Stereo issue (Bose/non-Bose)

[Quarter]

Hi! I've just got myself a 2000 R50 with a few issues to address, so I'd appreciate any advice from you. As I hate driving with no music or a totally substandard sound, I looked at the stereo. There was some aftermarket 2din touchscreen station which produced harsh, scratchy sound with no bass whatsoever. Took it off and bought online a 1997 OEM Bose Clarion as I suspected I might have a Bose system (hence bad sound from the aftermarket unit that was hooked up without any Bose-nonBose harness). To my surprise, the plugs don't match (see the images). Does it mean that my Pathy has a non-Bose system? I don't want to dismantle the door trim to learn that by inspecting the speakers so your advice will be much appreciated.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TdJZ4ssc8TCohNYA9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6kEefpZGqksWBs1WA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/WQsw4MFKhTMB55ni9

 

 

 

Eventually, I hooked up a Pioneer unit - it sounds pretty bad, front speakers get overdrive and pop and give harsh sound, the back speakers are slightly better but overall it's bad. I'd rather have an OEM (I like the looks of the 90s/00s units but can live with aftermarket stuff as long as it sounds passable. Would like to avoid installing new speakers and all new wiring if possible. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

 

PS. I'm based in Poland so, unfortunately, I cannot order anything from Crutchfield (they don't do intl. deliveries) which seems to be the go-to place for stereo issues. 

PS.2 I'll say "hello" in the newbie section soon, I know the drill

Edited July 3, 2024 by Quarter

[Slartibartfast]

 

The question is whether your Polish Pathy has the same specs/wiring as the US models. Hopefully it does! Otherwise this may be entertaining to track down, unless you can find a service manual for your local variant.

 

I would start by downloading the 2000 US-spec service manual from Nicoclub. It should have schematics in the EL section for the radio options. It shows a base system and a Bose system. See if you can match up the wire colors and plugs to what you have to confirm which system you're working with. If it doesn't match, try the '97 manual--it shows a base system without an amp, a base system with an amp, and a Bose system with an amp, so you've got one more variant to check against. Also, given you have a '97 head unit, you can check it against the '00 to see if it's got the same connections.

 

It sounds like you may have a factory amplifier wired to the speaker output of an aftermarket head unit, so you're hearing a signal that's been amplified twice--once by the head unit, and then again by an amp that wasn't expecting an already-amplified signal. There are two ways of dealing with this. One is to connect the wires going to the amp to the line-out RCAs on the back of the head unit (or a line-level converter if the headunit doesn't have those), so the amp gets the signal it expects. (I would expect a plug-in harness to do this already, if it's built right--if that's how the aftermarket HU was hooked up, then you might have a bad amp.) The other option is to bypass the amp, either by running new wires to the speakers or by cutting the wires to the amp plug and joining the inputs to the outputs.

 

I didn't know better when I put a head unit in my '95, so I wired it as described above. The sound quality wasn't as bad as you describe, but the beeps the head unit made were deafening. I did notice a little better bass and clarity when I found out about the amps and bypassed them.

 

It's also entirely possible that your 24-year old speakers are in a bad way. You might try looking in through the grilles with a flashlight or something to see if the foam around the cones is still there.