Upgrade non-Bose to Bose *detailed wiring info

[bobsblue95]

I surgically extracted the Bose radio wiring harness from the parts car. No trivial task! I only cut one ground wire and the front door speaker wires removing all of this... (oh I cut a few random wires inside the car as they were intertwined with my connectors)


Most people won't have the patience for this, so here's how to do it without too much effort. Oh, before anyone asks why I didn't just get some new drivers and amp, two words... Free Upgrade. Everything I needed is already in my hands.

You'll need:
-Bose speakers, all seven for best results!
-a Bose head unit (look for Tape/CD button if you want changer option, not just Tape button.)
-a Bose amplifier and the two connectors for it with enough wire to splice onto.
-optionally, the rear deck, which includes the subwoofer enclosure and amplifier mounting point. You may use your own sub box. I believe it uses 2 ohm drivers but not sure at this time.
-100 feet of 18ga speaker wire, which includes the following:
-Two pieces of 18ga speaker wire, ~18ft long, wrapped with foil then tape. Head unit end needs a wire connection to ground the shield. You might try monster cable here as an expensive alternative. Color code the four individual wires at both ends.
-An inline fuse holder, 20A fuse, Power and Ground wires, ~5 ft.
-Wire splicing equipment. I recommend solder and heat-shrink tubing, but you can use crimp splices or whatever floats your boat.

I discovered that a small (1mm?) allen wrench makes a great pin removal tool. Wiggle the wrench side to side while wiggling the wire in and out. Don't just pull on the wire, *push then pull* until it comes out easily.
Here I'm removing speaker wires from the connector. The pinouts are mostly the same.



To convert non-Bose to Bose wiring:
Disconnect the wires from the rear 6x9 speakers in the trunk.
Remove the Yellow wire from radio connector E13 and plug it into E3 (pink wire in the photo.) Make sure the tang engages the connector body.
The other end of the Yellow wire, originally connected to the left rear speaker, gets connected to aplifier connector pin 12 (pink).

Cut the following wires near the h/u connector long enough to splice new wires: (at least 4 inches for your own sanity)
E12(brn), E14(dk grn), E15(lt grn), F12(tan), F13(gray), F15(dk blue)
*DO NOT cut the Light Blue wire in F14 or any other wires not listed.
Splice the SPEAKER SIDE of the Dark Blue wire (Not the H/U side) to the Light Blue wire (scotchlock is good here.) Splice them together in the trunk as well, and then to amp connector, pin 17. This makes the two wires act as one bigger wire, which becomes our common signal return wire.
Four shielded wires* need to be spliced to E12, E15, F12 and F15, and routed along the driver's side under the door sills back behind the back seat, into the trunk. You also need to run the speaker wires to the doors under there.

Connect the following from Bose head unit to Amp, using the four shielded wires:
E12 (brn) -> 15 (brn) - Left Rear +
E15 (lt. grn) -> 14 (dk.blu) - Right Rear +
F12 (tan) -> 13 (tan) - Left Front +
F15 (dk.blu) -> 16 (lt.grn) - Right Front +

Using existing dark and light blue speaker wires spliced together, connect:
F14 (lt.blu) - 17 (wht) - Common - Use BOTH right rear speaker wires for this! Spliced together at both ends as noted above.
F13 (gry) - Common shield from the four shielded wire loom.

*Bose uses 18 ga. wire from h/u to amp and for speaker wires.
Four regular wires wrapped together in foil and tape.
Foil connects to F13 at h/u, no connection at amp.

You may choose to remove and replace the rear deck with the Bose deck. The subwoofer, amplifier and remote receiver are mounted under here.

Just two nuts to remove the seatback, plastic push-in fasteners hold the upper carpet and chmsl assembly, then four screws hold the plastic deck in place. Lots of wire clips to drive you crazy of course.

