There are times when the Bose speakers in your Silverado are not functioning as well as they were intended to. This may lead to issues in which the Bose factory speakers are not producing the sound quality that you are used to or are not producing any sound at all. When this is the case, an amp bypass may be able to restore your Bose speakers to the highest quality sound.
Although amp bypasses in vehicles can get pretty complex, we found the following seven steps helpful when bypassing the Bose amp in our Chevy Silverado and getting that classic Bose sound coming from your speakers.
Remove the Radio
You must remove the radio to view the wiring. In addition, it is a good idea to keep the radio out of the way during the amp bypass to keep its electrical system safe. This is the best practice whether or not your amp bypass will use the original car radio or involve an upgrade to an aftermarket stereo.
Locate the Factory Bose Amplifier
You will likely need to consult your user’s manual or do an Internet search to find out where exactly the amplifier is located within your Silverado, as it will vary between years. For example, the amplifier in a 2007 Silverado is located beneath the center console and would require removing the driver’s side armrest and storage portion of the console to access.
The amps in newer Silverados will be located behind the rear seats and require that they be removed for access, so it is essential to do your research to accurately locate it.
Check the Harness
The harness on an amplifier is defined as the group of wires that plug into the amplifier’s back. Be sure to inspect these wires to see if there is any damage that may impede your bypass efforts. Check for wire colors: correctly identifying matching colors means that you could be well on track to finding the wires connecting the amp to the speakers.
Locate Input and Output Wires
Within the harness will be input and output wires. The input wires are the wires coming from the back of your stereo that send sound to your amplifier. The output wires are those coming from the amp that sends sound to the speakers.
Specifically for the Bose system, you will find a left and right channel:
- For the left channel, the negative wire will be dark green, and the positive wire will be tan
- For the right channel, the negative wire will be orange and black, and the positive wire will be light green
Check That Phase Is Correct
Correctly locating the wires on your Bose amp is only half of the battle: you must also correctly locate the correct speaker wires. You will need a tone generator for this step, as it will help you identify which wires are positive and negative.
As all of your speakers should still be connected to the plug, use the tone generator to send a pulse to each speaker. Before doing this, you should:
- Make a note of the output wires that you identified in the previous section. Write them down so you do not forget when it comes time to make the new connection.
- Strip the wire jacket back about half an inch on those wires.
- Connect your tone generator positive probe to one wire and negative probe to another.
- Press the tone generator button that sends a pop sound to the speaker.
- While the speaker is making a popping sound, the tone generator should show a blinking light.
- If the light that corresponds to “in phase” is blinking, write down which wire color from the amp harness that you have connected to the negative probe and the positive probe.
- Repeat this process for each of the speakers that you are trying to connect to the amp.
Make Connection on the Harness
With this knowledge, you will clip the wires with these corresponding colors on both the amp and speakers. Knowing that the harness plug that goes into the back of the Bose amp has both the inputs and the outputs, you can take the left channel positive and negative wires and wire tie them to the corresponding wires of the left front and back speaker. Do the same for the right-side speakers.
Install Radio and Test Audio
Reinstall the radio and give the audio a quick test. If you experience a clear, high-quality sound, then you have successfully bypassed the Bose amp in your Silverado.
Conclusion
Bose is a leader in audio sounds, being the factory stereo system of choice for many automobile manufacturers. However, if you notice the sound quality in your Silverado starting to deteriorate, it may be time for you to bypass the amp. Use the seven steps mentioned above to successfully bypass the Bose amp and restore rich sound to your Silverado.