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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:
 
#127 ·
just did this by-pass bose amp today and damn it is tru! there will be a "mothafukacluster of wires!" but i somehow managed to finish the job and it sounds the same to me using bose amp. it's prolly because i didnt get no noise or anything from using the stock bose amp (i just wanted to by-pass it anyways) my HU is a pioneer premier 920-r. so overall i like this by-pass thing.. total took about 1 hour and yup from the looks it is hard but once you get down to it, it is so simple.. :thumbsup:
 
#128 ·
[250]Type-S said:
OK:) ya thats exactly wut i am going to do
install new deck(YES,with the wiring harness), unplug the bose amp below the seats, spice ONLY the front and rear speaker wire. AND LEAVE EVERYTHING OUT RIGH!.
wut do u mean by cutting out the sub link
I know that this is a very old topic, but can I run speaker wire from an aftermarket amplifier, and splice it with the speaker wires connected to the oem amp, in order for me to bypass running new wires into the doors. My new cd deck has no internal amplifier. Thanks
 
#129 ·
If you're already running wires from your amp, you might as well run them to the doors as well. It will make a world of difference. But yes, you could run those wires from the amp and splice them into the wires at the Bose amp. However, I've noticed some quality issues with the splicing job I did as described in this post. One of these days I am going to have to go back and solder everything. Your cleanest and best sounding option is to run new wires. I ended up doing that to my front door speakers when I got new ones and it was pretty easy and is a nice clean signal with decent gage wire - no splicing. Actually, it is probably easier to run new wire through the grommet and into the door than it is to splice into that Bose Amp connector.
 
#130 ·
I'm sure that running all new wires will make a world of difference, but I have to be finished with my entire system today, and I just don't have the time to take off the door panels. Down the road I will certainly run all new wires. This is a great thread, thanks for writing up the how to.
 
#131 ·
I ran all new wires in less time than it took to figure out that jumble of wires by the Bose Amp I think. I installed component speakers in the front, a new amp in the back, ran all the power wires, RCA, and speaker wires in an afternoon. The hardest part was mounting the speakers because I had to build a custom ring to offset them. Running the wires is really not that hard. You could easily do it in a day. If you have a whole day to do it you can.
 
#133 ·
the sound would only get as good as your source.. so replacing the HU would be the first thing to do....
 
#135 ·
yeah you could......

if you went that way id recommend getting a line driver as well as some adapters to convert the stock wiring to rca's.

ie you can buy an audiocontrol matrix (i have one for sale btw :D) and get significantly better sound. i would also recommend getting upgraded speakers as the stock paper bose speakers SUCK!. or you can wait till they blow =P
 
#136 ·
thats what i did, it took all of 2000 miles and both fronts were gone....
 
#137 ·
Looking for the remote wire in the bose amp connector, to connect to sub amplifier. What would it be?

3 | BLU/RED | Constant power
or
5 | BRN | Radio Switch

So far I tried to experiment and got 20amp fuse blown in the fuse box. :rolleyes: May be someone know exactly, so I don’t need to blow another one.
 
#138 ·
heh blue/red if that touches ground.. pop goes your fuse.. ive done it many times... make sure to tape that off...

use brown to tap into... also leave the relay connected... its hte little box thing connected to teh side of the bose amp... it will let you use the remote wire in teh trunk...
 
#142 ·
Okay, just want to make sure I'm clear on what's being suggested in order to retain use of the factory subwoofer after bypassing the amp. Right now I have the amp bypassed as suggested above. I used the wiretaps and then ran a jumper wire between the proper sets of wires (i.e. front right positive from heat unit jumped over to front right positive to speaker, etc.). From what I'm seeing above the suggestion is to basically keep this setup, but then simply cut or unplug from the harness the "out to speaker" wires, and then simply plug the harness back in.

The net effect here is that you have speaker wires running from the new HU to the speakers directly, but then you also have a wire tapped off of each speaker wire that runs to the input side on the Bose amp. The only output from the Bose amp is the one that goes to the spare tire sub in the back. Is this correct? I'm just wondering if this will damage the HU since the signal is being split like that, or if it will damage the Bose sub since it's running but the majority of the outputs are disconnected.
 
