Finally! my Aftermarket Subwoofer and Amplifier Integration into Bose Audio How To

Finally! my Aftermarket Subwoofer and Amplifier Integration into Bose Audio H...

Paulieb81 said:
Skorpio, I wanted to say thank you for posting this thread. I was reading thread after thread with so many questions. It seamed like everyone was posting the wire diagram for the NON bose system, and finally I found all the needed info in one thread.
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Yes sir Paulieb81, you're welcome and glad to help. I too, at one time was in the same boat as you ;). I hope your CX-5 kicks the beats [emoji3]
 
Skorpio said:
Yes sir Paulieb81, you're welcome and glad to help. I too, at one time was in the same boat as you ;). I hope your CX-5 kicks the beats [emoji3]
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It rocks pretty good. I just put in a 12" Pioneer ib Flat sub I had sitting around from my Dodge ram. It's a shallow mount so it doesn't have the best sound but it works for not spending extra money when I had a set of them sitting in the garage. It's powered by a Kicker CX1200.1 amp, sounds good, just finished it yesterday so gotta make a few adjustments. I am trying to decide if I want to go the route of replacing the stock speakers and amp, never had to use an audio processor before, so not sure the time/effort/cost of the project.
 
Finally! my Aftermarket Subwoofer and Amplifier Integration into Bose Audio H...

Cocked, locked, and ready to rock! (lol2) Rock it out for a couple of weeks after your ears settle into it, then you can decide if you want to go further. I too, had all the audio stuff from a build from my former vehicle, so it was basically free for me. I'm not an audiophile, so for now I'm keeping it simple with just an integrated amp and sub. I feel the rest of the Bose system can hold it's own. But, if I decide to go further, I may try to integrate an Audison Bit One processor for losseless high quality bluetooth and digital music, since that's about 90% of what I listen to. Give me a shout if you have any questions [emoji111]️
 
I know I read it here somewhere over the past few days but can't find it now. Can someone please tell me, if we tap the wires as suggested in this thread with a line out converter prior to the amp, is it considered a low level or high level input to our amp?

I know normally it would be a high level output, but due to the fact that our head unit pairs with an amp, is it then a low level?
 
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Paulieb81 said:
I know I read it here somewhere over the past few days but can't find it now. Can someone please tell me, if we tap the wires as suggested in this thread with a line out converter prior to the amp, is it considered a low level or high level input to our amp?

I know normally it would be a high level output, but due to the fact that our head unit pairs with an amp, is it then a low level?
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The loc converts high level outputs (speaker) to low level.
 
Skorpio said:
Glad to hear you got your stereo hooked up bmarsh! How does it sound? (popcorn)
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Still need to do a little tuning, but the added bass really fills out the sound from the Bose. I need to find a little screwdriver to adjust my amp under the seat!
 
You're welcome. I am going to order my set up this weekend and hopefully install it by next week. I just read your write up and it definitely gave me a solid idea on how to approach wiring.

Any tips/suggestions for prying the plastic covers (sills, kick panel, etc)? Last thing I want to do is to scratch the plastics or even worse, break off some clips. The wiring is relatively straight forward enough for me to be confident about.
 
Finally! my Aftermarket Subwoofer and Amplifier Integration into Bose Audio H...

Those plastic covers can be a slight plain, as they are tighter than some other panels for the first time removed. Once they are removed, they loosen up a bit, as I have removed the passenger side several times now without and it's easy now. I pulled them up by hand, using firm, yet careful, force. It's kinda a "feel" thing. I'd suggest pulling softly, and increasing the force until they pop off. The rear seemed tighter than the fronts, to me. If you get a hiccup along the way, give me a shout and I'll try to help you out. [emoji111]️

P.s.- once I update the pics, I'll snap and add one of the scuff panels to get a better view.
 
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SayNo, the panels and covers are pretty straightforward. One of the tricks is the rubber door seal holds the edge of the kick panels right in front of the doors. Pull it up a bit, and that edge is free.

By far the most difficult thing for me was getting the power supply wire through the firewall grommet. I'm not sure how Skorpio did it without taking out the battery!
 
bmarsh said:
SayNo, the panels and covers are pretty straightforward. One of the tricks is the rubber door seal holds the edge of the kick panels right in front of the doors. Pull it up a bit, and that edge is free.

By far the most difficult thing for me was getting the power supply wire through the firewall grommet. I'm not sure how Skorpio did it without taking out the battery!
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I forgot to mention the seal, thanks bmarsh! For me, I took a clothes hanger, straightened it and sharpened the end, wiggled it through the bird's nests of wire to make sure I had a clear path, poked it hard enough to be leave an impression on the engine bay side. Then I took an X-Acto knife and breached the rubber boot. It is a tight fit, but I didn't want to disconnect the battery and reset the ECU and settings. I am also kinda used to tight, hard to get-to areas from working on this type of things for so many years, so that experience may have something to do with my success? (dunno)
 
Thanks again for the tips. Hopefully I don't snap some s*** up during the process. Always dreaded working on plastic clips as they (almost) always broke on older cars when you look at them the wrong way.

