Thread: Options for 300ZX Audio

Bump... anyone? any ideas? did I not explain myself clearly? is this mic on???

Why not relocate your HU to the glovebox or under the seat? That way all of your connections remain the same. I'm doing the same thing right now to my truck.

your bose speakers/amplifiers aren't like normal everyday speakers. i don't know of any aftermarket head units that can hookup directly. you'll deffinately need an adapter of some sort if you want to use the factory bose equipment with an aftermarket head. check out www.soundgate.com, i'm almost positive they'll have what you need. though, if you ask me, if you're going to spend money it might as well be on new speakers and an amp. the factory bose stuff isn't nearly as good as quality aftermarket gear.

as far as getting sound out of your soundcard and into your stereo, it seems like the easiest way is by using a head with aux input. if your head doesn't have aux in, consider getting it into an amp.

I am having this same problem with my Pathfinder. I am using a Clarion HU with the factory Bose system. Right now I am using a Peripheral Line Out Converter (LOC) which I bought at Circuit City, but I am getting alot of breakup when the volume is turned up and the volume level is not very high compared to what it was with the stock system. I have it tweaked as best I can, but it is nowere near the sound I want. (I have read) that the Bose speakers do not use a common ground - they require a balanced input where there is signal on the + and - or something like that.

I am probably going replace the LOC with the N-684V from davidnavone.com unless I find a better way - or just decide to bite the bullet and get a whole new set of speakers and Amps. I have been told that "if it's Bose, it goes" by several installers.

DJKhan85, do you have the Bose system too? If so, care to share any info you have, or what you plan to use to adapt an aftermarket HU to it? I am still deciding on my next step. If I find something that works well I will post here as well.

Yeah I have the bose system as well. I have posted here about it as well. Look for a thread in the car audio section under "Softer Music". Well what I figured out with that My audigy 2 nx does output 2 volts rms. According to my Electronic Service Manual for my car, My stock headunit is supposed to output a 5 to 7 volt signal. So I'm hoping that jucing the voltage with that n-684v will help. If it doesn't I'm going to have to turn the audigy output to a balanced output and run it that way. That is of course the more expensive way. SO hopefully the N-684v will work.

As for the 300zx. Get yourself the wiring harness for the non bose 300zx system. Hook everything up normally and it should work. Thats what i did. Don't bother with a LOC they are uesless as I have found out. If you plan on going headunit less. You will run into the same problem that myself and supermike are having. It just won't sound like it did. You will need to juice the voltage up to your active speaker amps.

I actually have a Clarion HU, and may try just getting rid of the LOC - I just don't wannt blow the Bose amps. I am thinking that the low volume may have to do with the unbalanced signal being sent to the Bose which wants a balanced signal. I may not understand it correctly, but it would seem that an unbalanced signal would have half the amplitude of a balanced signal and therefore have half the volume.

I have not seen a LOC that has anything to do with a balanced signal - they just drop the signal to the range that the factory system can deal with AFAIK.

That is true that the signal will have half the amplitude. When I did have my kenwood HU attached to the bose headunit I was not using any LOC or voltage increasing adapter. It sounded close to the stock system. But again it leads right back to the headunit sending out more votlage than what I got now. Get rid of the LOC and jsut hook your HU up normally. You can try to hook up the preamps of the headunit to the amp since I know that on some HU's you can switch the preamps between balanced and unbalanced modes. If you think about it. If you hook up the BOSE amp to the speaker level inputs of your HU, you will be amplifiing the signal twice. SO you should get louder music. The preamp outputs should give a cleaner signal to the amp. Keep me updated.