First off HUGE THANKS to those posting years and months before me. I would not have been able to complete this without help from the generous folks here!!!


My install is for a 1992 convertible. I have no clue what you might run into on coupes or any other year vert. Easily 30+ hours of labor, but my bose was toast. It would keep CD’s and not play at all. I do not own a single cassette anymore and the distortion from dry rotten paper cones was killing me so it was time to chuck it all.
Plus the driver side female seat belt would not “clamp”…so if you have to take a seat out you might as well make it worth the time! I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s (38 now) and at the time American made amplifiers were absolutely stunning—and with a pricetag to match. Nowadays they can be had far cheaper than new “monster amps” claiming thousands of watts of power. I have a closet full of Orion, PPI, Hifonics, and Earthquake that I can choose from, but after listening to many I chose the following.

Parts list:

Precision Power a600 (2x150 rms @4 ohm, 2x300 @2 ohm, 600 rms bridged) + or - $140
Planet Audio 2300TT (same specs) Old School USA made $55 to my door(used)
Eonon D2102 DVD player nabbed for $90 on ebay using a $50 gift card. This unit (6.2 inch touch screen) is perfect for minimal clearance labor with our bezels. It was perhaps a couple millimeters off and took 5 mins with a dremel for an amazing fit. No visible grinding once installed.
2 MTX 7500 Ten inch subs. $50 from Craigslist in mint condition.
5.25 Infinity 500CS components. $60 ebay a couple years ago. Low on the infinity standard but they sound very nice and the crossover system is excellent.
I had many high dollar RCA cables to choose from. Go with monster or streetwires and you will be fine. (15 feet for room to play and install)
I bought a 10 gauge amp kit just for the power wire. My garden hose 0 gauge would never find a home in this car. It came with a waterproof “wafer” fuse and terminals to mount on the + battery side.
I ran all new speaker wire-14 gauge (subs) 16 (comps).
Radio Shack “Motorola” adapter. $4

Just figuring out the hot, switched 12v, amp turn on, ground, and antenna were hours alone (gave up on antenna after trying every wire under the dash). After removing the bose I decided to keep the adapters under the dash intact and “find” what went where on the stripped wires. Reading all the posts relating to my car and using a multimeter this is what I did:
Ran new wire from “radio” in fuse panel to yellow Eonon (Eonon has 10amp fuse in the chassis), red (ign or switched) from the Eonon to white (between yellow and black on bose), black (grnd) from Eonon to light blue. I used the Amp remote turn on from the head unit to the amp wire on my interconnects. I pick up most stations with antenna down and I like the antenna down so I might try to fab something up under the tonneau cover that is 1 meter in length to strengthen the radio signal. Without realizing I did not have a screw out I yanked on the antenna connection at the CDM (pass side under glove box) and it came out, it just left it’s housing in the CDM!! No worries as I had to strip away the sheath anyway to fit the new adapter. I pulled it free from the clip under the passenger panel and it is more than enough to reach the new head unit. No long cable needed. In test fitting the head unit with RCA’s connected I knew I would have to cut out the rear bose “support”. I used a large drill bit to make Suisse cheese of it and took a dremel to cut through the holes and after 15 minutes I had the clearance I needed and not as much dremel shavings everywhere. I was careful to move any vette wiring far out of the way (especially yellow air bag sensors etc.) and I used a slow speed on the drill with a very steady hand. After trials with electrical tape and a junk speaker I knew what made the heart of the system beat and I went all in using butt connectors for minimal size and ease of crimping. Because I did not use a mounting cage I had to mount the HU into the bezel on my lap with all wires connected in the back and “massage” the entire piece over and around shifter cover (one new scratch there now). It took some work to lift the wires so the head unit did not sit on them and botch the fitment. 3rd try and it was in. I probably could have cleared more on the upper left vette housing where the bose went as I have a small gap from the bezel around the AC controls. Nobody notices except me though so it was acceptable. With the bezel screwed in there is perfect resistance provided to keep the HU from any movement—hence no mounting cage!!

