RedHot85Vette

Re. 1985, Radios, Bose & AC Delco Radio systems: Can I Swap Out a Bose Radio/Cassette for a non-Bose (AC Delco) One, while keeping the existing Bose speakers? If So, How? I want to purchase a Radio for my '85, to make the system somewhat original, and take out the poorly installed (by previous owner) piece of junk that's in there now. I'm no audiophile so Bose or no-Bose doesn't matter to me, but I do wish the system to work, fundamentally. I Just want to buy, probably from eBay, a Radio that works. Hey! If anybody has an original radio/cassette, or radio/cassette/cd, or whatever that works and that'll work, and wants to sell it, I'm a prospect.

John

SLVRSHRK

Just to clarify, is your current situation that you have an aftermarket radio installed by the previous owner in your 85?

Do you also currently have the original Bose speakers in the car with the aftermarket unit?

Does sound come out?

Just want to get some more info before replying.

I do happen to have a completely refurbished Bose unit including a working cassette and auxiliary input (added by me), but I'm not sure I want to part with it. Besides, if the PO has modified the Bose speakers to work with an aftermarket unit, then you really need to look at the speaker situation before buying a new radio to make sure you are not throwing good money after bad.

I happen to be a fan of keeping these systems working.

corvettenorway

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pioneer-Car...frcectupt=true

Matt81

I just went thru an almost identical situation in my 88 Anniversary with Bose system. PO had swapped in an original-looking, non-Bose head unit and I was getting no sound from any speakers. After pulling the radio, I discovered the Bose amp relay was not connected. Result was none of the amps were getting any power, so no sound. To test the speakers, I modified a headphone plug and used some sound tracks off my phone. The two fears were good, two fronts bad. After replacing the capacitors, one front started working, one totally shot. Opted to pull the Bose speakers and install some Rockford Fosgates front and rear with Kenwood stereo with Bluetooth. Whole system was less than $200 and sounds great.

I had also wanted to keep original, but the non-functional amp and having to buy a correct Bose head unit that had none of the modern features and would cost more than a complete new setup pushed me to modernize. I did not need to desire the car but did need to make some wiring changes in the plugs. They common grounds need to be separated at the plug and given their own terminal.

SLVRSHRK

I did some looking and it looks like this is smaller than a double DIN (car size is 1.5 DIN). Do you know it fits?

Nice find! If my car were already wired for aftermarket, this looks like a good option (as long as it works, standard eBay warnings apply, yada, yada, yada).

Connerdsny

I put a non-bose in my bose car and it works fine, you just have to modify it to signal the bose relay, which is just a single +12v wire. However, as other people have mentioned, if an aftermarket radio is working in your car then the bose circuit may not be...

corvettenorway

yes it fits ,, got the same one in my 84 ...

corvettenorway

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pioneer-DEH...vGPl:rk:7:pf:0 i got this on mine

SLVRSHRK

Cool. Great Info.

3D-Aircrew

Just an FYI ... save the Bose core, wiring and speaker amps and enclosures because they are worth something out there to collectors and refurbishers.

aklim

Your 88 might be different but I bought the speaker brackets for a non-Bose unit so it would fit without me having to have a custom unit. Had the wires run from the head unit to the speakers with over a foot extra on either side. After that I could take my time to wire up the harness so I can do whatever I want. There was an adapter to join the power plug to the new stereo.

RedHot85Vette

The car came with an aftermarket thing. The speakers were the original Bose. The Passenger side sounded very crappy. The Driver side sounded Good, but once the car was running, you can guess, intense whining. I don't believe the system was installed properly, nor adapted properly. There is also a gain control spliced in. I'm totally not sure what was going on with that. I have electronics experience, know how, skills, and refurbishing the bose speakersr/amps won't be an issue, if necessary. About $5 bucks worth of parts at Mouser.com ought to do it. I'm just thinking if the wiring, connectors, and all that's Bose and beyond, will work with a Bose head or AC Delco head, then I'll have more to chose from as I shop around.
Quick Reply:

If I can get one real cheap, I may send it out to have an expert, who has the best experience with them, refurbish it.

I like Cassettes. I think it will be part of the charm of my car to have the original, vintage, cassette/radio... and then have the storage place in the console filled with cassettes of the era.

Yeah, so like you, I want to keep these systems "Rockin'"!

John

RedHot85Vette

I Believe the speakers are good. Amps and all.I used to work on jukeboxes, from the 50s, 60s, what had relays the size of mini cooper's. Sometimes just a few of the contacts would be bad and just some of the speakers would sound crappy like that. Those relays were screwed together, layered. You'd take them all apart, clean 'em up, file and shine the contacts then screw 'em back together, like a sandwich. Playing with the aftermarket radio there was good sound front/rear on the drivers side, I think the passenger side is wired incorrectly or the relay may need replacement. I'm going to replace it anyway since it's a cheap upgrade. There's also a Filter down by the horn wiring harness that I'm going to replace, as well as the condenser in the distributor. All items are available at RockAuto, very inexpensive.

Iknow! It's so tempting to just forget the whole project and go modern. So Inexpensive to get a great system. They even have systems that are modern,but look vintage. I may do the original type system, then in the future mount a slim modern thing under the dash on the passenger side... or get a really good BoomBox to carry along what has an aux port... maybe rig it so I can plug it into the car speakers... hmmm... what else can I dream up? ha!

Oh! and Holy Crap! what they're asking for garbage original systems, "for parts only" junk... I can't believe it. A decent "for parts only" unit, what ain't all sun faded, and missing the slider buttons and such could cost over 150 bucks!

Nice tip about the grounds/plugs. I'll put that in my tool box.


john

RedHot85Vette

Thanks for the tip about the relay.

The aftermarket sounds mostly bad. I have a hunch the Bose stuff is working fine. When I check the relay, if it's connected or disconnected, and when I totally inspect the wiring... I think I may have a better clue about what's going on. Is there anything other than the relay under the dash that's part of the Bose system, like a junction block or something wierd?

RedHot85Vette

That's what I wanted to hear! Thanks!

John

gpierce

If you think of the Delco-Bose head unit as a line level device, and the bose speakers with amps just as what they are you start to get the picture. The Bose head unit sends a line level signal to the bose speaker amps. This is probably why someone installed gain controls on the aftermarket head unit.

To answer your question about non-bose head units, if they have amplifiers in them like the aftermarket head unit you can't just connect it directly to the bose speaker amps. You need a line level converter. So technically any amplified head unit will work with the bose amps as long as it is sending a line level signal.

RedHot85Vette

Aha! Gotcha!

Thanx!

John