well the deck turns on and off with the key as well... The red wire is the same power that goes to the deck that tells is when to turn on/off.
The blue/white is typically the amp turn on wire, which you don't need in the 03/04 model. The actual amp turn on is the blue (antenna) wire.

 

Deezflip - yes that is the harness that i have. I currently have the blue/white wire connected to the remote turn on from the pioneer harness. This is labeled "Amp Turn-On" on the metra harness package. So, You are saying just forget that wire and hook the SOLID BLUE (Power Antenna) to the RED (ACC) wire?? What should I do with the BLUE/WHITE wire then?

I have included a picture of the current configuration I have. Some of the wires are kind of hard to see but hopefully you can see what is hooked up to what. If not just ask.




Also here is the back of the metra pkg that shows the wire configuration that I have followed.



BTW, I appreciate all the help everyone is providing. Thanks!

 

disconnect the blue/white wire in the pic and reconnect the loose blue wire in it's place

 

Then just tape off the BLUE/WHITE or do i need to do something with that wire as well?

 

I am really sorry to keep dragging this out. I just want the damn thing to work and it still isn't. Here is a list of things I have tried

Metra Harness -> Pioneer Harness connections
1. BLU/WHT (Amp Turn-on) -> BLU/WHT (Remote)
2. BLUE (Power Ant.) -> BLU/WHT (Remote)
3. BLU/WHT (Amp Turn-on) -> RED (ACC)
4. BLUE (Power Ant.) -> RED (ACC)

and the combinations - (1 with 4) and (2 with 3)

The only ones that I know the amp was coming on was when I hooked the BLU/WHT on the Metra to either the BLU/WHT on the Pioneer or the ACC b/c I could hear the speakers buzzing faintly and the buzz went away when I took the wire off. All the others I heard absolutely nothing which tells me that the amp was not turning on.

For some reason, it is still very hard for me to believe the amp is bad but all signs are kind of pointing to that.

My new question is do I have to use the Bose amp for the Bose speakers? Troy said I could bypass the amp, but does that mean then I would have to use the other speaker wires coming out of the pioneer deck rather than the RCA's? In that case I would probably want the 7550 harness then huh? OR should I try to get a replacement Bose amp or buy an aftermarket? If you say after market, please give me a recommendation or specs of what to look for.

You guys have been a great help so far, & believe me I would like to be done with this thread probably just as much as everyone who has been helping. Thanks!

 

I can somewhat feel your frustration since I remember going through this problem. It'd be so much easier if I see everything in person.

Anyway, to make more of a pain than what it is already...if you decide to run the power from your headunit's amp, you can splice into those RCA plugs AND THEN splice before the amp AND THEN splice into the speaker output of the amp.

OR.....

Easier way would be just to run speaker wires all the way to the back, it's less splicing and you can return it the factory condition if you ever decide to trade the car in. Also if I'm not mistaken, your HU can be a 2X1 output which you can bridge a pair of the outputs....i think it's 50Wx2(4ohm stable) and 70Wx1(2ohm stable), instead of the standard 50Wx4. This would probably sound way better than the equalized sound of the bose amp. In my opinion, even if you get the bose amp to work, you'll hate the sound.

So....run the two right speakers wired in series to get you that safe 4ohms and then same thing for the left, although you will lose the fader adjustability.....THEN run the rear deck 6x9 in series also to get that 4ohms(eventhough it's 2ohms stable for the bridge you're stuck with either 1ohm or 4ohm since all the speakers are in 2ohms). So you'll have a 50Wx(1)LEFT, 50Wx(1)RIGHT, and 70Wx(1)6x9s acting as the subs.

 

I understand the part about putting the left and right speakers in series and I don't have a problem with losing the fader functionality. I'm pretty sure what you are saying is to use the gray (+) & (-) for the right speakers and the white (+) & (-) for the left speakers.

What I don't understand is the 70Wx1 bridged thing..I get hooking the 2 subs up in series but how would I hook the wires coming out of the pioneer deck up? Would I hook the violet & green (+) wires together to go to the (+) side of the subs that are in series and the violet & green (-) wires to the (-) side of the subs that are in series to get the 70WX1? One last thing, how can I confirm that my HU can do this?

 

it should all be stated in your owner's and installation manual that came with your HU. If not, pioneer's website has them. There would be no exsiting speaker wires behind the dash(only the original low level), all the speaker wires that you need to tap into is after the bose amp in the trunk. You can utilize those low level wires though and use them as speaker wires if you did not want to run new wires, but you'll have to cut it before it gets to the amp, and then cut the ones going out of the amp(the ones going to the speakers itself) and splice and connect into those(bypassing the bose amp)

I pulled this from a post...

the speaker output wire colors(after the bose amp)

Front Right + Gray/Silver
Front Right - Yellow/Silver

Front Left + Green/Silver
Front Left - Red/Silver

Rear Door Right + Brown/Silver
Rear Door Right - Black/Silver

Rear Door Left + Green/Yellow
Rear Door Left - Black/Yellow

Rear Deck Right + Blue/Red
Rear Deck Right - Blue/White

Rear Deck Left + Blue/Yellow
Rear Deck Left - White/Green

 

OK I think i've got it now, I only have one more question then I promise I will stop bugging you and install it tonight when I get home.

I did find in the install manual.



You said that the subs are 2 ohm so putting them in series = 4 ohm. So should I just use the one pair of violet & violet/black for the (+) and (-) of the subs that are connected in series and leave the green & green/black wires unhooked?

 

^yes exactly, and yes only the violet pair. Make sure to tape off the others that's not used so it doesn't short with any metal contact.

and yes the two 6x9 wired in series will get you a 4ohm resistance. If you run the 6x9s in parrallel, it will drop it to 1ohms which is too low and dangerous to your HU amp. You can always have a higher ohms rating but never below. You will not be able to maximize the power to get the 70Wx1 @ 2ohms unless you only run ONE of the 6x9s, but in my opinion with a slighty less power output at TWO 6x9s at 4ohms will move more air.

BTW, I noticed some weird speaker polarity problems with my install where the bass was canceling each other out from the side speakers to the 6x9s. If that happens to you, or if you feel the low frequency is lacking, just reverse the + and - for the 6x9s. The wire color chart may have been wrong on these forums....but again, not 100% sure on that. Good luck man!

 

Deezflip - You have been a huge help! Thanks a lot! I a can't wait to have tunes back in my car again. Hopefully everything goes well tonight.

 

Good news! I finally have a working stereo again!!!

Everything went well last night other than the fact I had to spend about 20 min or so sitting in my trunk. What I ended up doing was just making all the connections there rather than running new wire. The sound is pretty good if i don't turn it up to loud. Further down the road I might look into getting an aftermarket amp but for the time being I am really happy with the system.

Thanks again to everyone who helped out!!

 

Man bro i can feel you on what you had to go through, i had almost the same problem in my old car. Its good that you got it fixed. I wouldn't want to go down that road again so what im going to do is rewire all my speakers to an aftermarket amp (saves me the trouble of being frustrated. Congrats on the fix bro.