90 Bose Gold System Options

[90topless]

I have a 90 vert with the Bose Gold System. I am having major problems with it.

CD gets an error
Tape doesn't play
Speakers that work are terrible sounding
Left Rear Speaker out


What are my options with this? I am putting a poll to see what the best options are. Talking to audio custom shops are saying big bucks.

Thanks for your input.

John

 

[BarryK]

John

I spent a number of years in the car audio industry. I was a sales rep for many of the higher-end car audio manufacturers and also managed a couple of high end car audio shops. While managing the shops we did very simple radio installations up to $100,000 custom competition system. Based on that i'd like to think I know at least a little bit about your situation.
To put it as honestly and bluntly as possible, although GM charged a good premuim on the bose systems in their cars, the Bose system really wasn't all that great of a system. One, it never sounded all that good. and two, upgrading it was a real b**ch.
If a customer came into our shops and needed repairs or upgrades to their Bose system we almost always recommended just ripping out the system and starting from scratch.
Now understand, although we were a shop and wanted to sell systems, our recommendation to replace the Bose system was NOT just to sell them our equipment instead. We also did in-house repairs and with the fairly low margin of mark-up on the equipment we made a LOT more profit on repairs than on selling new equipment, but we knew that for the money that was going to be needed to be spent on either repair of the Bose system OR a new replacement aftermarket system the customer was usually better off replacing the Bose with aftermarket and it would be more reliable and sound MUCH better.

I don't know what you consider "big bucks" as you say in your post, but a good shop will charge in the range of $40-$75/hr for installation. This allows for a profession and correct installation in your car from experienced installers that know what they are doing and will do the job correctly and it will look, fit, and sound right and they will warranty their work.
If you are used to doing things yourself on your own car it not something that is overly difficult to do though. If you have never done it it will take you some time but it's something that if you are not scared to get in there and do it, try it yourself.

If you want to post back and give me an idea of what you would be looking for in terms of an overall goal for the sound system I could help with a few recommendations on ideas to consider. Since the interiors of Vettes are small, it really doesn't take a lot to get a good amount of high quality sound out of your car.

Barry

 

[90topless]

Barry,
Thanks for the info. I am feeling the same way about the Bose thing. I don't want to spend too much on a radio. I would rather put it in the performance. I have installed stereo's in cars before and with the aftermarket harness available it shouldn't be too bad. My concern is do I put 5.25 speakers in the Bose boxes or go with something else. I was thinking some Rockfords. My big problem is an adaptor for the radio. I saw one on ebay a while ago but cannot find it now.

To your question, I would like to get the best stereo for the money. I was thinking around $1000 for the system. Of course more for custom installation.

Thanks,
John

 

[nearmiss]

I'm also having problems with the Bose system in my 96 CE. I got a quote from a shop for $300 to remove, send out for rebuild and replace. Of course, in the end, I've still got the Bose. Its still a piece of crap, but it is authentic. Does anyone know of an aftermarket CD/radio (don't care about tape) combo that looks "right" in the dash that can replace the Bose?

 

[bill5674]

removed unit on mine and had it repaired. Like the factory look. Still sounds like crap....but it is 14 year old tecnolgy

 

[BarryK]

Barry,
Thanks for the info. I am feeling the same way about the Bose thing. I don't want to spend too much on a radio. I would rather put it in the performance. I have installed stereo's in cars before and with the aftermarket harness available it shouldn't be too bad. My concern is do I put 5.25 speakers in the Bose boxes or go with something else. I was thinking some Rockfords. My big problem is an adaptor for the radio. I saw one on ebay a while ago but cannot find it now.

To your question, I would like to get the best stereo for the money. I was thinking around $1000 for the system. Of course more for custom installation.

Thanks,
John

John

$1000 can get you a really nice sounding basic system (without subwoofers) if you want to do the installation yourself. As a basic system it really wouldn't be all that hard if you have done it before.
I'd remove all traces of the existing Bose system (headunit, and all speakers and their associated amps) and just replace them with a really nice front head unit, 4 new speakers for front and rear and a 4-channel amp to run the speakers. In the future if you want you can still upgrade the system if you want to add subs by just building a custom box for the rear and adding a second amp to drive the subs. If you look into amps with built-in crossovers it really makes life easy for the upgrade and it saves having to install a seperate crossover unit in the car.
Normally I don't even feel rear speakers have a lot of use in most cars especially cars as small as Vettes, but in this case with your car being a convertible you will need the extra sound output to overcome wind noise, especially with the top down so the rear speakers and the amp to drive all 4 speakers will be particularly important. You can get nice mounting brackets to mount the radio in your dash that will convert your 1 1/2 DIN size opening to a standard DIN aftermarket radio ( or even use the extra space to install an EQ if you like that).

