My 16 yr old son and I have an 84 as a project car. Since he is doing most of the driving he wants a CD player put in. Only real complaint I have on the original tape deck is that the pots are dirty and make noise unless exercised. I have a couple of questions.

Tell me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that to go to say a JVC CD deck we have to change all the speakers, is that right?

I'm far from an audio expert but the Bose CD/tape player in my 92 Eldorado seems to have good enough quality for me. What is the possibility of picking up one of those and installing it in the 84. They are the same size, would keep the stock look and would not require speaker changes right?

Any advice would be appreciated. fitz

 

I just installed a JVC kameleon in my 84 literally yesterday. You don't have to change out all the speakers, but you do have to run wires to each speaker to bypass the factory amps located at each speaker. OR there is an adapter made that you can simply plug in at the head unit, but from what I was told is that it costs like $50 so I saved $50 and just ran the wires my self which wasn't too difficult. If you have any questions just ask! I'll be happy to help!

 

FYI, I just ordered and received a Pioneer DEH-P47DH AM/FM/CD player for my 16 year old to put in his 84 for Christmas. The total including shipping was $192.00 through "Bizrate.com" I also ordered the Bose adapter from Corvette Central, I think it was about $48.00. It is my understanding this DIN 1.5 is a direct fit and the adapter will resolve the Bose conversion problem. The Pioneer is the same CD player sold in some of the Vette catyalogs for 2x+ the $.

 

You do need to change the speakers unless you adapt it to the original setup if it has bose. The Bose speakers have different impedance and they will eventually destroy a deck that is not designed to work with them. The cheap way out with an aftermarket is to get a deck and 4 speakers cheap. I don't like the JVCs. We had about a 40-50% failure rate with different models when we carried the line at the store I used to work in. I'd go with a pioneer. Here is a link that has them cheap. http://www.mmxpress.com
You'll need a pair of 6x9 for the rear and 4x6 for the front. There never has been a good 4x6. You can change this to be another size later if you want to upgrade. Most people get 6 1/2 for the doors.
Here is a link to good speakers well worth their price. Not the cheapest but definitely not the most expensive. http://www.bostonacoustics.com/Serie...ID=26&SpecID=4
Lastly, I would stay away from the 1.5 and double din size sterios and go with a single din size. They cost more for less features, look funny, and won't fit in most cars making it difficult if you decide to install it or sell it later. For Example, a Pioneer DEH-P47DH only has 2 channels of RCA out so it is difficult to hook it up to amps. Since the real power rating of it is 10wx4, not the claimed 50wx4, you might want to be able to do that later and it will be difficult. A better quality deck with more features from Pioneer is the 4300. It costs about 10$ less and even comes with a wireless remote. You can buy a kit to hold a single din and fill the space for about $20.
Hope this helps.
92TripleBlack :cheers:


[Modified by 92TripleBlack, 12:41 AM 11/24/2001]

 

i put 6.5's in the doors
requires trimming the fiberglass inner door panel

 

Why didn't you guys warn me sooner?!?! I read this post and decided to go out and measure the impedance on the factory bose speakers. 1.8 ohms is not a healthy load at all for a head unit!! I guess I will be lookin for some new speakers now! At least I didn't toast my new cd player thanks to the forum! :eek:

 

Thanks for all the input. I'm getting a clearer picture of what we are up against. The audio changes are up to my son's pocketbook so he is planning to use a JVC that he has. Now we will find out if he can afford some wire and speakers to make the sounds he wants. Eventually he plans to put a really good system in but he will need a better job first.

Sure not too many that have anything good to say about the Bose system. Doesn't anybody like them or have anything good to say about them?

Thanks again for all the help. bf

 

Cheap speakers: http://www.bostonacoustics.com/Serie...ID=23&SpecID=4
Cheaper: http://www.mmxpress.com/polk/dx_series_speakers.htm
Cheapest you would want to go: http://www.mmxpress.com/kenwood/fullrangespeakers.htm
After that, just buy a boombox with a cigarette lighter adapter.
92TripleBlack
P.S. Bose = Buy Other Sterio Equipment
No Highs? No Lows? Must be BOSE.
:cheers: :smash:

 

[QUOTE] You can buy a kit to hold a single din and fill the space for about $20.
Hope this helps.
92TripleBlack :cheers:
QUOTE]

Hi - where can I buy the kit from? Dou you have a part number?

