My friend has even less knowledge about car audio than I do, and wants
to upgrade his system. Unfortunately, he has a Bose system in the car.
It's a 1997 Cadillac Seville (STS?) and, as far as I can tell, it's
the original stock system that came with the car. I know that Bose car
audio has it set up so that each speaker has it's own amplifier, but
what I'm not sure of is how the head unit is configured. His car
currently has only the 4 speakers inside (my guess from what I've seen
online with my limited research is two coaxial 6X9's on the rear deck
and two coaxial 6.5's in the front kick panels) and no subwoofer.
Evidently, he says that the head unit says 200 watts on it somewhere.

Enough with the background, here's the question: Does anyone know what
the situation with this head unit might be as far as pre-amped outs,
and amped outs?

He wants a subwoofer so bad that he can taste it, but I'm not sure if
he'll need to replace the head unit (and therefore all of the inside
speakers as well) to get one... If someone knows, I can give him a few
options, and see what he wants to do from there... Thank you all!

Mister.Lull

umm......just run the rear speaker leads to the sub amp's high input.
If the amp has no high input, you can get a little converter from
walmart for like 10 bucks to convert high input to rca's... hope
that helps!

So you think that the head unit has high outputs? Anybody else? Do we
know if there are any pre-amped outs on this bad boy? As for adding a
sub, high inputs certainly are one option... However, I was hoping to
not have to splice wires (there are already four speakers installed).
Yesterday I went all over hell and back online and found a site that
gives instructions on pulling out decks in that particular make model
and year, I was just hoping somebody knew what was up before I went and
took out his deck...

Mister.Lull

You shouldn't have to pull the deck out. Go right to the rear speakers after
the amp

"Mister.Lull" wrote in message
oups.com...
So you think that the head unit has high outputs? Anybody else? Do we
know if there are any pre-amped outs on this bad boy? As for adding a
sub, high inputs certainly are one option... However, I was hoping to
not have to splice wires (there are already four speakers installed).
Yesterday I went all over hell and back online and found a site that
gives instructions on pulling out decks in that particular make model
and year, I was just hoping somebody knew what was up before I went and
took out his deck...

Mister.Lull

I'm sorry, what?

If the amp has a speaker level input, run it to the rear speakers. Or use a
hi power "line level adapter" (speaker to RCA adapter) and hook that to the
rear speakers.
That vehicle should have an power antenna on the left rear fender, but I'm
not sure if it goes down when CD is played. If it goes down when CD is
played you can not use that as the remote turn on. If the Antenna stays up
when the radio and CD is on then you can use antenna remote for the amp
remote. You may have to get the remote behind the radio.


"Mister.Lull" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm sorry, what?

ummmm... yeah. The actual question was whether or not there might be
any pre-amped (or even amped, at this point) outputs from the head unit
in this vehicle (because it has a Bose system)... Something I could
hook up an amp and sub to. I may not know a whole bunch about car
audio, but one of the things I do know how to wire an amp and a
speaker. :-)

Mister.Lull

My friend has even less knowledge about car audio than I do, and wants
to upgrade his system. Unfortunately, he has a Bose system in the car.
It's a 1997 Cadillac Seville (STS?) and, as far as I can tell, it's
the original stock system that came with the car. I know that Bose car
audio has it set up so that each speaker has it's own amplifier, but
what I'm not sure of is how the head unit is configured. His car
currently has only the 4 speakers inside (my guess from what I've seen
online with my limited research is two coaxial 6X9's on the rear deck
and two coaxial 6.5's in the front kick panels) and no subwoofer.
Evidently, he says that the head unit says 200 watts on it somewhere.

Enough with the background, here's the question: Does anyone know what
the situation with this head unit might be as far as pre-amped outs,
and amped outs?

He wants a subwoofer so bad that he can taste it, but I'm not sure if
he'll need to replace the head unit (and therefore all of the inside
speakers as well) to get one... If someone knows, I can give him a few
options, and see what he wants to do from there... Thank you all!

