I am installing sony cd player in my 89 camaro which has the bose system. I have gotten the power connections hooked up right but I cannot figure out how to connect my speaker wires from the sony to the speaker wires in the factory harness. They seem to share a big bare ground, but when i attempted to hook the negative wires from the sony to these grounds and then tested each speaker colored wire with my hot speaker wires from the sony I got nothing. really need a wiring diagram for the bose system. thanks

 

any car maintanence manual will have the wire diagram in it for the bose system, with all colors explained for each wire. i used my manual to hook up my deck, a lot easier to follow then some standard directions from the manufacturer of the head unit. only thing else is trial and error and patience. sure you'll figure it out

 

I used to be an installer and I can possibly help. These systems are very difficult to tie into without getting audible distortion. The system uses a modified common ground philosophy (old and not that great). The only way you will be able to install the deck without major headaches is to get an interface piece. The only one that I ever found that worked was from Peripherial Electronics (sold by anybody that sells Stinger). The part is expensive, but works. I believe the part number is something to the effect of GM21.

 

I had the Bose in my 89. I put a Pioneer stereo in it and used a generic converter, forget the name. Didn't sound all that good, not close to the Bose system and I know that Pioneer has a decent stereo. I tried to wire direct to the individual speakers and they didn't sound right either. I suspect the Bose amps really have some equalization to get the sound right. The higher quality converter might do the trick though.
Welcome to third gen vetteater, first post!

 

I've dealt with bose systems in many cars, and the best way to do it is to run new wires from your stereo out to the speakers, the only thing though is that bose speakers are 8ohm speakers, your unit is designed for a 4ohm speaker system...basically it'll sound like crap and you'll blow all of the speakers, so what I recommend is getting new speakers if you do change the stereo, you can use the factory wiring if you want to but you have to unistall the individual amplifiers on each speaker and bypass it, when you take the speakers out you'll know what I mean, hopefully this helps you out.

 

I have an 98 Trans Am -- someone cut the plugs from the stereo harness and i bought a deck on ebay - but it is an 87 deck with the older style GM 3 plugs, blue, white and black. I wired up as many as i could match up but theres too many wires - I cannot get it to work -- there are too many wires! Is there any way to get this to work or am i screwed?

 

your just going to have to hardwire it in. you can go online or ask someone for the oem colors to tell you what is power, ignition, ground, and the speaker wires.