Bad Audio Quality after replacing Bose Head Unit
 

Hey Guys,

Over the weekend, I replaced my head unit with a Computer. Everything went well, the install went smooth and im glad everything turned out great! The only problem I had was when I was wiring the Audio, I had to couple the Front Right and Rear Right speakers to my Right channel in my car, and likewise for the Left side. I tapped into the Bose Amp (stock) right before the lines went into the amp, and I fed them directly to my computers 1/8-inch jack using adapters.

My Problem:

I am very picky about sound, and believe to have a pretty clean ear. My problem is that after I replaced the HU with my computer, my speakers seem to sound very MUFFLED. As though the low-ends soudned very loose, and my high-ends sounded very tinny. The Bose HU soudned WAY better than my computer, and I cant seem to figure out why. Im unsure if its a wiring problem, or my computers soundcard. Does anybody have any ideas? Or has anyone experience this when replacing the Bose HU with another HU?

This is getting very bothersome, and I tried fixing it using the computers built-in EQ's, but its nowhere near as good as it sounded with my Bose HU.

Thanks for your help in advance! Will be waiting to hear back!!

Look at it as a set of TV speakers compared to a surround sound system. Basically what you did was added more speakers to your TV without a receiver. what I mean is the Bose system is a component system that is set up to control 6 speakers individually (for lack of a better term) and a computer will only do 2 channels instead of 6. They may seem the same (left right front rear) but the Bose unit is doing much more behind the scenes, especially when it comes to controlling the amp. That or I could be completely off my rocker, I haven't had my coffee yet:scratchhe

Hah, wow, didn't look at it that way at all to be honest. This is going to suck pretty bad if it turns out to be the case. This might mean I will have to buy an external sound car, and re-route my wiring to Front R-L and Rear R-L.. My other suspicion was reversing wires.. Would reversing Positive/Negative leads cause something like this to happen?

I've had my coffee now...yes I have seen (erm, heard) crossed wires cause this problem before, but my previous post seems more likely. An external sound card may work. Are you using a line out converter? Or did you just jury rig the wiring?

EDIT: I think I'm beginning to understand...so you are sending the Bose amp a signal from the computer, correct? If that's the case, it's simple. Just disconnect the Bose amp and see if the sound quality improves (my bet is it will). An aftermarket computer (or even head unit for that matter) will never control the Bose amp the way the factory unit (which was used for a reason) does...apples and oranges...

That makes sense, but my question here becomes, wont the built-in speakers need some sort of amplifier to drive them?? The computer is outputting normal signal, will that be enough to drive the stock factory speakers on the Bose sound system??

I'm not really sure. I see what you are saying and that you are concerned about the speakers receiving the correct wattage (or even enough wattage for that matter). Unfortunately, I have no clue. There are others on here that have done carputers, perhaps they will chime in with their experience.:Wconfused

Yeh, Im hoping someone with experience will pitch in their feedback soon! I've been at work all day, and not looking forward to listening to that ear-piercing audio again in a couple hours!! :(

The thread title is less than helpful, so it may take a while for someone to stumble upon this thread