You will see that while I try not to recommend any particular brand of equipment, there ARE a few brands I do think are somewhat better than others. I take the attitude that if you are going to spend the money anyway, spend the little bit extra on top of that and get something that is REALLY good instead of just so-so. It is worth getting the better quality in the long run and if you plan on keeping your car, whats a few extra dollars spent now that lasts you the next 5, 10, or 15 years you may have the car and the enjoyment you will get back from your investment. Nothing worst than say afterwards that you wish you spent that extra $100 or $200 (or however much extra amount) because you would have been happier.

The single most important items for overall sound quality are the speakers. Listen to a number of different ones and buy the ones you really like the most!

Barry

 

[90topless]

Thanks for your input. I am heading to Carlisle tomorrow. My eyes will be open to this issue and will be asking questions. I will let you know the outcome.


John

 

[taegdh]

I also am considering upgrading my sound system, as the BOSE has a couple of "non functioning" speakers and I can't even get good AM with the radio.

I noticed that Mid America and other purveyors of Corvette accessories have "direct" replacement radios from Pioneer. They say to specify with or without Bose. Has anyone had any experience with converting over to one of these, and what were the pitfalls?

The power antenna drives me crazy. I've seen a couple of adverts for "hidden" antennas, one was for putting under the dash pad and the other was in the body, above the license and tail lights. Anyone have any experience with these? Ease of Installation, reception directionality and signal strength problems? etc...

 

[safety_match]

I have a 90 vert with the Bose Gold System. I am having major problems with it.

CD gets an error
Tape doesn't play
Speakers that work are terrible sounding
Left Rear Speaker out


What are my options with this? I am putting a poll to see what the best options are. Talking to audio custom shops are saying big bucks.

Thanks for your input.

John

Although I recognize the shortcomings of the Bose system I guess I am one of those who will compromise quality in order to maintain originality.
If you are serious in replacing your Bose let me know...I am looking for a 1990 Bose with a CD player. My car only has the cassette.
It will cost $$ to repair yours but it can be done. Is yours a correct 1990 with the orange lettering and orange backlight?

Safety

 

[tyrel]

The Bose system was pretty good at the time the C4 was being manufactured, but car stereos have come a long way in the past decade. Even the smallest aftermarket four-channel amp will have more power than the Bose system. I put the Alpine MRP-F240 in my car with infinity speakers and an Audiovox 1.5 din head unit and the sound is miles ahead of the Bose, beyond compare. Once the Bose system breaks down, I always tell people to pull it all out, put it in a box, and give it to the new owner when they sell the car someday. In the meantime, you can get a much better sounding stereo for less than the cost of restoring the Bose system.

 

[SPANISHVETTS]

I installed a Fosgate MP3 which was stolen within 3 months. This is the only negative side of having a good system. Noooobody in their right mind would steal the Bose.

BEFORE

AFTER

I then installed a Sony MP3 with a black face panel and a CrimeStopper paging alarm system. From outside of the car the Sony looks like a hole in the dash. The installation was a piece of cake. The C4 must be the easiest car in the world to run wires in. The rear speaker boxes are not hard to ¨re-engineer¨. I set mine up as mini subwoofers and used a pair of Infinity’s with crisp highs in the front to balance things out. The Sony was around $250 and all four speakers came to a total of $200. The power amp was a gift, no idea what it cost. I am driving the subs with the Power amp and the front speakers directly from the head unit. The sound is great and loud enough to hear over Thunders exhaust at any speed.


The alarm is a piece of crap. Never buy anything from CrimeStopper. The first brain box was DOA. It took 2 months to get it exchanged! The second one shorted out and took the HVAC unit with it. CrimeStopper took from March until August to agree to replace the second brain and I finally received the new unit in November. It worked for less than 2 weeks and is now dead again. Their customer service stinks. It is impossible to get through on the phone and their email is a black hole guarded by a polite but non responsive lady who assures you that your problem will be addressed as soon as the President gets back in about 3 months.



All of the old Bose crap is in a box in my office…I keep thinking about selling it on eBay but I would feel bad knowing that it was just going to crap out on the next owner.