Upgrading my TTR Bose stereo....
04-25-2002, 02:56 PM
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Upgrading my TTR Bose stereo....
Right now, I have my TT at an audio place getting 2 10 inch Eclipse subs put into a box being ran off of my older amp-MTX Thunder 280watts. I am getting this inorder to boost the crappy Bose system that comes with the car (I can't believe that they charge $1200 for this piece of junk) this should do it...right? Now I am interested in getting rid of the speakers and keeping just the headunit and the cd changer. The guy doing my car said that this is not possible w/Bose system. Is he right? I would hate to trash the whole thing. Is there anyway around this???? Thanks for answering a question that has been probably been asked to death.
04-25-2002, 03:18 PM
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what?!!? i don't think that's true at all. I've seen people upgrade everything but the stock HU...
in fact, I plan to do this myself and I also have bose.
hmmm...on second thought, maybe you have to drop by the dealer to uncode the bose from your head unit.. maybe that's what he was talking about?
hmmm...on second thought, maybe you have to drop by the dealer to uncode the bose from your head unit.. maybe that's what he was talking about?
04-25-2002, 05:10 PM
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Bull****. He just wants to sell you a new HU (long)
From what I've been told, there is NO difference btwn the Bose & non-Bose HU - at least the Symphony units in A4s. I believe it also applies to the Concerts in TTs. The differences are in the speakers and the extra amps used for Bose. Even if there is some difference I'm not aware of, you should be able to change it with a VAG (there *may* be some weird coding for the Bose).
There are quite a few of us here who have the stock HU running aftermarket amps, speakers & subs. You can do it with line-level adapters (not recommended, but your installer will probably say that's the only way); or buy a $5 adapter from crutchfield.com which allows you to tap into the low-level outputs which are pre-wired in the headunits. Then you have RCA jacks directly from your stock HU ready to be wired to your aftermarket amp.
Chances are, your average installer doesn't know about the second option, and won't believe it can be done. The reason is - most factory units don't have low-level line outs; but luckily the Concert & Symphony do. It's a great alternative, and it sounds pretty damn good. Not perfect, but certainly better than the factory systems (Bose or not).
There are quite a few of us here who have the stock HU running aftermarket amps, speakers & subs. You can do it with line-level adapters (not recommended, but your installer will probably say that's the only way); or buy a $5 adapter from crutchfield.com which allows you to tap into the low-level outputs which are pre-wired in the headunits. Then you have RCA jacks directly from your stock HU ready to be wired to your aftermarket amp.
Chances are, your average installer doesn't know about the second option, and won't believe it can be done. The reason is - most factory units don't have low-level line outs; but luckily the Concert & Symphony do. It's a great alternative, and it sounds pretty damn good. Not perfect, but certainly better than the factory systems (Bose or not).
04-26-2002, 01:31 PM
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Rear non-Bose are self-powered. At least on 2001 A4 . . .
there's an amp on one of the speakers (forgot which one). It's a moot point though, because using aftermarket setup w/either stock HU is do-able, which is the real question.
04-26-2002, 07:22 PM
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There ia a harness to get power from stock external amp for aftermarket speakers...
but...... it will sound like **** with the factory amp and that sub amp, because you WILL get ground noise. That wonderful whine everytime you hit the gas during a quiet part of the song. Here's a tip, you spent 35k on the car, invest a little into a great head unit, it can make or break your sound quality. P.S. stick to Clarion or Alpine head untis.
04-29-2002, 07:15 AM
#7
The only diff. in the 'Bose' and 'Non-Bose' Concert I H/U is...
there are no line-out pins for the LF and RF on the wiring harness connector on the H/U.
In order to get these line-out, I had to wire RCA's directly to the connector on the back of the H/U.
the pins are there, just no wires on the connector.
<img src="http://home.attbi.com/~ttbipes/jpgs/rearview1.jpg">
<img src="http://home.attbi.com/~ttbipes/jpgs/solderpoints.jpg">
<img src="http://home.attbi.com/~ttbipes/jpgs/rcasinplace.jpg">
In order to get these line-out, I had to wire RCA's directly to the connector on the back of the H/U.
the pins are there, just no wires on the connector.
<img src="http://home.attbi.com/~ttbipes/jpgs/rearview1.jpg">
<img src="http://home.attbi.com/~ttbipes/jpgs/solderpoints.jpg">
<img src="http://home.attbi.com/~ttbipes/jpgs/rcasinplace.jpg">
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