Installing aftermarket Cd-player?

[Tobben]

Hi all
When i bought my 94 corvette, there were no cd/cassette player in it.
Now i want to install an aftermarket CD-player. It has Delco Bose speakers.
Is it just plug'n'play?
I have to cut the wires because the connector pins doesn't fit the CD player. But i dont know which wire come from where. Anyone knows? I'm more used to Red, Yellow, Orange, Black, blue and matching front left, front right, rear left, rear right wires :eyerole

 

[94conv.]

I think you have to get an adapter to bypass the bose amps on the speakers. mid america and Im sure the other corvette catalogs will have it. Someone else may chime in with more experience.

 

[Tobben]

Fortunately for me, i found a page that will help me
www.Corvetteradios.com
I'll write a reply if it work or not :eyerole

 

[rlg]

its not plug and play.
you will need an install bracket(Metra makes the one I used.
the Radio receiver bypass harness.

I took out the bose speakers because they are low impedance with small guage wires and used the existing speaker boxes. rewired with 14 Guage wires for the new speakers.

It took a couple of hours to complete.

I think you may also have to use the two .5 ohm resisters to make sure the SES light does not come on.

 

[XLR8]

If I may make another suggestion for consideration...

my CD player was problematic in my C4 - a 94 TR convertible. The C4 suspension is so tight that the CD player seemed (at least to me) to be susceptible to skips, jumps and scratching. It finally stopped working completely and I had a self employed audio tech remove it, rebuild it and he warranteed it for 12 months. In 13 months I had the same problem again. :eyerole When my CD player went out in my C5, I bought an 8 gig Ipod, a receiver with an attachment cable installed and left the CDs at home. I'm up to about 800 songs now and still haven't used 3 gigs of storage yet.

Good luck whichever way you go!
Jane Ann

 

[rlg]

I agree with Jane Ann about the CD thing. The Kenwood I bought has a place to plug in my MP3 or my Ipod.

It also works with XM radio.

 

[dogfish246]

I know that the only thing you will have with replacing the radio is problems! The radio is connected to some of the car electronics that you would not expect!

If I were you, I would look for exact bose replacement radio... It will cost a little more, but be worth it in the end! Look on ebay, or get yours rebuilt...

Thats what I would do!

Good luck!:cool

 

[Tobben]

I'll give it a thought
Thanks for your help

 

[rlg]

I haven't had a problem at all, even my antenna works along with the lights. Now Dogfish is right , if you don't follow the correct procedure you can make a mess. Most of the problems you hear of are concerning the SES light that comes on after the Bose system is removed.

GM put out a TSB concerning this. It involves putting in 2 resisters to send a signal to the ECM so it wont trigger the SES light. The Bose systems back then weren't very reliable and expensive to fix. So people stated to migrate to aftermarket radios that would play their own CD's

the above is for my 90, Your 94 might be different ,but I doubt it.

 

[Paul Higg]

I had mine installed at Best Buy. New Sony Cd and it works great. BUT! Make sure you do a search for the aftermarket infamous SYS light you will inevitably get in the speedo. This is because the ambient light dimming sensor is not out of the picture. So you have to do a mod with some resistors. Do this BEFORE the installation. Search and you will find a post on how it is done and even the service bulletin GM put out on it. If you need I can send you everything you need. Just e-mail me if you want.

 

[Tobben]

Those diagrams and color scheme i found at corvetteradios.com wasn't similar to the in-dash wires in my corvette. So i was really unsure which wire's to use where. I gave up.
Instead i connected a wire with battey current, ignition current and ground to the CD-Player. When the CD-player was running, i connected and tried one bose speaker at a time. Not all of them worked, and those who did were noisy. I'll install new speakers this weekend and rewire them. I'll also install the CD-player as it is.
A question: this SES light, will it appear when the connector pins to the audio player is off? I haven't seen any, but there is a Check Gauges light on. I've just replaced the LCD, but the fuel level sending unit isn't working. I wonder if that's why. :eyerole

 

[Paul Higg]

Even with a new CD FM/AM stereo I needed the original AMP, located behind the passenger. I'd have to look at the wiring diagrams again in my FSM but I think it also controls the powered antenna. As for the wires being a different color, they are, they are a different color on each SIDE of the original plug. The harness side was different from the stereo side.