Thanks,
Al.


[Modified by Aman, 7:20 PM 12/5/2001]

 

You should be able to get a kit from any car audio shop or circuit city or best buy kinda place. :chevy

 

Regarding whether anybody has anything good to say about Bose, my personal experience is this: (when I refer to the Bose, I'm talking about the older Bose systems, too; I can only assume that the Bose Gold and the Bose systems in the C5s are better than the originals.)

- When the Bose systems first arrived, they were absolutely the best thing that you could get in a new car. That's because it was the first time any manufacturer put anything besides a really cheap radio in a car. (That may not be entirely true... I don't know what Rolls-Royce put in their cars, and perhaps some really high-end Mercedes cars had premium systems before GM went with Bose, but now Mercedes uses Bose!)

- Bose sounds 100x better than a "base" Delco unit.

- Bose receiver with Bose speakers sounds 40x better than aftermarket receiver with base GM speakers.

- Aftermarket receiver with Bose speakers (using, of course, the appropriate adapter (attenuator) to match output from the receiver to the Bose speaker requirements) sounds 50x better than an aftermarket receiver with base GM speakers.

- All-Bose or aftermarket receiver with Bose speakers sounds at least twice as good as an aftermarket receiver hooked up to two pair of $50 speakers.

Also, the base Chrysler stereo (non-Infinity) is much, much better than a base Delco GM unit. Changing the receiver in my wife's minivan without changing speakers made almost no difference in sound quality. (Changed it because we wanted a CD player). Changing the receiver in my son's Cavalier Z24 made a huge difference, and then changing out the speakers made a huge difference again. He put a Sony XPlod CD/receiver in it, and I got him two pair of speakers for his birthday. I got easy-fit speakers, so obviously they weren't the best. The 3-1/2" fronts I got are Blaupunkt OD-series. The ODs have better specs than the other series that they sell (PD? Something like that.) I got 6x9 Sony XPlods for the rear, figuring he'd prefer those. The Sony 3-1/2 speaker specs were horrible, so that's why I didn't get those for the front.

In any case, that system still doesn't sound as good (not even close) as the Jensen 1-1/2 DIN CD/Cassette unit I had in the Corvette, going through the Soundgate GMB2 attenuator to the Bose speakers. That worked great for a couple of years but now I'm having the problem described in another post. I really wouldn't have thought Jensen receivers to be very good (made by Recoton), but I've been really happy with it.

So to summarize, in my opinion, the Bose speakers aren't nearly as bad as people say they are. Bose is pretty arrogant (check out their website FAQ!) about how good they think they are, so I'm sure that has fueled a lot of anti-Bose sentiment.

From reviews I've read, the Bose premium systems offered in a lot of brands aren't quite as good as the Infinity systems, and nothing will touch the Nakamichi systems, which is probably the only one you'd describe as hi-fi. (Others are definitiely mid-fi, which also describes what most people have in their living rooms (Technics, Pioneer, Sony receivers, etc.)).

Since 92TripleBlack has a Nakamichi receiver, I'm sure everything else sounds horrible to his ears. And I'm not knocking 92TripleBlack... I understand. If you've never heard true hi-fi, you don't know what you're missing, but you can live with mid-fi. Wish I had a McIntosh audio system in the house, but then, I wish for a lot of things.

Anyway, I guess that's more than just 2-cents worth, but there you have my opinion. And that's all it is, opinion.

I hit 235,000 miles today!


