Bose System Replacement

[oldace84]

I have an '84 stock bose radio with cassette......but am looking for a replacement to work with the stock bose speakers with a CD Player.....
Anyone know of a good replacement??????
Is this the right place to post this??????
thankyou
tony

 

[vette-dude]

Got to search and put in Bose radio replacement. there are quite a few threads on the subject. I don't think you can use the bose speakers with an aftermarket radio. I priced out a pioneer system for my 91 and it was going to be about $800 installed with the new speakers. I had a Bose with a CD player as stock and opted to get the speakers rebuilt by Dr. Dons. The system works great now so maybe you need to find a Bose head unit with a CD player and get the speakers rebuilt. Just a thought.

Randy

 

[SPANISHVETTS]

There are a few on e-bay but why stay Bose. For less than a grand you can install a quality aftermarket system with real speakers. Any mid-price system will sound better and be more reliable than the Bose. Trim plates are available to make a din unit look good in the hole.

You can get a reasonable price for your old Bose on e-bay. I converted my rear speakers to subwoofers, before I listed the Bose on e-bay a friend bought them for $100./ea.

 

[Rogue]

I've gone to 3 different auto stereo places and all of them said the same thing. To "fix" the GM/Bose stereo on the C4's, it's gonna cost you $1,000 for parts and labor. The most common problem is the Bose amplifier going out in EACH speaker location. Each on of those is about $140 and you'll need 4. So for $1,000 or less, you can replace both the head unit AND the speakers with higher quality, brand name stuff. Today's head units can be had with MOSFET amps, which play loud and clear without going with an external amp. In addition, they will also be able to play MP3 files and "burned" CD's, which the GM/Bose head unit won't. One of the places I went to had already done several conversions on customer C4's. This place used a DIN adapter that converts the open space in the "double DIN" size location of the GM/Bose head units in 1989-1996 into a useful storage pocket. It looked very clean. For 1984 to 1988 interiors, I think Chevy used a "DIN-and-a-half" size head unit. Pioneer, Jensen, & I believe Clarion makes a CD Receiver head unit that will fit into this location perfectly. Check http://www.crutchfield.com for a list.

 

[jsinga]

You can use the bose speakers if you get a head unit with amps that can stand 2 ohm speakers.
You need a wiring diagram to do some work on the radio plug since if the 84 is like my 87 the speakers have a common ground, it can be split off at the radio to seperate the grounds.
To get rid of the amps I bypassed them in at the speakers, just cut the wires back from the amp board and splice them to the plug comming in.
I know the speakers are old and not the greatest. However I have heard the front door speaker boxes are a pain to get out and fit new ones in their place.
The Alpine I got for Christmas hasn't smoked yet and it has an MP3 player CD.
By the way, when you replace a Bose radio the A/C panel lights will not dim anymore since for some bogus reason their lights are run from a pulsed power source out of the radio!

JS

 

[berky2500]

My opinion from both sides of the subject.

On my car, I replaced the entire system, 6x9s in the rear, no modifications other than a fabbed cover for the carpet. 6 1/2s in the front, fabbed sheet metal mount, and a plastic filler. The factory boxes are not so hard to remove if you take your time. There has been information posted here under door locks, power windows, and Bose speakers, if you search.

I installed a Pioneer head unit, single DIN with mounting plate, 4 channel amp under the passenger seat, and a 12 disc changer in the compartment behind the passenger seat. Mine is an 85, I was doing my own installation, but I still had about $850 in it with all of the sales I could find at crutchfield. Two of my Bose speakers didn't work, and the head unit didn't work, plus I wanted CD/MP3 capability. No cassettes for me. :nono

On another guys car, 91, I was able to get all four amps and the receiver unit repaired for about $600 with shipping and labor. He was okay with using a CD adapter for CDs, so the repair solution worked good for him and the system sounds great. Since he wasn't doing the work, the new system and installation from me or a stereo shop would have pushed him over $1000. I let him make the decision.

You can go both ways, just depends on how much work you want to put in and what your goal is for the final system. You have to remove a lot of interior pieces to install a new system, but you also have to remove most of those pieces to repair the speakers. I wouldn't recommend mixing aftermarket pieces with the Bose system, it can be done, but I don't think you get the same sound quality as an all Bose system, and definitely not as good as a decent aftermarket system. And as SpanishVetts says, you can always sell the speakers and head unit to recoup some of your investment.

Here is the repair shop I used, they offer a three year warranty on amps, one year on the receiver unit.

http://www.carstereohelp.com/

There are also people on this forum who do repairs of the amps.

 

[Rogue]

Both Ecklers and Mid-America sells replacement amplifiers for EACH Bose speaker for $139.99 ea. If your speakers are working, replacing the amps may be all you need. If the speaker and amp is broken, both catalogs sell the whole enclosure with speaker AND amp for a bit more each.

Since my Delco/Bose head unit is working and has a CD player already on it, I'm leaning towards just replacing the Bose amps on each speaker. I know the head unit works because ONE speaker/amp plays and it actually sounds okay. I'd really hate to butcher the interior for a new stereo system I'll probably only use 50% of the time. According to a local stereo installer, once you put an aftermarket stereo on the C4, it's very difficult to put it back to original. Something to think about. At least the option to refurbish the factory Delco/Bose system is a viable one.