# replacing bose system



## gari11 (Aug 19, 2009)

Im wondering if anyone has done an install on a infinti qx4 with the bose setup and what steps where taken. So far I have added a subwoofer and replaced the tweeters in the a arm pillars I would like to replace the head unit and replace the door speakers. Just trying to figure out if the is some kinda of adapter to install aftermarket radio any replies greatly appreciated thanks


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## Austin (Mar 12, 2009)

You will need to by-pass all the factory bose amps and wiring. Replace the headunit, run new signal wires, speaker wire, and power and that will take care of it.

Bose systems are nearly impossible to interface effectively without major work and expensive equipment and knowing what you are working with.

Gut it and start new.


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## samdoan (Mar 17, 2009)

I replaced the Bose system in my Infiniti G20. I tried interfacing with it but in the end I just gave up bypassed everything running a 4 channel amp, a mono amp, and all new speaker wire.


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## Abaddon (Aug 28, 2007)

Austin said:


> You will need to by-pass all the factory bose amps and wiring. Replace the headunit, run new signal wires, speaker wire, and power and that will take care of it.


I did all of that.. except bypass the Head Unit.

the HU in my car was actually quite good.. solid output, low distortion.. etc.

Depending on the look of your dash, or may or may not want to take the time to determine if your Head-Unit is going to be good enough.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

I just went through this in my 2002 Nissan Pathfinder LE that came factory-equipped with Bose. 

The preamp voltages coming from the stock Bose headunit will not work without a line output converter. However, I don't recommend using one; the SQ sucks compared to upgrading to a simple aftermarket headunit w/ 4V outputs. Also, you should be aware that all QX4/Pathfinders from 1999-2004 have faulty Bose headunits that are at some point prone to the "ERR2" and "ERR3" codes which render the HU completely dysfunctional (unless you decide to pony up ~$800 for the dealer to replace it - much more expensive than a far-superior aftermarket HU). If you don't believe me try Google searching these error codes and see what you come up with.

Do yourself a favor and upgrade to an aftermarket HU. To make it look more "seamless" and factory-integrated, I would recommend a double-DIN touchscreen DVD/GPS unit. I went with the Pioneer AVH-P4100DVD (now the 4200) cuz I didn't need the nav and it is AWESOME. 

Lay new wiring in doors (I went w/ 14AWG), this is probably the trickiest part, especially in the front. The amplifier for the front door speakers are located in the door panels themselves adjacent to the speaker (there's one amp for each front speaker). Once you remove the stock speakers and accompanying amplifier, there will be room to mount a crossover (if you're running passive) where the amplifier was. There is a single amplifier for the rear door speakers beneath the left rear panel in the rear cargo area.

I mounted the amplifier for my speakers (Alpine PDX-4.100) under the front passenger seat (keeping wire run lengths to a minimum) and the amp for my sub in the rear "secret" floor compartment. 

A good source of info on this vehicle is *****'s build log on this site and proved to be a wealth of information to me. Keep in mind that as far as audio installation is concerned, anything that works on a Pathfinder will also work on a QX4 and vice versa.

Let me know if you have any further questions. While there are ways to make some of your Bose components work (i.e. headunit and speakers - the amps are junk due to strange impedences), I would STRONGLY recommend ditching everything and going completely aftermarket. 

Erik


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

First off let me state that before I attempted installing the system in my 2002 Pathfinder LE, I had very little experience in car audio. I managed to install some component speakers and a cheap aftermarket HU in my old Chevy Malibu - I knew nothing about amp installation, laying new speaker wire, sub box building or basic car electronics in general.

When I first bought my Pathfinder (used w/ approx 90k miles), I wanted to reinstall my component speakers in the door but otherwise keep the factory headunit in order to retain that "factory" appearance. This notion didn't last long however. About 2 weeks into owning the vehicle, I noticed that perfectly clean and even brand new CDs would skip during playback. At first it wasn't too noticeable, but soon it made listening to music frustrating. A couple weeks later the Bose 6-disc changer HU equipped on my Pathy displayed "ERR2" and would not even play a CD. Frustrated, I tried to eject all my CDs from the changer. I pressed the EJECT button -- nothing happened. My CDs were gone.

