[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index]
<All> Mo'Bose Prollums (kinda long)
This is one of those rare messages I can post to both the Quattro
group and the Z-car group, since in involves the Bose system which
pesters members of both groups!
WHEN REPLYING TO THIS MESSAGE, PLEASE DO NOT CROSS-POST TO BOTH LISTS
UNLESS YOU DO IT ON PURPOSE! CHECK THE RETURN ADDRESS WHEN YOU HIT
"REPLY" BEFORE YOU SEND YOUR MESSAGE.
I have spent about six hours fiddling with my Bose-to-Sony radio
conversion over the past two days. I'm using Crutchfield's new
Bose adapter, and to give credit where it's due, Crutchfield has been
unfailingly helpful and incredibly patient and willing to try various
ideas - I have spent over three hours on the horn at their expense
over their 800 tech line! They are really nice to work with.
The persistent problems I have not been able to solve are a residual
hiss which is about 1/3 the volume of the radio at conversational
volumes, and a loud POP when turning off the radio. Over time, this
POP may damage the speakers, so it's bad juju.
I have shipped my Bose radio to Crutchfield, where one of their
research guys is going to put it on the bench and test it with their
new adapter. He plans to work the adapter over until it performs just
right. I sure can't bitch about getting this kind of support when it
would cost me $40 to $60 per hour - and they're doing it at no charge
to me other than the shipping to get it there!
One reason I'm going thru this is that if they get this adapter just
right, then the members of both email groups will know they can buy
an adapter that really works right - and Crutchfield will have a unit
which they know performs well. I think this is a real win-win deal!
I do have some questions which I hope some of you folks can help with.
1) For the Audi group: does anyone know whether the amps in the door
enclosures also drive the dashboard speakers? I ask because I've
noticed that the speakers in the dash and doors seem to be linked
on the fader, as the "front" set, and the rear deck speakers seem
to be the only speakers functioning as the "rear" set (which
makes sense.) The answer is important for two reasons:
First, if the speakers are in series, it means that I only have
one set of amps to mess with. Good news.
Second, one option in converting a Bose system would be to
bypass the amps at the existing speakers and run new wires
directly to the speakers. BUT - doing this with door and dash
speakers in series would result in more load on the radio, and
this might be a problem.
2) For Audi and Z-Car types, can ANYone offer an opinion as to why
my dash speakers stopped working when I disconnected, then re-
connected the passenger side speaker enclosure? All I did was take
some test measurements on the speaker with a digital Volt/Ohmmeter,
but when I re-connected it, I have no dash speakers.
3) Finally, mainly for Audi types, has anyone actually looked inside
the dash and seen where the speakers ARE? I removed the perforated
screen from the RF dash speaker and looked in - there's NO speaker
visible, just a hole into the dash! I guess the speaker is located
off to one side and is ported thru the hole, which would be just like
Bose.....but I'm curious.
A note about options:
FINALLY - in case I am NOT able to come up with a suitable adapter,
Josh Karnes on the Z-car list suggested one option would be to simply
disconnect the amps at each Bose speaker and wire direct to the
speakers from the new radio. I pulled one of the rear deck speakers
and I can report that this would be EASY! The speaker enclosure is
two parts - there's an outer housing which includes a PC board with
the amp; held in place by that enclosure is a standard 6x9 speaker.
The amp outputs are simply standard press-on spade connectors at the
speaker, so they would be easy to pull off - and new wires could
easily be connected with spade connectors. I didn't take apart the
door speaker enclosure since it has 16 screws holding it together,
but I'll bet money that it would also be very easy to disconnect that
amp.
So it might turn out that the easy way to make a conversion is to
unplug the power leads to the Bose amps at each speaker and wire
direct to the speakers. I will use this option is necessary, since I
hate to turn down free amps at each speaker!
I have also taken some measurements of voltage, impedence, etc. of
the Bose system and will talk to Josh about whether we can make our
own adapters to get around this whole mess.
TTFN (ta ta fer now, folks..........)
Al Powell Voice: 409/845-2807
Ag Communications Fax: 409/862-1202
107 Reed McDonald Bldg. Email: a-powell1@tamu.edu
College Station, TX 77843-2112
W3 page - http://agcomwww.tamu.edu/agcom/satellit/rpe/alpage.htm