You did a great job. I've done this and you cover things people need to know that other videos never mention. Major congrats. I have a bose system in a 1992 that I plan to remove. Crutchfield says there is a harness, metra 701858, that will connect at the harness near the tuner module, under the glove compartment. It is a big job, even wity the passenger seat removed. The bose speaker need removed and the enclosures need to be modified. I'd gladly pay to have it done but I don't trust some car stereo shop to do it. The radio hasn't worked for a while and that's why I haven't driven the car for a while, a long while, like three years. I siphon out gas every year and put in new. It's at the garage right now getting inspected. You really did do a great job on your video.
Thanks Randy. Wow. I'm sure your car will be happy to be back driving around again ! I was lucky with mine in the sense that they had already done the work with the speakers and new wiring running to them. Good luck with the upgrade !
Great informative video, I installed an aftermarket in my 2005 f150 and had some issues like you did with the face plate. I am looking to buy a classic C4 Vette and do some mods to it, the stereo is one so I am glad you made and put this video on UA-cam.
This was a wonderfully informative video. I saw a lot of bad YT videos before I found yours and yours is the best! I hope you still check this YT because I have a few questions. First, my vette is identical to yours, and it has the stock Bose in it. I was confused by your reference to amplifiers. If I buy a radio, can I just bypass the Bose amps and run out of the radio directly to the speakers? Secondly, the GPS...How does your radio handle new roads and such? Do you have to by maps, or do you have to use your phone with Google maps connected through bluetooth? Finally, will I have to tap into the existing wires like the Kenwood install did, or can I just plug into the Bose plugs directly into the radio? I really would appreciate some help. Thanks.
Glad it was helpful ! My understanding is that the original Bose units had amplifiers at each speaker, and the speakers were something like 1 Ohm drivers rather than the normal 4 or 8 Ohms. In my case that stuff had already been replaced, and as you saw the wiring harness had too. So I had it easy. I didn't have to figure out the wiring harness issues and they had already run new wires to the 8 Ohm speakers they had put in (some of which I also replaced since they weren't to my liking). On the GPS end of things, sorry - I don't have any info on that. I only drive around town in my vette - so I don't really use it. I had originally planned to route the GPS cable and antenna into the glove box (which I think has a pretty clear view to the satellites), but ended up putting it into the console. It does lose GPS lock once in a while, but generally works OK there. But again - I can't comment on the maps. I think newer units probably have lifetime maps (you can check the ads). Finally - one route you might take for looking at tapping into the wiring harness and associated work could be to look at Crutchfield. But honestly I can't help too much here. I don't really know how complicated it will be to do a vette that has not already been retrofitted like mine had ... Hope you can make it work without too much trouble. Happy motoring !
Thanks for posting this: we were dismayed at the complexity so we farmed the install of a double-din Kenwood Excelon ddx6904s in our '90 C4 convertible to local installer Audio Itch in Tampa. The installer had a fun time without the Metra brackets getting the stereo to correctly line up with the dash fascia - but he did it and it's flush and aesthetic. We retained the OEM Bose speakers and removed the awful single-din head unit that someone had jammed (poorly) into the dash. Now I'm wondering how long the Bose speakers will last as everyone agrees that they're really failure prone. Did you use the headlight auto dimming wire? Our shop didn't utilize that ... Our shop let the USB inputs dangle poking through the side of the knee kick panel and trans tunnel. Not at all ideal. I plan on taking it back so they're routed into the center bin. Don't know where in the dash the gps antenna lives. Re. our Kenwood unit: major overkill in a C4. It alone was $600 but did include a Kenwood dashcam. Now that you've lived with your install for over a year, what would you do different?
Sorry for the (very) late reply. I didn't route the USB out at all. I just got some very short memory sticks and put them in the USB port on the front of the Jensen unit. I also did not use the dimmer. It seems to display OK during the day and night (not too dim or bright - at least with the red/orange color pallet and wallpaper selected). I've definitely enjoyed it and wouldn't really do anything different (other than maybe _try_ to find a slightly shallower unit so I wouldn't have had to shave the car's trim-plate.
