Moving up to a CD

[Vintagevetter]

CD replacement for cassette/radio?

I have a 94 coupe, which I bought used, and it came with the Bose AM/FM Cassette radio. Since I haven't used tapes in years, and I have a collection of CD's, I would like a unit that has a CD player. Did any of the C4's have a CD player/radio as an option? Since I would like to keep the car original as far as the sound system goes, I just wondered if there are any Bose CD/radio units available that are OEM for the Corvette?

 

[Bob Yates]

I have an 86 C4 which had a Bose like yours and I replaced it with a Bose CD player out of an 86 camaro and it looks stock and works great. I had to do a little wiring mod but it fits great and looks stock. If you use one of these I'm sure it will work for you with no mods because a CD player was offered in your model year. I paid $200.00 for mine. I checked with GM and for your year model it is not available. If it were , it would cost over a $1,000.00 . You will have to get this puppy used . Check the for sale adds in this site or try E-bay or go to some of the Corvette meets you might find one there. I will tell you this, it was well worth the change for me and it sounds great and looks like it belongs in my dash. Good luck .....Bob Yates

 

[RoadReady]

The '96 Bose Gold system has a CD player and cassette. It takes the same dash space, but I don't know if there is any wiring/connector difference with the "premium sound" speakers. Shouldn't be.

 

[tyrel]

I have a 94 coupe, which I bought used, and it came with the Bose AM/FM Cassette radio. Since I haven't used tapes in years, and I have a collection of CD's, I would like a unit that has a CD player. Did any of the C4's have a CD player/radio as an option? Since I would like to keep the car original as far as the sound system goes, I just wondered if there are any Bose CD/radio units available that are OEM for the Corvette?

I see the oem Bose cd/cassette stereos all the time on Ebay. It plays both cds and cassettes. It should just be a plug-and-play installation, since your cassette player is a Bose as well.

 

[Vintagevetter]

Thanks for the help guys....I'll start checking the Corvette meets and e-bay, and also look at the 86 Camaro unit (thanks Bob) Does anyone know what the first year was, that Corvette offered the CD/radio package? Its seems to me it was the early 90's when CD players first started showing up in cars.

 

[tlong]

Radio Swap

The Bose cd radio will plug and play. But the Gold stuff won't work. The speakers are really cheap with cassette radio. They aren't the amped ones for the Gold.

You would have to get 4 amped Bose speakers and a new amp behind the seat to convert it. Very expensive. I replaced it with a good JVC and some Boston Acoustic speakers. It sounds good.

 

[resto75]

I had a cd/cass in my 94 but the cd didn't work. This seems to be a common problem with the Bose cd players. I wouldn't buy one off Ebay because you will probably get one that doesn't work. There are a few places that do rebuilds on them and they might have one in their stockpile that you can purchase. That way you will get one that works. I don't remember who repairs them but I'm sure someone on this board does.

 

[Zixxer]

I have a 96 coupe with Cassette and the premium six speaker setup. I thought the premium six speaker was better then the four speaker option? Now I'm bummed as I purchased a Bose CD player via EBay (good seller rating) and wanted to just swap it out. I haven't received the unit yet but please let me know what you mean by Gold features. I have zero knowledge on the Corvette radio setup, speakers, amps, and variations....I assumed, and I guess I shouldn't have, that a Bose CD unit would just easily replace the cassette version. Any help on this would be appreciated as I know I can just list the CD unit on EBay and resell it, there were four or five I was bidding on before I got this one as they sell like hot cakes. For the other gentlemen, there's a listing for repair places on EBay as well, just search for "Bose CD repair" and you'll see several. Many more on the internet as well.

If this Bose CD doesn't plug in and sound good, I'll just yank the whole Bose setup and go aftermarket.

 

[tlong]

Premium speakers

I think premium and gold mean the same, as in individually amped speakers. The Bose cd will work fine in place of the standard, non amped cassette system. I am unaware of a premium Bose system with only a cassette. Make sense?

In other words whichever head unit you use will play fine, but the Gold series has the premium speaker set up. I think even the Gold has only 12 watts per channel. Each speaker is like $150 to replace, making it rather costly for what you get.

 

[Zixxer]

Thank you, I feel better now. I've order a service manual so I could begin to understand all the aspects of the car. I'm very mechnically inclined so I'm looking forward to all the little and big projects.

 

[tyrel]

There's a lot of misinformation going on in this topic. There are only two types of stereos for your year: the stock Delco, and the optional Delco-Bose. The Delco-Bose, which you have in your car, was available with either the cassette or the cassette-CD combo. The wiring for the Bose cassette and the Bose cassette/cd combo is the same: the relay, the amplifiers, the speakers, etc. I'm telling you that if you want to upgrade to the Bose cd/cassette combo from the Bose cassette, it will be a simple head-unit change, with no other changes necessary. Forget about the Gold, premium, etc. nomenclature, it means nothing. If your stereo says Bose on it, you already have amplifed speakers at all four corners, end of story, no matter if it says gold or premium or whatever.

For those of you who don't believe me, here is an example of the Bose cassette-only stereo:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38655&item=2453643074

Yes it says Gold on it, that means nothing, it's a Bose.

 

[Zixxer]

UU8 - Delco Bose AM/FM stereo radio with cassette
UX0 - Delco Bose six speaker system

The good news is this caused me to research exactly what I had and apparently I'm good as I have the Bose setup. Switching out the cassette to CD should be a breeze. Thanks for a great thread. Rick

 

[Eagle85C4]

Latest copy of Mid America catalog has a Delco Bose CD player for C4's for a bit over 500.00

 

[Zixxer]

Latest copy of Mid America catalog has a Delco Bose CD player for C4's for a bit over 500.00

Watch eBay, I got one for $250 with a warranty but it did take about six weeks of trying.

 

[vee93]

Try calling Contemporary Corvette toll free @ 1-800-367-8388 or 215-788-8693 or, email them at www.contemporarycorvette.com

Last time I called them, they had 3 for around $350. :cool

 

[dburgjohn]

Just an option, but how about keeping your current radio and getting a CD changer with a FM modulator. Nice ones with remotes can be had new for less than a used single CD Bose unit.

 

[corvettecrazy]

there is another solution to your tape player problem.

I will assume you have a Cd player. If so all you need is one of these:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1063630089097&type=product&productCategoryId=cat08102

if broadcasts your postable audio devices signal through a radio station 88.1-88.7 .

this way you can be as stock as possible and still jam to your Cd's or MP3's


I guess the person above me beat me to it

 

[RoadReady]

Satellite radio also plays through your system via a wireless modulator.

 

[tobijohn]

I have the standard Delco AM/FM/cassette in my 96 and went the CD changer with RF modulator route. I couldn't really find any aftermarket players that I thought looked compatible with the stock instamentation so I opted for a used Clarion off of eBay and mounted it vertically behind the passenger seat. It cost me $60, took about an hour or so to install and sounds fine. On the other hand, when it comes to the OEM Bose rebuilts and repairs, I've heard nothing but good things about Doctor Don's. Someone even said he upgrades the electronics so that it will play CDRs that you burn yourself. The link is below:

http://www.doctordons.com/corvetteradios.htm