Custom Bose Bypass Harness

[abizzle]

Some of you may already have this info, but I searched the forum and didn’t turn up any results.

Anyway... While browsing a Silverado/Sierra forum, I found the contact info for a guy named John Adams who makes custom wire harnesses for bypassing our Bose amps. The 2018 Sportback wasn’t on his list of compatible vehicles, so I e-mailed him and he replied almost immediately.

Long story short, he is going to build me a harness that will completely bypass the Bose amp and leave me with the wires to connect directly to my DSP. He also includes a plug for connecting my aftermarket amps to each speaker. His harness will also take care of bypassing ANC. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for and it will make my aftermarket sound system installation very simple.

All he needs is your RPO codes, which are located on the pillar by the driver’s front door, and he can give you a quote. Pricing is $150 for the standard kit with 12” wires and that includes free shipping. If you want the wires extended its $15 per foot and that covers all three harnesses. Current lead time on the harness is 7-12 days.

Here is his contact info if any of you are interested:

John Adams
A.I.S. - Audio Integration Solutions
E-Mail: 1pocket73@sbcglobal.net

Also, he sent me links to the following videos, which demonstrate his harness and shows you how to locate your RPO codes:

 

[autocomman]

So you should keep in mind he's giving you the outputs from the amp to feed your DSP/new amp. With that said anything coming out of that amp will be time corrected and have built in DSP still active, the roll off at high volume, the way the system as been EQd and setup from the factory. You can't put back what isn't there. I know there are limited options, and this is one of those options but just be aware of that.

The NAVtv guys have an interface that supposed to replace the amp completely and retain all the correct Integration the factory amp has, and give you 6 unmolested clean signals via RCA. The module doesn't say it's for the tourx specifically but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I dunno if anyone here has tried it. That's gonna be the best way do do it right.

With that said what this guy is selling is the quick and dirty way to do it. Maybe it will sound fine? I dunno, but like I said you can't put back what isn't there. So however it's been setup in that factory amp with it's DSP, you'll have to try and balance out what ever your getting from it. Good luck, I hope you do a thread with the results and what components your using

 

[abizzle]

So you should keep in mind he's giving you the outputs from the amp to feed your DSP/new amp. With that said anything coming out of that amp will be time corrected and have built in DSP still active, the roll off at high volume, the way the system as been EQd and setup from the factory. You can't put back what isn't there. I know there are limited options, and this is one of those options but just be aware of that.

The NAVtv guys have an interface that supposed to replace the amp completely and retain all the correct Integration the factory amp has, and give you 6 unmolested clean signals via RCA. The module doesn't say it's for the tourx specifically but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I dunno if anyone here has tried it. That's gonna be the best way do do it right.

With that said what this guy is selling is the quick and dirty way to do it. Maybe it will sound fine? I dunno, but like I said you can't put back what isn't there. So however it's been setup in that factory amp with it's DSP, you'll have to try and balance out what ever your getting from it. Good luck, I hope you do a thread with the results and what components your using

I specifically asked him to build the harness such that it gives me speaker level inputs into the DSP. He will build it with LOC’s if you specify. Everything I’ve read about the Fosgate 3Sixty.3 DSP says it will remove all of the DSP, time correction, and EQ settings from the factory signals and flatten the outputs. It will measure the frequency response on each output from your factory source and generate the correction curve needed to flatten the output of each channel. The correction curve is then combined with the source output, giving you a flat frequency response on each channel. You mentioned not being able to put back what isn’t there. Channel summing is designed to do just that.

Once the signals are normalized then you can apply channel summing, set the crossover parameters, adjust level and delay, and tune each channel using a 31-band EQ. With that level of control, you should be able to create a perfect sound stage that is optimized for your aftermarket amps.

The AudioControl DM-608 and DM-810 DSP’s are also good choices for cleaning up factory signals.

I’m almost done selecting equipment and I’ll post the list for others to critique. I will document the installation in detail using pics, video, and step by step instructions.

 

[abizzle]

I went to edit my original post and then realized forum rules won’t allow it.

My original post included the contact information for John Adams, who makes custom wire harnesses for our cars. Please disregard that information and look elsewhere if you need wire harnesses to modify the Bose amp’s inputs/outputs.

He seemed like a nice enough guy and he obviously knew what he was doing, but he got lazy when building my harness. I paid him a total of $180; $150 for the harness and $30 extra for adding 2-feet of length to each wire.

He sent me an e-mail saying he ran out of wire, so he decided to use white for 12V Power and white/black for Ground. He reassured me that it wasn’t a big deal and it would work just fine. He also said he tied a zip tie around those two wires, so I wouldn’t get them confused with the white and white/black wires for the LF speaker channel.

