2007 350z w/ Bose Setup w/o HU

Zynester · 07-09-2007, 02:11 PM

Firstly, I am newish to this CarPC thing so bear with me.

I have a 2007 Nissan 350z Touring with Bose audio.

I want to remove the HU and use the CarPC as the audio/video/etc for the car.

Is there something special I have to do to connect my sound card to the car so that I don't have to use the HU?

I appreciate any help.

scott_fx · 07-09-2007, 02:23 PM

easiest way is to ditch the sub par bose and get a nice amps and some speakers

RedGTiVR6 · 07-09-2007, 02:26 PM

It's the easiest way, though I'm sure you're going to cringe at this suggestion since you probably don't want to have to do that.

Look for adapters. There should be some aftermarket adapters that will allow you to hook up an aftermarket HU to your stock system.

You'll want to go to a car audio shop and ask to purchase the necessary adapter from them.

Zynester · 07-09-2007, 02:41 PM

Ya, getting new everything is not the way I want to go. Too much money already invested in getting the Touring model vs the Enthusiast.

Has anyone had experience with this or have a suggestion as to what adapters I may need?

scott_fx · 07-09-2007, 03:55 PM

pac audio has a bose interface, that'll get you jacked in but you have to research your specific system first. the bose h/u in my car has an internal amp tha powers the rear speakers and the 3" door speakers where the 8" subs had their own amps in the doors.

do a search in the show off your project sub forum and search for corvettes, there was a guy who retained the bose speakers while switching to a car computer. his thread may clue you in on what else you'd need to do

RedGTiVR6 · 07-10-2007, 01:48 AM

this thread should help: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/gene...stem-350z.html

Zynester · 07-10-2007, 07:35 AM

Thank you everyone for their replies.

Red, I read that thread already. The trouble is that that person wanted to preserve their HU while I want to chuck it.

Saturated_Fat · 07-10-2007, 07:57 AM

I did this setup in my RSX with the Bose system. Since then I've moved over to a 350z so I have an idea of what you're dealing with.

Buy the Aftermarket stereo harness (not neccessary but better since you dont have to cut into the cars wiring). Basically it will be a plug that plugs into the harness in your car (where the bose would have plugged in). The adapter that you purchase will have a bunch of wires coming out of it. They should all be labled such as Left Speaker +, Left Speaker - etc. What you want to do is get RCA Female ports and turn those wires coming out of the adapter into Female RCA's. After that's done you can get a Headphone male plug to RCA male plug convertor which would plug from the computer to the RCA ports you just made.

Essentially you are adding RCA inputs to your amp, except you're doing it where the headunit would normally go. I don't have the bose unit in my car but I believe you'll also have to wire the blue wire from the harness to a 12v switched source (try the yellow 12v line coming out of the same harness). If you experience popping or a thump then you need to have the amp turn on later via delay on.

Also you can decide if you want to maintain 4 channels or do it the easy way and combine Rear Left with Front Left and Rear Right with Front Right.

Either way it's definitely do able. Just ask if you have any more questions.

BTW Are you on My350z.com?

RedGTiVR6 · 07-10-2007, 09:31 AM

making RCAs from speaker level isn't such a hot idea IMO...

if you feed an amp with too high of a voltage, you'll do some damage.

Speaker level is high level, RCAs are low level, hince the reason a Hi-Low converter is used.

Saturated_Fat · 07-10-2007, 09:39 AM

Most soundcards dont feed enough to do any type of damage, but you make a good point. I do know from experience that the bose system running with a Turtle Beach Roadie or onboard will be just fine.

What I'm directing him to do is essentially the same as what a headunit would do if you used the preamp RCA ports to an AMP.

scott_fx · 07-10-2007, 12:20 PM

soundcards are low level

Fallout · 07-19-2007, 08:37 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Saturated_Fat

I did this setup in my RSX with the Bose system. Since then I've moved over to a 350z so I have an idea of what you're dealing with.

Buy the Aftermarket stereo harness (not neccessary but better since you dont have to cut into the cars wiring). Basically it will be a plug that plugs into the harness in your car (where the bose would have plugged in). The adapter that you purchase will have a bunch of wires coming out of it. They should all be labled such as Left Speaker +, Left Speaker - etc. What you want to do is get RCA Female ports and turn those wires coming out of the adapter into Female RCA's. After that's done you can get a Headphone male plug to RCA male plug convertor which would plug from the computer to the RCA ports you just made.

Essentially you are adding RCA inputs to your amp, except you're doing it where the headunit would normally go. I don't have the bose unit in my car but I believe you'll also have to wire the blue wire from the harness to a 12v switched source (try the yellow 12v line coming out of the same harness). If you experience popping or a thump then you need to have the amp turn on later via delay on.

Also you can decide if you want to maintain 4 channels or do it the easy way and combine Rear Left with Front Left and Rear Right with Front Right.

Either way it's definitely do able. Just ask if you have any more questions.

BTW Are you on My350z.com?

not to hijack this thread but, was that RSX setup (sound-wise) comparable to the stock head unit sound. I have an RSX and I was thinking going this route instead of buying amps. To me, the stock Bose sound is good enough.

crooper · 07-20-2007, 12:55 AM

I had a Bose system in my 97 Maxima, ripped it all out and installed aftermarket (long before I decided to build and install my carpc), but in the process of decision-making I learned about how the Bose system works. The HU sends out a very low power line level signal to each speaker, which are individually amped at the speaker. You need a line level converter (Scosche makes one, I saw it at Walmart) to attenuate the output from an aftermarket HU to the Bose speaker amp inputs. It can be done, but it doesn't sound nearly as good as full aftermarket system.

notuptodateguy · 07-24-2007, 01:46 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by crooper

I had a Bose system in my 97 Maxima, ripped it all out and installed aftermarket (long before I decided to build and install my carpc), but in the process of decision-making I learned about how the Bose system works. The HU sends out a very low power line level signal to each speaker, which are individually amped at the speaker. You need a line level converter (Scosche makes one, I saw it at Walmart) to attenuate the output from an aftermarket HU to the Bose speaker amp inputs. It can be done, but it doesn't sound nearly as good as full aftermarket system.

Yup, I got an 01 Maxima with Bose system. Oddly, the Bose system has the speaker amplifier separate from the HU, so the HU is just sending out a line level signal. I switched out the HU with an aftermarket one and had to buy a Scosch line level converter at walmart for $20, because the aftermarket HU has a built in amplifier (so I needed to convert this amplified signal back to a line level one). So, if I'm not wrong, since the signal coming out of the computer isn't amplifier, you can just connect the line out from the computer directly into the lines provided when you buy a radio wiring harness for your car without needing the line level converter. But I could be wrong; the line level converter I brought has 3 output options (can't remember off my head since I installed it half a year ago) and maybe 1 of the 3 output might be needed. I will be installing a carputer in the same setup as yours within a week or two. Already ordered the parts few days ago, just waiting for the items to come in. I'll keep you posted.

crooper · 07-26-2007, 02:57 AM

The "line level" is different from the Bose than normal, I believe the Bose is higher level. Read here:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=193528

And for even more info on Bose systems, look here:
http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...9&postcount=23