New radio for '97 C5

Keith,

I will sell you a complete Bose system out of an '04.

I found the Bose system very disappointing.

I upgraded to a Pioneer head. Arc 400 watt amp. Infinity speakers. And an
Arc. 8" sub in the left rear cubby hole.

Mucho better.

Ed


> or
> B. Replace all the speakers with "better" ones.
>
 >> Stay informed about: New radio for '97 C5 

Leave the Bose system in and add a subwoofer. There is an aftermarket gizmo
the car stereo shops can put in between your head unit and a new amp (150
watts +/-) and a sub. I did that in my 2000 and it sounded great. Then the
cd player went up in the stock head unit so rather than paying 200-300$ to
fix it, I replaced it with a high power Alpine mp3 player/cd/radio. At that
point, I also replaced the speakers with Infinity's (6.5 inch) all around.
The doors took an adapter plate which I fabricated out of MDF since the
stock speakers are 8 inch plus a (roughly) 2 inch tweeter. I thought it was
going to sound really good and the install looked pretty decent BUT it never
sounded as good as the Bose. The weakest link is the speakers. Infinity
used to be a really high end brand, but not anymore. They bottom out and the
head unit isn't strong enough to power them to Bose quality levels. If you
are doing this, be ready for a 4 channel amp and a subwoofer amp as well as
high end speakers. $100 per set for Infinity's won't cut it. You will also
be taking the door panels off to do this, so be ready for a whole set of
issues with that. You will probably end up replacing the plastic clips
which hold the door panels on as some of them will probably break on the way
out. Oh, also the small cover plate covering the screws behind the door
handle on the inside will probably need to be replaced. All in all, $250
for a head unit, $300 for sub and box, $600-700 for amps, and approx. $800
for speakers. $2000 to deBose your car if you do all of this yourself.

Here's a few pics of my install. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of
the door speakers.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f21/sbright7/2000c5/DSCN2113.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f21/sbright7/2000c5/DSCN2111.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f21/sbright7/2000c5/DSCN2109.jpg


-Stan


"Spud" <spud.RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:VqCSf.61134$dW3.30418@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
> Keith,
>
> I will sell you a complete Bose system out of an '04.
>
> I found the Bose system very disappointing.
>
> I upgraded to a Pioneer head. Arc 400 watt amp. Infinity speakers. And
> an Arc. 8" sub in the left rear cubby hole.
>
> Mucho better.
>
> Ed
>
>
>> or
>> B. Replace all the speakers with "better" ones.
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: New radio for '97 C5 

"sbright" <sbright RemoveThis @comcast.net> wrote in message
news:yqednfZp99xh24DZ4p2dnA@comcast.com...
> Leave the Bose system in and add a subwoofer. There is an aftermarket
gizmo
> the car stereo shops can put in between your head unit and a new amp (150
> watts +/-) and a sub. I did that in my 2000 and it sounded great. Then
the
> cd player went up in the stock head unit so rather than paying 200-300$ to
> fix it, I replaced it with a high power Alpine mp3 player/cd/radio. At
that
> point, I also replaced the speakers with Infinity's (6.5 inch) all around.
> The doors took an adapter plate which I fabricated out of MDF since the
> stock speakers are 8 inch plus a (roughly) 2 inch tweeter. I thought it
was
> going to sound really good and the install looked pretty decent BUT it
never
> sounded as good as the Bose. The weakest link is the speakers. Infinity
> used to be a really high end brand, but not anymore. They bottom out and
the
> head unit isn't strong enough to power them to Bose quality levels. If
you
> are doing this, be ready for a 4 channel amp and a subwoofer amp as well
as
> high end speakers. $100 per set for Infinity's won't cut it. You will
also
> be taking the door panels off to do this, so be ready for a whole set of
> issues with that. You will probably end up replacing the plastic clips
> which hold the door panels on as some of them will probably break on the
way
> out. Oh, also the small cover plate covering the screws behind the door
> handle on the inside will probably need to be replaced. All in all, $250
> for a head unit, $300 for sub and box, $600-700 for amps, and approx. $800
> for speakers. $2000 to deBose your car if you do all of this yourself.
>
> Here's a few pics of my install. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of
> the door speakers.
> http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f21/sbright7/2000c5/DSCN2113.jpg
> http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f21/sbright7/2000c5/DSCN2111.jpg
> http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f21/sbright7/2000c5/DSCN2109.jpg
>
>
> -Stan
>
>
> "Spud" <spud RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:VqCSf.61134$dW3.30418@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
> > Keith,
> >
> > I will sell you a complete Bose system out of an '04.
> >
> > I found the Bose system very disappointing.
> >
> > I upgraded to a Pioneer head. Arc 400 watt amp. Infinity speakers.
And
> > an Arc. 8" sub in the left rear cubby hole.
> >
> > Mucho better.
> >
> > Ed
> >
> >
> >> or
> >> B. Replace all the speakers with "better" ones.
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
I have Momo's, each with an external bridge and separated tweeters in the
doors, and Pioneer's best 6X9s in the back with a Polk 10" sub woofer in one
of the compartments behind the seats. A pioneer head unit tops it off with
a simple 200 watt amp for the sub. Didn't need to amp the other speakers,
because the head unit carries a true 55 per channel (30 rms). If I give it
any volume, I feel like I'm sitting inside a headphone. The clarity is
exceptional, and it can only barely be heard on the outside. $650 speakers,
$250 head unit, $150 amp, and ten bucks for ear plugs for the dog.
 >> Stay informed about: New radio for '97 C5 

The Bose speakers in my '04 had no bass and no high end. When I pulled them
out, I found they were just full range speakers. They don't even have a
tweater. We tried disconnecting the Bose amp at the speakers and running
them with the new amp and they still sucked. The Infinity speakers are
excellent. Great highs. I might add I used the 6-1/2 separats in the
front. They ain't 100 bucks. Not much bass, but what do you expect. The
sub takes care of this.

I had mine installed at a dealer and I've got about 2 grand into it. But it
is nice.

Ed
 >> Stay informed about: New radio for '97 C5