This J30 belongs to my wife and she wanted to have MP3 capability + iPod.

So, I decided to replace BOSE stereo. We repaired it few years ago for ridiculous amount of money (I should have replaced it that time, but I was told horror stories about using after market stereos with Bose amplifiers. I didn't check it the Internet that time).

How it was before. All pics were made by my phone, so quality is so-so



Here is what you need:

1) New stereo. I went to BestBuy and bought Sony something, which has iPod support and USB capability (as later we found it can play music files from memory card, so you don't really need iPod-like device). Pretty much any size stereo will fit. I used DIN size stereo + dash kit. If you're going to use double din, when you don't need dash kit.

2) Local WalMart: a) scosche 71-1763 - Nissan wire-harness kit. Make sure to use yellow-white plugs (it has black-white as well) and follow color codes from the insert b) scosche adapter. I ordered mine from the Internet. Found later that local Walmart has newer model cheaper. c) Nissan dash kit. Don't worry about J30. You won't find it in the catalog - everywhere it's said "doesn't fit". Just get one, which said Nissan Altima 1993 d) set of crimp connectors. Or wire-nuts. Or whatever you want to use. e) antenna adapter - scosche 40-NI10

3) Online manual - how to remove radio. You can find it on this forum or in other places.

4) I checked color codes here (just in case) - http://www.modifiedlife.com/19...agram/. Never thought Infinity has the completely different set of colors

Procedure:

1) Take off old radio. 2) Assemble the harness using Nissan adapter (yellow-white plugs are used), scosche adapter, and plug, which came with your new stereo



3) Mount radio and the pocket from dash kit on brackets. Mine fits perfectly. Front panel from Sony radio is removed on picture. I didn't remove AC controls.

4) Attach all wires and adjust scosche adapter according to its manual. Do it before you install everything back, obviously. There is enough room behind radio to hide whatever you want, so don't worry about adapter.



Check left/right/front/rear speakers to make sure everything is connected properly.

5) Now the most difficult part. Installing a trim. As I found opening in brown panel is too small for "standard trim". I had to use file to remove about 1/8" from each side of trim. And I wasn't able to install Sony trim around the stereo. Can't glue it, since it will interfere with faceplate. Ideally, it would be nice to remove extra material from Infinity wood panel, but for obvious reasons I didn't want to do it. It me few tries to make trim around the pocket fits properly

6) Put everything back. Since I wasn't able to put sony trim around the stereo, there was a small opening between stereo and pocket trim. For now I closed it with flexible black tubing. Look very nice. Will figure out later something else



Sound quality is much better than it was with original Bose. Plus all fancy stuff with equalizers, bass-boost, etc. My 4 Gb memory stick works perfect with USB. Extra pocket - more room to keep junk handy. Everybody is happy

Total cost:

1) Stereo - $120 (can be more expensive, can be less expensive)2) Adapters, etc - $453) Time - 2.5 hrs. Took me an hours to remove extra material from the plastic front cover

Definitely cheaper than I spent last time to fix the broken BOSE. If you don't want to install it yourself, then my local Bestbuy told me that they will install it with extra scosche adapter and anything else I bring to them.

Hope this info will be helpful.

Very Nice Writeup !!And Welcome to NICO !!!!

Excellent content. An amazing first post on NICO!!!

Thank You

Excellent post! Brief and to the point. One question I had is regarding the Pre-amp outputs.

All the newer models come with Pre-amp output. In that case, do you need to buy the scosche adapter if you are using the pre-amp outputs.

Well done . That is on my to do list. I'm dying to have MP3 capability + iPod.

That's something I don't know. In ideal world adapter should change output signal from radio to be within dynamic range of Bose amplifier. And it needs to provide impedance bridging.

If one can connect preamp output, then it should provide better quality of sound - less distortion, less noise, etc.

The only way to find out is try. If preamp output matches to Bose amplifiers, then you should be OK. If not, then you can go to WalMart and buy that adapter for $18. Newer is more fancy - it has RCA connectors, etc.

I didn't try myself to use these preamp outputs. Sound quality was better than original Bose and my wife was very satisfied. What else do I need?

I'm sure other people would like to know if possible to use preamp.

I used this forum a lot to get info about our J30, so I wanted to add my knowledge to the "pool of knowledge". I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to replace that antic stereo. I only wish I would do it 3 years ago instead of repairing it.

"my wife was very satisfied. What else do I need?"

Happy Wife , Happy Life !!!



Going on 28 years here !!

