Well, my Bose system in my '91 has finally gone belly up, nothing works. It's going to need a full servicing which seems to be about $900 or replace it with something modern. Replacing it seems to be about half the cost or less. What would you guys do? Do you have to bypass the CDM or just plug into the headunit wiring?

Btw, I don't care about devaluing or having a stock appearance, I just want something that plays Pandora but doesn't light up like a night club. The Bose will do that by adding an aux plug so that is an option.

 

If you just want Bluetooth, I'd repair it and add your input. Otherwise, use the opportunity to upgrade the whole thing with better amps, speakers, sub, etc.

 

How do you get to $900? The guy in Fla that rebuild them is I believe $300 and $75 a speaker. I think they add blue tooth for $150.

aftermarket systems....any time I looked into that route it was always over $1K

 

I'm interested in the cost estimate as well, although $300 + $75 p/spkr + $150 is only $750, and that's lower than I've heard. But I'm also interested in how the PO determined the entire system needed to be rebuilt as opposed to just the head unit, CDM or speaker amps. I've decided that I'd like to have mine repaired instead of replaced since the car is all stock and very low miles, but if the entire thing needs to be redone for around a grand, I'm not sure about that. How do you identify which components need to be repaired without sending it all off the repair guy? I've searched a lot of threads and I've not found a clear process for doing that.

 

I have a Bose Gold out of a 95, Head unit, Speakers and amps. When I had it removed the left front had no sound. Do not know if amp or speaker. You can have all for free plus shipping if you want.
Thanks
Hawkeye56

 

Dude, Thank you for the offer. If I decide to keep the Bose I will certainly take you up on that

 

My CD and tape deck is inop, that's a headunit rebuild. My tuner went to just static and my volume is very touchy, I've been told that's the CDM. One of my speakers has a loud squeal and the other 3 have static. I was looking at carstereohelp.com for pricing, $100x4 speakers a $125 for the CDM and $225 for the headunit worst case. That's $750, plus $100 for the aux input, plus I estimated $50 shipping, all comes to $900.

That really seems like a lot of money for 1980s sound. I know when they are working properly they really sound good but wow.

 

United Radio in New York--- used multiple times- half that costs and they send a shipping label.

 

Just for perspective, you are looking at a grand for an mediocre to acceptable sounding aftermarket stereo setup with amps and subs and speakers. Probably before install. I would probably go that way, as it will likely still be a bit better, and I would probably spend the money to go a bit better on everything.

Check out Crutchfield and sonicelectronix.

 

You also have to install a resistor with an aftermarket radio so you wont get a communication and lighting error plus the added weight if you want subs etc. I understand if you want an aftermarket system, but for me, a purest, I think a working Bose system in the 90-96 cars are very good and ahead of their time but they do require maintenance but they are going in 25 years old at this point, gotta expect that.

 

Price out a set of speakers at Crutchfield and a head unit and if you are willing to crawl and rewire, it probably will be under $1000 unless you have expensive tastes

 

I agree, the labor is often overlooked. And unless you are impeccable with your work you will wreck the feel of the car. People don't realize how much time is put into stock system aesthetics. No offence, but when a see a "standard" head unit stuck in the c4 the first thought is "ghetto". But then Im an a-hole. I doubt Im alone here.

I recapped my intermediate component because the radio became intermittent (forgot what its called, the device which actually has the radio receiver in it). I can tell my amps should all be recapped or maybe just speakers need re-coning because the sound is a bit muddy but Im pretty happy with it. Frankly, I like to enjoy the sound of the American v8 when Im in my c4 (not often).. But when Im just tooling around and want to crank up some tunes I think the bose is great.. very advanced for its time with auto volume adjustment based on speed. Besides, its an 80's car and it should sound 80's Hair metal sounds great on the bose the bass is by far better than anything that came out back then. The c4 is not exactly a quiet interior where a nice crisp responsive system can be appreciated. I am actually an audiophile, I own serious class A amplification and a tube-driven pre-amp. I kinda know what sounds good and Im happy with my bose and I know one day I could improve it by reworking each speaker. Id rather rework the bose than spend countless hours drilling holes and cutting this and that to make a modern system work.

the c4 is already worth near nothing.. I mean, its ridiculous how these cars are selling right now. I don't think I could easily give mine away so Id avoid spending money only to lose more and not gain a ton in the process. I for one am VERY proud of the '80s to early 90's American technology in the c4 and intend to preserve it.