A thorough internet search showed me that this is an EXTREMELY common and well-documented problem on 1999 - 2004 Pathfinders and QX4s. While I didn't take my vehicle to a dealership for the repair, I saw people online staing that their dealer had quoted them up to $800 for a new HU. There is also supposedly some guy on eBay who will fix the broken HUs, but he still charges $180 + shipping. Either way, I decided that going the aftermarket route would not only sound better, but be less expensive in the long run. 

Wanting to keep my dash appearing as "factory" as possible, I decided to go with a simple double-DIN touchscreen DVD player. No shiny buttons,logos or gadgets, just an elegant screen that would blend in with the interior of the vehicle. I didn't need (and couldn't afford) NAV so I just went with the Pioneer AVH-P4100DVD. I had installed a Pioneer HU in my previous vehicle and felt pretty confident doing it again in the Pathfinder. 

Back when I owned the Malibu, I decided I wanted to add an amplifier to my system. Being scared to do this myself, I went to my local (now defunct) Tweeter to have them do the install. I therefore wanted to integrate this amp into my Pathy, but didn't know how to do it. I took the car to a local car audio shop who informed me that there was no safe way to integrate an aftermarket amplifier with the pre-existing Bose speakers and factory wiring (as the impedences are finicky and in the end would risk harming my amplifier and HU). They said they would have to lay down new speaker wire from the amp to all 4 doors. I also decided that if they were going to do all this, I might as well have them install my components and HU as well. The quote for amp and component installation + rewiring was $600!!! Keep in mind that this was for labor alone, I had retained all the necessary cables and wiring from my previous vehicle. 

At first I thought the shop was lying to me by telling me that they would have to lay new wire (laying down new wire is a PITA and time-consuming, thereby being labor-intense -- read: expensive). So I turned back to the internet. Long story short: there is a way to use the existing Bose amplifiers and factory wiring by use of a line output converter, but it's the general consensus that this method gives a significant degradation in sound quality. Why go to all the trouble of installing a new HU and speakers only to compromise the overall SQ of the system by using a line output converter? 

As I blantantly couldn't afford a $600 install, I embarked on the journey of doing the install myself. Furthermore, I wanted to "customize" my install by adding a steering wheel control interface so that I could control my HU with my factory steering wheel TRACK and VOLUME controls. I also wanted to add a "video bypass" to my HU. Normally on Pioneer DVD HUs, the parking brake must be applied in order to have video playing on the DVD screen. This bypass allows DVD video to play while the vehicle is in motion. Now, don't take me for an idiot. I don't watch "Top Gun" while I drive -- I do however think it's kinda cool (albeit admittedly immature) to have rap videos or live concert DVDs playing while driving with friends. Having a shop perform both of these tasks would have added a considerable amount to the original $600 quote.

Needless to say I decided to do the install myself. You should also know that for several reasons (described below), I decided to install my amplifier under the front passenger seat. Many of the instructions I detail are based on this installation location. Just keep this in mind; more on this later. 

Having very little experience in car audio installation, I turned to online forums. After parousing many, I have to say that this site (DIYMA) is bar-none the best car audio site on the internet. Secondly, with you being a QX4 owner, I have to highly recommend NICOclub forums (NICO stands for Nissan Infiniti Car Owners). Go to Nissan Forum | Infiniti Forum, a community of enthusiasts, click on the "Forums" tab and then click on "Pathfinder/QX4 Forum". This forum is not car audio-specific, but will help immensely with instructions on how to remove dash and door panels, find firewall holes, and reset the ECU should you trip a short during the installation process. I would lastly recommend Basic Car Audio Electronics (Basic Car Audio Electronics). If you're trying to decide how to wire speakers, where to place components, where to ground an amp, where to place fuses and what size fuse to use, etc, etc, etc, this site will answer everything. Many people on DIYMA forums consider this site "required reading" before posting anything on the forums.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

