I'm confused...are you saying with the phone/Ipod it sounds worse than the stock radio or the same garbage it currently puts out?

I was looking to do this mod myself.

 

I mean everything sounds good (cd, fm stations) then aux in sounds like doodoo

 

That has nothing to do with Bose and more to do with your aux-in connection

Try something else

 

Like what???

 

are you using exactly the same part number 1/8 inch audio cable to splice with as listed in the FAQ? If not, then your channel wires could be completely different colors. I just re-did mine last night because I had channel bleed from an incorrectly spliced common wire, it sounds perfect now. <y money is that you did something wrong.

Can you described exactly the process you used to splice in, and what you spliced into? I can try to help you.

 

lolly I had the same problems and ended up having to cut the xm wires instead of a splice. Audio just sounded terrible with splice and was fine with cut. Do a search on the xm aux input thread and you'll see my experience with others. Some people reported that they had to swap colors around and that their wires with respect to ground/left/right didn't exactly match the faq. Basically the same 3 wires just a differnet combination.

I'm pretty sure my issues with cut versus splice had to do with the digital xm unit that is in my 07.

 

yeah, sorry - by 'splice' i mean splice the cut XM inputs to the 1/8 inputs - not splice the inputs while maintaining the signal still coming in from the XM. Don't do that!

 

You mean switch the XM inputs don't you?

 

the XM inputs on the radio connector - splice the 1/8 into those.

 

I did this recently and cut the wires instead of just tapping into them. Signal coming through is just fine. The only thing I've noticed that sucks is that if I plug my zune player into the new Aux input, it transmits a bunch of hum and electrical noise when I leave the cigarette lighter charger plugged into the zune. I was used to just leaving the mp3 player in the car all the time and just leaving it plugged into the lighter charger all the time as well, but now I have to unplug the charger or I get background noise.

Oh yeah.. The Bose system sucks no matter what you do. I hate how the bass is almost overpowering at low volumes but as you turn the volume up it eventually becomes pretty much non-existent. Lame Lame Lame.

 

Last time this happened it was the iPod. It was on some dumb EQ setting.

I like the Bose system, but it does sound better with the windows up.

 

Edmund I get the exact same noise if i leave mine plugged in to cig lighter. Again, instead of just tapping in to the xm wires I had to cut them completely. Otherwise, I would get bad audio noise. Some have reported that they were able to tap in without problems but it just wouldn't work for me.

 

I just did this install the other day and felt the same way. Instead of pulling the headunit I removed the rear deck lid and did it that way. I got 8' male to female aux cord and a 6' aux cord from radioshack for about 18 bucks. I tapped into the left, right, and common (no humming with using the common) I then soldered the connections and taped it back up. Today I was playing with the stereo more with my iPhone connected and noticed the sound is best with stereo set to driver seat (bass and treble up all the way and mid about half way)and then I played with all the eq settings on my phone and it sounded much better.

 

I think I will use this technique. How did you run the line in cable up to the center console?

 

you should probably have your phone eq set to flat, or you are going to get all kinds of weirdness. i mean, the phone eq is just a software eq to begin with with no discrete amplification, so it's best to take that totally out of the mix.

 

I cut the xm wires from back of stereo and butt spliced them together. I did not tie the xm wires all together. Just straight off the back of the stereo to the 1/8 aux connector. I did exactly like FAQ said as far as Bare/common,
Left Red Brown/White
Right Black Dark Green/White
Common Bare Tan/White
Mine's an 04, so I figured it should be the same.

You can see the instructions underneath my head unit in the pic.

I'm comparing the aux in to the cd quality. I can see a little volume reduction, but the sound quality sucks. There's no bass at all, and a general crappy sound. I don't get a hissing noise or anything like that, but I have yet to use my lighter plug at the same time.

 

your sound quality probably sucks because the 1/8 inch cable you are using is not identical to the one used in the DIY. Have you downloaded left and right test tracks, loaded them onto your device and verified that each of your channels is discrete? Because my sound quality doesn't suck using this particular mod. I am willing to bet your channels are not connected properly. Also, if you use the eq on any input device, the sound quality is going to suck too.

you can download test files here: http://www.testsounds.com/

 

Ya, the 1/8' cord I got is identical to the FAQ.

