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Factory Bose 6 Disc in a Non Bose truck?

11K views 18 replies 6 participants last post by  mahynes1947 
#1 ·
I have the oppurtunity to pick up a 05' GM factory 6 disc out of a 05' SS originally equipped with Bose. My question is will this work on my 05' non bose equipped Sierra? If it will work are the plug in connectors on the player the same between the factory single disk and the 6 disc? I'm sure a reprogram will be in order, but is there anything else that would need to be done to complete the swap?

Any help is much appreciated.......:shake:
 
#2 ·
the problem is that the Bose systems use a line level out to an amp while a non-Bose radio has the amp in it. I dont know if anybody has done it, but Im sure you could just add amps and make it work
 
#3 ·
So with the addition of the bose center console amp and Bose door speakers their is a small posiblity of the of the whole setup working together? Would be a pretty sweet setup if it could all be put together w/ factory parts.....
 
#6 ·
it will work fine. :)

get it TIS-programed at the dealer, and tell them to program it for "AUDIO: UQ3/UQ5". It wont work until you have it programmed, but otherwise you dont need to install anything else...plug and play

all of the 2003+ radios have internal amps to run speakers directly. Programming denotes whether the amp is used or not. Non-luxury Bose, Luxury Bose, non-Bose....the radios are all physically the same, but for example, when programmed to BOSE, it shuts off the internal amp and bypasses it because the Bose systems have their own external amp.

Ben
 
#18 ·
I have a factory gm nav radio I recently took out of my wife's Yukon Denali with Bose and Onstar.i have a 2006 Silverado I would like to try to use the Nav radio in the Silverado does not have Bose or Onstar.Everyone says I need Bose system to hear the sound from the factory Nav radio because it doesn't have a built-in amp. I don't need the Onstar to work the navigation as far as I know.All I need is the map disc and the GPS Antenna,which I have. now you are saying if I plug the radio in to the main power harness in my Silverado and take it to a Chevy dealer and tell them to program it to "Audio:UQ3/UQ5"(My glove box sticker says UQ3) I will have sound from my stock speakers. is that right?
 
#7 ·
thats good to know, I didnt know they could program it like that
 
#8 ·
DURAtotheMAX said:
it will work fine. :)

get it TIS-programed at the dealer, and tell them to program it for "AUDIO: UQ3/UQ5". It wont work until you have it programmed, but otherwise you dont need to install anything else...plug and play

all of the 2003+ radios have internal amps to run speakers directly. Programming denotes whether the amp is used or not. Non-luxury Bose, Luxury Bose, non-Bose....the radios are all physically the same, but for example, when programmed to BOSE, it shuts off the internal amp and bypasses it because the Bose systems have their own external amp.

Ben
Ben-
Your the man....:rocking: That really helps. Thanks for the Info man :shake:
On a side note what would it take to get some front BOSE door speakers and make them work? Any extra wiring involved to make these work with this head unit in my Sierra that is non Bose equipped. And would this be beneficial w/out the Bose Amp ?
 
#9 ·
why do the Bose speakers? Almost any aftermarket worth $20 or more would sound better
 
#10 ·
Forklift said:
why do the Bose speakers? Almost any aftermarket worth $20 or more would sound better
????? I have always tried to stick with factory components if at all possible, and I always thought it would be cool to convert over to a complete factory bose setup? Are they really that bad of speakers? I have heard them and always thought they sounded good for a factory setup. What would be some better alternatives with a factory 6 disc head unit?

BTW forgive me if I sound like an idiot here....im new to the audio scene
 
#11 ·
The reason why the Bose Systems sound a bit better is not because of the Speakers but because of the External Amps and High Pass Filters...

On my Silverado when I would turn the Bass Knob all the way up the speakers would distort like no other... I took My Door Speakers and threw them in our Suburban with the Factory 8" Woofer and External Amp then played the same song and no distortion at all...
 