After much research, I finally began the install. This was my planned sequence of events:

1.) Rip apart vehicle
2.) Sound deaden doors
3.) Install amplifier
4.) Lay speaker wire
5.) Install speakers
6.) Install HU and optional accesories
7.) Set gains using any of the several "gain setting" tutorials on this site and do any troubleshooting if necessary
8.) Reinstall all seats and panels

Be prepared that this process (for me anyway) was quite lengthy. I must say, however, that the most time-consuming step was sound deadening the doors (due to the method that I used; more on this below). Omitting this step can literally save you days of work. Also keep in mind that the installation took longer for me; hopefully I can save you some time by detailing my mistakes and pitfalls. The process was also extremely lengthy as I live in an apartment downtown Chicago and don't have my own garage. I kept my Pathfinder garaged at my parent's house about 90 minutes away. This garage is not heated or well-lit. With it being winter, while I wanted to finish the system, I wasn't too motivated to work on the car with an ambient temperature in the 30s. My job also requires me to work many night shifts and weekends; returing to my parents house frequently proved difficult. I began working on the vehicle in early January and finally finished on March 1. I would estimate that for a novice, 2 weeks would be a generous amount of time in which to complete the project if you skipped the sound deadening (or at least used a simpler method than I did), were able to work non-stop and avoided some of my pitfalls.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

Here is a step-by-step description of the install:

1.) Rip apart vehicle (should be the same on both the Pathy and QX4). 

This meant removing the 2 front seats, center console, center dash trimpiece, plastic piece of dash below steering wheel, plastic kickpanels near front doors, plastic panels that the front seatbelts are attached to, front seatbelts and all 4 door panels. Keep in mind that removing these pieces is the minimum process necessary in order to install an amplifier under the front passenger seat and lay new wire to all 4 doors. If you decide to install your amp in the rear cargo location (generally the only other option in these vehicles) you're looking at considerably more work in gutting the vehicle, as more panels will have to be removed. 

I had an alternative vehicle to drive while all of this was taking place. However, if your QX4 is your only mode of transportation, the vehicle will still be safe and driveable -- just don't remove the driver's seat or seatbelt (obviously). The SRS airbag light will flash since upon disconnecting the front passenger seat the SRS system senses an error. Not to worry, the airbags will still deploy in a crash. Also be sure to leave your "Hazard" button connected so that your turn signals still work.

When removing panels, I highly recommend you obtain either an Infiniti Service Manual for the QX4 or a Haynes manual for your vehicle. These are sometimes available for free download on the internet (I got lucky), otherwise they're available for purchase for around $20 and will make working on your vehicle a lot easier. These manuals detail how to remove body panels and where hidden screws, etc. are located. I accidentally cracked 3 plastic trim pieces because I forcefully tried to remove a body panel when in reality it was still secured by a "hidden" screw. Knowing how to properly remove the center console, door panels, etc. in advance will make this stage go a lot faster and prevent you from cracking/breaking potentially expensive and/or irreplaceable panels and trims. 

I also recommend individually bagging/labelling screws so that you know where they came from. It will make your life a ton easier when putting everything back together.

The stock Bose HU is easy to remove; just unscrew the screws and the entire unit slides out. There are 3 harnesses to unclip. 2 will plug into your new aftermarket harness and the third is responsible for interfacing the steering wheel controls. This is where you will attach wires from any aftermarket steering wheel control interface unit. If you decide not to use a steering wheel interface this harness will not be used when plugging in your aftermarket HU.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

2.) Sound deaden doors. 

