bobsev

greetings every one, i just adopted a 1990 vette. it has a bose sterio and the front speakers don't work. from what i've read on here it could be the amps. is there any way to troubleshoot this without first buying new amps? any input would be greatly appreciated.

Edv92c4

You can take out one of the rear speakers and plug it into the wires for each front speaker and try it out. If they play then it is most likely the amps as I've been told that the speakers rarely go bad. If the amps are bad then call the guys at Factory Stereo Repair in Florida and they can help. They also have very good videos on their website on troubleshoot and component removal and reinstall.

mark970

i will be performing a Bose Amp repair in the next 1-2 weeks and will have a youtube video to document it. the amps are usually the problem ($37 for caps or $600 for new amps...pretty easy decision for a DIY'r).

tip***when removing the front speakers, you need to remove the carpet/sill plate. its very easy, just a couple screws BUT on each end of the sill...the panel is secured in with some time of adhesive or sticky stuff so use caution when prying them up or you take the chance of breaking the plastic backing...this will only be noticeable after the fact when resting your hand on the sill to "get out of the car" haha.

anyways good luck!

bobsev

what are the $37 caps you refer to?

mark970

the capacitors that tend to fail. It's the typical cause of failure.

bac22

I think bobsev is referring to the cost, that seems pretty high for even high quality caps.

mark970

Well with tax and shipping...plus I did order extras since this will be uncharted territory for me AND I may even work on the amps from my 95 that I went ahead and replaced last year

Rip263

I have a 1990 Convertible and although I can't be 100 percent, you probably have to have the speakers rebuilt. On my car all 4 speakers had bad (leaky) capacitors. I also had a bad tuner control module. You can get the speakers rebuilt fairly easily companies like Ecklers and Corvette Central offer the service. I would recommend contacting Doctor Don out of Huntsville, TX. (936) 435-1811 he is really good and can probably help you diagnose the problem over the phone.

bobsev

thanks for the input. i called dr. don and he will be able to help me. he seems very knowledgeable. i sent him my speakers to repair. thanks again.

skullandbones

Since it looks like the OP has resolved his issue for this thread, I would like to ask anyone who can answer this question: I didn't see amps diagramed in the FSM. I wouldn't expect to see caps as too detailed but could not find any pic of an amp. Does that mean that the speakers are a unit containing the amp/magnet/ speaker cone all together? Personally, I was expecting to see a "black box" next to each speaker since the system is pretty powerful for car audio systems (big power = big amps usually).

Thank you,

WEK.

mark970

Im doing a Bose amp repair this weekend...i will post a youtube video on my channel..probably by sunday. i just bought the caps, cost $27 ($37 with tax/shipping)
the amps are about the size of a pack of smokes and there is 1 amp at each speaker...built into the enclosure

heres a link to an older thread
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1579837088

JimLentz

The amps are actually pretty small as they are 50 watt class D amps.