Hate to bring this back from the dead but i am looking to add a 10" sub with aftermarket amp..... problem is i am tapping into the rear speakers with an adapter to turn it into rca's however my sub now sounds like a big speaker vs a sub.

Thoughts?

At first i used an adapter that plugs into the factory harness behind the stereo that then gave me rcas.....problem is that i have no control over the power of the sub at that point so if the volume is to low the bass is to high or if the volume is to high the bass is to small.

 

I used a 10" Powered Bazooka Tube that I had left over from 2 f150's ago. I'm not gonna win any shows, but it sounds great for a quick add! I tapped the rear speakers and accessed them from the drivers rear step plate. Pop the rear speakers panels out and use them as a reference(color of wire), power, ground and remote(Ignition)and it's ready to roll! Good luck, hope it helps!
-Mike

 

Been there, tried that, failed miserably after several attempts. I was waiting for the Kenwood DNX8120 to come out (I was pre ordered for 4 months) and to be honest, I think I tried 6 to 8 different ways, spent a hundred bucks on misc adapters, converters, and assorted widgets to make the factory head unit work with my amp and sub. It was a failure.

Once my Kenwood got delivered, I tore out the factory unit, installed the new one, sold the factory unit on ebay for $400, and all was happy in the world.

The moral of the story imho is, replace the factory head unit, sell it on ebay, buy a nice replacement head unit ($300 to $1200 depending on what you want) and you too will enjoy your sub.

Mind you I also happily ripped out all my Blows speakers and replaced them with JL Audio's finest, installed a nice Memphis 4 channel amp for them, and put a 12" low profile Pioneer sub with Memphis amp as well.

 

From my understanding there is a sub woofer under the center console ( i have the bose...or blows system) i pulled the console but dont really see it. Anyone have a pic?

And why does no one have a factory diagram online for the bose system lol?

 

Tapping into a factory amplified system is a no no after the amp. Mainly because before the amp, Wiring is low voltage requiring eliminators, after the amp wiring is at a high voltage and causes distortion. Converters that tap speaker wires are a bad idea depending on where you install them. Even for a quality unit like Pheonix Gold.

Instead, try searching for "Metra, Axxess" or "Pac" adapters that fit in line with the EO radio using the factory harness. This way you can add your amps safely with out permanent mods to the factory wiring. You also will not have to worry about reversing the polarity by accident and throwing things out of phase.

For the guy that asked about base control and response, there are plenty of amps out there that have a sepperate bass control **** you can run to the front and adjust your sound at will!
Good luck!

 

you are right about that! my brother is going that route in his h3 cause he personally like his stock HU.

 

Ok, the Bose amp us under the center console. It is metal and has heat sinks on it. There is a large harness that goes to it that has twisted pairs that are speaker outputs form the amp. These are crossed over and useless for sub amps.

The wires you want, I believe they are black and red, are thicker wires that will possibly run to a smaller harness right near the larger one. There will be two pairs because the factory sub is a dual voice coil. Disconnect the syub completely cause it sucks and connect a test speaker to verify it is the right harness. You should only get very low frequencies from the speaker. Using a High to Low level adapter will NOT effect the Bose system. What will happen however, is you will notice the DSP in the factory head unit will effect the bass response from the sub. Factory systems are built to last, not perform, so when you turn up the volume, they cut bass. It's just a fact of life. High fidelity is very attainable, but you have to cut out the budget system that manufacturers throw in there and start new.

Good luck!

