How many channels is Factory Bose Head Unit?

[apercival86@yahoo.com]

Does anybody knows how many channels does the bose Head unit for the 2000 2.3L milly have? I'm bout to buy a new aftermarket head unit because my bose factory cd changer magically stopped working. The kenwood head unit is a 4 channel unit but I don't know if that is enough to power that speaker in the front on the dashboard? Any ideas???

[Matt64341]

Does anybody knows how many channels does the bose Head unit for the 2000 2.3L milly have? I'm bout to buy a new aftermarket head unit because my bose factory cd changer magically stopped working. The kenwood head unit is a 4 channel unit but I don't know if that is enough to power that speaker in the front on the dashboard? Any ideas???[/b]

You won't be able to find something that will run that center speaker that is just a plug and play headunit. I think that the '00 just had the 5 channels, but since there isn't a 5 channel headunit or amp, you will just use the 4. There is tons of info on here about the Bose system.

It is 'possible' to just put a new headunit in place of the stock one, and it will work. There are better ways to wire it to the Bose amps but you won't find any installer that will do it and it does involve a lot of extra work. The problem is that the Bose amps are separate from the headunit so you will be amplifying the signal twice, but if you bypass the bose amps, the Bose speakers will put too much load on the headunit amp. Without upgrading the speakers to properly wire a new headunit, you should use the preouts to go to the Bose amps. But again that is a lot more work that no shop will do for you, and it will 'work' without all that.

I did all kinds of things to my 95 Bose system, and there is a lot of room to add on and about a dozen ways to wire it all up. In the end, I have gone aftermarket with everything. I am not using the center speaker right now. I might play around with it in the future, but not having it there doesn't make it sound bad. What you do really depends on who is doing the work and how much time you want to put in.

[Millenia-Falcon]

This is one of the many reasons I'm glad I have the base model. Replacing the stereo was very simple. And does that one little speaker really add that much to the sound quality?

[millyowner]

Don't worry about the center speaker. It's powered separately by its own little amp in the trunk, so it won't work. A 2" full range speaker from a transistor radio firing into the windshield is hardly the pinnacle of sound quality anyway. A center channel can be beneficial if done right though.

The easiest thing to do with the later Bose-equipped models is run four speaker wires from the head unit to the trunk and tap into the harness connected to the main amplifier.

However, the Kenwood headunit may not be too happy with the factory Bose speakers as their VC impedance is about half the recommended 4-ohm minimum for most headunits, which means new speakers too. The headunit might be OK with keeping the front speakers only and replacing just the rears with some aftermarket drop-in 6x9s with good Xmax...maybe an extra $30 there. Side benefit is much improved bass output and extension compared to the original Bose rear speakers.

You can replace the fronts too for about the same price if you wanted to, but it would require a bit of fabrication to make an adapter from wood or plastic...or the acquisition of door speaker baffles from a non-Bose-equipped Millenia to fit a standard set of 6x8s.