink. This way, I'll have a little more punch than the stock sub puts out (which is not much).

WHY BEST BUY? Because I have $475 in gift cards and I really don't need anything else from there...

but is best buy worth the hack job you might get and the stuff you may have to fix later?

just buy a HU and then take it elsewhere to get installed :)

I used to work at Best Buy and even then the installers told me not to get stuff installed there....hence i only trusted one of the guys........i will never go there (or any retail chain) for any audio/video work on my cars.....

hey i work for circuit city as an installer and we know what we are doing here. i dont know why best buy said that but bestbuy is the only audio shop around here that crimps there wires and still screw their installs up. we sodder and tape up our installs so it looks clean and factory and no problems occur. also bestbuy has a problem with warrantying there installs. i haave had so many installs come to me from bestbuy cause they messed up their installs.

"WHY BEST BUY? Because I have $475 in gift cards and I really don't need anything else from there..."

How about a shiny new big screen for the big game!!!! :D

+1 thats exactly what i was thinking.