Make a line/aux in for your 2003 Bose headunit – step by step guide
#161
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I receive this email notification every so often when new people post comment on this post because of the post I made long time ago, recently I replace my stock head unit and wanted to comment in this topic
I did this mod many years ago, probably like 6 or 7 years ago. Recently I replaced the stock headunit because I wanted bluetooth streaming and phone calls and man what a difference in sound it makes. In the past I saw many people commenting bad things about stock headunit and how horrible they sound and etc, and I can honestly confirm that they were speaking the truth. I did not change the stock headunit because I did not want to make the stock steering wheel button etc non functional and have somewhat unmatching look in the dash, while I could still get reasonable sound from it by doing the mod, but if I knew it was this kind of difference in sound, I would've done it from day one.
Honest, I would recommend anyone whos thinking of doing this mod to just get a proper aftermarket headunit which has more features and etc.
I bought this Sony headunit which is nothing overly impressive, but it does bluetooth streaming, bluetooth phone calls, comes with its own microphone to catch voice and they work really well, and display colour can be adjusted to perfectly match the Z's dash lights (yellowish orange).
I did this mod many years ago, probably like 6 or 7 years ago. Recently I replaced the stock headunit because I wanted bluetooth streaming and phone calls and man what a difference in sound it makes. In the past I saw many people commenting bad things about stock headunit and how horrible they sound and etc, and I can honestly confirm that they were speaking the truth. I did not change the stock headunit because I did not want to make the stock steering wheel button etc non functional and have somewhat unmatching look in the dash, while I could still get reasonable sound from it by doing the mod, but if I knew it was this kind of difference in sound, I would've done it from day one.
Honest, I would recommend anyone whos thinking of doing this mod to just get a proper aftermarket headunit which has more features and etc.
I bought this Sony headunit which is nothing overly impressive, but it does bluetooth streaming, bluetooth phone calls, comes with its own microphone to catch voice and they work really well, and display colour can be adjusted to perfectly match the Z's dash lights (yellowish orange).
#162
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Well, I just bought a 2003 350z Performance model (only 36,000 km / 22,000 miles!!) over the past weekend, and found this thread quite helpful. It'll tide me over until I decide on what kind of equipment to buy.
On a related note, the cassette adapter I bought kept triggering the auto-reverse function every time I hit a bump for some reason. This adapter had a head in it that would feed both directions of the head in the deck, but it gapped out for a second or so when it switched. Pretty annoying. Anyway, I took all the gears out of the cassette adapter and the deck didn't complain about it. So it isn't expecting both reels to be moving, or at least mine didn't care at all.
Day off tomorrow. Where's my soldering iron?
On a related note, the cassette adapter I bought kept triggering the auto-reverse function every time I hit a bump for some reason. This adapter had a head in it that would feed both directions of the head in the deck, but it gapped out for a second or so when it switched. Pretty annoying. Anyway, I took all the gears out of the cassette adapter and the deck didn't complain about it. So it isn't expecting both reels to be moving, or at least mine didn't care at all.
Day off tomorrow. Where's my soldering iron?
#163
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5. Find the correct PCB traces and break them.
If you cassette unit looks like mine the back will look like this. The part sticking up (with 97-794-Y00 written on it) is the connector that plugs into the main PCB.
This picture shows how helpfully the PCB identifies what trace carries what signal. We need to break the traces for the Left (L-CH) and Right Channels (R-CH) plus the Audio ground (A-GND) upstream of the solder blobs (we will use those blobs to attach a cable to). You can break the traces by just scraping through them with the tip of a knife or some other sharp object (a jewellers screwdriver is ideal). You can see where I’ve done this in this closeup (note that I was a bit careless and let the knife slip a little).
If you cassette unit looks like mine the back will look like this. The part sticking up (with 97-794-Y00 written on it) is the connector that plugs into the main PCB.
This picture shows how helpfully the PCB identifies what trace carries what signal. We need to break the traces for the Left (L-CH) and Right Channels (R-CH) plus the Audio ground (A-GND) upstream of the solder blobs (we will use those blobs to attach a cable to). You can break the traces by just scraping through them with the tip of a knife or some other sharp object (a jewellers screwdriver is ideal). You can see where I’ve done this in this closeup (note that I was a bit careless and let the knife slip a little).
Im in the process of doing this mod. I have an 08 model, and im from Australia.
All the images in this thread are coming up as broken, so i dont have much to go off.
Are you able to possibly email me some images of the PCB?
#166
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Here's some I took when I did mine a few weeks ago on the 2003 I just got recently.
Here you can see where I cut the traces, just below the black 2 printed in that rectangle. (Click for hi-res version.)
And these are the two parts I removed in order to trick the deck into thinking there is always a tape inserted.
And finally, where I soldered my wires to the board. edit: By the way, the reason I have the left/right wires reversed, for you eagle-eyed people who saw this, is because I just used an old cable I had lying around that came from the manufacturer with the left/right wires hooked up backwards in the jack. Red is normally the right channel, and white is normally the left channel, and that's the only reason I have them soldered "incorrectly."
Here you can see where I cut the traces, just below the black 2 printed in that rectangle. (Click for hi-res version.)
And these are the two parts I removed in order to trick the deck into thinking there is always a tape inserted.
And finally, where I soldered my wires to the board. edit: By the way, the reason I have the left/right wires reversed, for you eagle-eyed people who saw this, is because I just used an old cable I had lying around that came from the manufacturer with the left/right wires hooked up backwards in the jack. Red is normally the right channel, and white is normally the left channel, and that's the only reason I have them soldered "incorrectly."
Last edited by _Shorty; 05-14-2014 at 07:26 PM.
#167
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#169
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Yes. Just take it apart. Things are clearly labeled on the circuit board.
R-CH = Right Channel
L-CH = Left Channel
A-GND = Ground (I imagine 'audio ground'.)
R-CH = Right Channel
L-CH = Left Channel
A-GND = Ground (I imagine 'audio ground'.)
Last edited by _Shorty; 04-06-2014 at 02:05 PM.
#172
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Instead of bumping, perhaps take your stereo out and have a look at the circuit board and see if it is the same or not. If it is, then you already have it out. If it's not, oh well, you got the experience of taking it out and putting it back in.
#173
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#175
Success from Switzerland
Hello from Geneva and mid-2017!
This thread is still valid after almost half a century ;-)
I did this mod and I have to say that it was easy!
Sound quality is best I have heard from my Bose! Same quality as good CDs.
I really recommend it.
For info I own a 350Z 2005 pack model and I wish I had done the mod earlier.
Good luck to all!
This thread is still valid after almost half a century ;-)
I did this mod and I have to say that it was easy!
Sound quality is best I have heard from my Bose! Same quality as good CDs.
I really recommend it.
For info I own a 350Z 2005 pack model and I wish I had done the mod earlier.
Good luck to all!
#177
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