I have an 03 Sedan with a non-Bose stereo that has stopped working. I'm looking into options for replacing it. I can buy an aftermarket HU but then need either the Metra or JDM Dash kit, which just adds hundreds of dollars. I have seen more Bose HU's for sale than non-Bose, but wasn't sure if a Bose HU would plug into my cars harness and work. I'm sure someone has tried this? I did a search of the forum and didn't seem to find an answer.

Thanks

Joe Mac

 

No it won't work... Non-Bose has built in amp... Bose, does not....

 

my bose HU barely puts out any volume. I replaced the amp with an Alpine 475 watt 4 ch and have to have it cranked up 3/4 the way to get some good volume. you could always get a bose HU and run an amp with it. decent 4-ch can be had for around $100 these days. Cheaper than spending $350 for a new JDM DD and another $300 for a HU.

 

Shucks.

Do you know if the '04 and '03 HU's are interchangeable?

 

So is there an adapter harness I would need to get or would I just have to cut into the factory harness to wire in an external amp?

 

Early '03s aren't compatible with anything. Late '03s are compatible with '04s.

 

If you do a bose headunit in place of a non-bose, you'd need to do you own splicing of wires to an external amplifier, and that amplifier would need to support the differential-balanced signal from the bose headunit.

That said, just get a aftermarket radio, it'll remove the horribly failure-prone factory units from your car, and not require any custom wiring.

 

I had the same issue last year with mine, I tried using the Bose unit and it does not work. The sound quality will be terrible like all your speakers are blown, don't waste your time, just buy a non-Bose replacement. eBay should have them

 

I dont know. I cut off the bose harness for my 4-ch. I ended up using the rear deck for 6x9 speakers, and not even powering the speakers in the back side panels. These radio's are pretty simple, and not Canbus powered, so you could probably get an amp integration kit, or just get an aftermarket harness, then a reverse harness. That way you can plug it into your oem harness, isolate the speaker wires, then plug it back into your radio. No cutting the oem wires at all. Did this on my Jeep before I upgraded the oem radio.