This was BY FAR the most time-consuming part of my installation. Because I chose to use closed-cell foam and mass loaded vinyl (as opposed to overly-priced and far-inferior Dynamat, eDead, etc.), my panels of deadening material had to be custom cut, which required much trial and error. Skipping this step can probably save you up to 2 full days of install time. I must say though, my Pathy is MUCH quieter and the doors close with a "thud" like my friend's new Lexus. With the QX4 being deemed a "luxury" SUV branded with the Infiniti marque, I would have to assume that your vehicle is probably equipped with better stock deadening. It's your call in this department; just know that to do it correctly is time-consuming.

If you have further questions regarding door deadening or need some recommendations, feel free to PM me. I bought several products from Don (Rubeboy on DIYMA) from Sound Deadener Showdown and they were AWESOME.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

3.) Install amplifier. 

I won't describe how I routed my power cable through my firewall, as the stock firewall openings may be different in your vehicle. Just know that as long as you have a long enough power cable, there should be no need to drill through the firewall on these vehicles. After routing my power cable through the firewall and underneath the carpeting, I installed my amplifier. Here's where things may get a little tricky. 

I decided to mount my amp under the front passenger seat as it kept cable/wire lengths to a minimum and required that I remove the absolute least amount of body panels/trim/carpeting/etc possible. If there is no heating/AC ductwork underneath your seat, you will have a relatively large and flat area in which to mount a wide selection of amps. Unfortunately, if such ductwork is in place, things get a little tight and only a few models on the market will work. Since my Pathfinder LE (the highest trim in the Pathfinder line) had this ductwork, I'm guessing your QX4 will as well. 

With limited room available, the only amps that I am aware of which will fit under the front seat are the Alpine PDX series and the JL Audio HD series. Both amps are relatively pricey, with the Alpine being substantially cheaper. I decided to buy from an unauthorized online retailer to save money and spent $260 for an Alpine PDX-4.100. After much debate, I'm pretty certain that my amp is a factory refurb as opposed to brand new, but that is the risk you take with buying unauthorized. I unfortunately couldn't afford the MSRP of $500. Regardless of it possibly being a refurb or not, it sounds AWESOME and fits perfectly under the seat. 

I mounted the amp by placing small 2"x2" blocks of 1/4" MDF underneath the carpeting and then securing the amp to this blocks, thereby "sandwiching" the carpet in between the carpet and the amp. So far it hasn't budged a millimeter. I would NOT recommend drilling into the body of the vehicle - this probably wouldn't work anyway as the sheetmetal beneath the carpeting is very uneven (if your vehicle has the ductwork). Alternatively you could find someway to velcro the amp to the carpeting, but I can't imagine this to be very secure and will make the amp an easy grab for potential theives. 

There are plenty of pre-drilled factory holes in the body underneath the carpeting in this location that will make for the perfect amplifier ground. Simply scrape off the paint and ground your amp by screwing into one of these holes.

After amp installation I re-installed the front passenger seat to find that it cleared the amplifier by a VERY slim margin. Just to be on the safe side, I decided the raise the rear 2 legs of the seat 1" by making small MDF mounting blocks (1.5" x 1.5"). I drilled bolt holes in the blocks, carpeted the blocks with automotive carpeting and re-secured the seat. Keep in mind that you will have to buy longer bolts at a local harware store. I forget the exact thread of the bolt, but know that they are metric bolts, 3/8" in diameter and 2" long (the stock bolts are only 1" long). The increase in seat height is barely noticeable to both driver and passenger.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

4.) Lay speaker wire.

I used 14AWG. Any bigger is overkill and will be near impossible to feed into the doors. I used Streetwires speaker wire as it has a very thick protective sheath surrounding the wire. This is a very nice feature since the speaker wire will be relatively otherwise unexposed where the door hinges. It isn't super expensive and if you mount your amp under the front seat, you won't need very much of it. I bought 50 feet for about $25 and had plenty left over.