Now I’ll admit to doing similar things in my own vehicle when I was a teenager and I know the harness would work fine without the right colored wires, but I paid him good money for a professional service. He got lazy (and cheap) and he wanted me to be ok with it. The wires are color coded for a reason, otherwise why not just make all the wires white or white/black?

I replied telling him that I knew it would work, but I was a little disappointed. I also told him that I’ve had clients pay me good money to make custom CCTV pigtails and even if the Client didn’t care I would feel bad about cutting corners. Finally I told him it was his choice if he wanted to send the janky harness, but we both knew it wasn’t his best work.

He chose to remake it and sent me the tracking number once it shipped. I replied to thank him and I said I hoped there were no hard feelings. I also asked a question about speaker wire. In his reply he only answered the speaker wire question. He didn’t bother to acknowledge what I said about hard feelings. He didn’t say “you’re welcome” or “thank you for the business” or anything that would imply he valued me as a customer.

I wish nothing but the best for him, but I won’t do any more business with him and I will not recommend him to anyone I know. He’s lucky I didn’t cancel my order and request a refund. There are other people making harnesses of equal or better quality and for half the price.

So again...
Do Not buy custom wire harnesses from John Hlava with Audio Integration Solutions (A.I.S.). His e-mail address is 1pocket73@sbcglobal.net

 

[LLninja]

I went to edit my original post and then realized forum rules won’t allow it.

My original post included the contact information for John Adams, who makes custom wire harnesses for our cars. Please disregard that information and look elsewhere if you need wire harnesses to modify the Bose amp’s inputs/outputs.

He seemed like a nice enough guy and he obviously knew what he was doing, but he got lazy when building my harness. I paid him a total of $180; $150 for the harness and $30 extra for adding 2-feet of length to each wire.

He sent me an e-mail saying he ran out of wire, so he decided to use white for 12V Power and white/black for Ground. He reassured me that it wasn’t a big deal and it would work just fine. He also said he tied a zip tie around those two wires, so I wouldn’t get them confused with the white and white/black wires for the LF speaker channel.

Now I’ll admit to doing similar things in my own vehicle when I was a teenager and I know the harness would work fine without the right colored wires, but I paid him good money for a professional service. He got lazy (and cheap) and he wanted me to be ok with it. The wires are color coded for a reason, otherwise why not just make all the wires white or white/black?

I replied telling him that I knew it would work, but I was a little disappointed. I also told him that I’ve had clients pay me good money to make custom CCTV pigtails and even if the Client didn’t care I would feel bad about cutting corners. Finally I told him it was his choice if he wanted to send the janky harness, but we both knew it wasn’t his best work.

He chose to remake it and sent me the tracking number once it shipped. I replied to thank him and I said I hoped there were no hard feelings. I also asked a question about speaker wire. In his reply he only answered the speaker wire question. He didn’t bother to acknowledge what I said about hard feelings. He didn’t say “you’re welcome” or “thank you for the business” or anything that would imply he valued me as a customer.

I wish nothing but the best for him, but I won’t do any more business with him and I will not recommend him to anyone I know. He’s lucky I didn’t cancel my order and request a refund. There are other people making harnesses of equal or better quality and for half the price.

So again...
Do Not buy custom wire harnesses from John Hlava with Audio Integration Solutions (A.I.S.). His e-mail address is 1pocket73@sbcglobal.net

Agreed, how hard is it to go online or to a hardware store to buy some red wire to do this right? Heck, even spray painting the wire red could have been an OK hack.

 

[abizzle]

Agreed, how hard is it to go online or to a hardware store to buy some red wire to do this right? Heck, even spray painting the wire red could have been an OK hack.

I mean yeah... if I’m making crack there are just certain supplies I have to have. I’m not gonna start cooking only to realize I don’t have baking powder and then substitute in some baby powder. I’ll just tell my customers, “Hey it’ll still work baby... powder is powder.”

 

[AIS1973]

This is John with AIS and I am the one who built the OP's harness kit.I rewired the harness according to the colors you requested, shipped your harness in a timely manner, sent your tracking number and answered your follow-up question. Thank you for your business.

 

[RegalMN]

This is John with AIS and I am the one who built the OP's harness kit.I rewired the harness according to the colors you requested, shipped your harness in a timely manner, sent your tracking number and answered your follow-up question. Thank you for your business.

But no hard feelings? We all need to know! 😃

 

[abizzle]

This is John with AIS and I am the one who built the OP's harness kit.I rewired the harness according to the colors you requested, shipped your harness in a timely manner, sent your tracking number and answered your follow-up question. Thank you for your business.

