sigtermintel

First off, I have zero experience in the installation of car stereos so I apologize in advance for my general incompetence.

I own an 86' which had the stock Bose stereo (it played cassettes) and I decided to remove it and install an aftermarket one so I didn't have to listen to the radio all the time. Before this I bought an old tape with the intention of playing it, turns out the cassette part of the radio doesn't work haha. I'm aware most people opt for a pioneer as it is easy to install, but I felt that it looked out of place so I went for a modern clone of the original radio: https://www.retromanufacturing.com/p...nt=31559204494

So I cut some wires and hook it all up in the console. The radio works great and looks even better, but there is this small issue that it blasts the **** out of my eardrums when I turn it on. I have to lower the sound from the default 16 to 2, leaving me with a great hissing sound mixed in with my music. I am assuming that this is due to the 'Ohm" output of the new radio being too high and I'm asking for a solution as I am rapidly going deaf.

Appreciate it

Haggisbash

I'm sure an expert will chime in but haven't the Bose speakers got amplifiers built into them? If yes that means you have way too much gain, I'm surprised you haven't blown the speakers up.

billschroeder5842

Yes, there are amps built in. You are going to need to either 1) put your old system back, or 2) buy all new speakers

Aerovette

Or the receiver.

Izzy Dizzy

Ditch the Bose speakers. Most of the times the amps are bad anyway. I put Roxford Fosgates 6x9's in the rear and Pioneers up front. Kenwood excelon BT HU. Added an Alpine mini amp which tucks in nicely behind radio on the tranny

89 coupe with Kenwood Excelon installed

hump. Also ditched the broken power antenna and disconnected the relay. Replaced with fixed height 31" FM antenna. I ran all new wires for power, amp, speakers and a dedicated ground right to the frame of the car. No hiss, no pop, no ticking, no noise, just beautiful clear sound!

sigtermintel

Yeah, I'm thinking that this is my only option at this point. So just to clarify - I completely ignore all existing wires, remove and replace all speakers with modern ones, run new wires from the hu TO a new amp which then goes TO the new speakers and finally somehow power the amp? Again, I'm not an electrician but I have lots of time so I guess I can figure it out. I really appreciate the help

Patsgarage

You need to run new speaker wires to all the speakers and replace them with aftermarket ones.

HAD2HAV2

Here's mine. There a lot of early C4's with Bose radios including mine that now have after market tunes in them. I have yet to see a unit that has the same light tint as the stock gauges though.

Haggisbash

Assuming its the Bose amps that go bad, what Ohms are the Bose speakers, they could be powered by a std amplifier if they are 4 Ohm or did Bose use something unusual like 400 Ohm?

Izzy Dizzy

You can buy a plug in harness to fit your factory harness so you don't have to cut wires. The plug in harness has leads that you can use to connect power, accessory, antenna and ground. Run new speaker wires to front and rear. Not too hard, Need to pull up the rear carpets anyway to access the speakers New 6x9's will fit and you can re-install the Bose speaker grilles.
I use flat plastic plumbing straps to fish wires under the dash and into the doors. Plastic is very strong and flexible and will not short out anything. Don't forget about the dedicated ground. I ran solid black electrical wire through one of the rubbers in the firewall and attached the end to the negative battery cable where it bolts to the cars frame. I made a grounding block from som spare electrical parts and then ran solid grounds to the amp and head unit. You can'd depend on the factory ground in the harness (I tried that method but got noise and then did the dedicated ground to fix it) Use 14 gauge wire for the speakers so you won't have signal loss. If you need any more info, parts lists or advice, I'd be glad to help.

LittleBlueCoupe

I'm surprised no one has mentioned using a Line Output converter. I used one of these with a Kenwood HU purchased through Crutchfield, it attenuates the output down to a level that the amplified speakers can handle.

Izzy Dizzy

That's a good solution providing all the boseamps are in good order. But we all know how that ays out!