# 01 Pathfinder w/ BOSE - Trying to Wire a Sub



## SmokeyDP (Oct 31, 2003)

I have been reading here how if you want to replace the speakers you need to replace the whole setup. I plan on doing just that when I graduate from school in May. For now I want to wire up a AMP and Sub to power a 10" box. I had the whole setup wired to my 2002 Rangers stock head unit and still have the converter which turns the high-level inputs to RCA's. The amp will just be for a sub so I do not think interferience will be a problem, plus I have a remote bass control for the sub.

I just have no idea where to wire it up on this BOSE. I need to know if I should wire it up, BEFORE the amp, or AFTER the amp. I was going to wire it to the inside of the back quarter panel where the amps are. I also need to hook up my amp turn on wire so I dont need a toggle switch. 

I guess what I basically need is a wireing schematic so I can see what wires do what behind the head unit, and where the amps are located in the drivers side panels in the rear trunk where the speakers are hooked up.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

Sorry, but it can't be done. On a _normal_ stock audio system (one that sucks, but is atleast wired normally), you can splice into the high level signal and run them through a line level convertor and then to the amp. This is what you did with your Ranger, and it seems to work out pretty well. Unfortunately Bose does something completely different. They don't have the traditional + and - wires going to the speakers that you can tap into. Bose has their own type of connections and their own type of signal. To replace any part or even add on any part, you have to replace the whole thing.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

To clarify, if you already have the bose system, you need to toss your ENTIRE audio system to upgrade. You can't jus replace the speakers without replacing the amps, head unit, and wiring. You can't replace the Head unit without replacing he speakers, adding an amp and doing all the wiring.

The Bose system has no internal amp in the Head unit. Instead, each speaker has it's own amp designed to work specifically with a bose HU and the HU is designed to only work with Bose speakers.

I know, it's a PITA.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

Oh, BTW, since you're talking about wiring a sub. To my knowledge, there's no way to wire in a sub to any stock system. The radio must have RCA outputs (shielded...you cannot tap). You can take th system out and check for an RCA output, but I'm sure that it's very rare to find this on any stock system.


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## SmokeyDP (Oct 31, 2003)

I understand what you are saying about the BOSE radio and speakers. I have hooked up an amp to a STOCK Ford Ranger radio that did NOT have RCA outputs. I wired in a converter to the speaker output of the radio. I then hooked up the remote power wire to the amp. If I can just find out what wires control the signal between the amp and the speaker on the BOSE I will be set. I will also need to find a wire that carries a +12V signal only when the radio is on, then I can hook up a relay to turn the amp on and off on its own.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

1997 GA16DE said:


> Oh, BTW, since you're talking about wiring a sub. To my knowledge, there's no way to wire in a sub to any stock system. The radio must have RCA outputs (shielded...you cannot tap). You can take th system out and check for an RCA output, but I'm sure that it's very rare to find this on any stock system.



All you need is an LOC or an amp with high level inputs
The problem with Bose is everything is different, lol. I don't even know if they use the traditional + and - wires going to the speaker that you can tap into. It's something you would have to check out. I heard somewhere that Bose has a single wire going to the speaker for the signal (I guess they use the car chassis as the - or something) and a built in amp in each speaker. I have NO idea if this is right, just going off of a rumor here.


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