John, I should probably leave well enough alone because I posted exactly what happened and anyone who reads it can see that. But you said something in your reply that wasn’t accurate and I just wanna set the record straight.

You said you rewired the harness according to the colors I requested. I never requested any colors. I didn’t even request for you to rewire the harness. There was an expectation that I would receive the correct colors because that’s what you’re supposed to get when you pay good money for a professional service, and you know that.

I merely expressed my disappointment and said I would accept the harness if you wanted to send it. You chose to rewire it, as you should have. I thanked you for it and even said I hoped there were no hard feelings.

You chose to be passive aggressive by ignoring my olive branch when you answered my question about speaker wire. So I don’t really understand the purpose of your coming here to follow up.

Again, I wish you nothing but the best.

 

[6APPEAL]

I'm going to use the JL Audio FiX-82 to sum the high level and remove the Bose modifications to the signal then get a flat low level input for my Helix DSP. If it doesn't work I will use the NavTV unit. It is designed to work with the GM IOS/IOT systems (option codes).

 

[abizzle]

I'm going to use the JL Audio FiX-82 to sum the high level and remove the Bose modifications to the signal then get a flat low level input for my Helix DSP. If it doesn't work I will use the NavTV unit. It is designed to work with the GM IOS/IOT systems (option codes).

Man I looked at the NavTV M650-GM unit because it’s supposed to be fully compatible with the Sportback Bose system. I have RPO code IO6. I don’t think it works for people with the standard sound system.

Anyway, I got really excited because it has TOSLINK and SPDIF out, meaning I would only need one cable to interface with an aftermarket amp. Then I read the manual and it says you lose fade/balance when using the digital out. It will give you the flat outputs, but it’s kinda lacking on the DSP features. I would have to buy another DSP to go with it.

For $550 it should be able to retain fade/balance and give you the high level DSP features. I just couldn’t justify spending over $1000 and still having to buy speakers and amps.

 

[6APPEAL]

My TourX has the RPO code IOT. So we would be looking at 2 different NavTV models. If I remember correctly, S/PDIF can only carry 2 channels, where TOSLINK can carry as many as 8 channels. But the more channels carried the lower the bandwidth on each channel. I'm using a custom harness out of the Bose amp into the JL Audio FiX-82, then RCA to the Helix. That will work find for coming out of the factory head unit. My HiRes music will come from either my phone via the paid unlocked Onkyo app, USB-C out of phone to a USB-A input HEC card in my Helix Pro. Or a Fiio M11 feeding the Helix via S/PDIF. Either device will allow me to play whatever format I want, but it will all end up being converted to PCM format but still be in 16-bit or 24-bit and sampling rates from 44.1KHz to 192KHz. The phone method works great in the system in my truck.

 

[abizzle]

My TourX has the RPO code IOT. So we would be looking at 2 different NavTV models. If I remember correctly, S/PDIF can only carry 2 channels, where TOSLINK can carry as many as 8 channels. But the more channels carried the lower the bandwidth on each channel. I'm using a custom harness out of the Bose amp into the JL Audio FiX-82, then RCA to the Helix. That will work find for coming out of the factory head unit. My HiRes music will come from either my phone via the paid unlocked Onkyo app, USB-C out of phone to a USB-A input HEC card in my Helix Pro. Or a Fiio M11 feeding the Helix via S/PDIF. Either device will allow me to play whatever format I want, but it will all end up being converted to PCM format but still be in 16-bit or 24-bit and sampling rates from 44.1KHz to 192KHz. The phone method works great in the system in my truck.

I guess I don’t understand why you need the FiX-82. Why not go straight from your harness to the Helix? That’s what I’m doing, except with the 3Sixty.3.

SPDIF can only do two channels of uncompressed audio, but can do up to 7.1 compressed. I prefer TOSLINK too.

I’ll have to dig up the part number, but GM makes a USB module with USB-C. It would fit in your center console and replace the existing USB module. Not sure if it would require a different plug. I wonder what the specs are?

So what about the rest of your system? You selected any speakers and amps yet? All I have left is to choose amps and decide how many subs I want. I found a couple of really nice prefab boxes for three 10” subs yesterday. It’s tempting.

 

[6APPEAL]

I guess I don’t understand why you need the FiX-82. Why not go straight from your harness to the Helix? That’s what I’m doing, except with the 3Sixty.3.

SPDIF can only do two channels of uncompressed audio, but can do up to 7.1 compressed. I prefer TOSLINK too.

