This is my first post. I bought my fathers 1990 vette. I spent a lot of money getting the mechanicles right. The stereo speakers dont work. The sound is extremely faint and appears to only come from 1 speaker. Custom stereo shops and major retailers want nothing to do with fixing it due to its complexity.

I dont want to pay some to try to fix it and see a bill grow unexpectedly. I would rather just put in a reasonably priced new system that fits good and does not leave any gaps. Anyone have a specific system sugestion I can look at. Definitly not more than $800 dollars including stereo, speakers, amplifier, and installation. The less the better. I just dont want crap. I live in ventura county california just north of las angeles. I am open to recommendations of a reputable retailer that can do the installation too.

Thanks
Dave

 

It's really not too bad to fix. I recently replaced the Bose gold system in my 96 with a Kenwood receiver and Polk speakers I got through Crutchfield. They are very helpful on the phone with any questions you may have. Taking the dash apart is pretty straight forward, pull the passenger seat out for room and access. Also run new wires. Do it yourself and save some money.

 

I replaced my Bose Gold System in my 90 with an Alpine 235 double din Stereo and Speakers for $800. It fits perfectly! To sound even better, get rid of the carpet off the speaker covers and replace it with speaker material!

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Crutchfield is definitely the place to go. Great prices, big selection and teriffic support. The website shows the system and components that will fit your car. They usually throw in all the necessary connections for free. Like FWC said, installation isn't that difficult. If you are adding amps, it will make the job a little more difficult, but overall, not that bad. The biggest decision is where to actually install the amp. I believe in your car, you will have to deal with the "SYS" message from removing the head unit. There are posts here on how to deal with that issue.

 

A forum vendor, Double D Mods, can set you up with everything you need to get a new system. I put in a new stereo and 4 new speakers with an amp I got from them. The total cost was under $ 800 and it was not too difficult. the phone number for Double D Mods is (608) 568 3011. They are the C5 audio experts but also do C4.

 

[QUOTE=csthews;1584069711]Crutchfield is definitely the place to go. Great prices, big selection and teriffic support. The website shows the system and components that will fit your car. They usually throw in all the necessary connections for free. Like FWC said, installation isn't that difficult.

Selection, pricing and help are excellent.

 

The beauty, well one of the beauties of the C4 is a double DIN will fit, if that's what you want. Personally I never recommend a Double Din because what you get with them become outdated pretty quickly in the tech world we live in.

I believe in the KISS method of things myself. You may want a a head Unit, a sub, an amp and speakers.

If you do I would go to a local stereo shop and price some with installation. Make sure they have experience with exotic cars though.

I can only tell you what I have in my C5 FRC. It won't win a championship but it's plenty for me.

I have an inexpensive Alpine 102 that came with the car. The great thing about Alpine is they put the same amps in their low cost series as they do their high cost double DD systems.

I added an Alpine KTP 445 amp. It's a plug and play unit. It's like the old school amps that just sends 45 watts to each speaker.

Front speakers are 6.5 JBL and I have some 6x9 JBL in boxes in the rear. (If you know FRC's you know the back only has places for 3.5 speakers, that's why the boxes)

It sounds great.

In my 90 I had a more expensive Alpine unit (can't recall which one now) and infinity speakers in the front and 6x9 infinity in the rear. It too sounded really good but I also agree the carpets on the front was that I couldn't hear the front speakers at all. Waste of money imo.

I didn't have an amp at all.

These cars are so small unless you like to thump all you need is one set of quality speakers and a quality head unit with maybe an amp like I have to push the sound out better. Everything else is just show.

But as far as repairing what you have? It's not worth it. I spent over 400 bucks trying to repaire Bose on a C4 and still had nothing.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm not good at fixing things. A 6th grader probably has a better tool set than I do. I'll break stuff and have to bring the car in to fix what I break and then install the stereo system.

RetiredSFC97:I just thought the system would need an amplifier. I know nothing about stereos. I'll research everyones suggestions, but I will have to purchase what ever I get from a shop that will also have to handle the install.

I want it to be plug and play with no modifications other than removing the carpet that covers the speakers that everyone talks about.

So the back fits 3.5 inch speakers. What size speakers automatically fit up front? Anything else I need to know about / any warnings before I move foward and pay for the system with install?

Sounds like I will need to get all new wiring? Os that correct? I had one stereo shop mention something about the amperage provided to the old stereo and it may not be the current amperage used on modern stereos. He mentioned that may very well cost more money to change it over for a modern stereo? Does that make sense?