Thanks. The radio is standard double-din, and the compartment in the '92 Vette seems to be basically made for that too - BUT it is not as deep as some - so depending on the unit, it may or may not fit. Something to check carefully for sure. And be sure to get a good bracket. The Metra one I bought and used was perfect for this radio in this applications (though it couldn't help shorten the radio, unfortunately ;-) ) The end result of all the struggle was worth it to me. I definitely enjoy using and looking at the radio. These new radios lend a touch of modern into a classic car - which for me is a good thing :-)
Hi there, great video and I was wondering, when you installed this Jensen VX7020 did you have to use different speakers or did the standard Delco- Bose speakers work? I know you briefly covered it but I dont think you mentioned if you kept the standard bose speakers or swapped them out? I could have missed it but just asking
Sorry for the delay - I don't check my account very often. I already had aftermarket 8 Ohm speakers which were installed by the previous owner who put in the half-height Kenwood radio. They ran speaker wire directly from the radio head-unit compartment in the video to the new speakers, since (as I understand it), the original Bose speakers are custom impedance for the Bose amps. The factory Bose speakers in the amplified system are very low impedance I think - which would probably be an issue (or damage) the Jensen unit if the Bose amps were bypassed and the Jensen was connected directly to the speakers. I actually replaced the 8 Ohm speakers that the previous owner put in, figuring I could make a better solution with more modern drivers. The main 'upgrade' there was to add some midrange/tweeter drivers on the dash (using a custom crossover that let 500 Hz and above go to them). Admittedly putting speakers on the dash is not the best thing to do to a Vette and is a bit of a crash hazard (but they're reasonably light). I taped them on the dash and I am happy with the tradeoff between having a good 'presence' of mids/highs versus having a factory-clean dash. Having the front speakers only in the kickpanels as GM did was a very bad acoustic solution IMHO. Good sound systems in modern vehicles place speakers in the dash and/or the A pillars. The ones you can see on the dash in the video at 27:20 provided a decent approximation to that solution.
Nice work, I'm installing a Pioneer avh-x5800bhs into my 1990 ZR-1, along with 6.5 inch kickers in the front and 6.5 inch Pioneers in the rear with an Amp and 10 inch sub in the back, all stand alone. I have been searching for info on the tuner under the pass side dash, I know I need to disconnect the antenna wire and extend it to the new head unit, but not sure what to do about the other connectors attached to the tuner. Some say just leave it since it's all bypassed, some say to remove it. Do you have any info on that? I'm starting this morning, I will let you guys know how it goes. Thanks for the well explained video, helps a lot. 👍👍
Yup that's always been the issue from the early 80's to the mid 2000's all or most GM vehicle all came with a 1.5 din radio and you have always have trim the opening when installing a double din or 2 din unit
Yeah - it was a bit of a struggle. But fortunately the Bose radio on the Corvettes (at least in '92) had a full-height bay. It just was a tiny bit too shallow... I'm guessing, based on what you said, that the 2 DIN standard wasn't quite standardized - or they chose not to adhere fully to it since they had their relationship with Bose ?
Fixing to start mine with a pioneer unit replacing the bose. new speakers and thanks for the info on the bracket. one question no one has asked. did you or was it already done or do you have a problem with the sys light since you replaced the factory bose unit. I am told without adding certain resistors the sys light comes on. I am hopeful to remove all existing wire and amp and parts to the bose system but that may be questionable. that would be the head unit, the existing speakers for new triaelas, a new pioneer amp and a small sub. removing the speaker wires and rear bose amp in the compartment.
Mine may have already been done. It had an aftermarket Kenwood unit installed and that was working OK (more or less). So I was able to just patch into the existing wires with no issues. Not sure the original radio is even under the passenger-side dash anymore. I need to replace my heater core, so I'll try to have a look when I'm down there. I did notice in the receipts that came with the car that they had to visit a couple of installers to get everything right. Hope your job goes smoothly.
I wish I could’ve saw where you put the colors. I don’t know which one goes to which because you hooked them up first off video and then came back but didn’t see the colors together.
Sorry. As I recall, the old aftermarket unit had standard colors that matched up for speakers/etc. But the new unit had some extra functions that the old one did not. See 11:30 for the wiring guide for this unit. If my old unit was a factory radio, the job would have been much harder and the colors wouldn't match at all.I'm not sure I would have tried it in that case. Or maybe I would have looked into Crutchfield wiring harnesses.
Sorry - I don't have any data on that. I mainly use the unit for playing songs from a USB-drive. That said, from what I know of radio design - I suspect all radios are pretty similar in their sensitivity. The weak-signal limit is the so-called "noise floor" which is due to physics (and to a small degree a receivers 'noise-figure'). But the biggest issue is likely to be the antenna on the car and the existence of strong stations in the area. Strong stations often 'block' weak ones. Radios do vary in that performance metric some. But it mainly comes into play if there is a super strong station in the area. Again - no data on this for the Jensen, and it would be very hard to get any useful data on the blocking problem without a side-by-side experiment of different radios, since it depends on the area in which you live. Sorry.