Sorry for the unsolicited rant. Well, Im not sorry, I think my opinion is worth sharing agree or not on this great forum.

One last thing.. dealers could NOT sell c4's if they didnt have the bose gold in them. They sat on the lots and where discounted to move them.

One more thing.. I dont care what you buy, it will not have countless hours of engineering inside the c4 behind it to make it audibly as perfect as can be. Read up on the extensive research bose did inside the interior sometime.

 

Audiophile......my cousin sells these in NYC ($30K - $300K+)

https://www.wilsonaudio.com

 

Yeah dont even let me start on audiophiles. They will spend $500 on a power cord and $1500 on speaker cable and $800 on interconnection cables.. Though I would have never believed that interconnect cables worked until I tried them. Im a reasonable audiophile, maybe $1500 in mine.. amazing what you can find at a "garage sale" if you keep your eyes open.

I suppose if you can spend $15000 on speakers $800 for cables is nothing. I have owned some older top of the line speakers and it is quite amazing.

The Bose is fine other than lacking upper mids.. just give it some love. By the way, ALL bose lacks upper mids.. look at their response graphs.. Its a problem with their design but for the avg Joe (my name so I will use it) it sounds quite good and does not give you listener fatigue partly due to the upper mids being absent.

 

Problem is aesthetics is very fluid. If you are set on the old ways, anything new is going to be weird. I have old people who complain about "I can't get a CD changer in the deck anymore. What is wrong with CDs?". My end of aesthetics is if there are holes to catch stuff on. Beyond that, my first thought is "Can this new format do something the old cannot?". I don't pick out the color of the walls but I will pick out the paint used. I didn't care about the color of my last new car. I did make all the specifications though.

It isn't that much cutting and drilling unless you want something more than a sound box and 4 speakers. I had Best Buy lay the wires out with one extra foot on every end. I got the enclosures for the non Bose and put non Bose speakers in them. Wire up the system and that was about it. Now, it is modular. I can replace the rear pair, front pair and head unit in any combination. I can also have Bluetooth capabilities. The trade off was that I do all the electronics work or get someone to do it and be chained to it for all eternity. Yes. it is very advanced FOR IT'S TIME. That time is passed. At that time, it had bragging rights. Today, it is a target for my shotgun or rifle.

In what way ridiculous? Is it that much more to buy when adjusted for inflation? As to 80s tech, thanks but I'd rather have something newer. I look for tomorrow not yesterday

Maybe. However, not everybody is an audiophile. Also, the best Bose has to offer will be screwed up my my engine noise so not sure what will help.

 

For a guy who doesnt care about color you have a lot to say

 

I care more about functionality than looks.

 

This is why I added that last note to my original post, to avoid rants like this one. No offense to you sir but none of your points relate to my original post. I personally like the way the Bose sounds and to be honest, if it were still working (even slightly) we wouldn't be having this conversation. My new exhaust is so ridiculously loud I am not the least bit concerned with sound quality, just something I can hear and doesn't get distorted at volume.

 

This made me laugh and I completely agree. If the cost was comparable to replacing the entire system I would repair the Bose, very easy choice. I just spent $380 for everything shipped, no brainier for me

 

I don't think it cost more than a couple hundred bucks to have someone play circus contortionist to lay the wire. I can't remember anymore the exact figure. IIRC it was between 1 and 2 hundred bucks. For me, the gain is that it is now modular and I don't depend on your *** staying in business that I might get repairs. Also, I prefer to have the Bluetooth being native to the system. If I drove that thing enough, I'd toss the head unit and get a GPS unit. If I was competing in NCRS, I'd be singing a different tune though. (pun intended)