Bose Amp Integration Harness Question

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-26-2009, 03:17 PM

Back in November, 2003 I went to a local audio shop in KC to buy a new headunit for my 96 Maxima. I purchased the Alpine CDA-9811, and also paid for all necessary equipment to make it work with the factory bose speakers/amp and antenna. Everything worked great, and still does.

The 96 is still in the family, but my dad is planning on trading it in on a new car here soon. The car is not worth much and I am considering putting the 96 head-unit back in, as the Alpine still works. My question to all of you audio guys: If I put the stock unit back in, would all of the adapters from my 96 be able to be used in my 01 or my brother's 03 if either of us decided to replace our stock headunits? I won't necessarily re-use the alpine head-unit itself, but if all of the adapter equipment would still work, I don't see any point in giving it away when my dad trades the car in.

I hope this is easy to understand. Thanks.

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-27-2009, 05:29 AM

Anyone?

talisman311 · 10-27-2009, 03:58 PM

As long as nothing was hard-wired, it should be fine. Most Nissan's 96 and up use the same harness until the early 2000s.. Then the Premium system started to get alittle funky. Ahh memories.. I did installs for 4.5 years when Circuit City was still around. If you want, take some pictures of the harness behind the radio. I'm about 95% sure the installer didn't use an actual line-output-convert (LOC) to your Bose amps. You'd know as they're usually north of $50 for the LOC.

*djfrestyl* · 10-28-2009, 11:29 AM

The theories behind the wiring between the generations are the same. It all depends how the shop installed the old one - however they did, if you replicated it to the new car, it will work.

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-28-2009, 11:45 AM

This is exactly the information I was wanting to hear. I'll have to take it apart Friday night while I'm changing my oil. Hopefully I'll have some good luck! Thanks!

*djfrestyl* · 10-28-2009, 01:55 PM

No problem, good luck.

FYI, the wire colors may not be the same between generations.

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-28-2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djfrestyl

No problem, good luck.

FYI, the wire colors may not be the same between generations.

Does the FSM have the wire colors? Is that the best place to look?

*djfrestyl* · 10-28-2009, 09:16 PM

It should. I doubt you have access to installer databases so yea the FSM would be best.

Though a LOT of wire colors (especially for audio) have been posted in this forum. Look around.

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-29-2009, 05:24 PM

I was doing some thinking today. A few years ago I bought this: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500KCA1...&ssi=0&tp=1672 so that I could connect my ipod to the alpine stereo. Before I bought it, I remember taking the dash apart to look at the back of the stereo. From what I can remember, there were at least 4 RCA outputs, but there wasn't anything plugged in. I tried plugging in my 1/8" RCA y-cable for my ipod into one of these (complete car audio noob back then, didn't know that that wouldn't work), and it obviously didn't work. Then I ordered the adapter linked above, and all was fine. Now to the point: since the 70-7551 utilizes the RCA outputs on aftermarket stereos, and the RCAs on that alpine 'could' be unused, this leads me to believe that it is hooked up some other way. Am I out of luck? Should I just wait until I take apart the 96 to come to a conclusion? I just spent quite a while reading through the bose radio/speaker replacement thread, and it's all starting to make better sense now.

*djfrestyl* · 10-30-2009, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aemaxima01

Now to the point: since the 70-7551 utilizes the RCA outputs on aftermarket stereos, and the RCAs on that alpine 'could' be unused, this leads me to believe that it is hooked up some other way.

There are two ways to get signal out of your aftermarket HU.
1. High level amplified speaker signal - wire them directly to unpowered speakers. Format: Speaker wires
2. Pre-amp level unamplified RCA wires - wire them to an amp, then amp to speakers. Format: RCA plugs

The Bose HU uses speaker wires, but an unamplified signal. So what the 70-7551 does is takes the unamplified RCA wires from the aftermarket HU and converts the format to the speaker wires that the rest of the Bose system uses.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'could be unused.' If you're using the 70-7551, the 4 RCA plugs coming out of your Alpine WILL be used.

