B15 Sentra Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Audio FAQ, Pt 2 - Special Audio Packages

35K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  CowboyDren 
#1 · (Edited)
This section applies to persons looking for information on the 7- or 9-speaker sound systems. If you have an XE, you don't have either of these systems.

PREMIUM SOUND:

This includes some GXE and some SE models, and is standard equipment on all '02 SE-Rs. It was not available, to my knowledge, on any XE. The way to tell if you have this system is to look for a third speaker in your rear deck. If you have the 6.5" sub in the rear deck, just disconnect the damned thing. You can get better, cleaner, clearer bass (and turn it up louder) from a cheap set of coaxials and a high-powered deck than that stupid thing can ever dream of making. Basically, it's a paper-cone, 1-ohm midbass with a "80w" amp underneath the motor in a special basket. Electrically, it runs in parallel with the rear deck speakers, tapping their signal, so it fades with the rear mains. There is no harm in just pulling the plug or even clipping the wires; your rear deck speakers will sound exactly the same as if the sub were still there and functional.

AUDIO FANATIC:

The SE-Rs with the "Rockford Fosgate Audio Fanatic" package are a little bit more complicated than "lesser" B15s, but it's not too bad. The easy way to tell whether you have this package or not is to look at your radio...does it have the RF logo? If not, you don't have the RF package. The deck is different internally, too. More below...

What makes the A/F package so special is the amp in the trunk. It's mounted on a bracket that gets bolted almost exactly where the 6.5" sub would go (driver side, under the tray, visible from the trunk but not the passenger compartment). I don't recall the output wattage of this amp, but it ain't great. It takes the pseudo-line-level signals from the deck, splits them a little bit, and sends a high-wattage signal to all "9" speakers; the four front components, the two rear coaxials (counted as 4 drivers by Nissan; how lame), and the 8" sub. Don't get me wrong, the A/F package is a nice kit, but it ain't worth the $600+ you probably paid for it. It is very nice for an OEM system, but for the same money, an aftermarket system would blow it's doors off.

The RF package includes a special deck that does not have an internal amplifier. The physical plug on the back side of the deck is exactly the same as every other '95+ Nissan deck, but it doesn't carry speaker-level signals, it's some bastardization of the line-level standard. It's nearly 6v, which is weird, but it's not amplified enough to just run speakers. You cannot just plug this deck into a non-A/F Sentra and expect it to work. If you replace this factory deck, there is little harm in simply plugging it in as you would have with the "other" systems, but it won't be 100% right. You'll likely experience buzz, hiss, and pops because you're double-amping the signal; once in the deck and once at the amp in the trunk. Some of this can be tuned out with additional electronic gear, but you're adding cost and not improving sound quality.

The best thing to do is to bypass the amp. There are two ways you can do this, I figure; bypass it entirely or bypass the main sections and keep your subwoofer. If you bypass the whole thing, remember, the sub will stop working, because it gets it's signals from the A/F amp, not from the deck. I'd propose that you build a wiring harness that goes between the chassis-side harness and the amp, but I have no idea how. The '02 Sentra FSM should have complete wiring diagrams, but it doesn't have a complete description of the plug's physical aspects, so this may be a lot harder than it sounds.

Another interesting idea that has worked before is to use the aftermarket decks's RCA outputs to feed signals to the factory amp. A person with a good amount of electrical aptitude should be able to do this, but if you can't handle a soldering iron, you probably shouldn't do this yourself. Basically, instead of wiring the speaker pins of your adapter harness to the speaker pins of the deck, you wire those pins in the harness to some RCA-type pigtails. I'll draw a picture later. ;)

[5/27/02 - Improper wattage data corrected on Premium entry.]
 
See less See more
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top