I’ll have to dig up the part number, but GM makes a USB module with USB-C. It would fit in your center console and replace the existing USB module. Not sure if it would require a different plug. I wonder what the specs are?

So what about the rest of your system? You selected any speakers and amps yet? All I have left is to choose amps and decide how many subs I want. I found a couple of really nice prefab boxes for three 10” subs yesterday. It’s tempting.

I got the FiX-82 super cheap. And the couple of systems I've heard that feed high level into the Helix Pro had a bit of noise. Now it could be that they didn't adjust the input sensitivity correctly. So I'm going to use low level input into the Helix.

I'm not really interested in reinventing the wheel for getting HiRes signal into my system. The USB input into the Helix works and sounds fantastic in my other system and a couple of friends that have the same setup.

I will be using Linear Power amps and speakers. I've downsized my plans a bit to help keep the system hidden. I'm going to use 1 LP10 ported in the spare tire well replacing the Bose sub. I will use the Linear Power LP6.5CA 6.5" component set up front. The 6.5" in the factory door location and the tweeter in a custom pod on the dash or in the A-pillar. I will use a LP2075 mono on the sub, another LP2075 on the tweeters and a LP2150 on the 6.5".

The owner of Linear Power is a really good friend of mine and I use his equipment in all my systems. The system in my truck has won a USACi World Championship in Sound Quality. I've placed as high as 2nd in the MECA Sound Quality Championships. I competed for about 10 years in USACi, MECA and IASCA. In USACi and MECA I never placed lower than 6th at finals. IASCA was a harder nut to crack and 6th was my best placement at finals, but never placed lower than 10th. But when 1st-10th is separated by less than 3 points you get an idea of how competitive it is.

My friend has basically the same system in his Escape as I'm planning and it sounds phenomenal. The difference is that he uses an 8" sub and only LP2075 amps.

 

[abizzle]

Linear Power... now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. I honestly didn’t know they were still around. Back in the good ole days of car stereo (‘88-‘94) my friend had an ‘83 Jeep CJ7 with four Orion XTR 15’s and all Linear Power amps. He set a couple of records in the open top class. I wanna say he hit 134.7. Man that was a loud system!! The Jeep was fine too! Ahhh the good ole days.

Sounds like you’ve got a nice system planned! You certainly have a lot more experience than I do. I’ve never had anything larger than two 12’s and it was built for bass, not SQ. I’ve been in IT for 25+ years, so all this new digital stuff is right up my alley. Working with a bunch of Electrical Engineers for the last 12 years has helped too.

I’m building for SQ this time and even though I could afford top tier equipment I’ve dialed it back some. Trying to keep it between $2000 and $2500. It looks like I’m going with all Infinity speakers and subs. It didn’t start out that way, but I ran across some great pricing. Still not sure about the Infinity sub. I’m only out $100 if it sucks. We’ll see. With sound proofing and the DSP I should end up with what I want.

I’m gonna take a look at Linear Power now that you said something about it.

 

[abizzle]

My TourX has the RPO code IOT. So we would be looking at 2 different NavTV models. If I remember correctly, S/PDIF can only carry 2 channels, where TOSLINK can carry as many as 8 channels. But the more channels carried the lower the bandwidth on each channel. I'm using a custom harness out of the Bose amp into the JL Audio FiX-82, then RCA to the Helix. That will work find for coming out of the factory head unit. My HiRes music will come from either my phone via the paid unlocked Onkyo app, USB-C out of phone to a USB-A input HEC card in my Helix Pro. Or a Fiio M11 feeding the Helix via S/PDIF. Either device will allow me to play whatever format I want, but it will all end up being converted to PCM format but still be in 16-bit or 24-bit and sampling rates from 44.1KHz to 192KHz. The phone method works great in the system in my truck.

Well, it looks like I’m going to be purchasing a NavTV M650-GM for my sound system upgrade. After reading the following thread on a Camaro forum, its apparent the M650 is far superior to getting a custom harness and sending speaker level signals into an aftermarket DSP. They say the difference is night and day.

M650-GM Audio Interface (Group Buy?) / MOST50 Decoding Alternatives - CAMARO6

M650-GM Audio Interface (Group Buy?) / MOST50 Decoding Alternatives Audio, Video, Bluetooth, Nav, Radar, Electronics

www.camaro6.com

I was also able to confirm the TOSLINK output is only two channels and you will lose the fader/balance controls from the factory head unit. However, they also claim they could not tell any difference between RCA and TOSLINK. You install the M650 behind the dash and purchase a 6-channel RCA patch cable from Amazon for $35. THEN you connect to your aftermarket DSP for fine tuning.

