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You should ALWAYS bypass the Bose amp....here's why

327K views 721 replies 251 participants last post by  Cstout 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
A while ago, I posted that I was getting some serious static/noise from my JVC KDSH909. The problem was the Bose amp.

I had just hooked it up with the wiring harness and although the sound quality was better, there was noise. I bypassed the amp this weekend by just putting a jumper wire between the correct wires down at the amp's connector. The noise problem has completely gone away. I highly recommend bypassing the Bose amp. :thumbs up:
 
#407 ·
sweet so dont have to bypass and today we did that in my buddys GTP so i kinda see how it works now thanks
 
#409 ·
so lets say if u didnt have the 70-1725 you could still use and just bypass the amp and would stil work in same way? cuz im thinking ima bypass it today just to be shure
 
#412 ·
The problem with that harness is that you still use the crappy bose amp to supply power to your speakers.

Also, I have a harness that you dont have to cut/splice.
 
#422 ·
Speaking about engine noise, I was wondering....How can you fully get rid of the engine noise. I have also bypassed my bose amplifier, however i put a Rockford Fosgate p400-4 on the stock bose speakers and it screams. the engine noise was not that bad with the bose amplifier, then i put the Rockford and it got louder. I have also tried a PAC SNI-1 (rca ground loop isolator, but where i put will either make it worse or take it all away. Need some help this engine noise drives me crazy.
 
#423 ·
why would you do the bypass if you are running a 4ch amp to your speakers?:confused: since the front speakers should only be connected to your rockford, no bypass is needed. your noise is probably related to how you ran your power and ground for the amp.
 
#425 ·
so you didnt necessarily do the bypass. you just cut the signal to the speakers and put the rockford in it's place. how are you putting signal to the rockford? RCA? Converter? you can probably find your answer to removing engine noise in another thread. alot of it will have to do with how it was installed. its also a good idea not to bolt the amp down to anything metal.
 
#426 ·
I've been reading and can't find what I'm looking for. I don't want to add an aftermarket amp yet. But if I do the bypass to get rid of the hissing sound. Will my factory sub still work? What if I were to cut the speaker leads and connect them without them going through the plug, then plug it back in to the amp. Will my sub work then?
 
#428 ·
my installer quoted me this after i put in my jvc deck


Well, there are a couple of ways to do it. One was doing an amp bypass which is about $120 more, one is by buying an integration harness which is about $75 more or you can convert the high level outputs to the amp by adding on RCA connectors to the deck. This converts the signal to low level which is completely fine for the stock amp (because the stock amp is still powering the stock speakers) and fine for the deck because its not using deck power.

I have done probably about 20 RSX's this way and it works very well! You may have some ground loop isolation problems which is pretty normal. We can add a couple of isolators on the line to 'clean' the signal only if it bothers you that much. The ground loop isolators are $30 each and you would need two. Otherwise there is no way it will damage your deck or your stock system.

Another thing to consider is getting new speakers for your car and powering them off of a separate amp. This will make everything louder, crisper and 100X better sounding than stock. The downside is it can cost a fair amount.

is this the proper procedure???

i think my other installer has a different procedure to approach this

blahhhh so confusing
 
#429 ·
Amp integration harness is the metra 70-1725 which is abot 6 bucks more than the standard harness the 70-1721, no need for ground loop isolators if you install it properly and you never want to use those anyway as the degrad the lows and highs in a system.
 
#430 ·
Instead of jumping all the wires together before the connector, is there anyway to de-pin all the wires from the connector? So you can connect the corresponding wires together at the end. I'm just thinking that it might be cleaner this way without that big ass connector in there. Or is this not possible?
 
#432 ·
I just installed my new headunit today and bypassed the Bose amp while keeping the Bose sub working. I have to say, the stock sub does hit a lot harder than before. You might have to turn the bass up on your HU for this, but the difference compared to stock is day and night. I couldn't even hear it when it was stock. I highly recommend doing this if you're not adding a sub anytime soon. All you have to do is cut and splice 8 wires.

Just my little review.
 
#436 ·
so heres my brain buster:dontknow:. my 03 is factory everything. and the head unit is badly messed up. the cd player does not work, the tape player only plays right channel signal. but the radio works fine. so i decide im going to put a new sub and amp in, completely wire new 12v(60 amp fuse, 8 gauge) power, 8 gauge ground,
and remote plugged into the 7.5 fuse under the dash. and rca's ran from a hi/low converter from the rear speakers. the amp is alpine mrv-540, powering a kicker competition c-10. but while hooked up on a different power supply it sounds good but extremely lacks in my car? could the head unit possibly do this? or maybe the factory amp? or the hi/low conver.... but now that i took it all out my factory stuff seems to have problems now? i dont think the sub works at all now....this has giving me such a headache.. :confused:
 
#440 · (Edited)
question..i have a 1 channel Infinity amp..now I planned on using it to power only my subs where stereo doesn't really matter, but hearing these problems of the bose amp make me concerned..if I replace the amp with my 1 channel one, that would force all the other speakers to be in mono also, right? anyone have any suggestions for me? 2 amps? i really don't know what to do...I'm not too "savvy" when it comes to this car audio stuff.. :\

additional info:

Infinity amp is 347 watts
subs are 10" RockfordFosgate's and they're rated for 250 watts RMS, 500 watts peak
 
#441 ·
you can't use a mono sub amp for Highs esp that one as I believe you are referring to the 310A . Mono amps made only for sub duty like yours can only pass frequencies up to around 300 hz or so.

You would never want to use a mono amp for Highs anyway they are directional and need a stereo signal where lows below 80 hz or so are omnidirectional.
 
