I am thinking of setting up carputer and since I plan to put the LCD in the DD. I wont be able to keep the factory headunit. I wonder if I can still reuse the factory bose amp? I have 04 AT. Is the front speakers power from the amp as well? I know it doesn't have RCA inputs so I need to tap in wires? I was thinking cutting out one end of the cable and then connecting thru wire (35mm cable -> open wire -> tap to amp input). Would the sound quality degrade a lot?

thx

 

Got a door with a spring-loaded hinge?

 

Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm not exactly sure how to answer your questions as it seems you do not have a clean understanding of how the basics of car audio works. But I'll try:

All speakers in the car run off of the Bose amp. None of them run off of the head unit.

No you cannot use your bose amp with an aftermarket head unit. I can go into explaining why, but basically the outputs from an aftermarket HU do not match the inputs of the Bose HU. No, they don't make anything that will convert these to match.

Speakers have to connect to an amp, and they have to connect using speaker wire to the amp's speaker outputs. This amp can be a small amp built into an aftermarket HU or an external aftermarket amp.

I've made generalizations and I've left out details and other "options" and things that are "POSSIBLE" but I did it because it's pointless to talk about those. In the end, if you are getting an aftermarket HU, you have to either run your speakers off of the HU itself, or off of an aftermarket amp (and not the bose amp).

 

I understand how car audio works, and I know of many, many situations where new HUs are used with Bose amps, and aftermarket adapters intended to allow just that. Many, many Acura CL-S and Nissan Maxima owners are replacing their OEM HU's and retaining the OEM Bose amp.

I don't think it's a great idea, but it is done all the time. Peripheral, Soundgate, PAC, and others all make adapters to do just that (take single ended to balanced, balanced to single ended, speaker level to a lower balanced level, etc., etc.) But some of the DIY guys are having success running speaker level in.

So it seems to me you were bing a little condescending and a little wrong, all at the same time. It's just car audio, man... I gave up neurosurgery years ago. : )

 

Well, you are both right. Now, like the other member said, "Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". Really, if you are going to spend the time and money to use an Aftermarket HU, why are you even using the BLOSE amp? Yes, you can tap into the wires but I'm confused as to what you meant by "(35mm cable -> open wire -> tap to amp input)". Basically, it all boils down to impendence matching. If you know enough about car stereo and electronics, then you will know what I mean by impendence matching, line-level, and speaker-level inputs etc. So, yes, they do make adapters for this but really, why keep the BLOSE anyways?

 

You know, you're ****** if you do and ****** if you don't. I DID have a disclaimer at the top of the post that said "NOTE: I am not trying to be condescending or flame here" but I took it off because from my reading on here, people tend to not take things that way and I was under the impression the conversations on this board were at a mature level. Guess I was wrong on that count considering some people like to take opportunities to call people "condescending" and "wrong" for no apparently good reason.

I also had a rather detailed explaination of how it could be done, like you are suggesting... but I decided not to waste my time or his and that's why I put:

I said "No, they don't make anything that will convert these to match." because I didn't want to explain impedence matching and "taking single ended to balanced, balanced to single ended, speaker level to a lower balanced level, etc., etc.) " when I read

and am trying to keep it simple.

So no, I wasn't "wrong" just because I didn't give him a huge explaination of how it's done... something you haven't done either.

Make your future posts useful and give him some suggestions instead of commenting on how "wrong" and "condescending" my post was, when at least I was trying to be helpful.

It's just a message board where I'm trying to be helpful, man... I gave up neurosurgery years ago. : )

 

Since you're setting up a carputer, will you be running all your music off of your harddrive and using the soundcard? It's possible to use your soundcard signal and convert it to low level signals and tap into the Bose amp inputs to get sound for all your speakers. I'm not sure why you want to consider doing this with the Bose amp though beside cost savings. I would suggest getting a 4-5ch amp and possibly replacing the speakers. Quality wise, the Bose amp isn't worth the trouble. If you were only to replace the amp, the Bose speakers are 2 ohms and you'll have a hard time getting an 4+ ch amp to get you 2 ohms. It would be much easier to get a 4 ch amp, and 4 new speaker that run at 4 ohms and leave out the subwoofers for now.

 

Thanks guys for the input, and yes it is for cost saving. Since the carputer itself will be almost a grand already. My budget is about a grand for everything. A new 4ch+ amp plus all speakers will run me another grand.

Here's couple ways I want to go about this.

1. LCD in the DoubleDin area, I prefer this because the location is easy to reach. Plus it is not visible from outside thus minimizing chance of being pull over for playing movie while driving. But the Cons is that I may need to get new Amp and speakers and the DoubleDin itself is also costly.

2. Motorized InDash LCD in the cubby area. A member in this board had done this, but it seems a bit more difficult to install. The worst that can happen is that I will need to cut into the backend ventilation in order for the unit to fit. This method would be a lot cheaper since I can use the original audio equipments plus no need for doube din. However, the placement of the LCD isn’t as ideal for tourchscreen. I almost have to reach out every time I need to touch the screen.

 

I still think my post was the most helpful! LOL

 

No, mine was!

Now, if you get a aftermarket Head Unit, it most likely will have built in Amp, so you should be ok using that. I still suggest getting an a seperate amp. Hell, you can even get one these days for about $150 and will sound many times better than the BLOSE. Remember, when you hook up highlevel inputs into the BLOSE, it will induce noise and sometimes even that horrible engine whine. So, consider that too. There is a really nice touchscreen by Xenarc that someone was mentioning/selling on these forums a while back so you might look at that. It as inputs for the computer (VGA). Good luck.

 

it is the Xenarc 700TSV. DigitalWheelz.com makes a custom housing for it too, but the combo alone runs approx. $750. Good luck with your carPC, PM if you have any carPC specific questions, I've done a lot of research and am implementing one in my coupe as we speak (see sig).

 

Well, anyone know the output from sound card can work with the amp or not?

 

Yes, the output on the soundcard will work, only if you do the same thing as mentioned earlier. You will either need an aftermarket Amp or need to get the adapter for the impedence matching. Now, the output on a computer is weaker than the output on the HU, so you will be fine there. Basically, the output on the soundcard is a mini-jack so you can just use that to hook up to the BLOSE amp through the adapter. With all the money you will be spending on the adapter and mini-jack and such, just get the aftermarket amp. It will sound years ahead of the BLOSE. IMHO.

 

What adapter, can't I just tap into the Bose input as bare wire?