Adding amp to 94 Q45a Bose radio

[f1refly]

All,

Is adding an amp to the Q45 Bose radio a straight forward install? I know some Bose radios have weird crossover/signal processing signals that will sound awful when hooked up to an amp unless you get a Cleansweep or other electronic aid.

[96Qowner]

Is adding an amp to the Q45 Bose radio a straight forward install?

Nope. The amps are located in the individual speaker assemblies and are frequency corrected for each speaker. You'd have to find the spot in each circuit board where the EQ circuit goes to the amp and wire the bigger amp into that. I've been advised by a triple-E that even he wouldn't want to dig into that.

But ... you might consider a powered sub with a crossover. That would relieve the Bose amps of the power-hungry bass band and allow them to drive more midrange and high frequency volume into the Bose setup = more decibels.

[qsiguy]

If you use a line output converter or an amp with built in high level inputs just wire them directly to the speaker wires at the rear speakers for a rear/sub amp. You don't need to mess with the amp at all, just wire it up after the amp to the wire that runs to the speaker voicecoil.

I'm assuming you are trying to wire up a subwoofer? If so, the above will work fine. If you need to use the front channel for your amp to run some highs you'll need to run wires into the doors to the door speaker to get to the high level wires.

There are several ways to do it but this is how I like to do it. Some people say they use adapters at the radio with good results but I don' t usually like using them. In my opinion, if you are doing more than just adding and amp w/ a sub then I suggest scraping the whole Bose system and starting over with a nice head unit, speakers, amps, and sub.

[elwesso]

when i installed my amp/sub hers how I did it.

I had speaker level inputs, so I just tapped signal off the speaker. Then set the x-over on the amp. It was way simple, i dont know if this causes damage to anything but it worked great while I had it.

[96Qowner]

Hey, qsiguy, your mention of high level inputs reminds me. I'd like to quadruple the output of the system, and high level inputs for the booster amp would seem to do that. But ... we're dealing with at least three separate amps, right? The rear speakers share one amp, yes? And then we have two door speakers and two post speakers, all with their own EQ? Sorry, but I haven't looked into it and I know you're a car audio guy. The rear speakers share one EQ?

It sounds like it'd be more efficient and less costly to just replace the whole system, adding an auto equalizer to tailor EQ. It'd have to be a six channel EQ though. Am I thinking correctly?

[Q45tech]

Obviously the EE you refered to doesn't use Google much:http://www.zr1netregistry.com/Bose2.pdf

[elwesso]

if you are that picky you dont want to keep the bose. Get all new stuff and start from scratch, and then youll have something that someone else will know whats going on.

Id add a sub to the bose, but I wouldnt mess with aynthing else.

[96Qowner]

Obviously the EE you refered to doesn't use Google much:

Actually, twas your own bad self, Dennis.

I wouldn't waste my time and I am a BSEE with 45 years of soldering experience.

zerothread?id=212604

But I misremembered. We were discussing the caps.

[qsiguy]

I agree with Wes, anything more than adding a sub/amp and maybe new tweeters in the pillars, I wouldn't do anything else with the Bose. You are way over complicating the job if you try and mess with all the Bose amps individually. Each speaker has it's own amplifier front and rear with the exception of the pillar tweeters. Not positive but I think they run off the door amps.

There aren't any EQ's except what the head unit does that I am aware of. Pretty sure each Bose amp outputs full range of the input signal and the pillar tweeters have a small capacitor on them to filter out the bass.

[Rex]

I agree whole-heartedly., anything more than a sub & amp "add-on" is more work than it's worth, just to maintain the Bose look.

Each speaker has it's own amplifier front and rear with the exception of the pillar tweeters. Not positive but I think they run off the door amps.

I'm nearly positive the tweeters share the door speaker amp.

There aren't any EQ's except what the head unit does that I am aware of. Pretty sure each Bose amp outputs full range of the input signal and the pillar tweeters have a small capacitor on them to filter out the bass.

The HU out put is full range, and each amp has built in "eq" based on it's location within the car and which car it was designed for (Q's, versus J30's, versus Maxima's, etc).