#442 ·
oh thank you. now i now not to try that then, haha. ..p.s. it's the 311A, excellent assumption :p

so if i just disconnect my bose sub i should be able to splice my wires to both my subs and do the same with the wiring to my new amp, yea?

im thinking i will just leave the stock amp in there to power my speakers(highs) and see if it sounds ok? i don't know if i will get the "hissing" or "static" noise some of the people here are complaining or not..but if i do, i guess i just get another amp?.. haha this is making me realize how inexperienced i am with this kind of thing
 
#443 ·
310-311 same amp different years :)

Just follow the directions in the Audio FAQ's for wiring a sub off the rear bose quoted below:

Q - How do I wire an amp in a type S
A - Thanks to user Kbog this is a little guide that might help.

Type-S Sub Amp Install

Tools:

Philips head screwdriver
Socket set
Utility knife
Electrical tape
Tap in connecters
Wire hanger (straightened)
Wire cutters
Wire strippers
Flashlight

Procedure:

I. Running the power wire

Power wire of 4 AWG or smaller may be used for this procedure. It is possible 2 AWG may fit as well, although I didn’t use it.

Step 1 – Remove the glove compartment

A simple concept, but can be a pain due to the inconvenient screw locations. There are only 2 philips head screws which mount the box. They are on the bottom right and bottom left respectively. The right screw is easy to get at, however the left screw is under a piece of carpet molding. The bottom of the carpet molding can be pulled out and deformed enough to get your hand behind it and to the screw. After both mounting screws have been removed, lift the glove box out of the dash entirely.

Step 2 – Feed the Wire through the fire wall.

Using a light, you will see a grommet deep behind the glove box. There is a large bundle of wires passing through it already. With a straightened hanger, poke a hole through the grommet to the left of the bundle. Push the hanger at least 6 inches through the grommet. Leave the hanger through the grommet for a moment and find it in the engine compartment (left side as you face the car). You will need to slice the grommet with a blade to widen the hole for the power wire. After the hole is enlarged, tape the end of the power wire to the hanger tightly. Go back in the cabin and pull the power wire through the fire wall by pulling the hanger out.

Step 3 – Running wire to the hatch area

Feed the power wire down towards the center dash console. It will be helpful at this point to pull most of your wire through the fire wall except for the length you need to run to the car battery in the engine bay. The wire should come out of the dash behind the center console casing (behind the cup holder/power outlet molding). No need to take the console off as the wire can be pushed under the plastic and run along the passenger side between the front seats. At the back of the console (under that lone cupholder), there is a screw on either side to hold the plastic down to the floor. Remove those screws so you can feed the wire under the carpeting in the middle of the rear floor. Remove the back seat by pulling up on it on both sides. There are two clips that hold it down. This will not break them so don’t worry. After the seat is lifted, reach under the carpeting to finish feeding the wire up and under the rear seat. Any access wire can be kept under the seat cushion. Folding the seat down and removing the hatch carpet will allow you to get the wire to any location in the hatch area. Done

II. Getting a signal

Step 1. Take apart Richbass Woofer

Remove carpeting and foam board in hatch area to expose the spare tire. Take out the spare tire wing nut which passes directly through the center of the richbass woofer. Using a socket set (5.5 mm I believe), remove the 6 lugs from the top of the richbass woofer. The top casing should easily pull right off exposing a 5 inch “woofer” on the left and a small amp on the right.

Step 2. Tapping the signal wires.

Pull out the woofer from the frame of the sub exposing the four wires that lead to the 2 terminals. You will see 2 red wires (both positive) on one terminal and 2 green wires (both negative) on the other. I am NOT positive of the polarity, but red+ and green- worked perfectly for me. I will switch the polarity to see if I get better sound out of the sub later this week. Take off the foam tape that sticks the wires together so you can get some separation of the wires. Using tap in connectors (found at any radio shack) and 16 gauge speaker wire, you can splice into the signal here. I used a 5 ft. length of speaker wire for the 2 red wires and another 5 ft. length for the 2 green wires. You should NOT have to disconnect the woofer at any point during this procedure. You now have a pair of negative wires from one speaker wire (copper/silver) and a pair of positive from the other.

Step 3. Tapping the remote lead.

There is an orange wire which runs to the small amplifier in the richbass setup. Use a tap in connector on this wire as well to run a remote lead to the amp. My amplifier did NOT require this however as the amp senses voltage at the high level terminals to turn itself on. Put the woofer back together with the connectors under the woofer housing and seal the ricbass back up.

III. Final touches

Step 1. Ground your amp.

You can ground your amp at any bolt which attaches to the frame of the vehicle. If you fold the back seat down (either side) there is a large bolt towards the side of the car which faces the rear seat. I grounded my amp to this bolt. Make sure to use the same gauge wire as the power wire.

Step 2. Attach amp wires

Run the negative high level wires you created to the respective negative high level input terminals on your amplifier. Do the same for your positive wires. Connect your ground and power wires to your amplifier. Connect amplifier to subwoofer.

Step 3. Attach power wire to battery.

Remove ground from battery first. Then remove the positive terminal. Connect power wire to positive terminal and reconnect terminal to battery. Reconnect ground to battery.

Step 4. Enter code for radio.

You should have a card that was given to you when you bought the car. The radio will require the 5 digit code before it turns on again. Enter the code.

Step 5. Fix the drivers side window.

The auto feature will not work immediately. Push the button all the way down and hold it for five seconds after the window is fully down. Pull the button all the way up and hold it for five seconds after the window is up. Auto feature should work again.
 
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