 

You people do know there are two separate Bose systems available in GM cars and trucks dont you? The premium system is designed wrong and gives a lot of distortion where the Bose LUX system is built in a much better way and sounds a whole lot better and has the better amp and the powered sub woofer which together sounds a lot cleaner with les ls distortion at higher volumes.... And your calling Bose BLOWS yet turn around in the same sentence say phoenix gold is high quality equipment when PG is crap because I remember when PG came out in the late 80's and it was cheap crap then just as it is now.... If you don't like your system then do a new wire run over the factory run and then pull the existing speakers and amp and put nice component speakers and after market amps that way if you sell the car you simply pop the factory equipment back in and pull your high end stuff.... Bose has been a leading innovator in audio equipment for a couple decades and there stuff from 20 years ago still out performs a lot of today's stuff..... A car is not an acoustically sound environment in the first place and you can go into a car audio shop and go into their display room and then expect it to sound the same in your car and it never will.... You need to turn your car into an acoustically sound environment by using sound mats lime dyna mat or another brand and that alone will make a huge difference in the way your car audio sounds.... Which is the only thing I did to my H2 hummer to make the Bose LUX system sound even better and I'll put my stock system up against any System built the same way... Another trick you can do is to get boxes that you put in the factory space and then the speaker into those boxes which also gives a lot better sound... So with two simple improvements to your cars environment you have made a huge difference in the way your stock car audio system sounds.....
I've been an installer since the mid 80's and and I did it both as a professional installer and a self installer and every car or truck or suv I've ever owned I have pulled the stock system and upgraded the cars environment then the audio video navigation system in every one of them with the exception of my H2 hummer which is a 2003 and it rocks with the Bose LUX system after I boxed all 8 speakers and the small woofer and then added dyna mat material in the areas that would benefit from them....... So before you say something is crap just because your going with the herd and by what you've read others write try doing your homework because Bose is now and always has been a leader in audio equipment and I have old Bose cube speakers and box speakers that are as crisp and clean as anything on the market today....... And just because one Bose system sounds bad in a vehicle because the car wasn't designed around the Bose system it was the Bose system that had to be designed around the car in the best way it could be for the environment and the LUX system was designed a lot better then the premium package was.... There is actually a real good post on how both are designed and why one sounds ten times better then the other if you do a little search you'll find out why yours sounds worse then mine does

 

Oh and if you don't want to search why the LUX system sound a lot better then the premium system I'll cut and paste the write up another poster did on the subject

 

Re: two types of bose? "lux" and "Nonlux"?
I don't know if this will help you, but I read this(I know its long, but has some good information):

Now i finally found all of this info after weeks of searching, and i wanted to present this research to everyone: Hope this clears some things up...

Nav part numbers:

Newest revision LUX TNR (15800001)
Second Revision LUX TNR (15230099)
First Revision LUX TNR (10377531)

Newest revision NON-LUX TNR (15800000)
second Revision NON-LUX TNR (10379287)
First Revision NON-LUX TNR (10377287)
Alt. Revision NON-LUX TNR (15120706)

Newest Revision LUX INR (15204335)
First Revision LUX INR (5204334)
Newest Revision NON-LUX INR (15108241)

NON-BOSE TNR (trucks with UQ3/UQ5 non-Bose audio) (15811289)

LUX Amplifier numbers: (all are identical in function, they just have different part numbers)

15199992
15114445
15114454
15191601
15112662
15199884

Nav Antennas

First revision antenna (15207447)
Latest revision antenna (15135178)

LUX vs. NON-LUX
(Thanks to DURAtotheMAX from The Diesel Place)