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-30-2009, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djfrestyl

There are two ways to get signal out of your aftermarket HU.
1. High level amplified speaker signal - wire them directly to unpowered speakers. Format: Speaker wires
2. Pre-amp level unamplified RCA wires - wire them to an amp, then amp to speakers. Format: RCA plugs

The Bose HU uses speaker wires, but an unamplified signal. So what the 70-7551 does is takes the unamplified RCA wires from the aftermarket HU and converts the format to the speaker wires that the rest of the Bose system uses.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'could be unused.' If you're using the 70-7551, the 4 RCA plugs coming out of your Alpine WILL be used.

What I'm trying to say is that best I can remember, there wasn't anything plugged into the RCA's when I took it apart last. I'll just wait and see and mess with it when I get home tonight I guess. I can get a more definite description then.

*djfrestyl* · 10-30-2009, 07:03 AM

Oh, gotcha. Then the only other alternative is that the speaker outs are connected.

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-30-2009, 08:58 PM

Well here's the verdict. I opened up the dash and as I had remembered, the RCA outputs are not being utilized. Everything runs through this Peripheral Interface Component. I took pictures, and I'm going to post them in order coming out of the alpine and going to the stock bose harness.

This is right out of the alpine, on it's way to the interface adapter, lots of splicing. What's this grey box? It's got the alpine logo on it.

Next is the Peripheral Interface Component

Here's some more splicing after the peripheral adapter.

And lastly the plugs to connect to the bose harness.

Now, I unplugged the alpine from the bose harness and plugged the stock bose headunit back in. First time didn't work; had power but no sound, great. I plug the alpine back in and turn it on, everything works fine. Then I took everything apart again, plugged the stock bose headunit back in, and voila! Sound, everything! So it looks like the bose is going back in and the alpine is coming out so my dad can sell the car.

Here's a pic of the alpine in the dash now:

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-30-2009, 11:15 PM

Got the bose all back in, everything is working. Only thing is the bose headunit is a little shoddy. The display doesn't turn on all the time and the cd player will not work at all. Get sound on AM/FM, so that's really all it needs. The max is getting traded in soon. I might have a few more questions in the morning about the alpine and splicing. I'll take better pictures, too. Thanks for the help so far.

*djfrestyl* · 10-31-2009, 12:11 PM

The grey box is the in-line fuse holder. The peripheral box looks like a LOC.

You took the LOC out with the Alpine, correct?

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-31-2009, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djfrestyl

The grey box is the in-line fuse holder. The peripheral box looks like a LOC.

You took the LOC out with the Alpine, correct?

Oh yes. Here's a picture of the whole line out of the car:

I was looking at the wiring diagrams out of the owners manual from Alpine, and it seems like all of the wiring out of the back of the 9811 is the same as some of the newer units (9886). So correct me if I'm wrong, but would this be plug-n-play compatible with a newer alpine unit in my 01 as long as the harness on the new alpine is the same?

*djfrestyl* · 10-31-2009, 03:15 PM

Yep, should be PnP with newer units. But I'd still double check when you receive the newer unit.

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-31-2009, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djfrestyl

Yep, should be PnP with newer units. But I'd still double check when you receive the newer unit.

Would there be any noticeable difference in sound quality being set up like this? If not, I'd be completely down with reusing everything I have. It would obviously be easier to just reuse the cabling that I already have. If I try and sell the 9811, could I sell it with the cabling that comes with the 9886, or would it be better to re-splice all of the new cabling from the 9886 with the one I currently have?

*djfrestyl* · 10-31-2009, 10:09 PM

Doesn't matter, sell the HU with the original parts that came with it. Doubt you'll get anything more for the LOC.

AEMAXIMA01 · 10-31-2009, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djfrestyl

Doesn't matter, sell the HU with the original parts that came with it. Doubt you'll get anything more for the LOC.

Well, I wasn't trying to get more out of it. I was just asking based on pure ease of installing a new alpine head-unit on my part, rather than having to re-splice. That's all.

*djfrestyl* · 11-01-2009, 10:59 AM

Yea, as long as the wires match just use what's already spliced. There's no difference in sound quality between one harness and the other.

AEMAXIMA01 · 11-02-2009, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djfrestyl

Yea, as long as the wires match just use what's already spliced. There's no difference in sound quality between one harness and the other.

That's what I figured. Thanks for all your input man. I appreciate it.