Orlando, so happens I pulled a Bose system out at the house a couple of weeks ago but didn't get around to tossing the cabling. You are welcome to it if it turns out you need it and would only cost another trip to Red, Hot and Blue. I think my system was a bit older than the one you are getting but the speakers look the same.
Bose Lifestyle Stereo and Home Theatre Complete System from Sea Ray 52
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Skybolt
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Al, that is a very kind offer. Thank you. I owe you lunch this time!
Thanks to @Steven K for starting this... and thanks also to Tom for mention of the RCA plugs on Jewel Cubes!
Shortly after we got our 58DB up here from Florida, the Bose system in the saloon went south. Of course. The symptom pointed toward the remote being toast, but Bose found no errors in that and suggested it's probably the Lifestyle 48 "Media Center" that's hosed. Or maybe the system just needs a reset... but of course there's no way to reach our Acoustimass without dismantling half of the saloon... and "reset via panel breaker" didn't do squat.
At least folks here got me nicely started, how to access the rat's nest behind the TV/stereo cabinet, etc. Quick solution, disconnect all the Bose stuff, replace it all with a Samsung soundbar (installed on the then-new Samsung 40" "smart" TV) and wireless subwoofer. Works pretty well, actually.
Since then, I've been puzzling on and off about what to do with the Jewel Cube pairs. Option 1: remove, cover the mounting holes with black Starboard. Option 2: somehow figure out how to use the Jewel Cube pairs.
So this thread reminded me to think on it some more. Saw a video recently where bubba said (and demonstrated) hooking up a Bose Acoustimass to any old receiver (amp). He was actually using what looked like a 6-strand flat cable with RCA plags at both ends. Sounds useful, but...
We probably have the Acoustimass 10 Series III in our saloon -- based on some guesswork from the Sea Ray build sheet plus some serial number lookup on the Bose site. I finally found an online image of the Acoustimass 10SIII backplane, and the connecting cable should be a 15-pin (DIN, I think) with several pairs of wires with tinned ends and with one RCA plug.
The wire pairs are + and - for the front right/center/left and surround right/left channel input from an amp, and the RCA plug is for subwoofer input from the amp. (The pin-out is available online; IIRC at least two pins are unused...) I don't remember our connection cable being well marked, which wires are which... but I've seen well-marked (seemingly) examples from online sellers like on eBay. It looks to me like terminating the wire pairs on a cable like that with RCA plugs -- if that's what a new amp might require -- would be easy enough.
(Seeing commentary here about B and A cables is a bit confusing; I haven't seen that terminology relative to our probable system. Although I've not paid as much attention to the stuff in the master stateroom yet. I do see some of the links posted here are about 8-pin and 9-pin connectors...)
Anyway.... I'm not in a hurry, but I'm now thinking that over this coming winter I'll finally jettison the LS 48 "Media Center", replace it with another likely receiver, and then hook up the saloon Acoustimass 10SIII to that, Jewel Cube pairs and all. If the Acoustimass works, the two woofers might add a little tone to the acoustics and the satellite speakers may well fill out the room a little better. Is the "sub" thing doesn't work, no matter, I'll run the Jewel Cubes wiring direct to the new amp somehow -- perhaps with simple RCA extensions from where the bass module lives -- and call it good.
Some of my plan is guided by dictum: Everything on the boat MUST work. Properly, whenever possible. And then too, replacing the Jewel Cube pairs with Starboard seems a bit cheesy, if I can get some use out of them.
-Chris
Hey Chris - not to pee in your Wheaties but unfortunately the connection between the Bose media center and Acustomass amplifier/subwoofer is not a standard analog signal (at least from what I know about it) and consequently another system like Yamaha, Marantz, or Onkyo will not interface with the Acustomass. I also understand the Jewel Cube speakers have an unusual impedance not common with most systems. I've heard some are getting them to work however.
At home I have Definitive Technology ProCinema speakers; they aren't much larger than the Jewel Cubes. I wouldn't hesitate to install them in my boat if I made a system change.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_735PC6D/Definitive-Technology-ProCinema-6D.html?tp=184
Skybolt
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So since this classified ad turned into a discussion on the Bose Lifestyle system, here is what I know so far.
The Jewel cubes are 6.5 ohms and the cable(s) are complicated. The cables have audio input, on/off, and SPDIF signals in them. The pinout changes between cable type. But that is the basic's. I will have more info at some point, but I haven't had the time to play around with this system just yet.