#143 ·
I'm not really sure what would happen. I disconnected my Bose Amp permanently and did not reconnect the harness to it. If you simply tapped the wires and then plugged it back into the amp, I'd think that you would have juice flowing to the amp (and out to the speakers) - exactly what you are trying to avoid. Now, since electricity follows the path of least resistance, it might just go along your jumper....but it might not. Or all of it might not. I'm not sure I'd want to mess wit it. In my opinion, it's either all Bose Amp or no Bose Amp at all. I kind of took it as fact that I'd lose my sub and used aftermarket subs once I did this. Sorry if this isn't much help, hopefully someone who knows a little more about how it all works might be able to more accurately help you.
 
#144 ·
Well what I mean is that the output side of the amp would be disconnected from all the speakers except the spare tire sub. So in essence you'd simply be feeding the input side of the amp off of the signal from the HU. The signal to the individual speakers would not be connected to the output of the amp at all. Only the spare tire sub would remain connected to the output side of the amp.
 
#145 ·
Did you actually cut the wires for the door/back speakers? If you just put a T-tap in them, they will still be connected when you plug the connector back into the Bose amp. If you cut them there is no way the signal can feed into the Bose Amp once you connect the plug. One thing I just thought of is where is that signal to the Bose amp coming from in the first place? Notice there is no sub input wire in the wire diagram. That means the output from the sub originates from one of the regular speaker signals. So you're in a tight situation. You can't bypass the amp AND make the subwoofer work from everything I can tell. In order for the sub to work you have to use the amp. In order to bypass the amp, you have to, well, bypass it. Looks like you can't do both to me.
 
#146 ·
I didn't cut the wires, I simply spliced the input wires to the output wires and then unplugged the harness. So right now the amp isn't connected to anything. It sounds like what's being suggested above in order to keep the factory sub working is to keep the setup like I have it, but then disconnect the ouput wires from the amp harness, and plug the harness back in. This way you are feeding all the speakers directly from the head unit, PLUS all the speaker leads are also T'ed into the input side of the factory amp. The only thing that would remain connected to the output side of the factory amp are the two wires going to the factory sub. In essence you are splitting all the singals in two so that half go to the speakers and the other half goes through the amp and out to the sub. So back to my original question - Will splitting the signal like this damage the head unit, or the amp, or anything else?
 
#147 ·
I did my bypass as it was mentioned. I cut the wires that are for the speakers from the bose amp harness and connected the corresponding wires together to bypass the speakers from the bose amp. As for the sub in the trunk, I just plugged the harness back into the bose amp and everything works just fine. The speakers work just fine and the bose amp works fine too. No problems here.
 
#150 ·
I was playing around with the amps a little today. If you cut the audio unit inputs (and splice them into the speakers - bypassing the amp) you will lose any signal into the amp, so nothing is passed to the richbass woofer [and amp]. Also, if you want to tap into the inputs at the richbass woofer before the amp [and thus, the xover] the lt grn becomes a purple wire, and the grn/wht becomes a yellow wire, so you can splice them prior to the richbass amp for a full freq. signal. Be warned though, it is a very low voltage signal, and if you plan on running multiple channels off of it, it only gets weaker.

dh
 
#151 ·
Alright, I did the bypass today, I have a couple of questions:

At first i ran it without the bypass and had to do the power antenna wire to the remote wire connection in order to get sound to the speakers, but when I connected my basslink, nothing happened, it powered up but nothing?? I am assuming it is because of this powerantenna/remote wire connection, cause i also have it connected as a remote for the basslink, SO NOW that i bypassed the bose amp, do I disconnect the power antenna and remote wire connection????????????

Lastly, I want to make sure before I do it, but I want to have the factory sub work too, SO am I correct in doing it the way yall said and cutting only the bose amp speaker outputs and leaving the inputs????? also to make sure, which wires are the outputs according to the diagram on page 1????

THanks guys hope yall can help
 
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