# i just have to say that i want back my 2 min that i wasted reading that...

Posted by DanNY (91SE) on October 02, 2003 at 08:35:32: In Reply to: Cheap fix for Bose Audio posted by Mark on October 02, 2003 at 02:06:27: we don't need your life story..just make it short and sweet. CLIFFNOTES: i installed a non bose radio in my 3rd gen from a 4th gen non bose unit and bypassed the stock 3rd gen bose amps. : I found a great fix for the typical Bose amplifier problem prone to 89-94 Maxima's. Bypass them! I don't know if this is new info to anyone, but it was to me, and I wanted to pass it along. My Maxima came stock with the Clarion made "Bose" cassette player and the Bose amplified speakers (an amp at each speaker). One rear speaker amp failed and would intermittantly produce a high pitched scream. I unplugged it about a year ago. I looked into many options, all costing several hundred dollars (I eventually purchased 2 used speakers/amps off ebay only to find the amps were bad - threw away nearly $150 on that purchase). A few weeks ago I researched how to adapt my wire harness to a later model radio (Nissan changed the radio plug design in 1995). I purchased two aftermarket harness ends (male for a 95+ model year that would push into a 95+ model radio and a female end harness that would push into my 91 model year vehicle harness). After much research on the net and at the dealer (and some test light work in the car), I made a pin out chart for each harness design which told me how to connect them together to convert my 91 wire harness to a 95+ design. Next I bought a used CD/Cassette combo deck off of ebay out of a 98 Altima. The unit was NOT a Bose specked deck (although it is made by Clarion as are virtually all Nissan factory radios - Hitachi built radios for a few models in the 80's, but I believe by 1990 Clarion was Nissan's exclusive supplier). The only difference between the Bose spec unit and the non-Bose unit is that the non-Bose unit has an amplifier built into the deck rather than preamp out to the speaker amps as in the Bose unit. My radio looks Identical to the Bose CD/Cassette decks found in 96 & 97 Maxima's except that it doesn't say "Bose" on the cassette door. Once I installed the deck, I next wired around the Bose amps at each speaker (thanks to the help of the factory service manual - each speaker has 4 wires running to it (amp power and ground and speaker left and right). Once I knew which were the speaker wires, I was able to splice the right wires together at each speaker to bypass the amps. Now I can run my Bose speakers with a factory Nissan deck (CD and Cassette too). It sounds great (all 4 speakers work now and the system sounds every bit as good as it did when amplified by fully operational Bose amps). Got a couple of bonuses too - The later model CD players are CDR compatible whereas the earlier decks that would have plugged directly into my car without any wire harness conversion were not. Also, the unit has a built in clock that can be turned on or off - in my case I run the clock since my factory Maxima clock displays only intermitantly (I believe this is also a common Maxima problem). I ended up with $95 in the entire fix including the deck, harnesses, and all shipping (Non-bose decks are much cheaper than the Bose units on ebay). A 98 Altima deck isn't the only one that will work. From my research, I believe any double-din non-Bose CD/Cassette 95 to around 2000 (depending on the model) will work. I looked at CD/Cassette decks from Frontiers, 200SX's, Altima's, Maxima's, G20's, etc and they all looked like they'd work great. What I looked for was the square double-din design, the 95+ wire harness design, and some indication that the amp was internal to the deck (cooling fins on the back was the easiest clue). In the early 90's there were a few non-Bose systems that used the same concept as the Bose units (preamp out of the deck to amps at each speaker - but with these systems, the amps were made by Clarion rather than Bose). These units were called "Active Speaker Systems". Cars that got these systems had the words "Active Speaker" on the grill of each speaker and the words "Active System" on the cassette door of the deck. Since these were early 90's systems, I don't think anyone looking for a 95 or newer deck will run into this - I believe Nissan only used this system through 92 or 93. I mention it only as an FYI. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to give you more info (if you can believe that - I've downloaded quite a lot here)! I can also email pictures and the schematic I made as well. Besides my Maxima, I own a 91 240SX LE with the "Active System" mentioned above (lucky me). It all works but I want a CD/Cassette deck in it (it's currently cassette only) so I'll be converting it next. Replys:

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: we don't need your life story..just make it short and sweet. : CLIFFNOTES: i installed a non bose radio in my 3rd gen from a 4th gen non bose unit and bypassed the stock 3rd gen bose amps. : : : I found a great fix for the typical Bose amplifier problem prone to 89-94 Maxima's. Bypass them! I don't know if this is new info to anyone, but it was to me, and I wanted to pass it along. My Maxima came stock with the Clarion made "Bose" cassette player and the Bose amplified speakers (an amp at each speaker). One rear speaker amp failed and would intermittantly produce a high pitched scream. I unplugged it about a year ago. I looked into many options, all costing several hundred dollars (I eventually purchased 2 used speakers/amps off ebay only to find the amps were bad - threw away nearly $150 on that purchase). A few weeks ago I researched how to adapt my wire harness to a later model radio (Nissan changed the radio plug design in 1995). I purchased two aftermarket harness ends (male for a 95+ model year that would push into a 95+ model radio and a female end harness that would push into my 91 model year vehicle harness). After much research on the net and at the dealer (and some test light work in the car), I made a pin out chart for each harness design which told me how to connect them together to convert my 91 wire harness to a 95+ design. Next I bought a used CD/Cassette combo deck off of ebay out of a 98 Altima. The unit was NOT a Bose specked deck (although it is made by Clarion as are virtually all Nissan factory radios - Hitachi built radios for a few models in the 80's, but I believe by 1990 Clarion was Nissan's exclusive supplier). The only difference between the Bose spec unit and the non-Bose unit is that the non-Bose unit has an amplifier built into the deck rather than preamp out to the speaker amps as in the Bose unit. My radio looks Identical to the Bose CD/Cassette decks found in 96 & 97 Maxima's except that it doesn't say "Bose" on the cassette door. Once I installed the deck, I next wired around the Bose amps at each speaker (thanks to the help of the factory service manual - each speaker has 4 wires running to it (amp power and ground and speaker left and right). Once I knew which were the speaker wires, I was able to splice the right wires together at each speaker to bypass the amps. Now I can run my Bose speakers with a factory Nissan deck (CD and Cassette too). It sounds great (all 4 speakers work now and the system sounds every bit as good as it did when amplified by fully operational Bose amps). Got a couple of bonuses too - The later model CD players are CDR compatible whereas the earlier decks that would have plugged directly into my car without any wire harness conversion were not. Also, the unit has a built in clock that can be turned on or off - in my case I run the clock since my factory Maxima clock displays only intermitantly (I believe this is also a common Maxima problem). I ended up with $95 in the entire fix including the deck, harnesses, and all shipping (Non-bose decks are much cheaper than the Bose units on ebay). A 98 Altima deck isn't the only one that will work. From my research, I believe any double-din non-Bose CD/Cassette 95 to around 2000 (depending on the model) will work. I looked at CD/Cassette decks from Frontiers, 200SX's, Altima's, Maxima's, G20's, etc and they all looked like they'd work great. What I looked for was the square double-din design, the 95+ wire harness design, and some indication that the amp was internal to the deck (cooling fins on the back was the easiest clue). In the early 90's there were a few non-Bose systems that used the same concept as the Bose units (preamp out of the deck to amps at each speaker - but with these systems, the amps were made by Clarion rather than Bose). These units were called "Active Speaker Systems". Cars that got these systems had the words "Active Speaker" on the grill of each speaker and the words "Active System" on the cassette door of the deck. Since these were early 90's systems, I don't think anyone looking for a 95 or newer deck will run into this - I believe Nissan only used this system through 92 or 93. I mention it only as an FYI. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to give you more info (if you can believe that - I've downloaded quite a lot here)! I can also email pictures and the schematic I made as well. Besides my Maxima, I own a 91 240SX LE with the "Active System" mentioned above (lucky me). It all works but I want a CD/Cassette deck in it (it's currently cassette only) so I'll be converting it next.