I am contemplating whether or not I want to install the remote power terminal that will require the fuse tap. The amp comes with three modes for powering on, two of which are automatic:

DC Offset mode: the amp turns on when a 6 volt surge is detected on the signal inputs (from a speaker level source).
Audio input mode: the amp turns on when an incoming audio signal is detected (can be used with line level or speaker level inputs)

Not sure if it is redundant to wire 12v to use the REM remote terminal mode. Of course using 12V REM mode safeguards any battery draining or amp power issues. This is my first time using an amp with auto on/off. Any suggestions on this?

The amp has a selectable Hi(speaker)/Lo(line) level audio input (no LOC requried), so I will "Hi Speaker Level" tap directly into the Bose's front door speakers if that matters.
 
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Of course, I'm glad to help. I am using JL Audio's 500/1 which also has a signal sensing mode, but I couldn't get it to work properly, so I just went with the tried and trued separate 12v REM wiring. It is just one extra wire and it's what I've always done when doing an install. I tapped the remote into the fuse box on an accessory fuse. I don't recall which fuse, it may be in post #1. And like you said, I also don't like extra battery drainage with keeping any power accessory on and it's just generally the proper method. You may know this already, but it's a good habit to run all power/negative cables on one side and all audio cables on the other to prevent interference and whine. All my audio is on the passenger side.
 
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Alright, I'll be going the 12V REM route as well then. Yup, I did plan on routing audio cables on passenger side from the Bose amp to rear, and power cables on driver side. I just need to order a good true 8 gauge cable kit that doesn't have a flashy ugly red power cable.

I'll post up pictures when the system arrives and I bang out the little project. I've been wanting to do this for a year since real sub bass is needed to complete the Bose. My girlfriend's Touring horrid 6 speaker system needs more than just a subwoofer, so I'm pretty glad I settled with the GT. I can't imagine how bad the Sport's 4 speaker system is.
 
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Finally! my Aftermarket Subwoofer and Amplifier Integration into Bose Audio H...

SayNoToPistons said:
Alright, I'll be going the 12V REM route as well then. Yup, I did plan on routing audio cables on passenger side from the Bose amp to rear, and power cables on driver side. I just need to order a good true 8 gauge cable kit that doesn't have a flashy ugly red power cable.

I'll post up pictures when the system arrives and I bang out the little project. I've been wanting to do this for a year since real sub bass is needed to complete the Bose. My girlfriend's Touring horrid 6 speaker system needs more than just a subwoofer, so I'm pretty glad I settled with the GT. I can't imagine how bad the Sport's 4 speaker system is.
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I agree, it's hard to find a true 8 ga. power cable these days, as there a lot of "eBay specials". Admitingly, I fell for one on Amazon a couple years ago. The big blue in pics was listed as "2ga.", but it was more like 4ga. with a lot of insulation. Fortunately, my JL is 4ga. friendly. It came out of my old car that had a smaller amp, so it was a reuse, but I will probably replace it with a true 2ga. However, I don't feel overly large gauges (1/0ga) are any benefit in my application unless my CX-5 was a show car, or something like that.
Some people buy and use actual welding cable in their systems, as you can sometimes buy it cheaper and it's 100% OFC copper, but some are not as flexible as audio specific cables. It's too bad Mazda didn't include a factory sub, even if it was optional. Looking forward to pics and details[emoji106].
 
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I used a wiring kit from Rockford-Fosgate. It was high quailty, and the red cable at least wasn't neon... I used 4ga. It was a little tight getting that 4ga terminal onto the open battery stud.

I also moved my bass level control onto the dash where the switches are left if the steering wheel. Thanks to Skorpio for his pictures! It's a pretty tight fit. I trimmed the blank end of the circuit board so I could still connect and remove the control cable from the back.
 
bmarsh said:
I used a wiring kit from Rockford-Fosgate. It was high quailty, and the red cable at least wasn't neon... I used 4ga. It was a little tight getting that 4ga terminal onto the open battery stud.

I also moved my bass level control onto the dash where the switches are left if the steering wheel. Thanks to Skorpio for his pictures! It's a pretty tight fit. I trimmed the blank end of the circuit board so I could still connect and remove the control cable from the back.
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(drinks) sweet! BTW, here are the pics bmarsh is referring to about the control knob/dash install
ehesyqes.jpg
ehuvabet.jpg
pezamu5e.jpg
e4y8ugut.jpg
 
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