I am moving this topic out of this forum -=+> https://www.audiforums.com/fb.asp?m=370661
to this one because its getting off topic and I still want people to learn from my mistakes and perhaps help anyone wanting to add an amp and subs to a factory bose sound system.

 

OK, I got the power wire through the firewall with no problem. There is a grommet just to the left of the battery, perfect fit! I had to remove some of the foam that is attached under the floor carpet along the door jam trim to make room for the power wire. I then ran it into the trunk, there is a double wall going into the trunk but when you remove the passenger side trunk panel I found a great hidden wire way. The power wire runs close to the rear air bag control module wiring, hope this is not going to be a problem. Here I go, down the road thump thump thump..BANG!! rear air bag goes off from the power cable electromagnetic interference LOL! Lets hope not! I put the bass **** in the glove box and ran the RJ11 cable along with the power cable (don't worry the RJ11 is twisted pair and will not be affected by common mode interference). Tomorrow I will tap the bose amp for the line level outputs and remote power (Yes my bose amp has a remote turn on and is not turned on by the can buss WOOT! Lets hope the line level outputs very with volume and are not fixed using the can buss to adjust volume). I may have to use a DC isolation transformer for the RCAs if there is a ground loop. I don't care about loosing some high frequencies through the 1:1 DC isolation filter because I only need ~20-200Hz.
I found the source of the farting noise coming from the trunk. there is an external to internal breather port behind the trim panel (low and near the rear bumper just above the exhaust). There are rubber flaps and several ports in one big port. I think this is for air flow to cool the bose amp when the car is moving. I could remove the rubber flaps but that could let in water, not to sure what I can do about that, I bet there is another one behind the driver side trim. I could seal it but the bose amp may over heat. I think I am going to remove it and put a plastic kitchen sink scrubber mat over the holes (its like plastic brillow sp? matting). That will still let in air and block water but will not vibrate and make noise, it may make a swooshing sound like a shallow port but I could live with that. {edit} Could this be an exhaust port sucking air from the trunk vents to the rear of the vehicle and the rubber flaps are used to keep engine exhaust from back drafting into the trunk? If that's the case then I can not replace the flaps.

 

Well the amp is mounted and all the wires run to the corner of the trunk. I have not mounted the caps yet but I plan on it tomorrow. My bose amp does have pre inputs that I have taped into (they very with radio volume!!) but there is an annoying pop when the car starts and a pop and then whine when you shut off the car (weather the car stereo is on or not). The remote goes +12V as soon as you turn on the ignition and goes out when the car is shut off. I think the viper amp start up delay will be long enough for the start up pop sound to not be heard and the 12V remote shuts off about 2 seconds before the pop and whine when the car is shut off so again the amp should be off before that is heard. I found all this out by hooking up PC speakers to the RCAs and testing out the pre outs. Sound is good and full range out of the rear pre outs.
I have ordered a DICE iPod/Aux converter for my radio, I hope this thing works it was $144 on e-bay with shipping. I will us this with my iPod and use the Aux for my cell phone (Got sprint pro vision with a ton of free radio channels that have better sound quality than XM!).
(Update) The air bag modules in the back are not modules but the roll over protection fire packs. I saw the yellow connectors and thought they were air bags but they are not. The tunnel going from the car to the trunk is ugly when I removed the ski bag (remove the trunk ring by pushing it up before you pull out, I broke some plastic clips by not doing that). I think I am going to line the opening with ¼� ply wood and use box carpet to cover the wood, should look awesome then. I will be posting some pics soon. We just got a new puppy this weekend so I am not moving as fast as I would like on this project.

 

The pop sound is no problem! The system pounds hard! Its so loud that I can not hear wind noise with the top down when the bass is playing. Yes, that's right, a convertible with killer bass, I am so excited! My last convertible sounded no where even close to this good! Anyway, it took 5min to charge the capacitors at 1.2A! I will post some photos of the setup in the trunk when I get the wiring looking nicer. Here are the photos so far:





Here is where the power wire enters the firewall:


Here is where the wire enters inside behind the glove box:


Here is where the power wire connects to the battery:


The rattle noise in the trunk is not that bad and can not be heard even with the top down and is only apparent if you are standing right behind the car.

 

I installeda Dice module: http://enfigcarstereo.com/shopsite_s..._I_AUDI_R.html
Works great! Awesome sound and clarity, I also plugged in my cell phone to the aux port and now I got hands free calling on the AUX channel (I can also listen to sprint music channels), I also did not loose my factory XM, it still works! Great item, a must have for all factory radios.

 

Heh little update, the AUX channel is connected to the XM satellite input (I did not know this) so if you are jamming to BPM ch. 81 on XM and a call comes in its FREAKIN' LOUD! Scared the life out of me the first time it happened. I now turn down the volume on my cell phone when I am in the car so that does not happen again but I bet its not the last time it happens. You can turn down the input gain on the Dice mod. but then you can not hear the people that are calling you. If you get a call just press CD twice and open the phone if you want to take the call, that's it!

 

Its been over a year now and the system still Jams, I did have to add a fan cooling system for the amp. The cooling system I named (Artic freeze) pulls air in from the cabin and routs it to the amp and there are 2 fans on the amp (one for each heat sink). The fans I used are squirrel cage about 2 inches by 10 inches and there are 3 of them. I designed a small circuit with a thermal couple attached to the amp and a small comparator circuit to switch on the fans when the amp reaches more than 125 Degrees F. I was having some overheating problems last summer when it was over 90 degrees outside and I was jamming for more than 15 min. Now I can Jam for ever even in 100 degree weather with the top down. Excessive overdriving still over temps the amp into shutdown but the recovery is 5 min not 30 min like without the cooling system. Before I added the cooling system normal listening levels (very loud for me) would cause the amp to go into thermal shutdown). I can post photos if anyone is interested.

 

what size wire u running. and fuses and whats ur amp rated at?

 

Using 0AWG and was running a Viper 1200.1 amp on 2 kicker L7s. Subs are sold and now I have a 10W7 in a new box I built. Going to change head unit, speakers amps soon, still waiting for parts. I am going to install Pioneer AXH-P3200BT head unit, Alpine M1000 for 10W7 and 2 M300s bridged for the rest. I have not chosen speakers for the surrounds yet.