My sound system is in rough shape to say the least. Static as soon as it turns on. Moving the “bass” and “treble” dials turns off the music in some orientations and it just isn’t good, thinking most of the amps are just blown but don’t know if it’s also a ground or something like that.

the main question I ask is what is a basic sound system that is “plug and play” that I could do myself with little knowledge on sound systems. I know how to take the car apart and all that but wiring isn’t my forte.

so I ask, is there a go to replacement sound system for my 89, not looking to have an amp but want to keep the head unit 1.5 DIN and “retro” looking.

 

Nothing is going to be plug and play really. The radio in these cars is basically in two parts, the interface you see, and then the brains elsewhere. Oh, and the amps on the speakers. Also, 1.5 DIN isn't really a standard size, so you're looking at going down to a single DIN, or up to a double din. Or you get an android unit that's a floating screen, but that won't be retro at all.

Either way, my advice, just rip everything out, buy new speakers and a new radio and run new speaker wires to the speakers.

 

The easiest fix will likely be getting the existing radio repaired. There are several companies that specialize in repairing the o.e. GM radios. Here is one example:

https://doctordons.com/

 

If you do rip it all out, keep it. Eventually, someone will come along and give you a few dollars for it so they can go back to stock.

 

After thinking about it a little more overnight, I figured this had to be something fairly common. Turns out, it is. Blaupunkt and a couple others make period correct looking radios with modem features.

But, the other thing that's really big is people just use actual old school 90s aftermarket radios. A lot of those were built insanely well, so if all you want is a CD player and radio, that's a great option. You're probably not going to get Bluetooth though. Would need a more modern unit for that.

 

I think a giant part is the speaker situation and what you expect from a stereo. What is your old stereo a bose ???? How bad are your speakers ????

The problems with bose and bose speakers are numerous. If they are original they are 35 years old. Bose stereo's in early c4's were odd *****. Bose speakers in early C4's were odd *****. Bose sent a tiny signal from the stereo to each of the 4 speakers. A signal so small they used shielded cable because of electrical noise. Each speaker was in a box that had an amplifier to amplify the stereos tiny signal enough to power the speakers. Todays stereos send an amplified signal directly to the speaker. So you can't really mix and match unless you use converters.

Most people see their choice as fix whats there or replace everything.
1. Fixing what is there does not guarantee anything will last and the sound isn't that great and no modern conveniences.
2. Replacing everything means replacing everything. The means fabricating door mounts, (i removed mine completely box and all), running new wires through the doors (lucky I am an X sailor as I needed the most curse words for that). Fabricating speaker mounts for the rear speakers and running new wires, kilmat on the floor, new carpet etc etc.

In the end, the wires going to a stereo really aren't that many and they are not complicated other than they do not color match. You just have to match the RR speaker wires with the RR speaker output etc. Clock keep alive on the stereo to clock on the car harness. You will probably be cutting the harness although there are some adapters . Replace it all and while your at it carpet with some new kilmat on the floor. With that said. If you replace it you will fabricate your speaker mounts in the doors and rear I promise you will curse my name at least twenty times. It is a job. But my new stereo is awesome, my new carpet is awesome, my new phone mount is awesome, the car is quieter and much more enjoyable. Most of all my music sounds great and I listen to music via USB NO COMMERCIALS. I have appx 20 albums so far on a memory stick that is 1/6th full. If you are a bluetooth person it is right there. Answer your phone via the supplied mic. Fm antenna adatation is a pain, but FM is dead, not worth listening to.

 

Would you know a source for them? I've seen that they make them, but for the European market. I'd really like one for The Mighty TDI, but they don't seem to be available through regular channels here. Only grey market.

 

Looks like you can buy them direct (or presumably direct)

https://www.bpcarusa.com/collections...itle-ascending

They're pricey though! I wouldn't spend that much on one. I'd look on crutchfield for a unit I liked the looks of.

 

Thanks for the link.

Yeah, pricey.

I'm not 1000% that they're that tight with BP, but I'll keep looking into it.

I had looked at Crutchfield and will probably end up going the single DIN replacement route, but they just tend to look like they don't belong. Oh well. It's not a restoration.

 

This one looks nice

https://www.classiccarstereos.com/co...8aAg1SEALw_wcB

Retro sound has a funch of radios on crutchfield but they all look like 60-70s to me.

 

That's much better. Crutchfield also has some radios intended for trucks that have a similar look but they are a little short on some features.

I agree the retro sound stuff appears suited to older American cars. If I had to replace the radio in my truck they'd look right. But the '98 Jetta is definitely not an older American car.

Thanks again for the info.

 

Plug and play systems: https://www.crutchfield.com/car/outfitmycar/mycar.aspx

 

Thank you all for the information. I know about the system in the 89 and know the amps are a huge problem. How I look at it is, if I replace each amp, which I think I would have to, that would be around 400 and then that may not even fix my problem, or it could fail again in the next X amount of years. If I do a full rebuild of the system I can more confidentially know if it’ll work or not. The issue is with the housing units for the speakers. I don’t know how many would fit into the housing right now in both the front and back. I have seen some people have to re drill holes in the front ones which I could do, but re build a housing I don’t know. I’m looking to use this head unit. Or something like this, with Bluetooth ideally. I probably won’t do this till I put it away for winter so I got some time to plan it out.

The sound is unbearable to me. I’d rather listen to the engine for now. As soon as it’s turned on, at the lowest setting the static is wild, if I play with the “treble” and “bass” dials the sound just turns off at some places which seems like it could be something else? I still don’t know for sure if it’s the sound system or some other problem of some sort.

 

My sound system is terrible to say the least, id rather listen to the engine then music as it is right now. As soon as it is turned on there is a terrible static, at high volumes I can hear the music but the static is still there and at times just terrible.

1.) I know of the amp/speaker setup and with knowing that fixing the amps seems useless to me, would cost like 500 dollars and they could go bad in 5 years and that to me would rather just re do the entire system. I also do not know exactly what is wrong with my sound system to be honest so thats another reason to redo the entire system.

2.) I have seen some videos of speakers that arent the hardest to put in the rear and front without doing a ton of custom work, maybe some holes for the screws but not total reconfiguration, but maybe there was more to that than I saw. I have not done really anything with wiring before so this part worries me the most, I dont know whether there are wiring harnesses for projects like this or if it is fully custom. The last part is the carpet, I assumed that you could reput the carpet you removed back in, I did the carpet in my 84 and buying new carpet for this one while mine is is good shape seems like a waste and more money I dont want to use to be honest. I really want music back as this is a car I plan to own for a LONG time, but right now I may need to wait