So I was getting tired of listening to the same old songs on the radio and I think everyone can agree that the sound quality is pretty bad for something that has "Bose" stamped on. Here's what I did.

*Equipment*
This is basically all you need. a PIE AUX adapter. Search ebay for “acura cl aux”




1.) Carefully pop off the radio trim with a thin, flat head screwdriver.



2.) Unplug both connectors. (Panic button and clock)



3.) Unscrew these 2 screws.



This is what the back of the Bose head unit should look like.



4.) Plug in the circular 9-pin AUX adapter as shown.



5.) Plug in the RCA jacks into the AUX adapter.



6.) Run the AUX headphone jack through the little gray rectangular thing. I drilled a little hole. Some people might want it to come out to the armrest cubby.



7.) Find a spot to shove the adapter back there. You could put it anywhere, there is alot of space.. Screw the headunit back on, reattach the Panic button and clock connectors, pop the trim back on and you are DONE!





*Final Results*





It literally took me 10 minutes. Easy mod and sounds 10x better than the radio and 2x better than a CD. You would be amazed of how hard the bass hits.

 

Just relized that this isn't the DIY section.. Can some friendly mod move the thread plz?

btw, I am aware that I took off the shift knob. I took it off for better pics so people will stop asking me: "Why do you have it in D3??" "That's not good for the glass tranny!"
Ya'll know my answer.

 

dang, looks good! i wonder if i can use this with an aftermarket head unit...

 

why would you want to with an aftermarket HU?? not that mp3's sound better than an actual cd but i can see the benefit of hooking up your ipod to the car. i did it also. just get high quality ipod hookup from monster. its a simple cable that plugs into both your ipod and HU. dont bother with that thing unless you have the original HU

either way ghettoninja it looks cool, im thinkin of doing the ipod video hookup to my tv's myself

 

This would not work on an AM head unit, it's designed to go into the cd changer input of the honda unit, you would need a different aux input adapter

 

A lot of times MP3's do sound better than CD quality. If I can remember right Cd's are like 128 kbps and a lot of MP3's can be up around 320 kbps.

 

Most MP3s are about 160-180 kbps. MP3s can go up to 320 kbps but it doesn't sound much better than the average 160 kbps and the file size is huge.

 

BTW, no matter what they say, this does take place of the CD player. And another thing I forgot to mention is to listen through the aux adapter, you hit "CD" button on the Headunit. The 1 -1 should flash untill it picks up something. If nothing is hooked up to the aux, there will be a quiet high frequency buzz every 2 seconds. By the way, you can even hook up an electric guitar into it! You still hear the buzzing though.

 

I have a '99 CL the layout looks a little different than this does it still work the exact same? This may be a stupid question but I don't to lose 50 bucks because I didn't have the right port. Thanks.

 

What do you mean by "layout"? Are you talking about the layout on the headunit or the layout on the center console? If your talking about the center console, your going to have to follow THIS GUIDE for '98-'99 center console removal from steps 1 - 12. By step 12 (when you get the woodgrain trim off) you should see two screws holding the headunit in. (I think) Just take them out and the headunit should slide out.

HERE is the link for the PIE AUX adapter.

Good luck!

 

MP3's are compressed and regular CD music files are uncompressed. I can always fit way more MP3's onto a CD-R.

But anyways, that's a cool little mod. I still like the sound from a CD more, but the convenience of an MP3 player can't be matched.

 

Great thanks alot ghetto!!

 

No problem bro. Hope it all works for you. You will wonder how you ever listened to music without it.

 

Ninja, you think it will work w/ second gen HU?

 

Yup. There is a different one for second gens though. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2000-...spagenameZWD1V

 

^^ you are the man. :gheyhug:

 

Haha! I try. :gheyhug:

 

A little note for anyone attempting this install:



Where the RCA cable (red and white plugs) plug into the adapter, you should use electrical tape around each plug. This has a dual purpose. 1. It keeps the cables secure and makes sure they do not come loose.
2. Noise. If those connectors touch anything metal, there's a possibility of getting feedback or noise through your speakers. The electrical tape will prevent that.

I have pictures on how I did it that I'll dig up and post.

 

^Good tip DoubleSh0t. I also recommend getting a new RCA cable if yours comes with one. The one it comes with is crap. I'm already getting a loose connection at the base of the 3.5mm jack part..

 

Just found out that you can. Just hit the CD button again, duh!

updated pics to come.

 

do you guys know if this one will fit?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ACURA-CL-1997-19...#ht_2297wt_939

looks good because i can charge my ipod as well. It says its compatible but i just wanna make sure before i buy it

 

yep should work just fine

 

+1 looks good to me.

 

will this type work for a 3.0?