I was looking at a small stereo shop in Thousand Oaks and also Best Buy to purchase a system and have the install performed. A decent stereo system that automatically fits with the least difficult installation for the technician is what I want.

Thanks again

 

You don't really need an amp, but an amp will improve the sound. I don't know if the '90 and '95 are the same, but, in the case of the '95, you can fit 6" - 6.5" in the rear and 4" in the front. That is if you want to use the existing enclosures. If you build your own enclosures, you can put almost any size in the rear. You can go up to 6" in the front as long as the speakers aren't too deep. All-in-all, a lot of it depends on what you want out of the stereo.

 

I just sent my Bose head unit to Dr Dons. All 4 speaker amps work fine, the speakers sound fine and the surrounds look like they're intact. I'm getting the cassette conversion to aux input done along with the backlight bulbs fixed up.

After 35 years of putting in my own stereos, I figured another $1k+ was just too much to bear, just tired of ripping out stereos in my cars. The Bose system may not sound the best that's out there, but if the amps and receiver/processor are all in good condition, for a 17+ yr old factory system, it sounds pretty good to me. All I need is an mp3/FLAC player with a 10 band EQ and I'll get what I've had in my previous, oh...5 vehicles the last decade, and it cost me $240 for the conversion/refurb instead of a grand +.

 

Winner...I did the same thing..get rid of that carpet on the speaker grills

 

If you own a Corvette you may want to start trying to do little things and work up from there. It's not rocket science. Everything I learned about Corvettes all started right here in C4 General. Lot's of folks will help you.

You don't "need" an amp, it just pushes more of the sound out and gives it a better quality. If you want a sub it requires an amp though.


Your backs are 6x9 ready. I don't remember now what size your fronts are. 5.25 I think. There's a sticky around here somewhere that talks all about stereos and what fits where. My C5 uses 5.25 in the rear. I know I said 3.5 not sure what I was thinking when I said that. Without an amp I would go with 6x9 for sure, 6.5 typically requires an amp to help push the bass out. I use 6x9 because I don't have a sub and the 6x9 helps push more bass out. Especially with the amp I have.

When I had my C4 stereo installed I had them replace all the wiring. But I don't know for sure if you have to, I know some people have not. But it will effect your system if your ohm match on your wires and speakers don't match. IIRC the Bose uses a 1 ohm wiring system which is great for high powered stereos but most stereos are either 2 or 4 ohm.

I had my C4 stereo installed at Best Buy. The installer had experience with exotics, or so he said, and I was happy with the installation.

I would price it at both Best Buy and the other shop you mentioned.

Get prices for the Head unit of your choice, front speakers, rear speakers, new wiring and a plug and play amp like mine would be nice but not a have to. You could always add that later if you wanted to.

There is a vendor here who was mentioned and I understand he's a good vendor to work with. So he may have some suggestions for you after talking to you to see what you're actually looking for.

But if you purchase from him see if you can find an installer who will install the system if you buy one from someone else before you make the purchase.

Another suggestion is to maybe go ahead and get an amp that handle a sub. Even if you don't add a sub now, you could always add that later pretty simply.

It all comes down to what exactly are you wanting, what you want your stereo to do, and how much you want to spend.

The least expensive will be, Head unit and rear 6x9 speakers. That is all you would "have" to do for a system that will make music pretty good. Then add what you want from there.

 

Here's the sticky

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/audi...audio-faq.html

 

Retired SFC97, is right on point. I have infinity kappa series speakers all around, with an amp. Lots of my passengers said it sounded like I have a sub.

 

Something I had to learn the hard way from this. My head unit was blue tooth compatible. Hands free phone is great, especially with a manual transmission. One problem though, the phone audio is played only through the front speakers. So, if you go the 2-speaker route and want the convenience of hands free phone, you will have to wire the rear speakers to the front speaker output. Not really a good option in my opinion. So, I went ahead and purchased front speakers. You don't want to try to use existing speakers with a new head unit. The POP will drive you crazy.

 

I would be carefull about who I use to put one in as these cars are not easy to work on. I put 2 6 inch subs in the back as that was what would fit with no modding..I did an extensive remod on the existing Bose pods in the front, I have a vert which is different than the coupe. I fiberglassed them to accept 6.5 inch speakers, not an easy job.
I put in one of these: http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/cda-117/

Liked it so much I put one in my jeep as well..the 24 bit Burr Brown chip makes all the difference...A 4 channel amp drives the whole thing. Good wiring is a must...might as well do it right the first time as it sux to have to undo it...

 

Good information