So Chris @ranger58sb You should be able to connect the jewel cubes to pretty much any stereo. You can get plain wire plugs for these speakers as well, if you need to relocate then and can't move the wires. https://www.ebay.com/itm/264123501789?hash=item3d7efcccdd:g:b1AAAOSwIsdcD8hi&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4EYgDTy1v+jnxpYHcoDX0Us17MD3EFjy1LZt+8/0b9ekb26ShTqQIV7XcwXYVYQq54WlCpe683q1RHU3pNDeF4NbJJihfiQQZA6iI94KQDPg/sSuj2YkhY68xEGuGl2O2Z1wY0Vc4b5J8C1NFQbBnjEfLsV6HQewOt9lHkCpb/xGTMNCZmf8oYkK6KNUuCCuegHzKu+qhmq8Z1QwOVPyKfBFLwwmDvM1E9by4i2c8p2Ev1/ykazWnP1uZZ9It8tszYzC2Hp405DkaNlCbAT5lGoddqyXYWOeaH+1nM2wrR9V|tkp:BFBMmLnC2PFi
The Jewel cubes are 6.5 ohms and the cable(s) are complicated. The cables have audio input, on/off, and SPDIF signals in them. The pinout changes between cable type. But that is the basic's. I will have more info at some point, but I haven't had the time to play around with this system just yet.
So Chris @ranger58sb You should be able to connect the jewel cubes to pretty much any stereo. You can get plain wire plugs for these speakers as well, if you need to relocate then and can't move the wires. https://www.ebay.com/itm/264123501789?hash=item3d7efcccdd:g:b1AAAOSwIsdcD8hi&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA4EYgDTy1v+jnxpYHcoDX0Us17MD3EFjy1LZt+8/0b9ekb26ShTqQIV7XcwXYVYQq54WlCpe683q1RHU3pNDeF4NbJJihfiQQZA6iI94KQDPg/sSuj2YkhY68xEGuGl2O2Z1wY0Vc4b5J8C1NFQbBnjEfLsV6HQewOt9lHkCpb/xGTMNCZmf8oYkK6KNUuCCuegHzKu+qhmq8Z1QwOVPyKfBFLwwmDvM1E9by4i2c8p2Ev1/ykazWnP1uZZ9It8tszYzC2Hp405DkaNlCbAT5lGoddqyXYWOeaH+1nM2wrR9V|tkp:BFBMmLnC2PFi
Thanks, guys. I'll see what happens, when I eventually get around to messing with it all again. If the bass module won't work, so be it.
If the Jewel Cube pairs won't work, ditto... although at least getting those functional again would be a plus. And I hadn't thought of a third option, replacing the JCs (in situ) with some other kind of small speakers, so thanks for that too.
We're intending to winter in Charleston this year, so I hope to have "yutz with it" time on my hands... maybe adding "sound" to the winter project list.
-Chris
If the Jewel Cube pairs won't work, ditto... although at least getting those functional again would be a plus. And I hadn't thought of a third option, replacing the JCs (in situ) with some other kind of small speakers, so thanks for that too.
We're intending to winter in Charleston this year, so I hope to have "yutz with it" time on my hands... maybe adding "sound" to the winter project list.
-Chris
Rereading this... I'd have guessed OP's system is same era -- and then possibly same models -- as ours, given 2006 boats.
I can't make out systems name in the label that appears in the pic @Steven K first posted, but might guess its a 10 Series III based on similar age to what our serial numbers say we have (ditto 2006 boat)... I haven't laid eyes on our saloon bass module, but the 10 Series III thing (our serial number) is what's leading me to think the cable between media center and bass module might be the 15-pin version.
What models do the 8-pin and 9-pin A and B cables work with? And/or are they the cables that run from main saloon unit to MSR or some such>
Or...?
-Chris
I can't make out systems name in the label that appears in the pic @Steven K first posted, but might guess its a 10 Series III based on similar age to what our serial numbers say we have (ditto 2006 boat)... I haven't laid eyes on our saloon bass module, but the 10 Series III thing (our serial number) is what's leading me to think the cable between media center and bass module might be the 15-pin version.
What models do the 8-pin and 9-pin A and B cables work with? And/or are they the cables that run from main saloon unit to MSR or some such>
Or...?