I notice that everyone just skips the part of connecting the harness connector where you actually bypass the amp???? Figuring out connections to the new unit is not hard, but nobody shows what they did on the other end.
Yes - sorry about that. Mine had an aftermarket 1-DIN unit in it and the powered amp/speakers were already replaced with passive 8 Ohm ones, so all that was already done. I was able to match up easily to the defacto after-market color code of the wires. If I had to do it on a vette with original Bose, I'd probably try to find a harness already done from some place like Cruchfield maybe.
Yes. No problems. And I have really enjoyed it. Although the text color (white) doesn't exactly match the yellow lettering on the dash - its not very noticeable, and the radio face itself adds a nice elegance to the interior (complementing the driver-information rectangular area above the heater controls). My only real gripe on the radio unit is that the touch screen controls for songs/etc seem to want to be hit twice to select and then activate. Tried to find a menu setting to change it, but no luck. No biggie though. GPS works fine too - but I don't use it much.
If I understand the question correctly, I would say 'no'. The VX7020 (like most units) just comes with a wiring harness that plugs into itself and on the other end is bare wire. There probably are places (like Crutchfield) that might have wiring harness adapters, but the Vette is complicated (at least with the Bose option) by the fact that there is a separate head-unit and "receiver" in two different locations, and it uses amplified speakers that you probably can't (or shouldn't) try to reuse. Fortunately, all of that had already been bypassed in my car by a previous owner.
Crutchfield may have something that will help, but I doubt it will work without some extra thought and work. For example, if you have a Bose system, you may have amplified speakers and those should be swapped-out for normal 8 Ohm speakers (and new wiring run to them from the radio bay). Fortunately for my case, that had already been done. Not sure if I would have tackled the job if the original stuff was still in place. But talking to Cruchfield may help. That seems to be their forte.
You did a great job. I've done this and you cover things people need to know that other videos never mention. Major congrats. I have a bose system in a 1992 that I plan to remove. Crutchfield says there is a harness, metra 701858, that will connect at the harness near the tuner module, under the glove compartment. It is a big job, even wity the passenger seat removed. The bose speaker need removed and the enclosures need to be modified. I'd gladly pay to have it done but I don't trust some car stereo shop to do it. The radio hasn't worked for a while and that's why I haven't driven the car for a while, a long while, like three years. I siphon out gas every year and put in new. It's at the garage right now getting inspected. You really did do a great job on your video.
Thanks Randy. Wow. I'm sure your car will be happy to be back driving around again ! I was lucky with mine in the sense that they had already done the work with the speakers and new wiring running to them. Good luck with the upgrade !
Great informative video, I installed an aftermarket in my 2005 f150 and had some issues like you did with the face plate. I am looking to buy a classic C4 Vette and do some mods to it, the stereo is one so I am glad you made and put this video on UA-cam.
This was a wonderfully informative video. I saw a lot of bad YT videos before I found yours and yours is the best! I hope you still check this YT because I have a few questions. First, my vette is identical to yours, and it has the stock Bose in it. I was confused by your reference to amplifiers. If I buy a radio, can I just bypass the Bose amps and run out of the radio directly to the speakers?
Secondly, the GPS...How does your radio handle new roads and such? Do you have to by maps, or do you have to use your phone with Google maps connected through bluetooth?
Finally, will I have to tap into the existing wires like the Kenwood install did, or can I just plug into the Bose plugs directly into the radio?
I really would appreciate some help. Thanks.
Glad it was helpful ! My understanding is that the original Bose units had amplifiers at each speaker, and the speakers were something like 1 Ohm drivers rather than the normal 4 or 8 Ohms. In my case that stuff had already been replaced, and as you saw the wiring harness had too. So I had it easy. I didn't have to figure out the wiring harness issues and they had already run new wires to the 8 Ohm speakers they had put in (some of which I also replaced since they weren't to my liking). On the GPS end of things, sorry - I don't have any info on that. I only drive around town in my vette - so I don't really use it. I had originally planned to route the GPS cable and antenna into the glove box (which I think has a pretty clear view to the satellites), but ended up putting it into the console. It does lose GPS lock once in a while, but generally works OK there. But again - I can't comment on the maps. I think newer units probably have lifetime maps (you can check the ads). Finally - one route you might take for looking at tapping into the wiring harness and associated work could be to look at Crutchfield. But honestly I can't help too much here. I don't really know how complicated it will be to do a vette that has not already been retrofitted like mine had ... Hope you can make it work without too much trouble. Happy motoring !
