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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:
 
#177 ·
sure it is.. you just have to make sure the HU has the correct amount of preouts.. and you need to run a shitload of wires =P
 
#179 ·
well you would need a front set.. a rear set.. and perhaps one for the sub just in case you want to add one later. yes you need to run your power from teh battery.. the ground from a bolt attached to a solid piece of metal.. and the remote wire from teh back of the deck. speaker wire... you will need to run it from the amp to each speaker... OR you can do it the shortcut way by using the stock wiring and splice in the wires from the amp to the harness under teh seat. so in reality you would be using the stock speaker wirs.. just with a different amp. it probably wont sound the best.. but hey its probably one of the easier methods. (this is something circuit city, or a retail store would do, unless you paid for a speaker wire run)
 
#180 ·
i wish someone made a fuckin harness you could plug the factory plug into so we wouldnt have to splice. the only thing i need it for is so i dont have to run wires to the doors, tweets, and rear panels...which i would rather do so i could run 12 gauge copper wire but then again i dont wanna spend 20 hrs doing this shit alone.
 
#181 ·
heh it doesnt take 20 hours. and i think i have a harness somewhere in my house for sale. i made it awhile back as a prototype. but i couldnt find a cheap enough way to manufacture it.. i would have had to order like 1000's of it which i just didnt have the money for. and there wasnt more than 100 people interested.
 
#182 ·
My HU is being shipped this week. I will be bypassing the amp for the 6 main speakers, but will keep the Bose woofer.

Am I correct that the bass signal to the Bose woofer plugs into the HU via male RCA's then is the LT GRN and GRN/WHT wires at the Bose amp. So then I can use the sub controls on my aftermarket HU like it is an aftermarket sub?

I was reading this thread and don't know why you would need to buy another set of male RCA jacks (in the parts list). :dontknow: Am I missing something here?
 
#183 ·
that guide doesnt bypass the amp, rather it uses the amp under the seat. it just uses the clean RCA outputs on your stereo to provide the signal to the bose amp. what you want to do is.. hook everything up normally.. run a set of RCA's to under the seat to the green wires from the sub output, and everything should work

oh yeah and dont forget to bypass the amp (speaker goes to stereo out/amp in)
 
#184 ·
miztahsparklez said:
that guide doesnt bypass the amp, rather it uses the amp under the seat. it just uses the clean RCA outputs on your stereo to provide the signal to the bose amp. what you want to do is.. hook everything up normally.. run a set of RCA's to under the seat to the green wires from the sub output, and everything should work

oh yeah and dont forget to bypass the amp (speaker goes to stereo out/amp in)
Sounds logical... Do the normal Bose bypass. Don't connect the harness back into the amp. RCA from the sub pre-amp on the HU gets spliced into the light green / green white wires in the connector under the seat.

Question though - there's no remote turn-on wire in the connector schematics (from the FAQ) for the rear amp. Is the rear amp on all the time?
 
#185 · (Edited)
sgt-spam said:
Question though - there's no remote turn-on wire in the connector schematics (from the FAQ) for the rear amp. Is the rear amp on all the time?
I've been looking at the wiring schematics from the Helms manual (starts on p.22-102) as I have been trying to figure out how exactly I want to wire my HU up. There is a rear stereo amp relay that turns on the amp. It gets constant power from the BLU/RED wire and switches on from the BRN wire from the Audio unit.

On the output of this relay is a WHT wire that carries to the rear amp.

My question for those who cut the speaker wires is how in the world does the sub still get a signal? It looks like the only way the sub gets its signal is through a low pass filter (inside the front amp) from the speaker inputs, but those speaker inputs obviously wouldn't be there now.

This is what I am planning to do as of now:
I am going to bypass the 6 main speakers using the method at the beginning of this thread. This will allow me to prewire it (my HU is being mailed right now) and just not connect the male/female ends and leave the harness into the amp for now. I will also hack apart one side of RCA’s and splice those into the LT GRN and GRN/WHT wires for the audio signal to the sub. I can run the connector side of the RCA’s by the front cigarette lighter. When my HU gets here I can then quickly plug it all in and go! Plus I get sub control from the HU this way too.

Tonight I am going to do a voltage test on the rear amp to double check I can wire my sub this way.
 
