Why pull the battery
 

So when I replaced the speakers I pulled the negative off the battery. Watched a vid and it said to do this. Thankfully my research went a bit further as you have to set a code for the radio so you can reset it. No mention of that in the several vids I watched...then my key fobs stopped working...more research and yes that happens too. So my question is do you really need to disconnect the battery to do a simple speaker swap? Head unit I can see. Wonder how many people run into this and say...WTF.

I have done speaker swaps in various cars without disconnecting the battery. Never had an issue.

Silly to disconnect for speakers

Yup..I agree. Might be because in the vid he disconnected the window control . Which you don't have to do either.

Silly to do for speakers.

Disconnecting the battery for pretty much anything in the audio system is being ridiculously cautious and I would file it under completely unnecessary. If you are really concerned, just pull the fuse for the circuit you are working on.

yup..then no resetting anything.
But I do have to pull the whole battery to run the amp wire...damn it! Alpine makes a small amp that hooks right up to the wiring harness for their head units..but it needs 15 amps..wonder how many factory radio fuses have 15 amps?
so now I have to run a damn wire.

Stupid GM and their side post terminals. I don't know specifics about your car, but what about tapping into the bose circuit?

Needs 15 amps ..Bose is 10.