About 3 months ago I got the Metra kit and a Sony double DIN radio. After getting it installed I noticed that the Bose system's AMP was amplifying the already amplified signal.

This double-amplifying resulted in static at low volumes, extremely loud system notifications / beeps, loud Navigation voice / sounds, etc...

After reading through the ENTIRE metra thread, and performing numerous searches I was unable to find an answer. Luckily, a few other members had mentioned the problem when installing their radios. I PM'd a few people and got the suggestion to use the pre-outs on the radio instead of the speaker wires/lines.

While this solution did indeed eliminate the static, loud beeps, etc... the actual sound quality deteriorated. The Bose speakers in the car sound great, but the amp is pure ****. The pre-amps returned everything back to the stock, tin-canny sound.

More searches and time passed and I finally found the Scosche OEA4. This solved the problem beautifully. After installing, I was able to turn the volume down after it leaves the head unit by using the dials on the OEA4. This put the volume at a normal level before reaching the Bose amp.

This both gave me back the better sound quality and eliminated all the static, loud beeps, etc...



I just wanted to post all of this in hopes that it makes it easier for someone else to find when they are going through the same issues. Cheers!

 

Does the little Axxess box the Metra kit uses have a pot on the side somewhere? Most do. Just turn it down.

 

The metra box just takes over the display and HVAC since the circuit board for that is built into the stock radio. It is completely separate from the audio. AFAIK the only complete solution for this problem is the Scosche OEA4.

 

Huh. I've never installed Metra's RX8 kit, but I've installed many of their "Turbo" kits and many of their other "Axxess" modules. Just about all of them have a pot right next to one of the connectors. I assumed this is how Metra dealt with the Bose/non-Bose issue.

You can kinda see what I'm talking about in this picture. Just to the left of the connector.


Here's another

 

I just installed an pioneer app radio in my rx8. Just thing I noticed was there was a him coming from my speakers when turned up to volume one. After turning it up a few more, it was loud. My kind of loud but still a smudge too loud. The radio I got only has 1 pre out. So I'm limited what I can do. The sound is amazing and quality is there with my sub setup but I can't seem to figure out how to turn it down from the factory Bose amp. After searching and searching, I came across this thread. Will this device fix my problems if I install this back by my amp in the truck? Also, I'm getting an annoying beep sound everytime I turn up th volume from the steering wheel as well as changing whatever through the aftermarket h u. I have the metra kit and the steering wheel control interface....

 

The Scosche OEA4 goes between the metra speaker wires and the headunit speaker wires. On the OEA4 you can turn down the signal from the headunit to the bose amp. This will eliminate the hum.

 

I'm getting a very loud annoying beep from time to time. It's very baffling. Some times it happens when I just sit in the car with the radio on or off. Also happens when I'm driving at various speeds. It happened about 20 times in 10 minutes the other day. Then today it went off twice in 30 minutes. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all. Very weird but very annoying. It has happened as well with just the ignition on ( car not running ). The loud annoying beep comes out through the speakers, so I guess it has something to do with the audio unit. It's the original one so nothing has been changed.

Has anybody had this happen or know what is causing this to happen ????

 

Very odd. Never heard of this before with a factory headunit.

It happens with the headunit completely off??? And you're not touching anything/pressing any buttons?

In the menu, there's an option to turn "beep" off. But it shouldn't be randomly beeping like that anyway. See if turning it off stops it. If that doesn't work, I'd try pulling the battery cable off for a few minutes. Then re-attach it. See if that reset fixes it.

What year is your car? Very odd.

 

to pkr: you may have a loose connection/short its an extended whistling noise isn't it? and gets higher in frequency as the rpms rise..... i have this with the radio (aftermarket pioneer) on and off sometimes i found that making sure all connections are right took care of the problems

 

Thank you for the comments and the help, but still doesn't solve my issue. I'm thinking it might have something to do with the connections perhaps or maybe the security aspects of the audio need to be rest ???? It is a weird annoying loud beep just every so often. Sometimes it makes you jump, as you are not expecting it. Lol.

I have tried and turned of the beep in the menu and it's not that. My car is 2007.

I'm sooooo baffled.

 

Please help me i have the same problem!!! What do i check?????

 

Tomago, I would like to give you a thank you for sharing your information about the Scosche OEA4.

Over the past couple of weekends I have been installing a new stereo in my rx8 when I came across the problem with everything being extremely loud with noise in the signal. I found your post, ordered and installed the Scosche OEA4 and everything is now great.

So thank you Tomago for taking the time to share your findings/information.

Cheers,
Cameron

 

That's funny, I also bought and soldered in a Scosche OEA4, but mine did squat...

 

So I wired up the scosche Oea-4 interface from my aftermarket radio wires to my Mehta wiring harness which then plugged into the car dash wiring harness...but I'm getting no sound at all?!?! Please help

 

Blue/white wire from your new radio must be connected to the factory amp turn on wire.

 

Thank you for the help! It worked! But now I can't get the static to go away in the right speaker no matter what I adjust it to...it just doesn't seem to get very loud either but the left front is super clear...help please

 

Not sure. Was the front right speaker playing fine with the factory head unit? If it was, there shouldn't be any reason it plays poorly with the aftermarket.

If you've gone over all your connections/the obvious stuff and you really want to troubleshoot it out, you can try swapping the speakers inside the two doors. If the problem moves to the left side, you know the speaker is bad. If the problem does not move, you'll have to grab a tone generator and multimeter. I'd start by connecting the tone generator right behind the head unit and seeing if that right speaker plays the tone cleanly while adjusting the frequency. Start following and tracing the signal through the car and into the door. You can use the multimeter to test signal amplitude (strength) vs the left side. You'll get it figured out.