I see there are many FAQ's on this. One has a box or something? I did the one with the Radio Shack connector (p.o.s. apparently)

I can say it's noticeably different. I have a studio with Pro Tools and mix my band's music. I'm not a total idiot <- close though :lol:

 

The way I set mine up, I can say that the overall sound quality from my MP3 player is not noticeably* worse than the sound quality form the factory CD changer. The relative volume of the XM/AUX in compared to the CD changer is slightly lower, but a simple decrease in volume doesn't automatically equate to worse sound quality. The only anomaly I've noticed is when I plug the charger in at the same time.

I say "noticeably" because the factory stereo system just plain isn't good enough to let the user audibly distinguish the degree of audio degradation inherently present in the AUX in mod, let alone the difference in sound quality between CD audio and your average 128k MP3 audio file. If I were to run the same configurations through my home stereo, I'm sure the differences would be much more obvious.

 

I say "noticeably" because the factory stereo system just plain isn't good enough to let the user audibly distinguish the degree of audio degradation inherently present in the AUX in mod, let alone the difference in sound quality between CD audio and your average 128k MP3 audio file. If I were to run the same configurations through my home stereo, I'm sure the differences would be much more obvious.

With the engine off and the windows up I think the system is pretty decent. Plenty of detail and full range sound reproduction, up to pretty loud volumes. It's when it competes with road noise, exhaust noise, and open window noise, that it comes up lacking, imo.

 

Have you RTA'd it?

 

nope, just using my ear.

 

ran aux cord up left side until split in carpet by driver seat then ran straight across carpet to the center console area. you'll have to loosen the left console bolt and it will snake right thru. as for the console i drilled a hole in the left rear corner which looks real clean when you put the console mat down. i haven't even looked into securing the exposed wire under the seat yet as i got sidetracked but imo thats the simplest part of an already simple project.

 

I'll look into it further when I get some time and try different leads. I'll try different eq's on the ipod to see if that helps. You can only really hear/depict the bass when the car is off and at lower volumes. Good job Bose.

I snaked my cord thru the hole behind the coin tray and left some slack in it. That way I could wind up the cord and tuck it in and still close that bottom drawer. Nice and neat.

 

any eq at all on your ipod is going to make the problem worse, not better. you need to use a flat eq.

 

Yes I'm aware of that. Thanks

 

UPDATE:

I re-wired my ipod connector, and it finally sounds great!!

 

I posted this in another thread as well, but thought that people might be subscribed to this one and need a solution as well.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forum...m/forums/2004-2007-cadillac-cts-v-general/212316-i-just-did-aux-xm-input-3.html

Hey everyone,

I did the XM Aux mod and had similar issues with the cross talk between the right and left channels, poor bass output, weird echoing on one channel, etc. I was pretty upset that the mod didn’t work for me, especially such a simple mod.

So when I did the mod I ended up attaching wire leads to the XM input wires that go into the head until (three of them) and put the head unit back into the dash. I ran the wires out of dash so I could play around with it later. I figured there are only 3 wires for the XM input and three wires for aux output from the ipod and there can only be so many combinations. So I tried them all, I mean EVERY one of them, and still got the crappy sounds problems. With so many people having success with this mod, I figured something else has to be wrong.

When I was getting out of my car this morning (listening to the crappy sound from my ipod) I grabbed my ipod to turn it off and the headphone jack that plugs into the top of the ipod pulled out just a little bit, maybe 1/16”. BOOM, the sound came out of the speakers in full stereo, the bass kicked in through the subwoofer and that bullsh** echo was gone.

This has led me to believe that people doing the mod are wiring it up correctly but the problem lies in the Radioshack 1/8” plug being out of spec for the ipod. Basically I think that when the Radioshack 1/8” plug is inserted into the ipod, there is a shorted connection between two or more of the three poles on the plug and the ipod. I am hypothesizing that the crosstalk problems are originating at the connection between the ipod and the 1/8” plug, not where the wires are connected to the XM input on the back of the headuntil.

I think these problems can be corrected by using a different brand 1/8” jack (not Radioshack) that has a slightly different total length or different length of the sections on the plug itself. My fingers are crossed. I’m going to test this hypothesis when I get home and I’ll post an update later tonight.

 

Monoprice.com would likely be a much better source for a quality, fairly priced 1/8" cable. Just order in advance.