Jump to content
SAU Community

Fitting Bose G35 Head Unit In Non-bose V35 Car

sonicii

By sonicii,
in V Series (V35, V36, V37 & Infiniti)

 Share

Recommended Posts

sonicii Veteran

sonicii

Posted
Posted

I have just completed fitting a factory Bose head unit from a G35 to my non-Bose V35 Sedan. Found out a few interesting things.

This post could be long, so I will just start with a summary, and if you are interested, you can read on. Not sure if anyone has done this, or would ever want to..

- Bose head unit contains the same output stage as a non-Bose, and therefore can power speakers directly (without an amp)

- G35 MP3 head unit fits and works fine in a V35.

Firstly, I have only had my V35 for a few weeks, and I ignorantly assumed I had a premium and therefore a Bose stereo system. The car has dual zone CC aircon, reclining rear seats and steering wheel controls, so I thought that meant it was premium.

I wanted to have MP3 playback capability, and after investigating the iPod I/F and double DIN facia, I was a little scared with the price. My previous car just had a cd player that could play MP3 CDs, and that is all I really wanted.

After finding out the G35 Head units can playback MP3 CDs, I decided to go down that path, I ordered a 2nd hand Bose G35 head unit from USA, for a cost of $180. which was much cheaper than the iPod or double DIN option (especially considering I don't have a iPod).

While the head unit was in transit, I found out that I don't have a Bose system, so I figured I would probably have to fit one of the 4ch amps I removed from my old car.

When the Head unit arrived, I checked it out and found its output stage is a TDA 4x40W speaker driver, so I thought I could probably just swap it over without needing to add an amp.

Upon removing my non-Bose head unit, i found a few differences. The output driver is exactly the same, but the non-Bose head unit has a much larger heat sink and integrated fan for the output driver, obviously to dissipate the additional heat created by driving speakers instead of just the input to the Bose amp.

So to make the Bose head unit work with the non-Bose system, I needed to swap over the heat sink. A fairly easy process with 4 screws and some heat sink compound.

In addition there is a small plug-in circuit board that has the rear output connectors on it. This board supplies the power for the heatsink fan on the non-Bose units, and appears to have some further audio processing on the Bose unit, so this board had to be swapped too, but that was a simply plug and play affair.

I also had to swap the stereo and AC control board as the fluoro display is different on the MP3 system.

But that was it, I re-fitted the head unit and facia and all is working fine, including the steering wheel controls.

I now have a Bose G35 MP3 head unit running fine, at a fraction of the price of the iPod I/F or Double Din setup.

The obvious down side is the head unit is 2nd hand, so there is the chance you can buy a dud, or have it fail after a few weeks.

sonicii Veteran

sonicii

Posted
  • Author
Posted

So you just have the standard speakers and no amp but they run all ok with the bose head?

yes, that's correct. You just need the heatsink and output connector board (to power the heat sink fan) from a non-Bose HU.

sonicii Veteran

sonicii

Posted
  • Author
Posted

series2, 2005 350gt sedan.

the head unit came from a series2 g35.

I have some pics of the heatsinks and output boards if anyone is interested.

sonicii Veteran

sonicii

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I have attached 3 pics, in each the left item is from the non-bose HU and the right is from the G35 Bose HU

The most obvious difference in the 2nd pic is the lack of the MD unit in the G35 HU, I don't believe this can be swapped into the G35 HU, for a start the ribbon connector from the MD deck is missing on the main board in the G35 HU, and there is no MD button on the G35 face panel.

The 3rd pic shows the 2 output boards. You can see there are some differences in components, mainly the connector for the heat sink fan (far left), but there are also several differences on the right side of the board. I initially assumed there may be some audio processing on the Bose unit, but now I am also thinking it may be for satellite radio and/or the telephone I/F that came on some G35s.

post-84647-0-20478300-1316948201_thumb.jpg

post-84647-0-56771000-1316948220_thumb.jpg

post-84647-0-69874900-1316948239_thumb.jpg

sonicii Veteran

sonicii

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Could that jumper possibly be on the output board, and therefore was swapped? As the volume level is currently the same as my original non-bose HU. A 20dB cut is significant, so I am sure it would be very obvious.

sonicii Veteran

sonicii

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

No worries.. I am fairly happy with it as is.. I cranked it up to full volume yesterday, it was quite loud and the speakers started to distort.

Edit - Just had a quick look at the datasheet for the TDA8593. The line driver mode is only 6dB down from normal mode (20dB gain vs 26dB gain), so it is only -6dB, which could explain why it wasn't that noticable.

Edited by sonicii
sonicii Veteran

sonicii

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Update - Ok, if anyone is interested, the system seems to perform ok without chaning the 'jumper' to increse the output by 6db.