Now for the front components I used the stock bose enclosures and opened them a little at a time with the dremel to fit my 5.25’s. Bose put 4 inch there so it was maybe an hour each for a decent fit. Any “air” gaps were sealed with ¼ inch screen door foam tape and it is now sealed tight. The 1 inch tweeter with supplied mount fit perfectly into the bose tweeter cut out without any mods at all. Again a small strip of foam tape on the inside of enclosure took care of escaping air. I stuffed a solid wad of fiberfill into the port and sealed it with electrical tape. The crossovers fit perfectly inside the enclosure behind the 5.25 and with some fiberfill do not move or shift at all. I was not concerned with appearance as the vette’s sill panel and original speaker cover would hide everything.

I knew I wanted 10’s and not 8’s in a Vert going 70 MPH! In removing the bose rear housings I found two .5 cubic foot built-in enclosures---bose did one thing right for me!! To fit tens you will need to grind away some of the face of the original enclosure. I took a 4 inch grinder with diamond blade and just went to town!! Looks mean nothing here as the ¾ inch MDF (or plywood) mount I made cover everything. The tens have right at .5 cubic feet of sealed space to play which is excellent for these MTX. I cut a 31x11 piece of MDF (after using cardboard as a template) and then eventually cut it in half for ease of install (1 sub at a time). I ran a thick bead of Liquid Nails before screwing the MDF onto the front of the enclosure and it took some massaging here to drive the screws through without “pulling” the MDF away from the face. Hint: small drill bit would save headache here! I thought the magnet would hit the bottom of the interior space but the ¾ inch face gave me the clearance and there are no issues at all. I drilled holes to run wires from subs to quick release connectors. There is great spot (see pic) on “top” of enclosure to mount these. Before final install I loaded the enclosure with fiberfill to absorb any resonance of the thin enclosure. I thought for sure I would blow the bose housings apart, but all I have is loud, tight bass when I want it. 2 tens in a vert that take up less space than the original 6 inch speakers is about the coolest thing of this entire install. The final piece was a 32x30 piece of black carpet “laying” over the amps and the subs. Nothing is visible! I can throw a large duffle bag in if needed for a weekend trip. The amps “height” take up about half an inch to an inch of what I originally had as I did remove the tray cover that fits over the ABS system and storage box behind the seats. Many people really like the rear fill provided by rear speakers, but for my tastes I have rarely used rear speakers in any of my cars. To each their own. And I typically do not cruise down the road rattling windows, but if a car next me is “bumping” I show them what some old school guys can do!

I am running the 2300TT on my subs. The MTX are 8ohm single voice coils so I bridged the amp to run at 4ohm to both speakers (positive to positive and connect at amp, same with negative). The 2300 also has built in crossovers so I am able to cut out any signal I do not want coming through. It also has 0-18db bass boost which is nice for a vert. The PPI is running the front comps at about half gain—so at full tilt on the HU they would see 75-80 watts. The PPI is perhaps one of the cleanest -- .02 THD – amps you can find at a budget price.

I ran the 10 gauge power wire through the provided grommet just near the driver’s door hinge and along driver’s side floor up and around to the rear cargo area. The RCA’s were run along the right of the dash under passenger seat and up the back “wall” into cargo area. I house the power block in the storage compartment under all of the carpeted areas and I found ground along the metal mounting strip where the original package tray cover bolted onto.

I know I left out some steps in removing the bezel and bose, but am happy to help out through PM’s. I saved some forum posts too as others who have come before me provided very precise removal instruction and I cannot thank those guys enough!

For those that do not have the budget to spend 4-900 smackers on the Pioneer or Kenwood touch screens the Eonon is a great alternative ( or other 6.2 screens). It does not have all the features like built in crossovers, and the EQ setups really are horrible, but the features I wanted—DVD, touchscreen, remote control, sub out, included ipod cable, and NO motorized screen are all there. There are provisions for rear back up camera and blue tooth but keeping “some” of my old school I went without these.

It was an awesome project I never want to do again, but along with myself my buddies little kids LOVED watching Cars while cruising in the Vette! Well I was watching the road but it sounded really awesome.


Here is the link to pics. Easier to view and can save and zoom. Some are not there yet (trouble loading) but will keep adding.

http://s670.photobucket.com/albums/v...DVD%20Install/

 

Nice, install! Good job.

 

Cool..I just might do this..my bass tubes take up a ton of space back there as well as my amp..it would be great to free up all that space and fit 10's instead of 6's..although the tubes look pretty cool...