Avic D3 Install into 03 with BOSE (no nav)
 

So I bought a Pioneer Avic D3 for my 03 350z with Bose. There seems to be no real thread related to putting a D3 into a Bose equipped car. This thread has some info: https://my350z.com/forum/audio-video...all-guide.html but the wiring is for a non Bose car until page 8 with some info.

I decided with everybody asking questions in that thread that I would make a thread related specifically to the Bose part of the install. Since taking apart the dash etc is covered in that thread I will not duplicate the information here.

I bought the following:
Avic D3 (obviously)
Metra 99-7704 Install Kit 03-05 350Z ONLY (99-7602 for 06+)
PAC ROEM-NIS2

The metra kit gives you the double din surround which you need to cut the center bar out of and smooth out with a dremel which is no big deal. The spacers are also needed to install the D3 into the stock brackets. The rest of the kit is garbage.

The difference between a BOSE and non bose equipped car is all in the wiring. There are two way to wire it up. There is a metra harness thats cheaper than the PAC ROEM-NIS2 but it doesn't allow to control of the line level to the BOSE amp. You basically take what you get and some have reported that their volume isn't very high or they had other weird noises.

I choose to buy the ROEM-NIS2 from PAC as I wanted to make sure I had lots of volume and wasn't annoyed by little noises some people have reported. The ROEM-NIS2 has exactly the same wire color as the D3 does so you just match them up. Really it's that simple. No need to splice the amp and antenna together or put grounds into screws above the stereo etc.. All the wires needed are in the harness including ground. Once you solder up the harness (see pic below) it's a plug and play install.

There were 4 left over wires on the PAC ROEM-NIS2 that are not used. It allows for low and high level inputs. Low level inputs are 25W and less and high level inputs are 25W and over. The D3 is 50W X 4 so obviously we use the high level inputs and just leave the low level ones.

I went the extra step and did the bypass so I can play DVD and program the NAV while in motion (easy to do) seen here: http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4670

The only extra step was hooking up the Pink wire from the D3 to the VSS wire which is also covered in the other guide. Its the white wire in middle plug that goes into the AC box. It's just a splice into the wire deal and the D3 comes with extra pink wire and one of those handy dandy things to splice easily into wires. Everybody says it helps a lot with the D3 NAV accuracy.

Anyway if you are planning on a D3 into your BOSE 350z the ROEM-NIS2 makes it a snap. You do all the wiring on a bench and just plug it in and it works perfectly. Antenna is powered, amp is turned on, lots of volume etc.. Simple really.

Feel free to ask any questions.

would you buy the metra wiring kit if you had planned on running a aftermarket amp and sub off of the hu?

or still buy the PAC?

pm me please

Does the Bose Sub still work when using the PAC adaptor? The unit has FR/FL/RR/RL markings on the box right? Can someone explain how the sub still functions with an aftermarket headunit?

Absolutely the PAC will allow the BOSE system to run normally just as it does in our car now, its really just that simple. You could just unhook the BOSE sub and allow the rest of the system to run normally. (I believe that is possible)

Then use the RCA outs on the D3 to power an aftermarket sub amp setup. In reality you could leave the BOSE sub running as well off the deck normally and just turn the bass down on the D3 so it's not running very hard and filling in some midd bass, then use an RCA to run a 12 or 15" sub for some super big deep bass.

If you were planning on running an AMP for ALL speakers in the car and replacing everything then obviously you wouldn't need it.

Attached is the wiring and instruction for the PAC it should clear up some questions.

The wiring that goes into the BOSE speaker system is only FR/FL/RR/RL. How exactly the system works I don't know entirely but I do know that the subwoofer takes its signal from those inputs and obviously has a low pass filter somewhere that runs it. I would suspect that there is one central amplifier for the whole system. The OEM deck in the car is not powered and supplies only low level signal to the amplifer. So with those 4 channels into the BOSE amp it makes up the for channels like normal plus uses signal from each L & R to run the sub.

I remember when my OEM head unit would lose the drivers side speakers the bose sub would lose half its power, so it is definitely driven off the signal from the FR/FL/RR/RL inputs.

Its MAGIC!:thumbup:

Ohh one more tidbit. The BOSE sub and speakers are way more powerful with my new aftermarket setup now. The bass is soo strong its shaking the mirrors in the car and really pounds the back of the seat. I have so much volume now over the stock stereo its great. Much stronger and clearer than before. I have the PAC adapter turned down pretty low as well. So not only does it work, but it REALLY works.