@@MegawattKS Thank you again. I will follow your advice and call Crutchfield. Maybe they can shed some light on this.
Thanks for posting this: we were dismayed at the complexity so we farmed the install of a double-din Kenwood Excelon ddx6904s in our '90 C4 convertible to local installer Audio Itch in Tampa. The installer had a fun time without the Metra brackets getting the stereo to correctly line up with the dash fascia - but he did it and it's flush and aesthetic. We retained the OEM Bose speakers and removed the awful single-din head unit that someone had jammed (poorly) into the dash. Now I'm wondering how long the Bose speakers will last as everyone agrees that they're really failure prone.
Did you use the headlight auto dimming wire? Our shop didn't utilize that ...
Our shop let the USB inputs dangle poking through the side of the knee kick panel and trans tunnel. Not at all ideal. I plan on taking it back so they're routed into the center bin.
Don't know where in the dash the gps antenna lives.
Re. our Kenwood unit: major overkill in a C4. It alone was $600 but did include a Kenwood dashcam.
Now that you've lived with your install for over a year, what would you do different?
Sorry for the (very) late reply. I didn't route the USB out at all. I just got some very short memory sticks and put them in the USB port on the front of the Jensen unit. I also did not use the dimmer. It seems to display OK during the day and night (not too dim or bright - at least with the red/orange color pallet and wallpaper selected). I've definitely enjoyed it and wouldn't really do anything different (other than maybe _try_ to find a slightly shallower unit so I wouldn't have had to shave the car's trim-plate.
Very comprehensive video. Is this a standard double din or is this unit specifically made for the C4? or looks like instructions are C4 specific.
Thanks. The radio is standard double-din, and the compartment in the '92 Vette seems to be basically made for that too - BUT it is not as deep as some - so depending on the unit, it may or may not fit. Something to check carefully for sure. And be sure to get a good bracket. The Metra one I bought and used was perfect for this radio in this applications (though it couldn't help shorten the radio, unfortunately ;-) ) The end result of all the struggle was worth it to me. I definitely enjoy using and looking at the radio. These new radios lend a touch of modern into a classic car - which for me is a good thing :-)
Hi there, great video and I was wondering, when you installed this Jensen VX7020 did you have to use different speakers or did the standard Delco- Bose speakers work? I know you briefly covered it but I dont think you mentioned if you kept the standard bose speakers or swapped them out? I could have missed it but just asking
Sorry for the delay - I don't check my account very often. I already had aftermarket 8 Ohm speakers which were installed by the previous owner who put in the half-height Kenwood radio. They ran speaker wire directly from the radio head-unit compartment in the video to the new speakers, since (as I understand it), the original Bose speakers are custom impedance for the Bose amps. The factory Bose speakers in the amplified system are very low impedance I think - which would probably be an issue (or damage) the Jensen unit if the Bose amps were bypassed and the Jensen was connected directly to the speakers. I actually replaced the 8 Ohm speakers that the previous owner put in, figuring I could make a better solution with more modern drivers. The main 'upgrade' there was to add some midrange/tweeter drivers on the dash (using a custom crossover that let 500 Hz and above go to them). Admittedly putting speakers on the dash is not the best thing to do to a Vette and is a bit of a crash hazard (but they're reasonably light). I taped them on the dash and I am happy with the tradeoff between having a good 'presence' of mids/highs versus having a factory-clean dash. Having the front speakers only in the kickpanels as GM did was a very bad acoustic solution IMHO. Good sound systems in modern vehicles place speakers in the dash and/or the A pillars. The ones you can see on the dash in the video at 27:20 provided a decent approximation to that solution.
MegawattKS Thanks very much for the info sir
Nice work, I'm installing a Pioneer avh-x5800bhs into my 1990 ZR-1, along with 6.5 inch kickers in the front and 6.5 inch Pioneers in the rear with an Amp and 10 inch sub in the back, all stand alone. I have been searching for info on the tuner under the pass side dash, I know I need to disconnect the antenna wire and extend it to the new head unit, but not sure what to do about the other connectors attached to the tuner. Some say just leave it since it's all bypassed, some say to remove it. Do you have any info on that?
I'm starting this morning, I will let you guys know how it goes. Thanks for the well explained video, helps a lot. 👍👍
Yup that's always been the issue from the early 80's to the mid 2000's all or most GM vehicle all came with a 1.5 din radio and you have always have trim the opening when installing a double din or 2 din unit
Yeah - it was a bit of a struggle. But fortunately the Bose radio on the Corvettes (at least in '92) had a full-height bay. It just was a tiny bit too shallow... I'm guessing, based on what you said, that the 2 DIN standard wasn't quite standardized - or they chose not to adhere fully to it since they had their relationship with Bose ?