I’m gonna see about finding a used M650 because they sell for $400 or less. If that doesn’t work out I’ll just buy new. Thankfully, after buying two used amps and a used DSP, I could justify paying full price for the M650.

 

[autocomman]

Well, it looks like I’m going to be purchasing a NavTV M650-GM for my sound system upgrade. After reading the following thread on a Camaro forum, its apparent the M650 is far superior to getting a custom harness and sending speaker level signals into an aftermarket DSP. They say the difference is night and day.

Glad to see you going this way. This is because of you retain the factory amp you still have the factory set EQ, rolloff freqs, which will start to roll off highs or lows to protect the speakers at high volumes. You also have what ever time alignment is done, etc etc. You can't put back what isn't there, as I stated early on. In the audio world you start with the cleanest signal to have the best result. Anyone trying to balance out the system from the speaker level, from the factory amp will never achieve what you can do by starting from the most raw signal, which is what the Nav TV will do. Now I'm back on board to see how this work for you. I feel like there is a lot that can be had even from the factory speakers with a sub change since with the navtv gives you a clean unmodded signal to work with. Really I'm most curious about how the integration is. Will you still be hooking up the center dash speaker? It's supposed to be for OnStar/navigation and other things from what I remember.

I wanna see this sub setup to in the spare tire well. I assume your never gonna put a temp spare in there?

 

[LLninja]

Glad to see you going this way. This is because of you retain the factory amp you still have the factory set EQ, rolloff freqs, which will start to roll off highs or lows to protect the speakers at high volumes. You also have what ever time alignment is done, etc etc. You can't put back what isn't there, as I stated early on. In the audio world you start with the cleanest signal to have the best result. Anyone trying to balance out the system from the speaker level, from the factory amp will never achieve what you can do by starting from the most raw signal, which is what the Nav TV will do. Now I'm back on board to see how this work for you. I feel like there is a lot that can be had even from the factory speakers with a sub change since with the navtv gives you a clean unmodded signal to work with. Really I'm most curious about how the integration is. Will you still be hooking up the center dash speaker? It's supposed to be for OnStar/navigation and other things from what I remember.

I wanna see this sub setup to in the spare tire well. I assume your never gonna put a temp spare in there?

I’m pretty sure when I’m on the phone via CarPlay the center speaker is where the other person’s audio comes out.

 

[autocomman]

I’m pretty sure when I’m on the phone via CarPlay the center speaker is where the other person’s audio comes out.

Yeah I think it's for everything not music, so onstar, navigation, phone calls. Pretty Important to keep that speaker and the NavTv gives you an output for it

 

[abizzle]

Glad to see you going this way. This is because of you retain the factory amp you still have the factory set EQ, rolloff freqs, which will start to roll off highs or lows to protect the speakers at high volumes. You also have what ever time alignment is done, etc etc. You can't put back what isn't there, as I stated early on. In the audio world you start with the cleanest signal to have the best result. Anyone trying to balance out the system from the speaker level, from the factory amp will never achieve what you can do by starting from the most raw signal, which is what the Nav TV will do. Now I'm back on board to see how this work for you. I feel like there is a lot that can be had even from the factory speakers with a sub change since with the navtv gives you a clean unmodded signal to work with. Really I'm most curious about how the integration is. Will you still be hooking up the center dash speaker? It's supposed to be for OnStar/navigation and other things from what I remember.

I wanna see this sub setup to in the spare tire well. I assume your never gonna put a temp spare in there?

Ok, so I realized today that both PAC and Axxess make a MOST interface similar to the NavTV. I’m about to spend an hour or so comparing the three units. I saw a video on the Axxess unit today and I really like it, not to mention it’s priced around $350. Also consider the Axxess was the third product to be released and they may have designed it with additional or better features tha NavTV and PAC. So I haven’t decided on that component, but I can tell you what the rest of my plan is.

Here’s my component list:

• MOST Interface (NavTV, PAC, Axxess)
• miniDSP Harmony 8x12 DSP - will power front door tweeters, front door midrange driver, rear door coaxials, and center speaker. Also integrated with DSP
• Infinity Kappa One K Monoblock (800 x 1)
• Front Doors - Infinity Reference 6530cx Component Set
• Rear Doors - Infinity Reference 6532ix Coaxials
• Center Dash - Infinity Reference 3032cfx Coaxial
• Subwoofer - Infinity Kappa 1000W 10” (450 watts RMS)
• Subwoofer Enclosure - Sealed with .75 cuft air space

Approximate Cost of Build = $2150

I’m testing the Infinity sub. If I like what I hear I’m going to add one or two more.