Hello,
I have looked all over this site and found very helpful information about the factory Bose head unit Pre-Amp output wire colors. Thanks to all that posted this valuable information.
I want to kick it up a notch and ask this question. I don't know if anyone has tried it and I haven't seen any info on this site. I took apart the Bose head unit with factory tape and 6 disk changer. Don't ask me how I got it apart. There were a lot of little screws involvled. As I seperated the tape deck from the disk changer, I saw what's pictured below.

As you can see, the circuit board has the outputs for the four speakers labeled. This is consistent with the wire colors on the harness that others have described. Does anyone think it would be a good idea to solder the wires from female RCA plugs to these points? This will make the stock head unit look more like an after market with the RCA wires hanging off the back. Has anyone out there tried this? Did it work? Did you have any problems?

 

Why would this be a good idea?

It won't look any different on the outside, and it will still be outputting a differential-balanced signal that most amplifiers can't handle properly, so having the RCAs on the back won't help at all.

 

I was planning on feeding the signal into an Audio Control processor. All audio control products say they have balanced inputs. Is this the same thing as accepting differential-balanced inputs?

Even if the Audio Control will accept the signal from the Bose HU, do you prefer to tie into to HU outputs at the back of the car in the trunk? These signal wires run side by side with many other electrical wires and I'm worried about noise. I was thinking that running an independant set of RCA wires would provide a cleaner signal.

I'm not going for looks. Just sound quality.

 

If you care anything about sound quality, just replace the Bose headunit (and especially the amplifier).

 

I am replacing all stereo equipment in the car accept for the HU. All the components are from a previous system and it's not in my budget right now to buy a new HU. I also have the Navi that's integrated with the HU.

I have read amthar's thread about keeping the stock HU:
https://g35driver.com/forums/audio-v...-stock-hu.html
What I want to know is, should this signal be tied into from the HU behind the dash or in the trunk? Which one will be best for SQ?

 

FYI - I got in touch with the tech guys at Audio Control and their processors will take a differential-balanced signal. So the RCA's will work perfectly!

 

Yeah, but that still doesn't explain why you'd solder on the board instead of just tapping the wires at the harness.

 

Where do you plan on having the Audiocontrol piece at? If in the back I would just use the factory wiring and tap in before the Bose amp. I did that and tapped in and ran low level inputs into the MS-8.

I had no noise at all doing it that way. It's a balanced signal so you won't have any induced noise through the RCA's.

 

nar93da and wrathernaut

Excellent, I think I will tie in at the back it seems easier after everyone's input. That's what this forum is for, right? Again, thanks for the input and I'll update my profile with the stereo pics when it's all done.