My cd player crapped out in my 95 gle. I was thinking about buying a replacement stock head unit when what I really need is an mp3 player for the max. Could care less about the speakers...for me the stock are perfectly fine.. but would this work? Can I take a non bose mp3 player and get it to work w/ the stock speakers?

Any help appreciated.

 

Of course they'll work. It will be the sound quality that will make you change your speakers.............

 

Care to elaborate? Wouldn't the sound quality be the same as what I hear now with the stock unit? If so, I'm fine with that...but should I expect it to sound worse?

Additional info would be greatly appreciated..I'd love to hear from someone thats done this and hear which head unit they went with.

Mahalos!

 

He's probably referring to the fact that many people really can't stand the Bose system especially the speakers.

I installed an Alpine CDA-7894 and used the stock Bose speakers (I don't really have a problem with them). However, to do this you really should use an adapter that converts the speaker outs from the head unit into a signal more compatible with the amps on the Bose speakers. I got one from Crutchfield when I bought the Alpine. $50 but you might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.

The Bose speakers are very low impedance (0.5-1 ohm or so) and that's way too low for most amps to handle. They aren't designed to drive that small a load and you are risking damaging your HU or amp by doing so. If you want to do that you'll have to rewire the speakers to bypass the Bose amps.

 

..but you should get the signal adaptor. Check out Sounddomain.com. I got mine there for more than 1/2 the price off of Crutchfield. Depending on what year you may also need the diversity antenna adaptor and the dash mount kit. The signal adapter will keep the singal as if it was coming out of your stock Bose receiver.

I did it with a Pioneer DEH-P9400MP worked fine. Actually, if I'm not crazy I'd think it sounded better. Well, that was until I got the amp and subs in the trunk and ripped out the little b^itch Bose sub