Somebody in the other thread said "I just can't emphasize enough how much of a piece of crap the OEM head unit is".... Damn isn't that the truth.

it looks hot jim enjoy her sorry abou the packaging i get carried away!

The packing was awesome bsomthin, thanks!

If you want to add a custom background to your D3 here are the instructions:

1)Make a directory called "Pictures" on your computer
2)Format your .jpg files to 500x240 making sure to save them NON PROGRESSIVE. (most graphics programs give you this option when you are saving, Photoshop and Corel both do)
3)Write a DATA CD using Nero or other software and write your Pictures directory onto the CD so all your pictures you want are in the Pictures directory off the root.
4)Insert the disc into your D3.
5)From the Nav Menu Touch: Settings > System Options > Background Picture Setting
6)You can have different pictures for all three screens. Splash (opening screen) Navigation Background and AV Background. Pick which one you would like to change
7)Import from CD
8)Center

You're done!

Any questions on any of the above, post it here.

Thanks for all the answers Jim, very helpful.

Also, does anyone know where you can buy a AVIC-D3 that actually ships internationally? They have dried up on ebay and the remaining dealers wont ship outside the USA :(

What did you do with the reverse gear signal, mute lead and parking brake lead (light green, yellow and black and light purple wires). I can't tell from the pic. Did you just ground them the parking brake and mute leads to the main ground?

Hard to remember now to be honest. I do remember when I was wiring up the PAC to the Avic that every wire had its corrosponding color on the harness so nothing was left over.

I don't remember anything for a reverse gear signal, mute lead and parking brake lead on the AVIC. Are those wires that are on the factory side of the harness? The pac plugs directly into the factory harness so I didn't touch the wiring on that side at all. It's completely plug and play.

Nope, those are on the Pioneer side of the harness. There is no corresponding wire on the PAC for those. As it turns out the AVIC that I purchased is dead -- so I could not test my connections. One other thing -- did you have to plug the AC box back in for the unit to power up? I like to test things before I put everything back together. I just wanted to make sure that I am not doing something wrong -- also, there are two left over plugs on the factory side, correct?

Hmm.... I don't remember to be honest. Maybe I didn't hook those up? I did hook up the VSS wire but don't remember any of those other ones. Did you look at the wiring to defeat the DVD in video part? Wonder if thats what those wires were for and I forgot...

I was just trying to find the wiring for that on Avic411.com but it's down right now.

I did -- that one was easy. I pieced together some info from other threads, I think you just need to ground those other wires. I was hoping you might remember. Any info you have would be great.

how do the stock bose speakers sound now with the new headunit in? is the quality of sound better at all? i'm interested too! question.... lets say i want to put in a d3 and new front component speakers in.... i don't want to replace all the wiring from the speakers because i'm going to keep the regular rear speakers and the bose sub. just replace the fronts with something better. do you think i should get the PAC ROEM that you have and just do the same wiring process for the headunit, and then simply remove the bose door speakers and install my Alpine ones using the existing wiring? would it work?

I've had my D3 for well over a year now which replaced my stock BLOSE unit.

I've noticed that the D3 actually improves the stock speakers, you just need to tune
the eq correctly.

The stock Bose speakers rock. The Bose stuff honestly really is as good as Bose claims, problem is the stock head unit is so crappy that it really doesn't let the Bose stuff shine. With the new headunit the sub pounds so much it shakes my mirrors in the car and the midrange and treble from the speakers is so much improved it sounds as though I did replace all the speakers in the car. It was a 100% improvement over the original setup. I'm not that into loud bass (not like I used to be anyway) so after hearing the bose setup on the new deck, I was impressed enough to not bother changing any of those speakers out.

Jim, I've been on the fence for a while between the D3 and a few other in-dash units and your post helped me decide on the D3. I've heard good things about the D3 in general, but I like how straight forward and clean this install looks and the fact that it makes the bose speakers work to their potential.

I just bought a D3X kit (comes with the D3, bluetooth adapter and ipod adapter) from crutchfield and they included a wiring harness and mounting kit for free that they claim will be compatible with my 04 bose (no nav). Is it worth the extra money to buy the PAC ROEM-NIS2 and metra kit you mentioned or do you think I should be fine with these? I'd like to avoid the "weird noises" you mentioned that other people have reported and I wanted to make sure the sound from the bose speakers would still be improved. Also, I don't know if the mounting kit they provide will look clean in my dash. Any advice would be appreciated.

Here are the links for the free kits they included:

Wiring Harness:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1207075...s.html?tp=2977

Mounting Kit:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1209974...t.html?tp=3121