[Modified by Alan LaRue, 11:01 AM 12/6/2001]

 

But Alan, you haven't named any, ANY manufacturers of decent equipment in any of the systems you talked about. Sure Nak is really good, but a pioneer deck for $250 is much better than the bose system ever was any year. I worked as an installer in a sterio shop. When the bose gold systems were coming in to the shop in the vettes in the late 80s early 90s they were charging $1500 for the setup. In today's dollars that's about $3000. Back then we could easily put together a system of components that blew it out of the water for less than half that. Today is no different. For about $1000(adjusted) you can blow its socks off and for $600 you can still kick its tail. This includes a complete system (4 speakers and a cd player). You don't need to spend a fortune to beat the bose. And I wouldn't give a Jensen to my deaf grandmother who listens to oldies stations. Blau speakers cost about as much as bose speakers to make. $5. I am not exadurating. The actual GM cost for the speakers in the late 90s was $5 and they charged over $100 for retail replacement. They are paper cones, not poly, or composites or kevlar. They even have paper surrounds, not rubber or even foam. Very poor and cheap construction. At least the sony explodes have a foam surround. Saying that bose sounds better than everything you have said I will agree with. But I will also reiterate that for under $600 you can beat any bose system that came in a C4 and for $1000 you can bury it. Not so hot for a $1500 option package is it?
Their home stuff stinks also. It rides the wave of yuppies that think it is good because other yuppies have told them so. Blind leading the blind. Its almost like people who by a Saab. It has no redeeming value except that it is expensive and different. Its a statement. They want to say,"look at me, I can buy a Saab, but I say, Look what poor judgement that a-hole has in picking cars. Get the BMW and save $10,000.
It does have its place as a home system. That one is in a very small space like a bedroom or a NYC studio apartment. Other than that, get real stuff. No bass, no highs. Same for home as car. I have a buddy right now who is crying because he spent $2500 on his Bose home system. Then he came to my place and heard my Focal and infinity speakers with a sony reciever. I saved $500 vs. him and my system makes his sound like a boom box.
I have also never recommended $50 speakers unless the guy said somthing like I have $50 and need sound as I have nothing.
As you put it, Bose does not qualify or even come close to "mid-fi" systems currently available or even the ones available in the late 90s. Was the vette system the best available in a car back then stock? Heck yes. But that's because back then noone put good stuff in cars. Now makers are beginning to become more congnisant of this need but they still have not provided a single car at any price with a system that can't be beat by a $1000 aftermarket setup. And by today's standards, most car sterios are far superior to the Bose Gold of a C4.
I drive an expensive car. It takes expensive tires, plugs, filters, etc. I put expensive wax on it. It is a showpiece. Why ruin it with a Jensen or Blau or a Bose? Listen to one of these systems first before you knock them and see what I mean.
92TripleBlack

:cheers:

 

I agree with you about quality. I guess my issue is that many of us (and especially the 16-year-old trying to get a CD player into his car) can't spend $600 or more for anything unless it's absolutely necessary. I used the $50 speaker example not because you recommended anything that cheap, but because that's the reality of the kids budget.

Now, if I were buying a new Corvette, I guess I'd order it without the Bose just to make it easier to put in a really good system. Well, I said I would, but I just looked at the options list, I'm not sure you can even get a "base" stereo anymore... looks like all you can do is save $100 by getting the cassette instead of the CD. In other words, you're stuck.

Anyway, if it's a matter of just getting someone up-and-running soundwise, you can get an adapter for $50 (Soundgate GMB2, in an aluminum "heat sink" case) to bring the level down to the requirements of the Bose setup. If they're on a very limited budget, then that's preferable, I think, to buying cheap speakers. If you've got the money for something better, go for it. If you've really, really got no money, the you can even get the Schoshe $20 adapter from WalMart. Blue transparent plastic, adjust the pots yourself, junk, but you can play your CDs.

I guess we need a "hi-fi" forum and a separate "cheap audio" forum with appropriate disclaimers :)

Anyway, if I ever scrape up the money to put my '85 into decent shape, then I'll be asking you what I should do to the stereo. I'd love to hear yours!

Next question... will DVD-audio or SACD end up being the preferred format? Are you looking at that kind of upgrade for your 'Vette, yet?

-Alan

 

You got it man. Alot of stuff can be had really cheap if you look. Since sterio shops are continually changing the lines they carry, to get rid of old line stuff they have they often sell it at a loss. Check shops often and see what you can get. That's how I got the Nak for $400.
92TripleBlack :cheers: