Sound system

[Freestyle21]

The sound system in my '88 is crapping out (Seems common). What is my best option to fix this? I would like a cd player if possible. all the posts on this subject are more than 18 months old so I'm wondering if there is anything new out there.

This is a great forum.

 

[jsinga]

I finally trashed the bose in my 87. You know the amps are in the speakers and the speakers are wierd 1.8ohm or close. The 87 also has a common speaker ground.
With the wiring diagram you can figure out how to split out grounds for each speaker at the radio plug. (If you don't have the Helm factory manual and you are going to keep the car and work on it you really need it) With the first adapter I was sent it sounded trashy with the common speaker ground. Finally I just took the headunit pigtail and spliced it together.
I cut loose the amps and spliced directly to the speakers and used the bose speakers. The alpine unit I have now is living with the current draw and I didn't have to completly rebuild speaker enclousers.
You'll likely have to cut out the back of the radio enclosure since most units are deeper that the bose.
I ran a new 10ga power wire from the jump start block.
The only draw back with a non bose radio: you will not be able to vary the lamp intensity on the HVAC panel. For some reason the freq. vairable square wave used to vary the lamp intensity is built into the bose head unit.
Now I have decent sound with mp3 capability and don't have to swap disks very often.

JS

 

[Vettelt193]

The sound system in my '88 is crapping out (Seems common). What is my best option to fix this? I would like a cd player if possible. all the posts on this subject are more than 18 months old so I'm wondering if there is anything new out there.

This is a great forum.

nothing really new... If it were me, I would dump the whole system... speakers, amps, head, wires for new stuff. do it right one time and you won't have to worry again

 

[slapshot]

I just had a new Pioneer Premier DEH760MP headunit, all new Pioneer speakers, and an amp insalled in mine last week. WOW, what a difference. I had an earlier version on the headunit (7600mp) in my Lightning, so I knew what I wanted.

1991 audio technology can't touch even the average stuff today. I'm sure the Bose sounded good back in the early 90's, but it can't touch the new technology, especially in the reliability department. Those darn amps are a pain. I'm gonna sell all of mine I think. I'll help out someone who wants to keep the car stock.

 

[WhalePirot]

I'm sure the Bose sounded good back in the early 90's.

Ummm. Nope! Not Bose.

 

[Freestyle21]

Thanks for your help. I think I'm just going to go new, might as well enjoy it.

 

[tyrel]

If you have the Bose, it's definitely time to dump it. If you have the stock system, you're way overdue for an upgrade. Here's what I got, and because I'm way past the age where I want to impress people with a thumping car, it's good enough for me:

Head unit: 1.5 din audiovox GC600, it has selectable backlighting green or amber, and it plays cassettes and CDs. There is a guy selling them on Ebay, for much less than the $500 that Eckler's wants, and it fits perfectly into the stock stereo opening. I don't care for the single-din stereos, I've never seen a single-din stereo installation that looked right to me.

Front speakers: 6.5" Infinity 2-way, I modified the Bose speaker enclosures in the doors to accommodate the speakers. Basically I gutted the front piece and layered it with fiberglass and then cut a hole for the speaker.

Rear speakers: 6X9" Infinity 2-way, they fit just right into the stock locations.

Amplifier: Alpine MRP-F240, it is small enough to fit right inside the passenger-side storage bin behind the seat. This was important to me because the cargo space is precious to me, and I don't want to waste it. This is a great amplifier, basically you can adjust the gain all the way up if you want to and the speakers won't cut out.

I ran new wire all the way around. This simple little system cost me only a few hundred dollars, and it sounds a lot better than the stock system. It won't thump the whole car, but it sounds pretty good to me. My next project will be to layer the interior with Dynamat or brown bread, to stop some of the road noise. This will also improve the sound of the stereo, because it will have less noise to compete with.

Good luck!