-Chris
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Just a side note - The jewel cube speakers can connect to the base module and and omit the SAx amps if the main head unit isn't working. It looks like if you cut the round PS2 like connector off and strip back the wires, the red and white pairs are speaker inputs.
Near as I can tell (and from memory) our JCs were never connected to the "Media Center" directly. The media center only had some kind of connecter that wanders off toward the bass module.
Diagram from manual says BoseLink Speakers, looks like a 9-pin connector that would lead off to the bass module. The "Cables and accessories" list in that manual is a little hazy (aka silent) about the cables used to connect the media center to the bass module. There's mention of connecting one LS system to another in a different room, and BoseLink comes up in that context. (Maybe that's the A or B folks have mentioned already?) The front and surround (JC) speaker cables are all illustrated with RCA plugs on the distant end.
A 9-pin connector is slightly at odds with the Acoustimass 10 Series iii images I found online the other day... with a 15-pin input connector.
I assumed (and some of this is from memory) that the Bose output cable we have in place -- possibly from the BoseLink Speakers plug on the back of the media center -- is what leads off to the bass module in our saloon. But perhaps that's what leads off to the master stateroom?
In that case, I'm at a loss to pin down (or remember) what kind of cable might be connecting the media center and our saloon bass module. Unless "Main" is the speaker output to a local bass module? (Back to that 9-pin thing.)
Otherwise, the illustration only shows plugs for optical and digital audio out... and I sorta don't remember anything like that...(It's been a while, and my memory never has been good enough to remember more than my name on demand.) Images on the Crutchfield site don't illustrate any kind of audio input to the bass module, only the 15-pin thing.
If "Main" is indeed the output to a local bass module... then it seems that'd be a 9-pin to 15-pin connection... assuming the Crutchfield pic illustrates what we've got... another wierdness.
Of course much of this would be easier if I could just see the thing. Unfortunately it's under the galley countertop, off behind a side table (and bulkhead) in the saloon, not really accessible without dismantling seating first.
I noticed our remotes are different from what @ttmott showed. All the menuing happens on the media center display, nothing like that on the remote itself.
-Chris
The main zone Jewel Cube speakers are standard speaker wire with RCA jacks that interface with the Acoustimass Amp/Sub. All main zone speakers connect to the Acoustimass module. Some speakers have a special plug-in connector (mine do) and some have standard spring clips.
The cable between the Media Center and Acoustimass has a DIN style round pin style connector with 8 conductors (if I remember correctly) on the Media Center side and RJ-45 style connector on the other end at the Acoustimass.
The other multipin round Jack on the Media Center is called BoseLink.
The "A Cable" is used in the BoseLink jack to interface with the Lifestyle SA2 or SA3 amplifiers for additional zones. For many Sea Ray yachts there were two additional zones - Cockpit and MSR. There should be SA3 amplifiers for each of these zones. There is a "Y" adapter so cables can be routed to each amplifier or they can be daisy chained from the remote amplifiers as there are two BoseLink connectors on the amplifiers. The media center controls the amplifiers through the remotes setup for that zone. On my boat the BoseLink cable routed from the Media Center to the SA3 amplifier for the Cockpit located behind the Media Center then another BoseLink cable routed from the Cockpit SA3 to the SA3 located under the MSR bed. In the MSR there is a subwoofer and two Jewel Cube speakers. the speaker output from the SA3 amplifier routes to the subwoofer then the jewel cube speakers are wired from that subwoofer. I expect there is a crossover in that sub.
The "B Cable" is for interfacing the Lifestyle 48 to Bose link compatible systems like the WAVE Music System, Series II systems, and RoomMate Speakers.
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Tom @ttmott, yes the acousticmass sub has a crossover in it. It also have five outputs, LF, RF, LR, RR and Center. I am not sure about the a or b cable names but I just purchased a few cables to complete the system I just acquired. This system is much like yours and also has the extra sub and cockpit speakers as well. The interconnect cables were not present and the cube cable were cut short.
This system has the 9 pin din's other's have the 8 pin din's and from what I have gathered the 8 or 9 pin din will work for the sub. But not with the SAx amps.
I am unsure how the cockpit speakers will be connected. My intent is not to replace the Fusion setup I have, but to use it for surround sound in the Salon and add stereo surround to the cockpit.