Getting the speaker wire into the rear doors isn't too difficult. You'll notice that for each door there are 2 rubber grommets ("boots") in which the speaker wire will have to pass: 1 attached to the body of the vehicle and 1 attached to the door itself. Poke a small hole in each grommet as centrally as possble using a screwdriver or similar tool and feed the wire through. The rubber should seal around the speaker wire (unless the hole you poked was too large). In the rear doors I would recommend working your wire from the vehicle to the door. You can run your wiring inside the panel that the seatbelts attach to and then run it underneath the carpeting to your amp.

The process of running wires to the front doors is MUCH more difficult (especially the driver's side). Here your only option is to work from the door to the vehicle. Getting the wire through the door boot is easy. Then find yourself a good wire hanger and untwist it. Poke it through the boot on the vehicle side and fish it around until you see it emerge amongst the birdsnest of factory wiring, relays, etc on the interior side. Note that the plastic kickpanel will have to be removed in advance to do this. Then find a way to securely attach the hanger to the speaker wire and pull until it comes through. This takes quite a bit of trial and error, as the speaker wire likes to get hung up on anything that comes in its way and easily detaches from your wire. Let me know if you come up with a better method!

The front driver's side is essentially the same, but more difficult as there is even more crap to get in your way.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

5.) Install speakers. 

You could use the factory plastic speaker mounts, but in the front I found that the amplifiers built into these mounts take up space where my crossover could potentially be mounted. I ordered custom EFS mounts from Elemental Designs online for my woofers. I feel that these are much sturdier than the factory mounts and should also improve speaker performance and SQ. I used industrial-strength velcro to mount my crossovers right next to the front speakers. 

I threw away the useless clear plastic stock "moisture barriers" when I removed my door panels and replaced them with a piece of 1/8" thick mass loaded vinyl (be sure to cut openings for screw holes and wire harnesses) to further block sound and road noise.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

6.) Install HU and optional accesories. 

Lastly I connected all the wires from my HU to an aftermarket Nissan wiring harness which would plug into the stock harness. This is normally a simple and straightforward process. I would recommend soldering (as opposed to crimping) your connections to prevent theft. 

My harness wiring got a little crazy as I wanted to be able to use my factory steering wheel controls with my HU. If you decide to do this (and I do), grab yourself the PAC-SWI from PAC audio. The wiring is a little tricky for Nissan/Infiniti vehicles (as opposed to other makes) but is doable. I can help you out with this should you decide to incorporate this into your system. 

As mentioned above, I also wanted to "bypass" the parking brake lead supplied with my HU harness so that I could enable DVD video playback while driving. There are several threads on how to do this with the Pioneer AVH-P4000 series DVD headunits here on DIYMA. These threads make this process seem MUCH more difficult then it actually is. If you decide to go with this series of HU and want to perform the video bypass, PM me.

The Pathy and QX4 accept any double-DIN HU with minimal modification. There is a slight gap (3-4mm) surrounding a double-DIN aftermarket HU when installed. My Pioneer HU came with a thin black plastic trimpiece that frames the unit perfectly and eliminates this gap.

Don't forget to plug in all RCA cables and route them to your amplifier(s). I also bought an iPod cable that I routed into the glovebox.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

7.) Set gains using any of the several "gain setting" tutorials on this site and do any troubleshooting if necessary

I won't get into setting gains (as I'm still trying to perfect my gains myself!) but I will warn you of some potential troubleshooting you may run into. 

First and foremost: ensure that your negative battery terminal is disconnected during crucial amplifier, speaker and HU wiring stages. In the name of laziness I decided not to do this and ended up shorting a circuit and tripping the "Service Engine Soon" (SES) light. I tried resetting the ECU (per instructions on NICOclub forums) only to no avail. My local mechanic attributed the SES light flashing on as a result of a faulty throttle idle valve and swears that it had nothing to do with my car audio wiring, but I will always wonder...

