I'm toying with the idea of getting the Alpine IVA-D900 but don't really want to the stock Bose speakers right now. I've added a sub box/amp already and am pretty satisfied with the sound right now.

I was thinking of bypassing the Bose amp and just use the Alpine's internal amp. It puts out 25W/channel RMS 50W/channel max. Would this be a good idea? Any disadvantages/advantages? I was going to get a JL 300/4 to run the stock speakers at first, but I'm trying to save as much money as I can. I started thinking about not using an external amp when I did a little more reading and seeing that the power output for the Alpine unit is just about the same as the stock Bose amp, and since I'm pretty satisfied with the sound levels right now, I'm thinking the Alpine unit will give me similar sound levels with better processing.

Please give me your thoughts on this. Thanks

 

Speaker impedance on the Bose speakers is 2 ohm, which is too low for any head unit.

 

I've read in the past about wiring your low-level rca out's from a head-unit to the factory bose system, this may be a possibility for you, but i'm not 100% sure on that. The only thing that could hinder the performance of that is if the output voltage/impedance is too high or low to get good signal to your factory bose amp. Do you know if the bose amps are on the speakers (line level cable at the speaker) or are the speakers a standard type with speaker cable leading into them. Let me know maybe i can help ya figure out something for an iva to work in there. On another note, i may be able to get you an alpine cd changer if you want. I have a friend whose store stopped selling car audio and now they have an abundant amount of 6 disc changers. The changers will work with an iva or your factory head unit (not sure about the bose though).

PS- i'm working on a list of all the pre/pro's i can get i'll let you know as soon as i can get this list together.

John

 

I believe this is how the Bose system in our CL is setup:

Factory in-dash 6-disk headunit made by Pioneer sends low level signal to the bose amp in the trunk. The amp sends a high level signal to the speakers (which have a 2 ohm impedence) via speaker cables.

I'm pretty sure these are the basics of our system. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

If your looking to interface the bose 6 disk head with the alpine it will be next to impossible, but you should be able to wire some RCA heads onto the low level cables coming from your amplifier. I think i've seen a post on the board on how to do this also, if i find it i'll post it up for you. If your not to handy with a soldering iron i'm sure a local audio shop would be able to do it for you.

EDIT :

Left Front:
+ white 8
- orange 18

Right Front:
+yellow 7
-brown 17

Left Rear:
+red 6
-green 16

Right Rear:
+blue 5
-black 15

That should be the color code for behind your head unit. You can wire some RCA right to that and then plug them into your IVA, sound quality should be much better than stock just make sure you make good connections with the solder. Also you will need a harness to go from your factory power wiring into your IVA's wiring. Hope this helps ya.

John

 

That's something I didn't think about John...doing the reverse of what I did for the sub amp. However, I'm a bit tired of splicing RCA's.

What else does your friend have left for car audio? What are the model numbers of the changers he has left? I was just going to listen to mostly MP3's after I get the IVA-D900 but if it's cheap, I might just get a changer.

 

Their store is closed on sunday's so i'll let you know on monday.