I pretty much use a FireTv for everything, both home and on the boat. The issue I have not been able to surmount is the audio sync. I do have the audio piped through the Fusion but have to jump through many hoops to adjust the audio sync which can be done, but needs to be done on the FireTv. If I set it for the Fusion the Tv's speakers are out, and if I leave for the tv's the Fusion is out, very frustrating.
I am not sure how or when I will hook this up, or where it will end up even boat or on the patio at the house. I do know once I receive the cables I am going to set this up in my current theater room and compare audio tracks with what I currently have.
This system has the 9 pin din's other's have the 8 pin din's and from what I have gathered the 8 or 9 pin din will work for the sub. But not with the SAx amps.
I am unsure how the cockpit speakers will be connected. My intent is not to replace the Fusion setup I have, but to use it for surround sound in the Salon and add stereo surround to the cockpit.
I pretty much use a FireTv for everything, both home and on the boat. The issue I have not been able to surmount is the audio sync. I do have the audio piped through the Fusion but have to jump through many hoops to adjust the audio sync which can be done, but needs to be done on the FireTv. If I set it for the Fusion the Tv's speakers are out, and if I leave for the tv's the Fusion is out, very frustrating.
I am not sure how or when I will hook this up, or where it will end up even boat or on the patio at the house. I do know once I receive the cables I am going to set this up in my current theater room and compare audio tracks with what I currently have.
The crossover I'm trying to explain is for the sub in the MSR, not the Acoustimass. Maybe another read of my diatribe.
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So isn't that just a passive sub that has the speaker wires going through it? That is what the system that I acquired has. And yes that would have a low/high pass filter in it to separate out the sub from the cubes.
Ah. BoseLink from Media Center to MSR SA3. That tracks, we do have something in the MSR, and a couple JC pairs mounted up by the TV. Haven't really paid much attention to that part of the whole thing yet...
I revisited serial number thing, and now remember I made a leap of faith regarding which Acoustimass we might have. I guessed 10 Series III because that was made up through 2006 and because the JC pairs visually match what we can see. Rechecking the serial number on the Bose site, it doesn't pin down a specific piece of equipment. Only comes up with several product categories... including 10 S III, 10 S IV, 15 S II, 16...
The Crutchfield pic (Acoustimass 10 S III) doesn't show an 8- or 9-pin input, nor an RJ-45; only the 15-pin connector.
Seems to concur with: https://assets.bosecreative.com/m/728eadcd7b995c32/original/OG_AM10III-SPEAKERHT5_en.pdf
And maybe with:
But... none of that clearly matches the back of the Media Center. Could it maybe be 9-pin at the Media Center and 15-pin at the bass module? (Seems shakey...)
-Chris
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The one I have is a PS48. I am not sure of the series. As you can see in the pic, there is 5 outputs for the speakers.
I am guessing that Sea Ray didn't connect the system up as a true 5.1 surround system. And that everything, all zones were stereo. But this unit can be 5.1 in the main listening area and stereo in the rest, at the same time.
The blue RCA's are for the front and the yellow are for the rear. Bad pic but they are powered and are labeled as "Output to Cube Speakers".
The Bose Lifestyle 48 system has the Media Center, Amplifier/Subwoofer, and Speakers. They call the Amplifier/Subwoofer an Acoustimass but it is technically dedicated to the Lifestyle 48 system. The system you are referencing is a stand-alone Bose amplifier system that uses their Acoustimass technology.
https://support.bose.com/s/bose/home-theater-5-speaker-home-theater?language=en_US
Maybe that's what we have in our MSR. Haven't really looked at it. My impression is that it might be connected to the LS48 system in the saloon, might have a subwoofer function... I'll get a round to checking, sometime...
Yeah, I was wondering if his system might be the same Acoustimass as the one in our LS48 system. Not, according to the our documentation...
-Chris
If it came out of a 52DB then the MSR has a separate SA3 amplifier, an unpowered subwoofer, two jewel Cube speakers, and a Bose Personal Music Center remote.
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As Tom mentioned, I have the same system as a 52/58 Sea Ray. The one I have was removed from a 52DB. What's in your MSR is a passive sub. The Sub in your salon is the pic of the inputs I posted above in post #36, that sub is where you can connect the cubes too and have 5.1 surround sound, if you don't already.