#186 ·
Leprechaun317 said:
My question for those who cut the speaker wires is how in the world does the sub still get a signal?
Here's a thought: Change the way the Bose bypass is done.

Instead of jumpering the in/out signal and leaving the amp disconnected (thus cutting power to the rest of the Bose system), cut the out wires and fit them with quick disconnects (somthing like
and
- obviously they'd have to be insulated). Now, use one of
clipped onto the signal in wire to put the male part of the spade into. That should effectively bypass the Bose amp from processing the six speaker outputs but still allow for signal to reach the rear amp. Next I suppose you'd have to hack a RCA cable, and cut / attach disconnects to the sub out wires (6 & 19 in the FAQ) - now your HU is supplying the sub.

Does this sound logical?
 
#187 ·
Yes, that sounds logical. The only problem with that is you would have to solder the outputs to speakers back in to go back to stock, which I will most likely do when I sell my car. It wouldn't be that difficult to solder the wires back to stock but I will avoid it if possible.

For my little test I will check the voltage of the rear amp with the front amp harness disconnected. If I get voltage when the radio is on, I will be good to go.

If that doesn't work, I will probably do your method.
 
#188 ·
Please post your discoveries. I've got my new HU half installed (it works, just not the way I want it done), so the information you collect will be very valuable to me.

Personally, I probably won't solder the connections. The quick disconnects I pictured above have been working OK just crimped for me, and that way, like you said, if I want to sell the car I just unplug the jumper wires, and connect the original disconnects and I'm back to stock.

Looking forward to your reply...
 
#189 ·
sgt-spam said:
Please post your discoveries. I've got my new HU half installed (it works, just not the way I want it done), so the information you collect will be very valuable to me.

Personally, I probably won't solder the connections. The quick disconnects I pictured above have been working OK just crimped for me, and that way, like you said, if I want to sell the car I just unplug the jumper wires, and connect the original disconnects and I'm back to stock.

Looking forward to your reply...
When i did my bypass a year ago, i did the same thing. I cut each of the wires and used the quick disconnects on them. Works great with no problems at all.
 
#191 ·
sgt-spam said:
Please post your discoveries. I've got my new HU half installed (it works, just not the way I want it done), so the information you collect will be very valuable to me.
I ran a quick test last night and I was correct. The rear amp still gets power when the front harness is unplugged, so you CAN bypass the amp for the 6 main speakers and run an RCA for the sub signal and be ok. I hope this helps out!
 
#192 ·
Leprechaun317 said:
I ran a quick test last night and I was correct. The rear amp still gets power when the front harness is unplugged, so you CAN bypass the amp for the 6 main speakers and run an RCA for the sub signal and be ok. I hope this helps out!
Thanks for that. All I'll have to do (after I get the bypass done) is tap the RCA's into the sub signal on that connector, and I should be set!
 
#194 ·
this only works if you have the blue wire hooked up (when using aftermarket harness, otherwise the original wire color is brown i believe) from the back of the stereo.

now if you dont want to run any additional wiring, you can always hook it up the way i said.
 
#195 ·
miztahsparklez said:
this only works if you have the blue wire hooked up (when using aftermarket harness, otherwise the original wire color is brown i believe) from the back of the stereo.

now if you dont want to run any additional wiring, you can always hook it up the way i said.
I thought this was along the lines of your way... You mentioned above having to run RCA to under the seat anyway.

As stated above, I'll end up doing the bypass (leaving the connector unplugged) and running RCA from the HU to the passenger seat for the sub signal.

That's what you meant, isn't it?
 
#196 ·
no theres a different bypass listed in the early stages of the thread, where it doesnt involve RCA's. and you plug the harness back into the amp.
 
#198 ·
Got it - thanks.

I'm looking through my service manual now, and believe it or not, it actually makes sense! :)

The remote turn-on lead from the stock HU actually gets split before hitting the front amp, which is why you can disconnect the front amp completely and still have power to the rear amp. Using the RCA's will give me HU control of the sub, and the other speakers will be controlled from the HU as well.

<Uncle Rico> Right on... Right on...</Uncle Rico>

So I'll hopefully get all this done this weekend, along with my sister's wedding and the yard work.

At any rate, thanks.
 
#201 ·
blaznRSX said:
has anyone paid bestbuy or some other place to bypass their bose? if so how much was it?
You should just diy. You'll save yourself a lot of money. 30 minute job.
 
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