Bose Istallation Perturbations

[fishyboy]

Hello guy's and gal's,
i need some advice on retrofitting the bose audio system into my 2002 147. In have sucsesfully fitted the bass box and bose duel cone speakers, attached the bass box to the $500(AUS) cabe and ran it along the loom of the car untill it meets the dashboard. Though i cant find anywhere to connect the the cables running from the bass box? (refer to dodgy photo)
Do any of you guys know where the loom cable connects to? (I presumed the head unit) Or is there another cable i need to purchase?
The dealer reckons a $1600 GTA head unit should fix it though i doubt that. I've done a search through the forums and couldn't find anything, could someone please help!

[alfa_147_jtd_16v]

Welcome

Bad news I am affraid.

First of all dealer is telling you tripe.

Secondly it does not connect to the head unit.

Thirdly I tried to retro fit the BOSE and I failed, so I took into Autodelta and they also failed. Those cables plug into the main cars wiring loom and on mine one of those two cables gave concern but the installer as it conflicted with what I had on the main loom and the consequencies of plugging it in was uknown. Therefore the project was abandoned - at some cost to me!!

Sorry I cannot help you anymore.

Do a search for my threads and posts on this matter as this went into some lengthy discussions.

[alfa_147_jtd_16v]

Oh and the cable actually pluggs into the loom under the dash behind the fusebox.

[scuro]

surely wiring diagrams of a bose equipped and a non-bose equipped car ought to shed some light on this problem

i have been thinking about doing the same thing for over a year but have been afraid to commit for this very reason!

[fishyboy]

Does anyonw know where i can obtain these wiring diagrams? I have the workshop manual on CD but it tells you stuff all. Though regardless of the sub you can tell there is a major difference between the standard speakers and the bose duel cone ones. Though it would be a shame to have an inactive sub and amp

Sub is a waste of space really the speakers are good they produce a fair amount of bass and good enough SQ but the sub is useless, you would be better off retro fitting a decent sub. Something like Vibe or Boston Acoustics or you could go for a Peerless XLS sub which is only 90 Sterling delivered from BK Elec. I have this Driver in my home cinema installation and it is very musical and can produce very deep bass and can keep up with fast paced bass heavy music.


I know fitting a another sub is going to be an added expensive
and haeing to make an enclosure but you will be much more happy with it as it will benefit you no end.

http://www.bkelec.com/HiFi/Drive_Uni...less/XLS10.htm

[fishyboy]

That looks like a nice speaker, though i have allready forked out over $1000 for everything so far, so i don't think i will be making any more purchases in regards to car Hifi, my car now decided it needs a new Airbag module, another $800.

[T Spark]

Personally i think the BOSE set-up is crap....

You of should of went for better aftermarket audio.


good luck.

Ouch sorry to hear about the airbag problem. How you manage to spend 1000 dollars on it? For that amount of wedge i would presume you could have gone for a full components and head unit change over and still have some change fo your amps to power it all.

@T. Spark why do you dis miss the Bose system so quickly.

Would it be the fact that you do not like Bose or see them as only a marketing hype with no real decent speakers out there??

[T Spark]

Originally Posted by Damien_C

@T. Spark why do you dis miss the Bose system so quickly.

Would it be the fact that you do not like Bose or see them as only a marketing hype with no real decent speakers out there??

Got in one!

All i ever hear is alfa owners go on about "Bose this, bose that"....but really it's just hype surrounding the name. Bose speakers are NOT that great to how people make them out to be.

If you bought it with your car fair enough...but it's the people who go through the trouble of having them fitted in afterwards which is pointless...your better-off researching quality aftermarket set-ups AND head units if your going down that route.

[fishyboy]

People go through the trouble of having the Bose system fitted because are not interested in putting a Head unit which detracts from the aesthetics of the cabin, nor want a bulky and obtrusive sub in the boot, i just want something that sounds decent, not an eyesore and offcourse carry a reputable brand name.
Bose speakers may not be that good, but ive owned nothing else when it comes to audio and i've been satisfied.

By the way can anyone help with Bose wiring diagrams or somthing, the car has been sitting at the dealers all week and they can't find a solution.


Cheers

[KoFFiE]

Originally Posted by T Spark

Got in one!

All i ever hear is alfa owners go on about "Bose this, bose that"....but really it's just hype surrounding the name. Bose speakers are NOT that great to how people make them out to be.

If you bought it with your car fair enough...but it's the people who go through the trouble of having them fitted in afterwards which is pointless...your better-off researching quality aftermarket set-ups AND head units if your going down that route.

I took the Bose option when buying the car, cause the set didn't sound too bad, and I didnt want to go through the trouble (and costs) of fitting a decent installation in it, losing time & boot-space. Plus - I got the option virtually for free.

@fishyboy - From all the "home" soundsystems I've heard - Bose was mostly an "just above average" with a high-end wannabe pricetag on it. At first there wasn't a hair on my head that was even considering taking the Bose option, but the sound-quality surprised me in the 147. In the 159 and 156 - it doesn't sound as well at all imho. It's still no high-end stuff, but it's better than any default speakers.

Bose simply has a reputation of applying dirty audio tricks, but most ppl don't hear them and think the sound is wonderfull and more clear than anything they've heard. Truth is - they just haven't heard anything better (which doesn't mean more expensive btw). In a car you won't notice those tricks, even if you know what to listen for since there's a lot of environmental noises, but I'm absolutely sure that I'll never want a Bose soundsystem in my livingroom where I want to relax. A lot of ppl are happy though with Bose.

About the sub being too light - I actually think it's well balanced, not too over-present 'mine is bigger than yours' like you hear mostly in "custom" installations. I don't want my car to be a boom-car, I want my music to be balanced. Sure I sometimes listen to some heavily ****ed up music (even far beyond your imagination ), but I like to enjoy classical music, minimalistic, lounge, IDM and other more relaxed forms of music which sounds horrible when the sub is too overwhelming.