i own a 93 j30 w/ 90k. my bose radio recently stopped working. i looked into getting a new head unit but was told that i needed to replace and install a new head unit, amp, and speakers! all of this because bose is a proprietary unit and a new headunit other than bose would ruin everything else. can anybody please give me some advice on my options. help! thanks

All you need is a "refurbished" head unit. As long as the amp and speakers are stock, a new head unit should work properly.

i have a Z which basically has the same bose system in it and my aftermarket headunit works fine with the bose amps/speakers. who told you this by the way?

Just replace it with a refurb unit and you'll be alright!

where do you get a refurbished head unit? I may need to replce mine soon

Are you getting scammed? Yes and no. You basically have four choices:1) You can buy a used/refurbished Bose head unit to replace the one that is going out. This is probably the easiest option. You can find several people selling them on eBay. The last one I saw was about $150. There is a level of risk in doing this, though, because these units are known to fail over time. There's no guarantee that the unit you buy isn't 4 to 6 months away from failing, too.

2) You can have your Bose unit repaired. Go to http://www.carstereohelp.com for more information. They have flat repair rates and are located in Florida. They provide a warranty for the work they do. I called them once and got some really good advice and information from them on how to remove my receiver myself. They specialize in Bose repair.

3) You can replace your head unit with an aftermarket unit like the one I'm selling on eBay here: http://cgi.ebay.com/Like-New-S...wItem and get a Schsche adapter like this one on Crutchfield.com: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-P...4NN02 that allows you to use the Bose factory speakers with the aftermarket receiver. This allows you to get the receiver you want and still use the speakers you have. You'd be surprised at how much better the speakers will sounds by changing the head unit. There are many units to choose from (not just mine!). As long as it will fit in the dash opening you can use it. You'll also need to get an antenna adapter. They only rn about $10 and can be found at Radio Shack along with the installation kit you'll need if you go with a single din unit. The old unit is easy to remove and the new one is easy to install. All the wires are color coded and match the wires in the dash regardless of the manufacturer. This is definitely a project you could do yourself.

4) Replace the head unit and rewire the car with new speakers. This is the most expensive option out of all of them, but will allow you to customize your system as you see fit. Depending on your expertise, you may have to have this professionally done.

Most retail establishments won't install a head unit+ adapter in a car with Bose speakers because they won't make as much money as they would if you were to buy an entire system from them. Don't be fooled by the lies about how the adapter will fry your receiver. It simply isn't true.

If you have any questions feel free to shoot me an e-mail, or call Crutchfield customer service at 888-955-6000. They can tell you everything you' ll need to know. Make sure when you call you tell them you have a 1993 Nissan Maxima with the Bose system because they don't have any data on the J30. The Maxima has the same system and deminsions as the J.

I'm pretty sure an aftermarket will work. I've seen several of them in the J30. Yesterday, a dude at Best Buy told me I couldn't get the Alpine I wanted installed, but I was pretty sure he was wrong. Turns out he was. That's only because his "book" said he had nothing for an Infiniti, which seems to be pretty common. You have to pretend you're driving a Nissan Maxima with the Bose package. In fact, I just bought an Alpine deck, an iPod adapter, and the Scosche adapter from Crutchfield today. I'm going to try and do it myself, since I keep reading how easy it is with Crutchfield's instructions and phone support. I saved about $200 over Best Buy and Circuit City.

The installation is very easy with the Crutchfield instructions. They take you step by step. I didn't even have to call them.

They told me that most of the head units wok at 4 ohms.the bose uses 3 ohms..therefore it would fry my amp/speaker...

I am certainly going for a new head unit with a crutchfield adapter..Thanks so much..plus its a good project for me as well

Big Tone,What is your email address...Thanks-noah

Complete BS, first off, head units dont work off any specific "ohm" as they like to call it. Its the speakers that have specified resistance. In this case, regular speakers are usually single voice coil 4 ohm, Bose likes to use single 1 ohm coils.

Either way, the speakers will work with any head unit, the head unit will work with any speakers.

