Car Stereos: pulling out a bose deck, bose amplifiers, nissan bose

Question
Hey:) I have a 1991 nissan maxima with a bose deck... I want to pull that and put in a jvc cd deck. I am told I need a scocshe transmitter. Where can I buy that also how do I install the transmitter??

Answer
Hi Donna,

You don't need a "transmitter" to install an after-market head unit with the Nissan Bose system, but you do need some sort of interface device.  Scosche makes interface adapters to let you replace a head unit in a factory-amplified audio system, but so do many other manufacturers.  

This type of device is often called a factory amp interface.  It allows the Bose amplifiers--your Maxima has a separate amplifier at each speaker--to work with the new head unit's speaker outputs.  Usually this type of adapter has input wires coming from the new deck's speaker outputs, and output wires that connect to the factory wires that run to the Bose amps.  The best way to use this is with a wire harness that fits the Nissan factory radio plugs.  Just connect the JVC speaker output wires to the input wires on the adapter.  Connect the output wires to the speaker wires on the wire harness.  The factory amp interface should have level control dials to let you adjust the system volume.

Any shop that does car audio installation should be able to supply you with a factory amp interface adapter.  

Note that if you plan to replace the factory speakers with after-market upgrades, you'll probably be bypassing the Bose amplifiers and connecting the new speakers directly to the new head unit.  In this case, you wouldn't need a factory amp interface.

Hope this helps!

Brian