I am looking to install a pioneer cd player and an eq into my factory bose location. I have heard that aftermarket equipment doesnt interface well with the factory bose stuff. I have also heard that it is very costly because you have to do some other wiring things to bypass the bose amps or something like that. Anyone who has upgraded from bose, what was involved. Was there anything special that had to be done or could you just drop a new HU in and go. I am also looking to add a changer in the back flip down compartment as well as upgrade to Infinity 63.5i 6.5's. Are there any problems that may occur with the wiring while doing this. Has anyone heard the Infinity 63.5i speakers. How do they sound??? Thanks

 

Sorry this reply is a tad late but it's better than nothing.

If you are not using an amp, I'm pretty sure you can just drop in a new HU and speakers.

As for the 63.5i's, I hear they are pretty crisp and clear. A lot of people have to turn down the treb cuz the highs were hurting their ears. The same goes for the 62.5i's, which I'm getting. I hear the 3rd super tweeter is basically marketing junk to get you to pay more $. And the 63.5i's do not have movable tweeters. I'd like to be able to have a lil imaging capability.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck with your upgrades!

 

thanks oaktown

 

how could that be? i thought the bose interface plug doesnt fit in aftermarket HUs.... or does it?

 

i thought you had to buy some device for it all to work. am interested in this myself but am waiting for definite info...

 

Remember that the Bose system has an amp stuck in there somewhere. Some speakers run via that amp, and some run via the head unit's built-in amp. I don't know which ones run off of what, though.

If you stick in an aftermarket headunit and put in aftermarket speakers, I'd recommend you bypass that factory amp and run the speakers straight off of the aftermarket head unit. That means you'll have to run wire from the head unit to the speakers. Pain in the rear, but you should get much better sound.

Ideally, of course, you'd get an aftermarket amp, too. Then you could just run line-level connections from the head unit to the amp, then run speaker-level connections from the amp to the aftermarket speakers. A lot of install work, but much better results.

 

go to best buy or audio express- take a look at the systems, then let the guys in the back swap it in for you (cost is $1 out here in AZ). They will make sure it works. Actually, replacing the Bose stuff can be done with a cheap crystal radio- about the same performance (a bit of humor, but not far from the mark...)
Good luck

 

Yes. Sorry. My "pretty sure you can just drop in a new HU and speakers" meant that you figure out the wiring from the new HU to your new speakers.

I've heard "rumors" that the external amp drives only the sub. Can anyone confirm that?

 

Thanx for the useful info. I have ordered my Infinity speakers for the rear and the Infinity components for the front. Now my next question is about the harnesses behind the stereo. There will be the harness that connects from the aftermarket HU to the factory wiring harness. I am assuming that I just tap into the harness that connects the HU to the vehicle's wiring harness in order to run wire to the Infinity speakers. With this, I could just pull the pins out of the harness that connects the HU to the factory wiring, since I will not be utilizing the factory speaker wire. I am also assuming that I can still use the factory harness for my ground, battery and turn on leads, etc. How does the sub wire into the system? Any feedback on my assumptions would be greatly appreciated.

 

You got it. The ground, power, and such will be covered by the harness. Just don't connect the speaker leads when wiring your aftermarket harness to the head unit. That way you don't have to worry about pulling any pins out of the harness. If you are amping your speakers from the head unit, you can then take those unused speaker leads, connect them to some speaker wires, and manually run those speaker wires to all your speakers. Pain in the rear, but it will totally bypass all the factory speaker wiring and any potential Bose weirdness.

As far as the sub, I'm assuming you are using an aftermarket sub and amp? If so, your aftermarket headunit should have a subwoofer line-out. You would simply run an RCA cable from that to your sub amp.

If you are planning to use the stock Bose sub, though, it will be a bit more complicated. In the Bose systems I've dealt with, the sub input is usually coming from the rear speaker-level outs in the headunit. As a test, you can fade your head unit to the front, and the sub will fade out along with the rear speakers. (You might want to test that, as I don't know how they do it in the Z.) If this is the case, and if your plan is to use the Bose sub, you'll need to actually connect the rear speaker leads in your wiring harness in the aftermarket head unit. Keep in mind you'll still want to run your own wiring from the head to the rear speakers, though, to bypass any Bose weirdness that might be in the middle somewhere. (This means you'll need to splice your custom speaker wires into the leads coming out of the head unit.)

You can see how it's a pain to deal with the Bose systems, and why people usually just bypass the whole thing.