With input from experienced members, I would like to clear up the rumors about the necessity of an adapter for an aftermarket head unit to work with an otherwise factory Bose system. Some say the adapter works, some say it sucks, others say it is completely unnecessary.

My setup:

Kenwood Headunit (16 Pin)
Bose Factory 3-Speaker System

I bought the wiring harness and antenna adapter, soldered everything up, but I have no sound at any of my speakers.

There are some unused wires on my harness:

From side coming out of H/U
ILLUMI
P. CONT
EXT. CONT.
MUTE
ANT CONT

From other side of harness
DIMMER
ILLUMINATION/DASHLIGHT
POWER ANTENNA

There is one disconnected wire coming directly out of the back of my H/U labeled:

REMO. CONT

What do I need to connect in order to avoid purchasing the aforementioned adapter? Do I need to bypass the factory amps? I do not want to replace my speakers at this time.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

connect remote connect from your radio to power antenna wire and bam the amp should turn on and you will see the light :-)

 

Thanks for the help Penta I connected REMO. CONT (from H/U) to POWER ANTENNA (wiring harness) but unfortunately nothing changed.

I did not mention in the original post, but the H/U will turn on and is able to read CDs and read radio frequencies, there is just no sound.

Any input on the adapter issue? Penta, were you verifying that I should NOT need an adapter?

Thanks again!

 

Correct you shouldnt need an adapter at all. Did it work fine with stock radio. In the harness that plugs into the vehicle wires is there anything else u didnt hook up liek an amp turn on wire or something. Dimmer and illumination are of no concern so is there anything else left unhooked.

Try connecting the power antenna wire on the car side directly to where you have the switched 12volt ignition wire hookedup and see if that works. Theres no reason this setup shouldnt work if your bose is working properly.

Not to be stupid but you are turning the volume up on the cd player right

 

Should just re-wire a BOSE system. It's the surest way to eliminate BOSE problems... those adaptors don't always work.

 

I think the wire out of my HU was blue and had to connect to an orange wire to get the amps to turn on. I may have that backwards, but that's how it was on mine when I had the same problem. The adapter address another problem entirely which you may or may not notice when the sound finally comes on.

 

Did you ever get a working fix for this? I'm having same issue

 

The orange illumination wire??