Just make sure you wire your remote lead to turn on the stock bose amps.

I hate best buy/ circuit city...Ive been driving around listening to an ipod with headphones for 5 months now b/c they told me it would cost $1200 to redo everything...thanks for saving me Dominick and Big Tone.

1 last question..If i get a stock head unit..where do i get the dual level casing so that it will fit in the J20

You won't need a double din casing/sleeve for it. I got my Alpine deck from Crutchfields today. The Bose head unit is connected to the climate control deck with brackets. You'll disconnect the Bose head and reattach your new head unit with a plastic storage compartment below it (free from Crutchfields). Check out the FuzzyCats pic of the "after" here:

http://www.fuzzycats.com/docs/bose_replacement.pdf

In fact, just read the whole fuzzy cat article. Good stuff.

PhilJ30 owner for almost three weeks now.

noahdarrow wrote:Big Tone,What is your email address...Thanks-noah

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I've been at home with my sick son and haven't logged onto the computer at all! My e-mail address is ---deleted---.
Modified by Big Tone at 10:31 AM 2/24/2006

noahdarrow wrote:I hate best buy/ circuit city...Ive been driving around listening to an ipod with headphones for 5 months now b/c they told me it would cost $1200 to redo everything...thanks for saving me Dominick and Big Tone.

1 last question..If i get a stock head unit..where do i get the dual level casing so that it will fit in the J20

If you buy a single din unit, all you'll need is the storage pocket that goes under it. The same brackets that are used for the Bose unit will be used for any double or single din unit you find. The pre-drilled holes are universal, from what I can tell just like the color coded wires for the power, ground, speakers, etc. If you buy from Crutchfield like Phillyboy did, you'll get that for free. If you buy your receiver online, you can get the pocket from almost anywhere. I've read people bought them from anywhere from Walmart to Radio Shack, but I haven't confirmed that myself.

If you get a double din unit, you won't need anything besides the Schoshe adapter.

MAKE SURE you use an impact driver when you are unscrewing the Bose head unit from the brackets. It's on VERY tight and if you try to use a conventional screwdriver, you'll likely strip the screws.

I still haven't had a chance to take any pics of my Jensen VM9020TS, but will try over the next few days.

OK, here's an update for my situation. Crutchfield's forgot to add the storage sleeve to my order, so they happily 3 Day aired it to me. I'll have it Monday. The phone tech support people are awesome. I've talked to several of them as my Alpine KCA-121B cable that I ordered from them was not playing my iPod. Alpine just released these new decks last month. I got the CDA-9856 model. These new decks will allow for you to use a new KCE-422i cable to connect to your iPod and control the iPod through your deck without the use of the expensive iPod adapter interface. This new cable costs only $30 from CField's. However, it wasn't supposed to be available until April, so I ordered this other $15 Ai-Net compatible cable as a temporary solution. With this cable, I also needed to get a Mini to RCA jack cable, which I picked up at Radio Shack for $7.50 (Monster Cable THX certified...thank you Amazon forums!). After getting it all hooked up, the deck didn't recognize the iPod - I would push 'source', but it would shuffle between the CD player and the Tuner - NO AUX. I tried several different things, but nothing worked, so the CFields tech guy said the Ai-Net cable may be bad. But this may be ok since they shipped my KCE-422i cable on Tuesday and I'll have it this Tuesday - much quicker than anticipated. Hopefully it works, otherwise I may need to wait for a new head unit. I'll keep you posted.

PS - Hooking up the wires with the Scoshe adapter was pretty straightforward and simple. For being my first attempt at something as intimidating as this, it was pretty easy, and I'll be confident doing it myself in the future. I'll have to post a pic of my j30 without it's "heart". There was a huge gaping hole in the front of my car for a little while.

ALSO - Does anyone have a solution to the extremely small cup (pop can) holders in the car? I'm wanting to mount my iPod with a Belkin TuneDok, but I think I'm going to need a way to expand it somehow. Any ideas?

Cupholder:Welcome to the world of Dunkin Donuts small coffees!You can jam a medium in there but your days of large coffees are over in the J30