couple stupid questions. 91 vette, factory bose gold system. nothing works anymore. all the speakers blew one by one, and the deck finally died.

#1 can i use the stock wiring and just put in an aftermarket HU and speakers or does it need re-wired?

#2 what size speakers do i use both front and rear?

the MAD targa mufflers sound sweet but its been annoying having no radio since last summer.

muchas gracias.

o ya - i'm ba-ack ;) i think some of the "veteran" members remember some fun times from the very first forum cruise in

 

Hey Pat, I think you need to use an adapter for the non stock to work with the Bose unless you rip everything out.

That's what my buddy did, he put an aftermarket head unit but retained the Bose speakers, but needed an adaptor becasue the Bose speakers have the amps built in.

 

I have spoken with several people and some install techs that have said that while the adapter makes the wiring correct, it also adds some hiss to the system.

Just what I heard. I went with a new Bose form Dr. Dons. Works ok but I need to have the amps reworked. :cheers:

 

The stock wiring is one ohm....aftermarket needs four ohm....your best bet is new wiring.

6x9's (or 6.5" rounds) will fit in the back without any major modifications

4.5" or 5.5" rounds will fit in the front without any major mods.

The single best thing I have done for my Vette was pulling the Blose boat anchor out of my car and replacing it with aftermarket.





[Modified by Bodhi, 11:07 PM 9/2/2003]

 

thanks :)

i'm glad i've got those size speakers laying around. i think ive got a gm stereo harness out of my old lumina, maybe i can just use it.

 

"The stock wiring is one ohm....aftermarket needs four ohm....your best bet is new wiring."

wire is measured by gage not ohms.
now maybe the oem wire is to small a gage for the load of aftermarket 4 ohm speakers,i dont know.
the bigger the wire the less signal loss you will have so your likely best off to rewire with nice new beefy speaker wires.
youve also already got power wires laying in there to the bose amps your taking out and those might work fine.
pull a speaker setup out and take a sample of each into an audio store and ask maybe.
if you need all speakers and the head unit for the bose....ouch thats a pile of cash.can get a sweet aftermarket system for that.just depends on how important staying "all original" is to you. (you can always keep the bose in a box for resell time"
good luck-thats a bummer,gots to have tunes!

 

i'm not an "all stock" kinda guy. but with the vette, i dont see a need to mod much if at all. but by all means i'll put a good stereo in the thing. i doubt it will ever get sold, at 100k miles its much more feasible to keep it and keep rebuilding things as needed than to take a big hit and sell it for next to nothing.

 

I got rid of my Bose junk years ago. Best mod I ever did to my car. Went with ALPINE. Luv it.

 

Bose runs on one ohm power as the head unit is unpowered and each speaker location has its own amp. Aftermarket runs on 4 ohms. You need to replace the stock wiring as it is teeny tiny (technical term). It is not a big deal at all to run new wire. I bought a spool of 12 or 14 gauge speaker wire from home depot, very cheap. When you have the head unit out, it is easy to run the wire under the front under dash kick plates and then to the doors (or in your car the door sills, I think). The rear speaker wire runs under the carpet. You just have to remove the door sill covers for access. You should just leave the stock wiring in there since someone might want to return it to stock. It's also probably more of a pain to pull it out as it has all sorts of connectors attached to it, and attaching it to the car. It's also best to run an amp, especially if you take the top off/down a lot. Go into the audio forum and post your budget, year and body style of your car. You will get a lot of help of what and where to buy, plus how to install. The prevalent opinion in the audio forum is to spend your money on the front speaker sets, with nothing in the rear, except maybe a sub for bass. I run 5 1/4" component speakers up front with the mids in the doors and the tweeters mounted on the windshield pillars. I have 6x9 3-way speakers in the rear to fill out the sound, but a sub would have been better. I have one 4x100 watt amp mounted under the passenger seat. The system is loud enough to be clear during rush hour highway traffic with the top down. It cost about $800 doing my own installation and if I'd consulted the audio forum before I bought, could have done it cheaper and better. There is no comparison to the advantages of modern equipment over the bose.

 

You will need to rewire, as everyone else has said.

I put 6x9's in the back and 5.25's in the doors. I also put in a 250w amp...
All in all it sounds really good. The 6x9's do have the potential to overpower the 5.25's at times, however. Someone told me that the doors will take a 6" speaker without modification... If so, I think that would be ideal...

 

mine are in the sills, not in the doors. does that make a difference as to what size i need?

i'll post in the audio forum when i get ready to do it, probably an over the winter deal.

 

i must say ...i didnpt rewire my car when i did this about 3 weeks ago...i just bought a plug in adapter from walmart so i didn't have to cut the wiring and plugged my pioneer in...as for the speaker ends i ddi splice into them in their respective spots in the doors to run the infinity speakers i installed...i used the factory wiring...and my system sounds great!! the wiring in your vette is the same as all gm's in gauge size..the only differance is that bose uses a 1 ohm impedance as aftermarket and everyone else uses a 4 ohm impedance this is more of a speaker isuue than a wiring one.. :cheers:

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=641590

 

Don't use stock wiring. I have said this b4, but stereo systems (home, auto, etc) are like computers. They are in the business of upgrading from the present and attempting to "perfect" the sound quality. That said, the options for your stereo setup are endless & everyone will give you a different opinion.
You can use 6x9's in the rear (my choice) or as previously stated 6" round.
For the fronts, my 5 1/4"'s fit wonderfully. (again, depends on sound you are looking for, etc.) Consider "separates" with dual amplification for bass vs. mids/tweets. Many head units have their own (amp, ie-40 watt Kenwood, etc). Although these do work, I would have to say that a separate amplifier supplying power to the speakers provides a much cleaner sound.

 

If your car is exceptional condition I would think it best to stay stock, you can find people to fix it here on the forum for a good deal. For the money, you could certainly get better, but you may get caught up in a very much more expensive system. You have to think about what your going to do with the car, a keeper or not....
Bob :chevy

 

its a keeper, however for a good idea.

take your ZR1, drop a 4" steel drain pipe on the 1/4 panel, open the door into a brick wall, fix those areas but theyre still red primer while i gather up the ***** to attempt a paint blend myself, throw a buncha stones at the nose to chipthe clear all to hell and back, and buff the rest of the good paint with an orbital buffer at too high a speed. and the power antenna is broken and stuck 1/3 of the way up. it cleans up nice though and is perfect mechanically and inside. i actually shot a guide coat of the dark red base onto the 1/4 panel, need a little finishing putty work, but its gonna come out nice all finished and cleared.

 

I went the adapter route with a new Alpine unit. Big mistake - no bottom end at all. The Bose sounded better than this setup. Rewire it and go with some decent aftermarket speakers.

 

You can get new Amps and the head unit repaired if you like. Or go aftermarket. I went a bit out there and spent some funds on some good sounding MB Quarts for my install. I've had them before and like them very much. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=643523

 

I had the entire system in my '92 replaced Tuesday. Installed a Pioneer DEH-P7500MP, (2) ARC 4022 and (2) ARC 6022 speakers. Took them the better part of a day to do it. I'm very happy with the results. Best thing about it is it plays MP3's.... 100+ tracks on (1) CD. It's not the best system out there but it sounds better to me than the old Bose system.

:seeya