However, if anyone ever needs to go the other way and fit a non-bose head unit to a Bose system, you will probably need to reduce the output level with this jumper.

I have attached a pic which should be fairly self explainatory. You will need skills with removing/soldering surface mount components. I would NOT suggest you try it if you don't have these skills, as you can make a big mess of the board.

The board in the picture is from my JDM non-bose head unit, so it is currently in the 'non-bose' mode with incresed output gain.

There are also 2 other 'jumpers' which are described as 'Area1' and 'Area2', I am not sure exactly what these do, taking a wild guess, maybe it switches the radio frequency range?? If anyone would like to experiment, let us know what you find. Again the picture is of my JDM head unit, so I would guess the area is set to Japan. The Clarion SM has R121 in the 'off' position.

The Jumpers are in fact 47Kohm surface mount resistors, and pull the inputs of the IC high or low.

post-84647-0-87056800-1317196243_thumb.jpg

Edited by sonicii
Chris Rogers Grand Master

Chris Rogers

Posted
Posted

thats it. on the JDM one doing the area switches doesnt do anything.

you should have a PN2613/14 for the jap unit. I have the FSM for that here if someone wants to host it.

the area 'code' is hard coded into the CPU and the face. its not as simple as moving two jumpers around. a LOT more has to change to fix the radio issue. the AM/FM front end is one of them.

mving the jumper for bose does two things. drops the output volume,enables the amplifier turn on.

the non bose units DO NOT have the amp on ckts.

sonicii Veteran

sonicii

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks Chris. So changing the jumper is a necessity if you want to put a standard head unit into a bose setup, not just for the output level but to remote power-on the amp.

I found leaving it in the 'bose' position seems to work quite well for my setup, I guess if I had some music recorded at low level it might be an issue, but for everything i have played so far, I wouldn't want to run it any harder than the current full volume setting, and if I ever want to add an amp, the remote power will be available.

I have the FSM for the PP2665DA which is the Bose USDM unit for the 05-06 G35.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • MBS206
      R34 GT-T cycling ABS pump

      By MBS206 · Posted

      The team at OBD2 Australia are pretty good, shoot them an email and ask them. I've dealt with them before for work stuff. I'd be shocked if it didn't work, so long as Consult can activate the ABS. But you might need to use KLine for it which would be the stopper, as I don't think that piece does KLine comms.
    • Dose Pipe Sutututu
      R34 GT-T cycling ABS pump

      By Dose Pipe Sutututu · Posted

      Yeah and hence my ghetto way of slamming the brakes, get the ABS to cycle, rebleed seems to be a sensible workaround.
    • TurboTapin
      CD009 RB Conversion

      By TurboTapin · Posted

      Hey! Happy to help. Nothing inherently wrong with the adapter, it's more so with Brett Collins himself. He gave me a lot of incorrect information when I was in contact with him and was extremely rude when I challenged him. He stated I could not use any aftermarket twin plate clutches except for his own, not to use the dush shield, bla bla bla and it was all BS.  Collins stated to cut roughly 14mm's off the housing, I took off 15mm to make room for the dust shield. I would confirm with whatever adapter manufacturer you're using. 
    • GTSBoy
      33 GTR Broken front wheel knuckle

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      There's plenty of OEM steering arms that are bolted on. Not in the same fashion/orientation as that one, to be sure, but still. Examples of what I'm thinking of would use holes like the ones that have the downward facing studs on the GTR uprights (down the bottom end, under the driveshaft opening, near the lower balljoint) and bolt a steering arm on using only 2 bolts that would be somewhat similarly in shear as these you're complainig about. I reckon old Holdens did that, and I've never seen a broken one of those.
    • MBS206
      33 GTR Broken front wheel knuckle

      By MBS206 · Posted

      Let's be honest, most of the people designing parts like the above, aren't engineers. Sometimes they come from disciplines that gives them more qualitative feel for design than quantitive, however, plenty of them have just picked up a license to Fusion and started making things. And that's the honest part about the majority of these guys making parts like that, they don't have huge R&D teams and heaps of time or experience working out the numbers on it. Shit, most smaller teams that do have real engineers still roll with "yeah, it should be okay, and does the job, let's make them and just see"...   The smaller guys like KiwiCNC, aren't the likes of Bosch etc with proper engineering procedures, and oversights, and sign off. As such, it's why they can produce a product to market a lot quicker, but it always comes back to, question it all.   I'm still not a fan of that bolt on piece. Why not just machine it all in one go? With the right design it's possible. The only reason I can see is if they want different heights/length for the tie rod to bolt to. And if they have the cncs themselves,they can easily offer that exact feature, and just machine it all in one go. 
×
×
  • Create New...