@@MegawattKS maybe not really sure though.
Fixing to start mine with a pioneer unit replacing the bose. new speakers and thanks for the info on the bracket. one question no one has asked. did you or was it already done or do you have a problem with the sys light since you replaced the factory bose unit. I am told without adding certain resistors the sys light comes on. I am hopeful to remove all existing wire and amp and parts to the bose system but that may be questionable. that would be the head unit, the existing speakers for new triaelas, a new pioneer amp and a small sub. removing the speaker wires and rear bose amp in the compartment.
Mine may have already been done. It had an aftermarket Kenwood unit installed and that was working OK (more or less). So I was able to just patch into the existing wires with no issues. Not sure the original radio is even under the passenger-side dash anymore. I need to replace my heater core, so I'll try to have a look when I'm down there. I did notice in the receipts that came with the car that they had to visit a couple of installers to get everything right. Hope your job goes smoothly.
I wish I could’ve saw where you put the colors. I don’t know which one goes to which because you hooked them up first off video and then came back but didn’t see the colors together.
Sorry. As I recall, the old aftermarket unit had standard colors that matched up for speakers/etc. But the new unit had some extra functions that the old one did not. See 11:30 for the wiring guide for this unit. If my old unit was a factory radio, the job would have been much harder and the colors wouldn't match at all.I'm not sure I would have tried it in that case. Or maybe I would have looked into Crutchfield wiring harnesses.
Great tips thanks
Did you find the receive sensitivity better than the original radio? For distant stations
Sorry - I don't have any data on that. I mainly use the unit for playing songs from a USB-drive. That said, from what I know of radio design - I suspect all radios are pretty similar in their sensitivity. The weak-signal limit is the so-called "noise floor" which is due to physics (and to a small degree a receivers 'noise-figure'). But the biggest issue is likely to be the antenna on the car and the existence of strong stations in the area. Strong stations often 'block' weak ones. Radios do vary in that performance metric some. But it mainly comes into play if there is a super strong station in the area. Again - no data on this for the Jensen, and it would be very hard to get any useful data on the blocking problem without a side-by-side experiment of different radios, since it depends on the area in which you live. Sorry.
I notice that everyone just skips the part of connecting the harness connector where you actually bypass the amp???? Figuring out connections to the new unit is not hard, but nobody shows what they did on the other end.
Yes - sorry about that. Mine had an aftermarket 1-DIN unit in it and the powered amp/speakers were already replaced with passive 8 Ohm ones, so all that was already done. I was able to match up easily to the defacto after-market color code of the wires. If I had to do it on a vette with original Bose, I'd probably try to find a harness already done from some place like Cruchfield maybe.
Hi MegawattsKS hows is this unit going? still running ok?
Yes. No problems. And I have really enjoyed it. Although the text color (white) doesn't exactly match the yellow lettering on the dash - its not very noticeable, and the radio face itself adds a nice elegance to the interior (complementing the driver-information rectangular area above the heater controls). My only real gripe on the radio unit is that the touch screen controls for songs/etc seem to want to be hit twice to select and then activate. Tried to find a menu setting to change it, but no luck. No biggie though. GPS works fine too - but I don't use it much.
Does the new radio adapter fit the cars radio connectors? Please i need help
If I understand the question correctly, I would say 'no'. The VX7020 (like most units) just comes with a wiring harness that plugs into itself and on the other end is bare wire. There probably are places (like Crutchfield) that might have wiring harness adapters, but the Vette is complicated (at least with the Bose option) by the fact that there is a separate head-unit and "receiver" in two different locations, and it uses amplified speakers that you probably can't (or shouldn't) try to reuse. Fortunately, all of that had already been bypassed in my car by a previous owner.
Your wire colors are different than my 1990
Is it possible to put an aux stereo in a 1989-1991 c4
You can use the cassette aux adapter.
is there a wiring harness i can get?
Crutchfield may have something that will help, but I doubt it will work without some extra thought and work. For example, if you have a Bose system, you may have amplified speakers and those should be swapped-out for normal 8 Ohm speakers (and new wiring run to them from the radio bay). Fortunately for my case, that had already been done. Not sure if I would have tackled the job if the original stuff was still in place. But talking to Cruchfield may help. That seems to be their forte.
i rather have a corvette radio fitted in a jenson
Cool idea. I had to look up Jensen Motors. Alas, looks like a smaller car and might not take a double-DIN height radio ;-)
"I'm sitting in the car." No. Really?