Speaker Connections:
Front speakers have 2-pin connectors behind the a-pillar interior panels. Cut and splice into the speaker wires. With the head unit connector unplugged, check continuity to determine which side of the connector is speaker side. Cut whichever side you want, I chose to omit the connectors. Amplifier speaker pinout:
1 (lt. blu -), 2 (dk. blu +) - Right Rear door speaker (~12 ft, routed into door)
3 (gray -), 4 (tan +) - Left front woofer and tweeter (~12 ft, splice near parking brake)
5 (brn +), 8 (yel -) - Left rear door speaker (~8 ft, routed into door)
6 (lt grn +), 7 (dk grn -) - Right front woofer and tweeter (~15 ft, splice near ABS module)
Small 4-pin connector goes to sub-woofer dual voice coil driver.
Wire lengths are approximate, from amplifier to speaker or splice point.

Finally you need power and ground. There are good ground points under the back seat, just bolt it down somewhere. The easy way to get power is with an inline fuse holder. Put a spade connector on one end and plug it into the fuse block where the Bose fuse (20A) would normally go.

Cheers!
Bob

[pureinsanity]

And i thought I was crazy! Haha, nice work!

I opted to add all that weight in sound dampening vs more audio equipment...I had debated over taking a bose setup from junk yard cars but its a lot of extra equipment.

[nelson480]

Looks really hairy. More than i'd attempt lol
Great job Bob

[bobsblue95]

You should see the inside of the parts car.

[beastboy1976]

Awesome job Bob. Impressive.

[kyngofpop]

With all that you've done, how is the response opposed to the standard system. The standard system really kicks and gets loud, whereas the Bose option in other GM cars just gives more Bass response and clarity but sacrificing the loudness factor.

[bobsblue95]

I'm waiting on a replacement amplifier. Mine had lost some of the magic smoke that makes electronics work. It still plays, sounds ok on the driver's side but makes weird whining noises and I'm still missing half of the right side and the subwoofer. We'll see in a few days.

*edit* actually I can tell you that the front door speakers definitely have more punch. I'll post pics of the drivers for comparison next time I pull a door panel off.

[Randy T.]

Magic smoke, lol. Do you have the box that holds the sub? Are you also installing a changer? Or did you already have one?

I have compared a Bose to a non-Bose and the Bose did sound way, way better. I thought the lower placement of the tweeters was inferior, but it was superior. I think the cd changer controls are integrated in all of the stock stereos, just hook it up and go.

Another thing is, some stock Aurora stereos just plain suck. You would not realize it if you had one unless you had a good one to compare it to.

If you are having a problem finding the sub, let me know. I have an extra one you can try out.

[bobsblue95]

*edit* added photos here...

Sept 7, 2011 17:27:33 GMT -6 Randy T. said:

Magic smoke, lol. Do you have the box that holds the sub? Are you also installing a changer? Or did you already have one?

Got the rear decklid, the box is integrated into it.

Oddly there is no changer or cd slot in this unit from my parts car...

I have compared a Bose to a non-Bose and the Bose did sound way, way better. I thought the lower placement of the tweeters was inferior, but it was superior. I think the cd changer controls are integrated in all of the stock stereos, just hook it up and go.

Interesting, I'm glad I went ahead and installed the Bose tweeter panels by the floor (well, driver's side so far. Passenger side will be tricky.) I know Bose would not do that without reason, knowing there's a spot in the doors.
Oddly there's no CD button or slot on my Bose h/u to even select the changer input. Luckily the cassette adapter works (old h/u only played one channel of cassette.) Assuming I don't go looking for a h/u with support for the changer input, I may just wire directly into the cassette lines since I never listen to cassettes.

If you are having a problem finding the sub, let me know. I have an extra one you can try out.

I think I'm all set. This weekend I'll swap the rear deck and mount the amp where it goes. Last weekend I ran all the door speaker and amp wires which was not as big a pain as I expected. The Bose speaker wires are heavier gauge than base also... more power!

[kyngofpop]

Sounds like this is gonna be well worth the work, kudos for the undertaking man. I guess the placement of the tweeters down low is that it creates a better soundstage rather them being placed directly beside the listeners ears in the base cars, similar to the component speakers that aftermarket installers prefer to install this way. Don't know if I missed it or not but will you be installing the 3.5 "twiddlers" (bose used that term in an online review of the Auroras system) in the rear doors?

[bobsblue95]

Yep, I swapped all four inside door panels and brought the speakers with them. Fished the wires through the looms and hooked up as close to factory as reasonable.

