Bypass 1989 SEi Bose Amplifier

[lightzingvolt]

Hi all,
Proud owner of a 1989 Accord SEi Coupe w/ 115,000 on the odometer. Looking to change out the Bose audio system for my own aftermarket system and the factory amp is giving me a hard time. I've searched online for any information regarding bypassing or removing the amplifier with little to no information as to how someone did it. Does anyone by chance know or at least have a schematic of what the wire codes are? Thanks in advance.

[carotman]

Is the factory setup still working?

[rushell]

i have a 89 sei and i ran all new wires for my sound system

[Dr_Snooz]

If you download the 1989 Accord Service Manual from the link in my sig, p. 25-123 should get you sorted.

But I agree with rushell. Bose has made a tidy business of doing everything screwy, producing a very, ahem, unusual sound and deluding people into thinking it sounds good. Trying to figure it all out might be more difficult than simply rewiring it. If memory serves, the stock wires back there might be 18 gauge. They will be fine for the odd Mozart album at low volume, but if you plan to stretch it out, you'll probably find them lacking.

On the other hand, bear in mind that the Bose system is rare and might have some collector value in the future. Depends on what you want to do with the car.

[lightzingvolt]

I ended up just running new speaker wire to the new head unit, while time consuming it wasn't too difficult and got the job done. Though I know the Bose sound system is kind of hard to find some of the parts in my SEi were beginning to fail- I may put the amp up for sale since that's still working but the speakers themselves are worn and the head unit started to seem off. I'm not worried about keeping the car OEM so I see no problem with swapping out the old audio equipment as well as some other parts I've previously tinkered with. Just another step in restoration 😊

[2ndGenGuy]

Man, I have a full SEi Bose setup with good head unit and speakers, but the Amp is the only part not working in my setup. I might PM you about that amp so I can have a complete setup.

For reference, all of the audio outputs on the Bose head unit are line-level pre outs. You can wire these up with some RCA connectors and then hook them into any amp. You could also take any line-level output and hook it into the Bose amp. The only thing that I don't know, is if the Bose amp will sound good with other speakers. I feel like the rears may be primarily Bass speakers, and may have a crossover built in for that.

Also the speaker wires that are used in the Bose setup are way fatter than the wiring for the regular stereo. They definitely didn't cheap out on that part.