Well, I've searched for hours on a solution for the installation I'm trying. I have a Garmin GVN 53 and Fahrenheit 7000 screen, and am installing the setup into a 2004 Touring model with the OEM Bose head unit (HU).

I've seen numerous posts discussing this issue, but all were using an after market HU.

I assume the Bose has a mute input, since this HU was offered in combination with the OEM NAV. Will the the mute wire and speaker inputs from the Garmin hook directly to the Bose HU? If so, is it plug and play?

 

I don’t think you can do this directly (hook the Garmin GVN53’s mute wire to the OEM Nissan Bose H/U) since the Nissan Bose H/U doesn’t support this. Devices manufactured in 2004 often lack mute connections.

I’ve done this using a PAC Audio Source Switcher (mutes radio when sending navigation voice commands to the front speakers) with Clarion and Eclipse H/U's, but have not tested this with a Bose H/U. Hopefully someone has done this with the OEM Bose setup and will post a solution.

--Spike

 

Thanks Spike. You mentioned that the OEM BOSE HU doesn't support what I want to do, i.e., hook up the mute wire from an aftermarket NAV blackbox.

How does the OEM BOSE HU get its muting signal from the OEM NAV? In my case, is it an issue of incompatible polarity of the muting signal?

 

The 2004 Z equipped with OEM navigation and OEM Bose CES uses a proprietary connection/solution to handle muting the H/U for voice navigation. As far as I know (and I could be wrong), this proprietary connection for muting is not compatible with the Garmin GVN 53’s muting hardware.

Additional details: Xanavi (a division of Clarion) is the OEM navigation device provider for Nissan. This is the navigation device Nissan connects to the OEM Bose system installed in your 2004 car.

To accomplish muting the H/U (OEM Bose in your case) with the Garmin GVN 53, you need to install an aftermarket device. The device is between the H/U (and your Garmin GVN 53) and your external amp.

--Spike

 

It seems like it should be compatible. The Garmin has voice L, voice R, and an audio mute (Blue) line to be connected with the HU. The audio mute is the same as the BOSE "NAV On" line, correct?

From the schematic, it appears the audio mute connection (NAV On) on the back of the BOSE (Pin 24) accepts a +6-volt signal from a relay in the OEM NAV unit.

THE Garmin has two settings for the mute line; high and low. I was thinking that the only question would be whether the voltage from the Garmin is compatible with the BOSE HU, right?

I called Garmin user support, and the engineers wouldn't divulge any specifics on the mute line level. They told me to call Kenwood......WTF!

 

^^ Must be a pretty good question... no one seems to have the answer.

I also searched and couldn't find anything definitive either.

--Spike