Re: Re: Aftermarket Head-Unit Installation for the Compleat Idiot

[Bruce Stapley <bstapley@megsinet.com>]

On Sun, 18 Apr 1999, Davet1979@aol.com wrote:
> Would anyone have any info about replacing the Bose amp?  Would this require
> just plain swapping ALL of the speakers and wiring everything from scratch,
> or does somoene have a harness?  It's really a piece of junk amp, and my
> front passenger side woofer channel is bad (I've had the speaker replaced, so
> now I'm assuming it's the amp).  It seems like maybe it's more trouble than
> it's worth and I should just rip out all the speakers & start from scratch.
> The main concern is that I do believe that all of the crossovers are in the
> amp, instead of external like they normally are.
> 
> - -Dave
>
Another concern you should have is that, AFAIK, the rear deck amp
accepts *amplified* signal from the head unit. (Can anyone else confirm
this?) The aftermarket amps I've seen which accept high-level signal
tend to be cheesey -- but that doesn't mean there aren't high-quality
amps that I personally haven't seen which do accept it. [Editorial note:
Running high-level signal to the rear amp makes sense for VW; it's a
bullet-proof way to prevent the sort of noise induction you'd get by
running un-amplified signal all that way, and the cabling is dirt cheap
compared to shielded line-level cable. The fact that our amp accepts
amplified input doesn't mean in and of itself that it's crap; it's
designed to accept *only* high-level input, while aftermarket amps which
take *both* amped and unamped input just pad it back down to line level
so it can be amped back up again.]

Here's a question for you, though: You seem sure that the rear amp
powers all the speakers. I'd always *assumed* (without thinking or
anything strenuous like that) that the head unit drove the fronts. Is it
true that the rear amp powers 'em all?

Bruce Stapley
98 blk/blk