Goodbye Bose - '92 Corvette coupe
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4th Gear
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4
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Goodbye Bose - '92 Corvette coupe
'92 Corvette coupe - new aftermarket system
Finally changed out the old worn out Bose system last weekend. CD player & casette player quit and speaker amps were going out about 4 years ago. My "work around" then was to replace the capacitors in the speaker amps ($9.27 for parts, my labor) and a new Sony 10 CD changer from e-bay ($85 parts, my labor).
Sounded OK until the head end or receiver/pre-amp finally quit three weeks ago.
Installed a double din Kenwood DPX-301 with 5 1/4" Kenwood 2-way speakers in existing front location and Nitro 6x9 4-way speakers in existing rear location. Kept the original speaker covers for the stock look, left all the original harnesses untouched an ran new speaker wire. 16 long hours later I had much better sound quality and a MP-3 player to replace the old Sony 10 CD player located in back of the driver's seat.
The new system's total cost was:
Kenwood DPX-301 (remanufactured by Kenwood through e-Bay vendor) $142 incl. shipping.
Kenwood KFC-1351S pair - $40.85 incl. shipping
Nitro BMW 3669 pair - $38.85 incl. shipping
Antenna extension - 3.95
GM standard wiring harness - $19.95
100' 16ga. speaker wire - $12.95
50' 18ga. power wire - 5.95
Total cost for materials: $244.55
e-Bay vendors:
ebay@salectronics.com
ebay@audiosavings.com
The remaining materials, Fry's Electronics. Circuit City had the GM wiring harness also, but the so called "free installation" pitch I got from them had me running, not walking away. Don't like to be lied to...
This installation takes some research and planning. First, disconnect the battery. Took some fabricating the head end mounting and cuting out the back plastic enclosure to get it to fit. Anything that's YELLOW, beware. A yellow unit is attached to the back of the head end enclosure, unclip it and move it far out of the way. It's your air bag stuff. I'd recommend shutting it down. It's real tight under the glove box, but the standard GM wiring harness works with the standard corvette harness. I had a dimmer wire from the Kenwood that was not included in the corvette harness, didn't hunt it down in the other two harnesses that went into the Bose unit under the glove box, so no dimmer, not a big deal for me. The antenna needed an extension unit under the glove box to the new head end unit. Also, I had to splice the antenna co-axial cable due to different sized end fittings. I soldered the braded copper by twisting it together to the side, wrapped it with electrical tape, a good quarter inch thick. This isn't the recommended method, but my AM-FM reception is flawless.
Used the Bose mounting plates to mount the new speakers. These needed to be "cut to fit" for the new speakers. Plenty of room for the front speakers, the rear speakers were a little tighter. When laying out the speaker template on the Bose mounting plate before cutting, make sure it's located at the deepest area of the enclosure. Of importance was the polarity of the wiring. My speaker wire came with one strand having a "solid" insulation and the other a "solid w/stripe" insulation. I used the "solid w/stripe wire for the negative attachment between the head end wiring harness and the terminal on the speaker. The speaker terminal lug for the negative is typically the smaller of the two. This turned out to be the case with my installation, no problems with polarity. Might want to hook up your speaker wires but don't complete the installation until after you power-up and test the system. No fun doing things twice...
I found a lot of information that helped me feel confortable with taking on this project on the forum, wanted to pass it forward.
Bill
Finally changed out the old worn out Bose system last weekend. CD player & casette player quit and speaker amps were going out about 4 years ago. My "work around" then was to replace the capacitors in the speaker amps ($9.27 for parts, my labor) and a new Sony 10 CD changer from e-bay ($85 parts, my labor).
Sounded OK until the head end or receiver/pre-amp finally quit three weeks ago.
Installed a double din Kenwood DPX-301 with 5 1/4" Kenwood 2-way speakers in existing front location and Nitro 6x9 4-way speakers in existing rear location. Kept the original speaker covers for the stock look, left all the original harnesses untouched an ran new speaker wire. 16 long hours later I had much better sound quality and a MP-3 player to replace the old Sony 10 CD player located in back of the driver's seat.
The new system's total cost was:
Kenwood DPX-301 (remanufactured by Kenwood through e-Bay vendor) $142 incl. shipping.
Kenwood KFC-1351S pair - $40.85 incl. shipping
Nitro BMW 3669 pair - $38.85 incl. shipping
Antenna extension - 3.95
GM standard wiring harness - $19.95
100' 16ga. speaker wire - $12.95
50' 18ga. power wire - 5.95
Total cost for materials: $244.55
e-Bay vendors:
ebay@salectronics.com
ebay@audiosavings.com
The remaining materials, Fry's Electronics. Circuit City had the GM wiring harness also, but the so called "free installation" pitch I got from them had me running, not walking away. Don't like to be lied to...
This installation takes some research and planning. First, disconnect the battery. Took some fabricating the head end mounting and cuting out the back plastic enclosure to get it to fit. Anything that's YELLOW, beware. A yellow unit is attached to the back of the head end enclosure, unclip it and move it far out of the way. It's your air bag stuff. I'd recommend shutting it down. It's real tight under the glove box, but the standard GM wiring harness works with the standard corvette harness. I had a dimmer wire from the Kenwood that was not included in the corvette harness, didn't hunt it down in the other two harnesses that went into the Bose unit under the glove box, so no dimmer, not a big deal for me. The antenna needed an extension unit under the glove box to the new head end unit. Also, I had to splice the antenna co-axial cable due to different sized end fittings. I soldered the braded copper by twisting it together to the side, wrapped it with electrical tape, a good quarter inch thick. This isn't the recommended method, but my AM-FM reception is flawless.
Used the Bose mounting plates to mount the new speakers. These needed to be "cut to fit" for the new speakers. Plenty of room for the front speakers, the rear speakers were a little tighter. When laying out the speaker template on the Bose mounting plate before cutting, make sure it's located at the deepest area of the enclosure. Of importance was the polarity of the wiring. My speaker wire came with one strand having a "solid" insulation and the other a "solid w/stripe" insulation. I used the "solid w/stripe wire for the negative attachment between the head end wiring harness and the terminal on the speaker. The speaker terminal lug for the negative is typically the smaller of the two. This turned out to be the case with my installation, no problems with polarity. Might want to hook up your speaker wires but don't complete the installation until after you power-up and test the system. No fun doing things twice...
I found a lot of information that helped me feel confortable with taking on this project on the forum, wanted to pass it forward.
Bill
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 7,201
Likes: 0
From: DP(oh you know where) IL
St. Jude Donor '06
Bill, sounds awesome. glad u like it. thanks for taking the time for the write up. im sure it will help many in the future. now post some pics of the install