[beastboy1976]

I am jealous, when your done with yours you can come and do mine for me. Everytime I get in a car with the Bose sound system and the 6 disk it irritates me as thats the two options that Silver is missing that I would love to have.

[modman]

I'm getting ready to go threw the same ordeal. but i havent hooked up the bose head unit yet ,and i donthave the code.any ideas.?

[nelson480]

The car i took my changer from is Bose, is it worth all the work?

[bobsblue95]

It's def worth installing, but I would say you don't need to do what I did as far as removing the OEM wiring from a donor car. Just get the wiring from the amp up to the back seat, cut the speaker wires after the connector and splice in your own speaker wires.
There's a small bundle that runs up the driver's side to the head unit, four signal lines, ground, Pink (amp power signal from h/u) and antenna is taped onto them too. It's easy enough to just run your own wires from h/u to amp, you mainly will have to add the pink wire to the radio connector.
Door wiring was easy enough, but on the fronts I opted to just use the oem wires for the shortest length possible rather than all the disassembly that fishing wires in would require. Front tweeters I do recommend using the Bose placement*. Easy on the driver's side, the panels come out after removing two screws behing e-brake pedal. Passenger side is secured behind dash, I think I'm gonna just cut a hole for the speaker housing (you'll see what I mean.) *Bose placement of the tweeters near the floor is, I believe, for two reasons. One, they are a little loud that close to the ears, and two, the open port in the door now provides a vent for the speaker, and you can feel the air moving in and out of it at volume.
To go with the Bose subwoofer, the entire rear deck has to be replaced (not the carpet though, just the plastic deck under it) as the subwoofer box is integrated into it.

[beastboy1976]

You did a great job with it. Eventually I want to put the 12 disk bose system in mine. Right now I have too much other stuff to get done. The mods are comming along nicely though. By next years meet I will have some paint work done on her.

[nelson480]

Heck yea that opened up tweeter hole in the door doubles as a Bass thumper hole lol
And yes Bose has always had loudish tweeters
I wanna do it, but i wonder how much the yard will stab me for all the equipment..

[bobsblue95]

updated the initial post with more detailed instructions

[nelson480]

I've heard it, and now I MUST have it
Do the base door panels hold the BOSE speakers?

[bobsblue95]

I'll double check when I can, but I think they will. Back doors too (since there are no base speakers there.)
You gonna swap out the rear deck or just use a sub box?

[nelson480]

I removed the rear door panel from a NON bose at the yard, the holes are there so its confirmed.
I'm pulling EVERYTHING. The entire body harness, h/u, all speakers, amp, sub box etc..

How do you get that panel off thts on behind the hood release?

[nelson480]

I think the 99 is a bit different from the 95

[nelson480]

Aug 22, 2011 11:11:16 GMT -6 nelson480 said:

Looks really hairy. More than i'd attempt lol
Great job Bob

And to think i said this, when its almost done in my car. ;D

[98redaurora]

Going to salvage yard tomorrow, with this thread in the back of my mind.. They have like 7 auroras there. One of them has Bose, which I believe is a 95. What do you do about theftlock?

[bobsblue95]

None of my radios have Theftlock, but ISTR it's mentioned in the 95 owner's manual.

[human]

The odds of Theftlock actually being armed are fairly remote. I've swapped several Theftlock-equipped head units around over the years and have never encountered one that was actually locked. My understanding is they come unlocked from the factory by default. Locking the unit is done by either the dealer or the end user and most don't bother with it.

Mar 8, 2013 6:33:56 GMT -6 98redaurora said:

Going to salvage yard tomorrow, with this thread in the back of my mind.. They have like 7 auroras there. One of them has Bose, which I believe is a 95. What do you do about theftlock?

[98redaurora]

Found 2 Auroras with Bose at salvage yard, both with graphite interior. Between the 2 I have all the speakers. Are the systems the same over the years

[bobsblue95]

I think 95-99 will all have the same basic h/u wiring, based on either Bose or Olds, but someone with later model experience will have to verify that. There may be a compatibility issue between 95 and 96-99 models.

[98redaurora]

I believe one Aurora is a 95 and the other is a 96.