v8vette84

Ok my 84' was a factory Bose car. I have since replaced the bose head unit and speakers with aftermarket options. I have never been fond of the new looking radio in the much older styled dash. I was thinking about getting a factory non-bose head unit to get the factory look again but since the car came factory with Bose I kind of want the Bose head unit. Is there a way I can use the Bose head unit with aftermarket speakers? Is it an ohm problem? Or could I use the factory bose head unit and an aftermarket amp to run the aftermarket speakers? Any help would be appreciated!


Also I have been searching and I only find the normal bose problems not the info I'm looking for. If I did in fact miss the info post a link too it, thanks.

Mike 92LX

Yes. Ecklers sells a kit so you can use aftermarket speakers with a factory Bose radio. Keep in mind for some strange reason 84 head units are different than 86-89s

v8vette84

Huh, I did not know that but then again there seem to be quite a few 84' specific parts. Do you know what is different about them? Thanks for the info!

v8vette84

Well all I see is a kit that allows you to use an aftermarket radio with the factory Bose speakers. Not one that allows you to use the Bose head unit with aftermarket speakers. Any ideas anyone?

v8vette84

Well I wired up my 84' Bose radio in my house and it turns on and works. I wired up a random speaker and I get volume from the unit but it's very quiet. Is that is the impendance difference making it quiet? Or did the Bose units just output very low as the amp made up for the lack of power from the headunit?

Can I use my factory head unit with an aftermarket amp to up the power/volume?

I know the Bose stuff runs at 1 ohm of something which I guess is not common.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

v8vette84

From what I have found (there is not much info out there) the Bose radio sends a pre-amp signal that gets amplified by the amp in the speakerbox (OEM setup) and that drives the speaker. What I'm still trying to figure out is if I can use an aftermarket amp to make use of the Bose's preamp signals so I can use the aftermarket speakers I already have installed.

v8vette84

Hopefully somebody has some kind of info regarding the bose system but judging by the lack of info on the net it seems unlikely. Still if you have any ideas or thoughts let me know!

jose7740

I think the best solution is to use a non Bose headunit( they came on some 1984 Corvettes with the non Bose option) then you can use an amplifier and performance speakers or performance speakers without an amplifier, add a Bose emblem to the headunit and use the Bose speaker covers to make it look like a factory Bose system

v8vette84

That was my idea originally as I have the factory headunit from my old 89' Camaro and it looks almost identical. The problem is that the Camaro headunit won't power up (clock displays but won't "turn on") Of course I thought my bose head unit was burned out and apparently it works. I may just have to find another radio of the same vintage to use. Non-bose of course. Seems people charge decent money for factory radios, the pricing seems out of whack on ebay. You would think people would give these radios away considering how outdated, underpowered and old they are.

Thanks for the reply!

jose7740

If you get the non Bose radio from a 1984 and maybe a 1985 Vette, you can get a harness for a non Bose from Crutchfield and wire everything to the new harness and everything should work

lostnfoundC4

A previous owner replaced the stereo in my '86. I've since found a date correct (Oct '85) delco bose head unit I'd like to install for appearance and have also been searching for these answers. I bench tested the hd with a set of aftermarket speakers and it does power up with the expected low volume.
I guess the only option now is to take the plunge and spend $$ on a decent 4 channel amp with speaker level inputs and then test the whole thing before spending a day installing and then a considerable time cursing. Results to follow......

v8vette84

I was tempted to try that myself. If you do that let me know how it works out.

v8vette84

I got my Camaro's old radio working again. I bypassed the power button as it would only turn on if I pushed the button a weird way. Also I lost the right channel sound and I found a forum thread explaining the fix. So I replaced 3 green capaciters on the amplifier board and the right channel came back. The only problem is that the right channel is quieter than the left. I can fix that with the fade but I don't really want have to keep it that way forever. The radio works but not how I would like which is annoying. I might try that amp idea too. Buy a cheap amp and see what happens.

v8vette84

Well I ordered myself a cheap amp ($20 Boss audio amp) to test this idea and it will get here tomorrow. I'll post back with results when I hook everything up and see if an aftermarket amp will work with the factory Delco radio. Wish me luck!

v8vette84

Well I have concluded it's not possible or at least relatively easy. I tried using the "high inputs" for the amp and got the same low volume. I also tried using the "low input" by adapting an RCA jack to the +/- of the speaker outputs. Needless to say only at half volume does it sound ok. Other than that the sound is really muffled (Sounds like you are overpowering the hell out of a speaker even though you are only at like 75% volume on the head unit and 50% level on amp) and just sounds awful. I'm disappointed this did not work. It must have to do with how many ohms the head unit runs at vs the ohms of the amp. Not sure but it's not worth the time or investment to figure out how to make it work.

v8vette84

CORRECTION: It must have been my terrible makeshift radio antenna. I decided to use a tape with the cord to play my ipod and it sounds pretty good now. Nice and loud and clear! I'm quite happy now!

It worked for me!

OEM 84' BOSE head unit with a cheap 100w 2 channel BOSS audio amp.

v8vette84

The only negative I noticed was that the speakers emit a humming when the amp is turned up high. But that also could be from the fact I had the radio/amp hooked up to a computer power supply and from the reviews I have read online the cheap amps usually have weird humming or power related sounds due to being cheap.

lostnfoundC4

I've got a Pioneer GM-D8604 on order and will post the results when I get a chance to rewire everything.