Just wanted to share some pics and info on my experience replacing the
infamous Bose setup. I bought the Din 1/2 Alpine CDA-D852 off ebay for $187.00. I bought one for my daily driver about a year ago and just fell in love with it. The tri colored display is awesome, and it sounds great...45w x 4. I also bought a GM wire harness and soldered the wires to the Alpine harness outside the car. This made it easy. The stock harness's just plugged right in.
Stereo Install - From the start I didn't want the stereo to stick out of the dash opening like they normally do with the kits. I wanted it to sit behind the bezel like the stock unit and the AC/Heater. To make a long story short, I had to cut the back of the stock bracket off in order to mount the Alpine deep enough for the reveal I wanted. I did buy and use a kit, but I spent a lot of time customizing (rigging) it so it would fit just right. This was time consuming and a PITA.
Rear Speakers - I replaced the original round speakers with Sony 6x9's. I was planning on re-wiring the car, but didn't have to. I removed the factory Box/Speaker/Amp enclosure, cut the wire before the amp, and used the existing wire for the new speaker. The stock speaker was mounted below a plastic plate with a 6x9 opening, so I used that to mount the new 6x9's. The speakers didn't exactly fit flush in the indentation, so I modified it with a Dremmel. I also had to cut the rug which had a round hole to match the 6x9 and also added a tweeter.
Front Speakers - The fronts were tough. I couldn't get the stock enclosures out but while trying I came accross the wires going to the amp. I was so relieved! I cut them, bypassed the amp and wired up the stock speakers. That lasted about a day, they really sounded dull...no highs or lows, all midrange. So I went out and bought a set of Sony 5 1/4's and just made them fit. I had to use 2 layers of weather stripping to seal the airspace from the enclosure because there were gaps between the speaker lip and the molded enclosure.

Let me know what you think

 

Why is this the first time I have seen this deck??????? I like it.
BUT, My real compliment for you is the cleanness of your interior..It looks new.

 

Neat on those mids in the doors man... Much props on them. Like the tweater placement most of all.



and your clean interior makes me sick.

snoopdan

 

looking GREAT!!!

 

Looks good, and I love that deck! I wish I would have known that it existed before I bought mine, it fits so perfect. Your system is simple yet effective. Good job.

 

Had that same head unit in my camaro, nice deck.

 

Looks very nice!

 

it's hard to find a deck that doesn't clash horribly with the digital dash... good work

 

Wow, that has the look of "factory" finish. It's the type of install I'm looking for. Looks great!

 

Thanks, that's the look I was going for. I've had this car for 10 yrs and have held off on replacing the Stereo because I didn't want to ruin the factory "look". I've seen too many aftermarket units that stick out like a sore thumb.
They stopped making this unit a few years ago, but they do pop up on ebay every once in a while.