As I mentioned earlier, removing any of the seats (and disconnecting their respective harnesses) will trigger the SRS Airbag light to turn on. Note that upon reconnecting all harnesses and reinstalling all seats, THIS LIGHT WILL STILL REMAIN ON. Know that nothing is wrong with your airbag system. Don't make the mistake of taking the vehicle to a dealer -- I've heard of people paying up to $400 to reset this light. There are multiple threads on NICOclub forums of how to reset the SRS light. Very simple (most Nissan/Infiniti ECU and SRS reset procedures involve pressing the gas pedal a certain number of times after initially turning the key to the ON position -- I have ZERO mechanic skills whatsoever and had no problems doing this on my vehicle).


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

8.) Reinstall all seats and panels.

9.) Enjoy your system!

That pretty much wraps it up. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask. For the Pathfinder and QX4 there is a wealth of vehicle-specific info on the NICOclub forums website that I mentioned above. I think you could probably get everything done in about a week or so; give yourself a couple extra days if you decide to sound deaden the vehicle. While it was time-consuming, I'm EXTREMELY happy with my sound deadening and would recommend it to anyone.

If you decide to go with a setup similar to mine, I can post a picture of the wiring diagram that I drew up of how to connect the Pioneer HU wiring harness to the vehicle wiring harness, DVD video bypass and PAC steering wheel interface.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

Ouch, my fingers hurt.


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## Austin (Mar 12, 2009)

^^Good lord my friend. I just read your first post, then scrolled down and saw you have another 10 posts and said screw it haha. Nice in depth description though, im sure its a big help to the OP.


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## skulboep (Nov 29, 2009)

screw the OP, he didn't even respond or let us know how his install went.


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## mcfingrs (Apr 16, 2014)

skulboep said:


> screw the OP, he didn't even respond or let us know how his install went.


I read it all the way through and took notes. 
Thanks for the effort!


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## DTUGS (Jan 9, 2020)

Ik I'm fashionably late to this thread, I'm doing something similar to my pathfinder, I have my aftermarket head unit, worked well but wasnt enough so I went and got a set of jbl GX600C I believe this is the component set, I tucked my crossover in the trim piece right below the glove box and the interior fuse box, then for the rear doors I again went with jbl, i just love them haven't had any problems compared to my old Sony speakers, after I wired all them up I put in my amp, ran the wire through the fire wall along the drivers side under trim and carpet...wasnt fun, then mounted my amp with 4 tap screws onto the back of the rear seats, hasn't come loose yet, then to ground it I just lifted all the trunk liner and mounted under the cargo latches I believe is what they are, I just slowly unbolted them, if you go to fast they are know to snap, anyways I slid the ground connector underneath and remounted them. Then I ran my remote wire to my aftermarket head unit. And here we are now, I'm planning on running a 4 channel almost the same way, but I'm thinking of just bypassing the bose factory amp, all you need is to find out which speaker wire controls which speaker, get a pac speaker tester, very useful, anyways I've started the process haven't finished it, but what you do is cut every speaker wire going into the bose amp, then twist that wire around what is called 9wire, audiopipe sells it on amazon there is cheaper but I went with audiopipe, with 9 wire it's in the name its 1 tube that has 9 individual wires, anyways twist the to wires together one from the bose amp and the other to the 9 wire,crimp or connect the wires securely, then once all the wires are securely attached just run the nine wire to your amplifier and in each of the four channel holes +,- just put the wire that belongs, it's a lot more clean then running speaker wire everywhere, but that's how I'm finishing up my pathfinder, just thought I'd share


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## FaithNwisdom (May 10, 2021)

I have a pathfinder 2002 LE, I wonder how would you wire 4 components speakers while keeping the two factory tweeters up front, with a four channel amp that has a bridgeable two channels. would you run the rear speakers as subs and the front with crossovers, or use a crossover in the front and rear?. I have no intention to add a Subwoofer.


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