#12 ·
chevydudesixty9 said:
I took My Door Speakers and threw them in our Suburban with the Factory 8" Woofer and External Amp then played the same song and no distortion at all...
if it was the Bose system in it that you put the speakers into they didnt distort due to the amp and the fact that the factory speakers are 4ohm and the factory Bose are 2 ohm. With regular speakers in a Bose equipped truck the amp would only be working half as hard on the 4 ohm load
 
#14 ·
SlvrSierra said:
Ben-
Your the man....:rocking: That really helps. Thanks for the Info man :shake:
On a side note what would it take to get some front BOSE door speakers and make them work? Any extra wiring involved to make these work with this head unit in my Sierra that is non Bose equipped. And would this be beneficial w/out the Bose Amp ?
no problem ;)

If your truck came with Bose you can do simple things to it to make it sound a LOT better (lux amp, other things etc), but if you are starting out with no Bose, its REALLY not worth the $$$ you'd spend installing the amp, wiring, and speakers. Dont get me wrong, I love my "tweaked" Bose system because I love factory stuff and to me it would be more of a compliment to my truck if someone said they were really impressed with the stock stereo system than if someone was impressed with a huge $$$$$ aftermarket system....but thats just me. :) All that beside, I am not blind and will admit any day that in terms of "real" audio equipment, Bose is a smoke and mirrors joke. BUT its what my truck came with, so I tweaked it and to me, it sounds awesome, I guess thats all I care about.

If soemone says their truck has Bose in it and it doesnt sound too great and all they want is better sound without complication and arent out to win audiophile contests, I always reccomend the "luxury" Bose system upgrade, but I also feel I have to be realistic and say that there is a point when Bose really is not worth it, and that is definetly the case with trucks that did not come with Bose from the factory. The upgrade in sound you'd get by retrofitting in the Bose stuff would not offset the $$$ and time you would spend doing the conversion.

What I would do is install the 6-disc head unit like you were going to, and buy a PAC AOEM-GM24 adapter, and then buy an aftermarket 4 channel amp and aftermarket speakers. The PAC adapter will allow the stock head unit to perfectly interface with the aftermarket amp and speakers. Best of both worlds IMO, good sound and the factory look/factory head unit. HOWEVER....if you are going to do an aftermarket amp/PAC route, program the new 6-disc head unit for BOSE (UQ7 without Y91/Y92)!!! If you program it for non-Bose as I described in my other response, the radio changes its EQ settings to suit the non-bose speakers (read: it makes the audio outputs all crappy and filtered with a low end cut out that is suited to the junk stock non-bose speakers). If you program the radio for Bose, then the PAC adapter will get the full range untouched signal and send that GOOD clean signal to the aftermarket amp and it will sound good. But if for now, you are keeping the stock speakers and are not adding an amp, you will HAVE to program the 6-disc for non-bose (UQ3/UQ5) or else it wont work at all. Hope that helps... :D

ben
 
#15 ·
SlvrSierra said:
Are they really that bad of speakers? I have heard them and always thought they sounded good for a factory setup.
eh, technically they are KINDA junky speakers, but when paired with a good Bose amp (ie, the Luxury amp), they do sound surprisingly good and very impressive for a factory stock system. Take a CD to the dealer and sit in a Denali or Escalade, adjust the bass and treble and DSP controls, and you will see what I mean. But thats what Bose is...wierd seekret skwirl proprietory stuff that breaks all the rules and fools our ears in sneaky ways. Sometimes it works (luxury Bose system) and sometimes it doesnt (non-luxury Bose system).

Bose speakers with an aftermarket/non Bose amp or a Bose amp with aftermarket/non-Bose speakers = :insane:
 
#17 ·
DURAtotheMAX said:
Bose speakers with an aftermarket/non Bose amp or a Bose amp with aftermarket/non-Bose speakers = :insane:
yup, thats cuz they are 2 ohm and go anywhere from double to quadruple the distortion the amp puts out to a normal 4 ohm load
 
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