Now for the SYS light. It is directly linked to the ambient light sensor which is located near the gauges switches. It is a little clear plastic circle. The reason you would get one is because the original stereo backlights would dim automatically (as well as the rest of the backlights) when driving and the light sensor saw a change in light conditions. IE: going under a bridge during the day. But now that the wire is no longer there you have to supply a voltage through resistors to the CCM to fake it out and make it think it still has a dimming circuit there. If not the SYS light will display as an LCD readout directly to the left of the speedo numbers. It will go on and off intermittently. I discovered this through serendipity as it was driving me nuts. On a bright day as I drove under a bridge I would get it every time. So I would put my thumb over it and it would come on. So when I got home I put it in the garage and did it with a flashlight and my thumb and it came on and went off every time. So it was then a matter of researching the wiring diagrams and then I found the SB from GM and I fixed it myself.

Hope this helps.

Paul

 

[rlg]

the reason the SES light comes on is because its looking for current from the head unit. if it doesn't see it the SES light will come on. If you change radios and don't provide the current with the 2 resistors it will come on.

The wiring harnes I used bypassed the rec., mine was located behind the glove box yours is in one of the storage compartments. I bought the short one and extended it connected it to the new radio harness and installed the resistors. I added about 4" of wire to the resistors so it would be long enough to splice into the original harness that pluged into the Bose Head unit.

this way you do not cut or hack up your original wiring and you can leave the Rec. in the car.

 

[rlg]

one more thing , If you use the Bose speakers you will have to cut out the amps.

I just replaced them using the Bose speaker cases. take out the amps.

There are speakers that fit without cutting anything up. I found them.

 

[The Car Whisperer]

Keep in mind that the Bose system sends a low power signal to each speaker/amp, the signal is amplified right at each speaker. If you wire in an aftermarket head unit and wire the outputs to the Bose speaker/amplifier unit you will instantly blow the amp or the speaker. If you are going to keep the Bose speakers you will need a head unit that is built to work with the Bose system.

 

[justintime]

Paul,
Can't find any information on where the resistors go can you help?
Thanks
Steve

 

[Paul Higg]

Do you have the wiring diagrams? If not PM me with your e-mail and I will send them, I just did that a few days with another guy. They’re PDF files. Two of them.

It is an easy job technically but physically it is tough unless you have the entire dash out.

Boy do I miss my Vette. I feel like a part of me has been amputated.

 

[WhalePirot]

Keep in mind that the Bose system sends a low power signal to each speaker/amp, the signal is amplified right at each speaker. If you wire in an aftermarket head unit and wire the outputs to the Bose speaker/amplifier unit you will instantly blow the amp or the speaker. If you are going to keep the Bose speakers you will need a head unit that is built to work with the Bose system.

Wow.. An old thread, revived.

I ran my Blose right from the replacement head unit with lousy result, but did not blow the built-in amplifiers. The correct solution for me was to get equalizations preamplifires to match the head unit output to the speaker/amp inputs.

I suggest using Crutchfield, who has a wealth of expertise and the right equipment and adapters for the less electrically adept.

Having now changed to a full aftermarket system (I always hated anything Blows) the speaker replacement took much longer than a few hours... Waaay more, as taking the door apart to remove the stock speaker box was a mere trifle compared to fabricating a box that fit while retaining window movement. In the rear, I also made boxes for the 8" subs, which took days to get a proper fit.

I am still fighting a whining noise and have spent hours and hours reading and working on it in the lovely tight quarters of my dash; and my car is simpler WRT electronic integration.