 

its got nothing to do with engine size, the 97-99 are the same no matter what engine/trans combination you have and have the same head unit so it should work if its for this specific year/model.

 

if i can convince my parents to buy me an ipod for my 21st, i will surely do this mod.

 

I bought my CL with an aftermarket HU that has an aux plug in already so I'm always bumpin the pod.

 

as in 21st birthday? WOW i didn't realize someone 21 still depended on their parents to buy them things like ipods. Heck my daughter turned 21 in April and all I sent her was a card saying Happy Birthday. I spent all the money when she was young, now that she is grown she can support herself and buy her what she wants

 

congratulations, you can take the family talk to ramblings.

 

lmao!
But seriously, take this to the ramblings..

 

so i got one of these, followed instructions on install, and it doesnt seem to work. hit cd and nothing happens

has anyone had issues like this?

 

Just take the headunit back out and tripple check connections. I had the same problem when I first hooked it up and found out that the 9-pin cable thing came loose when I put the headunit back in.

 

the 9 pin seems to fit snugly, its the other parts im not sure about. i will keep trying, i read sometimes its funky and doesnt always connect on the first try

 

Hmm, the only other thing I would suggest is opening up that plastic black box and see if anything is loose. Worst case senario that is.
Hope you get it working man.

 

SO I just brought this back from the dead, sososo sorry. But, I can't seem to find which one is compatible with my 99CL bose. The ones with the plastic box plug are saying compatible with 99, but my radio has the 9-pin. Also, the ones with the pin connector are saying they are 8-pin. Is this a discrepancy between people, as in the 8 and 9 pin are the same, or not? I don't know which to buy D:

 

It's all good man, that's what this thread is here for. To help people.
Just get this. A bit more pricy than what I remember..but there it is none the less.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FACTO...Q5fAccessories

 

Maybe its just me but for that price you can get a Sony explode with aux port for a couple dollars more at best buy. And it sounds better than the stock unit

 

Yes you can. You can get a decent deck that's way better than the stock bs for like 60 bucks even for a pioneer 1300mp.
Why people bother with these adapters at times makes me wonder.
On some cars it's understandable because the dash kits and such get pricey on some newer cars.

 

I did have a Pioneer head put in. And it wouldn't work, they told me they would have to rewire past the Bose amp, and were gonna charge me about 80 bucks for the rewire and 50 just to put in the radio. I can put this adapter in myself in about 5 minutes.

 

I'm sorry to bring this thread back from the grave but the information on here really helped out a lot with my own aux input install and I just wanted to share my appreciation to its creator. I am a proud owner of a '99 Acura CL and was looking into installing an aux input adapter without having to replace the original Bose stock head unit that was installed. After some heavy research, I had decided that the iSimple PXDX was the aux adapter for me until I found out how the adapter itself needed to be powered up. Apparently it required the use of a vehicle specific harness which for the '99 CL, I learned that my head unit didn't have the proper inputs on the back. Upon realizing that I didn't have the connection necessary to power the PXDX, I had to find another option. Luckily, I stumbled onto this thread which had some useful information on another car2aux adapter, the PIE Honda Auxiliary Adapter which had the 14 to 8-pin power adapter that's on the '99 Acura CL Bose stock head unit.

The adapter I received in the mail though was noticeably different than the one shown in this thread. Since I specified an aux adapter with a 6 ft long aux input, thte PIE Honda Auxiliary Adapter that was sent to me had a connection for an 3.5mm aux jack input along with a 6 ft long 3.5mm aux cable. Much like the thread suggested, I installed said aux cable to the adapter and secured it with a few strips of electrical tape to ensure a pure sound connection without any electrical distortion.

For anyone attempting to do this installation on their car, a few things to note: A lot of the screws that are necessary to come off to install this thing, the two that actually hold the radio in place shown in the picture on the first post have a tendency to strip. At least in my case it did. I was able to remove one of the two screws. The second started to strip the moment I attempted to remove it. I realized early on but the damage was done, I couldn't actually remove the head unit from my car but I did manage to install the adapter anyway with the help of Google Images, a picture of the back of my Bose stock head unit and a little jedi mind tricks to help connection the 14 to 8 pin connector to the back of my head unit. Beware of the possibility of stripping the screws.

As with the '98 CL, the '99 CL has plenty of clearance for the aux adapter to simply rest on top of the head unit. No need to tape it down or zip tie it to anything. Truth be told, after taking a peek in the back of the radio, there isn't really much of anything you can secure the adapter to. The PIE Honda Aux Adapter is plenty thick to simply rest on top of the head unit while you put back your dash. The results are simply phenomenal. I can't imagine any other device performing better. With my iPod classic, the audio sounds pristine as if I'm listening to CDs. No distortion at all.