"Sound quality was better than original Bose"

OK this makes the whole post worthy of being added to the DIY section.At least give it a link into the DIY section.

It's written in such a way that is universally useable.

This is a great and much appreciated post. Coming out the back of the stereo are four seperate connectors. One is a black wire(actually two wires) going into a black fitting with two metal prongs that connect to the passenger side rear of the stereo- what is that wire? There is another black wire that connects to one of two round connections with 6 independent metal prongs inside a metal sheath- what is that wire? Then there are two sets of white and yellow wires which appear to be speaker and or speaker/amp communication wires. Can anyone help me identify the black wires? The diagrams in the service manual don't help and I can't find specifics on the net or in our forums. Thanks!

This is the best radio post on here.

I have been working with this to get it my new radio working. I ordered the VR3 VRCD400-SDU stereo but something is not working. After my wiring attempt everything works, power, antennas, etc. but there is no sound at all. I have wired everything according to the instructions except for the amp turn on wire and any of the ground wires, which I have no Idea where to connect. Would this be my problem? or is there possibly a larger problem somewhere?

i figured it out. for future reference, the blue/white remote amp wire connects to the orange remote amp/ power antenna wire. With the antenna adapter everything works out. Now I just need to figure out how to unscrew the damn factory screws without stripping them. Any advice on how to remove overheat welded screws?

I hack sawed the screws off, and got new ones to replace them. now I have a new problem...Before I put the stereo in the mount everything worked great, it received power and played music, the works. I mounted it on the frame and went to my car to plug it all in, I opened my car door, sat down and turned a light on to see, and I saw a spark on the main wire coming out of the dashboard. I then plugged in the stereo and now it no longer receives any sort of power. If I turn the key the stereo flashes for a millisecond and will not turn on. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks

Very nice write-up & welcome to NICO.

I would like to add also to have the levels of the Scosche adaptor set to mid levels if anyone is still running the factory BOSE speakers. For those running a full system (amp(s) & sub(s)), then reduce the levels on the adaptor to its lowest setting. This will ensure that you can reach your full potential w/your woofer(s) & amp(s) & not blow up the factory BOSE speakers. They are prone to distortion if the amp gain is set too high on them.

Also, have your BOSE speakers play your mids & highs while the woofers handle the lows. That's what they were built for.

handy inks:
http://web.archive.org/web/200202100503 ... stereo.htm

http://web.archive.org/web/200210111046 ... initi1.htm

The factory stereo screws are famous for seizing. A drastic, but effective step is to use a mechanical impact wrench, the sort you strike with a hammer (and are well-used to if you work on motorcycles). They go for about ten bucks at Harbor Freight.

PB Blaster and let is sit for about 5 min and then press in hard and twist and they should come right off. you just got to make sure the PB Blaster gets into the threads.

I have heard a lot of the stories that your speakers wont work with after market head units but i think its mostly a scam to get you to buy more audio components. the bose system stock is extremely great so there is no need to replace them. i have an Alpine hu with mp3 cd, ipod hookup, usb port and aux port. you can adjust the levels and so much more with these after market hu. i also have 2 10" subs in the trunk. i unfortunately had to replace the 6x9 in the rear deck after a collision shop got them wet with the back glass off.

I am so glad I found this!

out of curiosity why did you opt to use a line ouput converter in the mix.
**Edit**
ok so I installed a sony xplode deck in a 93 infiniti with bose, the scosche adapters worked just fine, I used the NN02B adapter and the NN2155B pocket,nd NDAB antenna adapter. I did have the trim the pocket just like mentioned earlier however here is where I differed. To solve the trim ring issue on the cd player I used a ballpeen hammer and flattened the divits where the factory screws were then redrilled them to move the deck out about an additional 1/8 "to 1/4" so it sat flush with the face of the factory trim. It fit like a glove and the trim ring snapped on after some fiddling, I trimmed the pocket using my dremel tool and marked it with some painters tape and a pen for the guideline. it fit in with about a 1/32" clearance, and finished it with a flat file. It now sits flush with the factory trim and looks stock. Make sure you round the corners with the file on the bottom to match the factory trim. As for wiring I simply matched the color codes so no great mistery there just soldered and shrunk tubed the connections. As an added note the factory screws were seized pretty bad so I did have to use an impact driver to get them loose using the hammer and driver with philips bit to get them loose. Just make sure you put it against something solid when you hit them. Do not hit it super hard but do hit it firmly to get them loose.

Do u still have the j30 radio if so do u wanna sell it?