Hey everyone,
I just recently purchased a pioneer p3100 for $250 brand new. And i had a question on anyone who install this model or a 4200.
Did anyone have to do any re-wiring because of the bose audio system? Or did anyone just installed the radio without rewiring the bose system? And do you have to bypass or change the amp. because i heard the bose system can mess up the headunit because of the power it throws out.
Any help needed is greatly appreciated. I figured i would ask here because i seen a few threads on both models but, i just need to know about the bose system part.

Thanks!

 

You're almost certainly going to have to rewire around the Bose "amplifiers".

They Bose amplifiers are designed to take a line level signal and create a speaker level signal. I would estimate that the "amplifiers" are good for 5 to 8 watts a channel. That's five to eight ... not fifty to eighty!

Any decent headend is going to have a good 12-15 watts of power, likely cleaner than the Bose. Bose is also known to distort their sound to compensate for both the acoustics of the cabin ... and the poor quality of their speakers.

I haven't posted these in awhile ... long time forum readers have seen these dozens of times. Below in the insides of the four channel power amplifier and if you don't have your EE degree let me help you - this thing is missing any kind of discrete power transistors or even an integrated power amp circuit better than a handful of watts.



Here's the "powerful" subwoofer amplifier ... that tiny box the size of a pack of cigarettes next to the mid-size/mid-quality Infinity amplifier.



And not to kick a company when they're down ... here's the subwoofer speaker ... the magnet is not sitting between the Bose and the Infinity speaker ... that's the second tuning coil for the Infinity VQ subwoofer.

 

Thank you for taking time for the write up for me.
question if i went ahead and installed without "bypassing" the bose what can help?
blown speakers? blown headunit?
thanks

 

You could run the RCA connector's line-level outputs into the wires that the stock headend used to feed the Bose amplifiers. I don't know of anyone who's done this but done right it shouldn't hurt your headend. Line level outputs are high impedance and put out tiny amounts of current. There are speaker level to line level adapters to interface your aftermarket headend to your stock speaker system. Crutchfield sells these and if you wander over there and run through the "what fits" wizard it will give you the part number.

The Bose headend is likely the best thing in the whole system. The amplifiers and speakers are garbage IMHO. Wait, the antenna is pretty good (make sure you connect power to the tiny RF amplifier in the trunk under the antenna else your aftermarket stereo isn't going to have good reception).

PS: Don't cut the RCA connectors off of your headend if you try that experiment - get some $1 store RCA plugs and cut them. I also recommend getting a wiring harness adapter from Crutchfield as well so you're not cutting the factory wires either.