Bose amp schematic - WTF is in it?

[jmil1974]

Having trouble finding a diagram of the whole amp, so far just the speakers. I see 6 channels of sound in and out: 2 front, 2 rear, and 2 sub. That's 12 wires, but there looks to be about double that going in and out. If I yank that whole unit and replace with my Audiocontrol LCQ1 and 5 channel amp...what am I losing?

 

[iamdub]

Having trouble finding a diagram of the whole amp, so far just the speakers. I see 6 channels of sound in and out: 2 front, 2 rear, and 2 sub. That's 12 wires, but there looks to be about double that going in and out. If I yank that whole unit and replace with my Audiocontrol LCQ1 and 5 channel amp...what am I losing?

I don't know all the details. But, there are two versions of the Bose amp. I think they both control the warning chimes (dash warnings, door open/key in ignition, etc.). What's known as the "Lux" amp also controls a center dash speaker. Then you have rear speakers that can be independently controlled if passengers are listening with headphones or playing a DVD. Also, with the Lux amp, the volume and/or equalizer is handled differently. Again, I forget the details, but I think it's something like with one style of amp, a full range, low-level signal leaves the HU and the amp processes and amplifies it and the volume is controlled by a signal from the HU. The other style does these functions differently. Maybe it's simply that one is a "dumb" amp that relies on an equalized signal from the HU and it only amplifies the signal whereas the Lux amp contains the logic for the equalization. Either way, in addition to the six or eight pairs of speaker outputs, there would be power, ground, maybe a switched power, digital or analog inputs, etc. That could easily add up to doubling the number of wires.


My '08 has the non-Lux amp that gets a full-range, low-level signal that is equalized by the HU. I lost the schematic I had found about five years ago. But, basically all I needed was to tap into the speaker wires coming from the HU and into the amp. I could feed an external EQ and/or amp with these and the amp would still provide the chimes and signal to the factory sub in the console.

 

[jmil1974]

Thanks dub! That is enough to cement my decision, thank you. Mine isn't the lux (no center channel) but the separate volume controls, etc. makes a TON of sense. I was going to dump it for packaging purposes (amp placement) but don't want to lose the rear set/separate volume. Thank you!