84 Bose radio question..
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 273
Likes: 0
From: Tallahassee Florida
84 Bose radio question..
I was wondering if anyone has just replaced the head unit with an regular cd player? I took my car to Best Buy last week and they said they wouldn't touch it for less than $600!! Thats without the head unit and speakers... I have done cd players in numerous cars and could tackle installing the cd player but, there talking about rewiring my entire car.. I wouldn't trust myself to disassemble my 24 yr old car... Any advice would be much abliged..
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 122
Likes: 1
From: Turnersville New Jersey
You can not just replace the head end. The bose speakers won't work with the new unit. I just change out my bose system with new CD system on my 89. However I did not run new wires. I use the original wires but not the ones that were connected to the old speakers. I you look in the speaker compartment you will find four additional wires that connect to the amp. I cut into these wires before the amp and traced two of them to the wires connecting from the dash. I did this on all four locations. I used an ohm meter to make sure I had the right wires. I connected the system and it works great. I don't know about the wiring on the 84 but I think bose are about the same. Good Luck !
Racer
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 423
Likes: 48
From: winchester Virginia
Hi, I recently hooked up an alpine radio/cd player to bose speakers on a 92. Each bose speaker has its own amp and these seem to have a high failure rate (Replacements are regularly found on ebay). You shouldn't just wire regular head unit speaker outputs to the bose amps. Instead get a head unit that has preamp outputs (most do). I connected these to the bose amp inputs through 4.7 microfarad capacitors to eliminate transients (pops) that occur when the head unit is turned off or on. On Mine I had to wire a head unit output to turn on a relay that provides power to the bose amps and I had to wire a head unit output to the power antenna lead. Worked great, sounds great.
Pro
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 506
Likes: 12
From: Savannah GA
My guess is the 84 is close to an 87. The Bose speakers are common grounded that makes wiring them kind of a PITA. I did about what everyone else who didn't rewire the car did. cut the wires in the bose amps and hook 2 wires right to the speakers. up at the head unit find the 2 you used in each amp and wire them to the new unit. Just cut orr the factory plug because no way any adapter will work with the common grounded system. A wiring diagram with the color codes will help.
The bose speakers don't look like much but the boxes will still work without the amps, they will suprise you how good they sound with a new 20w per chanel unit. The speakers are only 1.8ohms when I measured them so a really cheap amp might not last. I had an Alpine running them for over a year and it didn't bother it.
JS
The bose speakers don't look like much but the boxes will still work without the amps, they will suprise you how good they sound with a new 20w per chanel unit. The speakers are only 1.8ohms when I measured them so a really cheap amp might not last. I had an Alpine running them for over a year and it didn't bother it.
JS
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 3,566
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From: Mt Laurel NJ
St. Jude Donor '06-'07
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 176
Likes: 0
From: Oakland CA
On my '88, I removed all the Bose hardware and used the factory harness plus an adapter harness from Crutchfield to interface the stereo with the factory harness. I went especially nuts and used weatherpack connectors to connect the new speakers with the oem stereo harness so it could be returned to stock. I'm not sure why I did it but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Anyhow the door speaker require partially dismantling of the door to remove in one piece.
Basically if you want good fidelity you will need to replace all the Bose parts with aftermarket and if you are a serious stereo nut you will need to run heavier gauge wires for everything.
Basically if you want good fidelity you will need to replace all the Bose parts with aftermarket and if you are a serious stereo nut you will need to run heavier gauge wires for everything.
Corvette Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 6,797
Likes: 2,721
From: So. Cal.
2025 C7 of the Year Finalist- Unmodified
2024 C7 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C7 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
bose
JMO..... Anything that says "bose" on it needs to go straight to the trash can. Buy you a nice system. The enjoyment factor will be so much better if you upgrade. Ask me how I know.
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I went with a JVC AVX2 headunit and all Infinity Ref. speakers. Loving the new sound.