Cool, I've got a '98 STS. I ripped the entire Bose system out and my source
is a computer. But before I put the computer in, I used the factory deck.
I bought some modules (PAC?) specifically designed to make this interface.
If I recall, it's a digital connection between the deck and the factory amp,
so you have to pull the signal off the outputs of the amp. And, if I'm not
mistaken, only the front output isn't filtered. Sorry for the foggy memory,
but I think that's how it went.

Anyway, a couple more suggestions: don't use the factory sub location
(rear deck) for a sub. Also, the front and rear doors can house bigger
speakers than you think...

In article .com,
"Mister.Lull" wrote:

ummmm... yeah. The actual question was whether or not there might be
any pre-amped (or even amped, at this point) outputs from the head unit
in this vehicle (because it has a Bose system)... Something I could
hook up an amp and sub to. I may not know a whole bunch about car
audio, but one of the things I do know how to wire an amp and a
speaker. :-)

Mister.Lull


I've no experience with that particular vehicle's system. But if its
like just about any other bose product, its not meant for expandibility
to anybody but bose. I seriously doubt there are preamp outputs at the
back of that stock hu.

My vote is for tapping the high outputs at the rear speaker and be done
with it. Or as MZ mentioned, rip the whole goddamnhell thing outta there
and replace with your own.

--
Cyrus

*coughcasaucedoprodigynetcough*

Many Thanks, Cyrus and MZ... It is as I suspected then, I'll give him
his options and see what he wants to do. I just might be asking more
about this later!

Mister.Lull

"Mister.Lull" wrote in message
(snip)
Enough with the background, here's the question: Does anyone know what
the situation with this head unit might be as far as pre-amped outs,
and amped outs?

He wants a subwoofer so bad that he can taste it, but I'm not sure if
he'll need to replace the head unit (and therefore all of the inside
speakers as well) to get one...

I'm only familiar with the older ('93 and earlier) GM/Bose products, but
they used a preamp level signals between the head unit and amp. I
successfully integrated aftermarket amps a couple of times.

There are a couple of things to know in order to make your own decisions
about adding on vs. upgrading.

1) The Bose speakers are low impedance, typically ½ ohm for the 4" models,
and 1 ohm for 6x9's. That's how they make decent power directly off 12V
without the size or expense of a switching power supply. Therefore output
from the amps is moderate, probably only a few volts.

2) The amplifiers have parametric EQ's built in for that specific speaker in
that enclosure in that location. In other words, all 4 amps are likely to
have different equalization curves. Any external amplifier connected to
their speaker outputs will be equalized by the Bose.

3) If tweeters aren't present, adding a set of them will not present a
signifcant additional load to the amp. You can brighten the tweeterless
systems up very simply by tying a pair of tweeters (with crossovers) in
parallel to the front speakers.

4) Preamp signals are only a few hundred millivolts at best and at least
some of them aren't balanced. I have used external sub amps that accepted
balanced inputs, and amps that did not. In some cases, I may have used
isolation transformers ( aka ground loop isolator.) It's been a while.

5) A pair of tweeters and a good sub with a couple hundred watts will do
wonders for these otherwise moderate factory systems.

I am no fan of Bose, but learning the in's and out's of the GM and Nissan
Bose systems made a lot of easy money for me during my installation years.

Tim

Yeah I've told him that for the system that he wants, he'll eventually
have to replace everything... I was/am hoping that we can first put in
a sub, and then worry about the head unit and inside speakers later.
Thanks!

Yeah I've told him that for the system that he wants, he'll eventually
have to replace everything... I was/am hoping that we can first put in
a sub, and then worry about the head unit and inside speakers later.
Thanks!

Yep, the stock head unit isn't really all that bad either. He could put in
a great system but leave the stock HU if he wanted. You just need to buy
the right adapter and set it so that it maxes out on volume well before the
HU clips.