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UncleRobin · 06-05-2008

Sorry I am a little late to the party, but here is a little info under the heading it can be done (direct audio input from an iPod or other MP player into the Factory Bose).

In a nutshell, it is a modification that disables the cassette tape player and uses that input for the iPod. I did this mod to a 1990 (that I no longer have) and thought it worked well and sounded great.

It has been a couple years since I did the modification and I don't recall all the exact details, but I can give an overview to what was done. First of all you need to be somewhat handy with electronics. Two pieces of the Bose system get modified; the head unit and the tuner module.

The tuner module, which is under the passenger side dash (at least in a 1990), has line-level L/R audio inputs on the circuit board. There are no jacks per se, (maybe a pin connector, I can't remember) so I added a pair of female RCA phono connectors to it. Essentially I soldered a L/R RCA pigtail to the circuit board. VoilÃ a line-level input I could use.

That input becomes active either when a CD or cassette is played. Obviously one wouldn't want to play a CD or cassette at the same time as an iPod, which is where the second mod comes in. If you "engage" the tape player without a cassette tape in the player, the new aux audio input becomes active and thus you can play the iPod with only the iPod audio coming through the system. Long story short, with the tape engaged, the drive motor runs. Either the drive motor made too much noise or the player didn't like playing without actually having a tape, or maybe both, I can't recall; so I disconnected the drive motor or removed the belt. Again I can't remember exactly what I did, but I disabled the cassette drive in a somewhat non-destructive way that could be easily reversed. For some reason I am thinking that simply putting in an empty cassette shell into the player didn't work.

If you have a Bose system and really want a clean direct iPod input, there should be enough hints here to get you pointed in the right direction. Again you should be fairly electronic savvy to tackle this project. Standard disclaimer: I merely provided this info as it can be done as I did it and thought it worked well - YMMV. If you try it and think it sucks and/or your car blows-up, don't bitch at me.

UR

06-05-2008	#18
UncleRobin Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: The Dump Posts: 16	Re: IPOD install Sorry I am a little late to the party, but here is a little info under the heading it can be done (direct audio input from an iPod or other MP player into the Factory Bose). In a nutshell, it is a modification that disables the cassette tape player and uses that input for the iPod. I did this mod to a 1990 (that I no longer have) and thought it worked well and sounded great. It has been a couple years since I did the modification and I don't recall all the exact details, but I can give an overview to what was done. First of all you need to be somewhat handy with electronics. Two pieces of the Bose system get modified; the head unit and the tuner module. The tuner module, which is under the passenger side dash (at least in a 1990), has line-level L/R audio inputs on the circuit board. There are no jacks per se, (maybe a pin connector, I can't remember) so I added a pair of female RCA phono connectors to it. Essentially I soldered a L/R RCA pigtail to the circuit board. VoilÃ a line-level input I could use. That input becomes active either when a CD or cassette is played. Obviously one wouldn't want to play a CD or cassette at the same time as an iPod, which is where the second mod comes in. If you "engage" the tape player without a cassette tape in the player, the new aux audio input becomes active and thus you can play the iPod with only the iPod audio coming through the system. Long story short, with the tape engaged, the drive motor runs. Either the drive motor made too much noise or the player didn't like playing without actually having a tape, or maybe both, I can't recall; so I disconnected the drive motor or removed the belt. Again I can't remember exactly what I did, but I disabled the cassette drive in a somewhat non-destructive way that could be easily reversed. For some reason I am thinking that simply putting in an empty cassette shell into the player didn't work. If you have a Bose system and really want a clean direct iPod input, there should be enough hints here to get you pointed in the right direction. Again you should be fairly electronic savvy to tackle this project. Standard disclaimer: I merely provided this info as it can be done as I did it and thought it worked well - YMMV. If you try it and think it sucks and/or your car blows-up, don't bitch at me. UR