2003 Marquis Bose system

[Dave Cunningham]

Hi all,

In general discussion I have been talking about the '03 Marquis I just bought, had a lot of little problems sorted out at Beaver Coach Sales, and will be working on a few other things as I go along.
Just wondering about the Bose surround system.  All of the audio components were removed from the coach when I got it, the speakers and TVs are present.  The subwoofer is there also.  Both the front and bedroom audio cupboards are empty with a bunch of coax and s-video cables just laying there.  There is no speaker wire run to these locations.  Can any body explain how the whole system is supposed to work, and what I need to replace to get it working?

Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks,

Dave

[Joel Ashley]

Reckon you shoulda asked Steve and the team at BCS while you were there.  They are good at it.  Without seeing the situation first hand like they could have, it is a difficult call, but you are going to need at least a receiver and DVD player and perhaps a satellite decoder.  You may need one or two converter boxes if you have the original NTSC TVs, and perhaps a DVD/VHS player for the bedroom.

Don't know why there are speakers, but no speaker wires... strange.
Joel

[John Hennessey]

What satellite system do you have?  I have the diagrams and installation instructions. I think they may help

[Edward Buker]

In the rear closet there should be a list of items that were original to the coach. That would be a good starting point to get those models and do a search and see what was there to begin with. It will give you some insight into the cabling. The RCA cables and coax cables can be tested with a 72 ohm F type terminating resistor using it either directly or with RCA to F adaptors. Once you have connected that to a cable look for 72 ohms at another cable end and then label everything as to where it goes. The Bose systems have diffient configurations by year. See if you have a remote, and a silver box in the center cabinet of the front dash. If you do, turn it onto FM, up the volume and see if there is noise. If you have the speakers and subwoofer it is likely that the rest might be in the coach. Some components are behind panels. In the overhead passenger compartment on the sidewall by the door you may find a small black box with RCA connectors. That is a preamp interface to the Bose. I think the main amp may be behind the wooden panel as you climb the entry stairs. You may only be missiing what was visible and have to replace that portion of the unit. Once you know what is still in the coach you can see what is rational to do regarding the Bose system.

Later Ed

[Dave Cunningham]

Thanks guys,

You'r right I should have asked the at Beaver Coach.  Maybe I'll give them a call next week, good suggestion on the original equipment list.  I will check that out and do search for any hidden components.

[Dick Simonis]

If your Bose is like mine, it's actually a custom installation designed by Bose for Beaver.  I just went through this and found the right folks to speak with at Bose.  They even had the design parameters and equipment listings. I also know that all of the components are available for a variety of sources including Ebay.  This was a very expensive system at the time.  And yes, I know it's an analog system but it really sounds good.

Following is the test of an email from Bose and the chap was very helpful in getting mine rebuilt.  They may be able to send you a diagram of the system for you coach.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Per our conversation, we can repair your Bose Built-Invisible Home Theater amp for a flat rate of $250 plus tax. If you decide you want to send your LifeStyle music center in at the same time, the flat rate is $259 (for both units).

The best number for Bose Built-Invisible support is 877-633-4405. We hope to hear from you soon.

Take care,

Peter Behravesh

Bose Product And Technical Support Specialist III

Advanced Technical Group

[Dave Cunningham]

Thanks so much Dick, that is a great help, I will give them a call next week

[Tim Bentley Co-Admin]

If your Bose system is like mine, there are 4 parts to the system.  There is a CD changer over the Sofa and a Control box behind the back wall of the the right cabinet over the sofa.  There is a woofer under the sofa, and a group of wires for each speaker from there.  There is also a touch screen remote that runs the whole system.  You will need all of the parts to get it to work, and since Bose is a proprietary system, I doubt that you can  substitute other components.  I do have the manuals for the system and can scan and post them if you are interested.  

[Dave Cunningham]

Thanks Tim, , I did look at the equipment list yesterday and it shows it as a Bose lifestyle 50 , system, I am going to give them a call tomorrow to see if this stuff is still available. Can't understand why people remove this type of stuff, I'm sure it was expensive at the time, but be virtually worthless today.

[Edward Buker]

Dave,

Some of the Bose systems including the Lifestyle 50 system that were used will accept a coaxial digital input. They are not worthless today for handling audio. In my case that digital input was located in a small pre amp box that had all the RCA low level input jacks on it. The audio digital 5.1 decoding and steering worked quite well and the Bose system sounds good in the space that we have without taking up a lot of interior room. My Sony TV (same swing down mount as yours) had an optical out and I employed an optical to coaxial digital converter at the TV and used a spare cable of either RG59 or RCA cable, can't quite remember, that was already in the coach to link the two. All of the terrestrial TV channels and my Dish network channels that are being played through the TV now feed the Bose a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal from the TV. As long as the TV has a Dolby 5.1 signal from some source the Bose plays that without having to switch anything at the Bose unit.

This is the unit that converts optical to coaxial digital audio information if needed.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=2948&seq=1&format=2

Later Ed

[Dave Cunningham]

Thanks for that advice Ed, I am out on my first excursion with the Marquis right now, and I am just trying to get the basics working. For some reason, the front TV did not even have the cable vision coax hooked up . So I hooked it up and started trying to trace where it comes from, as there was no signal.  In my last Marquis, the TV selector box was in the small upper cabinet above the driver on the side wall.  In this unit that door has a block off plate behind it, which may or may not have come from the factory.  I removed the door and the plate and WOW, I think every single wire in the coach runs through this compartment.  The coach monitoring system is in there and a small grey box with RCA's coming out of it.  There are many coax cables hanging loose.  They are labeled, but unreadable.  I assume that both TVs are not getting antenna or cable signals, because they are disconnected at this point.  Is there any easy way to test each cable to see where it goes?

[Edward Buker]

See the post above where I talk about using a 72 ohm temination resistor and an ohm meter to sort out where things go. Put the termination resistor on one end of a cable and then test all the others until you locate where it goes. Once you measure 72 ohms remove the reisistor and confirm the loss of a 72 ohm reading. If you use three or four different colored electrical tape you can color code the ends that match and build yourself a diagram on where things go and later how you would want to connect things. Writing on tape is a poor technique as you have learned.

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

Dave,
The easiest way that I have found to trace a wire is with the use of a tone generator and probe cable tracer. You can find them on Amazon from $25 up to $$$ depending upon how suffocated you want the tool to be. You just attach the tone generator to one end of the wire and you can trace the wire through the walls to its termination point.

Gerald  

[Joel Ashley]

Taking a cue from Gerald, I can vouch for the Sperry LanTracker ET4220L shown near the end of this video.  I've had it for a few years and it has been handy, helping trace both 12 volt wires and coax cables.  I think it is now considered an older model being closed out by many retailers at a steep discount.  It is relatively cheap at Amazon, compared to the newer 64220 model.  

The only difficulty I had was when wires or cables were tightly bundled at each end;  enough transference occurs between proximal wires that deciding where the strongest signal is can be tricky.

You can buy either model through the BAC's Portal to Amazon.  I got my LAN Tracker at Lowe's.

Joel

Don't know what the "virus" was, as my antivirus software caught nothing, nor did my routine system scan last night.  Perhaps your software is set at a different strength and caught merely adware.  As I recall, the video link was off an Amazon page.

[Bill Jourdain]

Not wanting to be an alarmist; however, when I clicked on the link provided by Joel, above, a virus tried to infect my system.  My scanner caught it and it was deleted, but I wanted others to be aware of this.  These virus makers are sneaky.

Bill