Here is exactly how the NON-LUX and LUX amps differ and why the LUX amp sounds better than the premium amp. Sorry for my long
winded explanation...i sort of got carried away (this is the
explanation I sent to another guy that was interested in the lux amp
conversion too...except he did only the LUX amp...no TNR)!!!
So normally in an after market amp/speaker system, you have a head
unit (the radio), an amp, and speakers. The head unit sends a "low
level" signal to the amp. This low level signal varies in output
"slightly" as the volume **** is turned up or down. The amp takes this
signal and greatly amplifies it and sends the high-power, high level
signal to the speakers. When you turn up the volume ****, the "low
level" signal gets slightly more powerful and the amp then amplifies
this and you hear it as "louder sound". Follow me? If I get too
confusing at any point, just PM me or email me!! The amp also has an "amp turn
on" wire which is basically a power wire from the head unit so when
the head unit turns on, it tells the amp to turn on. Kinda like a
relay. The Bose "Premium" system works on this exact same principal.
We kinda refer to the Bose Premium amp/system as the "dumb amp",
because thats basically what it is. It sits there just like a fool and
just "makes louder" whatever is thrown at it. It does not know what it
is attached to and has no interaction with the car at all (you could
hook it up to a telephone for all it cares). This is probably where it
loses quality. The wires from the head unit probably pick up a lot of
interference because GM doesn't think and they just bundle the thin
wires right along side electrical wires etc... The stronger the audio
signal passing through the wires, the more suseptable the signal is too
interference. So, technically, the more you increase the volume, the
more interference the wires pick up. Also, you have to think about
that the "dumb" amp's "volume" (called 'gain') is always cranked to
the MAX, so when you vary the "output" from the radio, you can get a
full volume range from quiet to really loud. If the Dumb Amp's gain
was not turned up all the way, than the system would not go loud even
if you turned up the radio all the way. Follow me? Its like if you
have a water hose hooked up to a faucet and on the end of the hose you
have a variable water valve. Think of the faucet's **** as the volume
**** on the radio. And think of that valve on the end of the hose as
the "gain" control on the dumb amp. Now, if you only opened up the
valve on the end of the hose a little bit, not a lot of water will
come out no matter how wide open you turn the faucet's ****. SO... the
valve at the end of the hose has to be wide open all the time in order
for you to be able to control it (the volume/water flow) at the
faucet's (radio's) ****. This is a disadvantage because on cheaper
quality amplifiers (which the 'dumb amp' is), when the gain is cranked
up all the way, you introduce lots of distortion and quality loss even
tho the volume is not up all the way. That is why the 'dumb amp' does
not sound all that great (and like a Bose system should!!!

NOW... The lux amp works completely differently.
It is a "smart amp" in that is has a full on-board computer and DSP
(digital signal/sound processor). It is fully integrated with the
vehicle in that it communicates with everything in the vehicle over
the Class II data bus. (like a computer LAN) Now.. the head unit in
"LUX" vehicles sends a VERY low level constant signal to the amp that
does NOT change. Even when you turn the volume and play with the
fader/balance. The head unit does NOTHING to audio. It does not apply
bass or treble changes, it doesn't fade/balance it, nothing!! It just
sends a constant low level left and right (it doesn't send rear
signals) audio signal to the amp. The amp receives this and the amp's
DSP "optimizes" the sound to do whatever Bose does to it etc.. AND the
amp constantly talks to the head unit over the Class II data bus to
receive volume, fader, balance, bass, treble and mid-range
information. So, when you turn the volume **** up in a LUX vehicle,
you are not simply increasing the output of the low-level signal from
the head unit. You are sending a signal directly to the LUX amp that
says "hey turn up the volume a bit". And then the amp just increases
the output level to the speakers. Same thing with the fader, because
remember the head unit does not output separate "rear" channels. The
amp is smart enough to "make up" a rear channel (for the rear
speakers) based on the fader setting that the radio is sending it over
the Class II network. its really pretty cool how it all works! Same
thing with Bass and treble too. You press some buttons on the radio to
increase the bass and the radio says to the amp "hey, adjust your EQ
for some more bass". Running the LUX amp this way keeps the audio
signals coming from the radio at a constant low level so not a lot of
interference can come in from power wires running along side... Also,
think back to my "water faucet/hose" analogy. Its like instead of
keeping the end valve wide open and controlling flow with the faucet's
****, you are doing the opposite. You are keeping the audio signal low
and constant while just controlling actual volume of the music with
the "gain" control on the LUX amp. AND thats why the LUX amp sounds
50 times better than the Premium, or DUMB amp!! Another nice thing
about the LUX amp is that it does not need an "amp turn on" wire or
anything because that is all done with Class II data. And you can
program a LUX amp for which vehicle it is in and it will alter the
sound processing sequences to make the sound perfect for the size
cabin it is in! (for example, it is going to have to be programmed
differently if it is in a huge cabin Escalade ESV versus a smaller
extended cab Sierra Denali (thats the only truck that gets a lux amp
from the factory...if you dont count the Escalade EXT as a truck)
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