I don't know why I hear everyone saying how bad the bose stock performance is in our vettes? I have a 1994 and I have NEVER replaced a speaker ect and mine still bangs soo good.

I put in a double din dvd player so I am able to tune my speakers way better then my stock head unit. I have great base and my speakers do not blur out our anything. Maybe I am lucky but every time I get in the vette, I blast the music and enjoy my day just a little bit more !

 

Not exactly everyone has complained about the Bose amps/speakers. I am running aftermarket double din (JVC) in my son's 1991 and my 1990 using the stock Bose amps/speakers via a Metra 70-1857 Tuner Relocation and Bose Integration Harness. I had 3 bad amps in the 1991 and 2 bad amps in the 1990. Found rebuilds or replacements on eBay (average price about $40 each). Of the eight speakers, I only had to replace one 6.5 inch in the right rear of the 1990 as it had a little problem playing the bass lines in BS&T's "Sometimes in Winter" (which I found was a good test tune for Bose systems). Overall the sound is fine and I can change back to OEM anytime as there was no need to rewire the speakers. In the interim, I can enjoy Bluetooth (which plays the songs on my Iphone as well as answers my calls wirelessly) or plug in a thumb drive in the front USB port. As an added bonus the radio illumination is adjusted to match the red/amber lights on the dash.

 

For a 15+ year old stereo system I didn't think that the Bose unit in my 1994 sounded bad - it actually sounded better than most stock stereos I think. I ended up changing it out because the CD player didnt work and I wanted iPod integration. The display also didn't work unless I had the headlights on and to activate the dimmer. I swapped out for an aftermarket headunit and used a conversion harness to retain the stock Bose amps/speakers. It didn't sound as good as the original headunit but I had a functional CD player, iPod hookup and fancy display. In the end, I swapped the Bose amps/speakers ran new speaker wire from the headunit and installed aftermarket speakers. I'm fairly happy, but it doesn't have the bass output of the original system and I don't want to start adding amplifiers etc. Theres already no space in these cars and I don't want to make it even less.

 

My factory CD player didn't work. I ran an aftermarket head unit with my factory bose system (yes I had the adapter to adjust the line levels properly) and it sounded OK, but not what I would consider great. When I lost an amp on the bose, I already had other speakers from my previous car so I found a way to make them work.

Even though the bose may be masterfully engineered to start with, it still has mass produced speakers with paper(ish) cones that deteriorate over time.

I'm of the opinion that a large majority of the car can be improved with aftermarket components. The stereo is no exception.

In the home market, it's a similar story. I used to work at an electronics store, we sold bose so I got the chance to listen to it quite a bit. It sounded OK but for the same money you could get a MUCH better sounding system. The huge selling point for bose is the small space requirement to get decent sound. Since I have the room in my house for a full out stereo, that is what I have.

Electronics store trivia:

1. Ain't got no highs, ain't got no lows, it must be Bose.
2. B.O.S.E. - Buy Other Stereo Equipment

In all honesty it was probably great for it's day, but the technology has been surpassed. If your factory system is working and you're happy with it, great. Mine quit and for less than what it would cost to fix the bose, I could replace it with something sounded better.

My only real pet peeve with the system was this. The factory bose amplifiers are only turned on when the power antenna is raised. Therefore, if your stereo is on at all, listening to the radio, cd, or tape, the antenna is up. What idgit designed that? With my aftermarket stereo, the antenna is UP when I'm listening to the radio and down all the rest of the time.

 

The Bose cassette deck in my car is working fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Imho Worst car stereo ever.
In the home Theater world Bose is considered an overpriced joke who doesn't ever release speaker specs.
I have owned a Bose AM5 back in the day before I knew better.
But at least it WORKED! The failure rate on these things ill bet makes the opti seem like the most reliable piece of equipment ever.

 

As long as I can hear it I'm happy. And I have a lot of 80s cassettes to rock out to

 

"No Highs, No Lows - Just Bose"

 

Bought my 92 a couple months ago and the radio did not work. It works fine now that I got a stuck CD out of it and the sound is as good as that in the wifes new Buick.

 

For the TIME, it was pretty awesome for a stock system. Definitely cutting edge for volume/power, if not sound quality...though that was way, WAY better than most stock systems from back then. I remember riding in a friend's '91 in '91 and the stereo totally "wowed" me -compared to other contemporary stock systems. And here is the thing; that is WAY more than you can say today, about today's 'Vette's stock systems. Relative to today's stock systems, the current 'Vette's stereo is lame. Super lame.

So yes, the '90's Vette system can so easily be improved upon today...but keep in mind what was around when it was made. Not much.

 

Although I must say that mine was reliable after almost 30 years.
I ripped the Blose out when installing a 2nd hand Alpine 1.5 DIN unit a few months ago and NEVER looked back. Now it sounds PHENOMINAL...and thats with relatively inexpensive Pioneer 4 way speakers in the Rear, 3 way in the doors and then I added Infinity Kappas to the Dash!
The funny thing is I sold all the working parts on Ebay and the new owner was super happy with the sound!
Even weirder was I ended up not only paying for the ENTIRE new stereo but actually MADE $$ by parting out the old Blose parts!!!

 

- C4's are not the most quiet things on the road - add the "top off/windows down" wind noise thing, some road noise, and most of the time, i can't hear the damn radio anyway. besides, it's better to listen to a good set of pipes. never gave it much thought, but when i do listen to my radio, seems to me, the stock bose radios sound pretty good for 15-25 year units.