Factory radio is very quiet
 

Hey all,

I recently picked up a 1988 IROC-Z from a guy who was moving out of town. He had a CD player installed and informed me of the factory radio being left in the trunk. I installed it, and the radio seems to work fine, but the speakers are really, really quiet, but worked fine before. The speakers are stock. It's a DelcoBOSE, and I'm unsure whether this is an amp issue or if these units use an external amp unit. Additionally, there's a peculiar click sound coming from under the dash when the unit is turned on. I've looked around for solutions, but I'm either a complete dolt, or this kind of stuff is pretty obscure. Does anybody have any pointers?

Thanks.

Re: Factory radio is very quiet
 

A BOSE radio is different than a factory Delco or any aftermarket head-unit. It's possible the previous owner removed the BOSE system and installed an aftermarket system in it's place. The output from a BOSE head unit isn't amplified until it reaches each individual AMP that's mounted along with each individual speaker. (each speaker has it's own AMP). Conventional radios amplify the speaker output using AMP chips inside the radio.

What kinda' speakers do you have ??



:driving:

Re: Factory radio is very quiet
 

I'm not entirely sure what sort of setup he was going after, but it seems like the speakers are the stock DelcoBOSE speakers that came with the factory DelcoBOSE radio. Effectively, he bought a new head unit, but not any new speakers. I'm assuming the amps are still present in the speakers, if what you're saying is true. Makes the cause of this even more inconspicuous... But, if the DelcoBOSE unit relies on an external amp to do all the intensity work, perhaps purchasing an amp would do the trick?

I don't know anything about car stereos, lmao.

Re: Factory radio is very quiet
 

I've never used an aftermarket AMP with BOSE,... so I'm not going to be much help in with that.

I'm GUESSING that the click you hear when the radio is turned on is from the BOSE relay or possibly a power antenna relay.

Here's something you can check into; You said that the speakers were still factory BOSE speakers...... That means 2 in the rear hatch SUB-Box and 2 in the front kick panels. Each speaker should have an AMP mounted along with it. The factory BOSE harness plug will have 4 wires. 2 are speaker wires, then there is 1 ground wire and 1 power wire. Probe Each plug and check for Power (ORANGE wire) and check for good ground ( BLACK wire). It's possible that the BOSE relay has failed ( or hacked ) and is not providing power to the factory BOSE AMPs.

:driving:

Re: Factory radio is very quiet
 

I think you may have just solved my problem! I checked for both power and ground on the BOSE relay and I'm not getting any ground or power. That means it's likely the BOSE relay was detached when the aftermarket head unit was installed, which makes complete sense! I'll work on reattaching it and see if that fixes my problem and report back here with results. Thanks a ton! :burnout:

Re: Factory radio is very quiet
 

No sweat dude,....... I hope that it's an easy fix for Ya' !! Cruising in a new-to-you IROC-Z just ain't the same without tunes !!!

:driving:

Re: Factory radio is very quiet
 

Hmm, I'm having a weird time trying to figure out where the relay actually is...Is it in the dash? If so, do you know how to get to it? There's also another connector on the harness with green wires that has zero plugins on the head unit. Perhaps I'll get some pictures soon to help make that less horrible to understand because I'm sure my verbiage is off the charts madman.

Another supplementary question: Do you(or anybody else on this forum) know of any tutorials on adding an aux input to these things? Or maybe there's someone here I can send it to do it for me? All the threads I've found are either missing content or aren't the BOSE unit.

Re: Factory radio is very quiet
 

I don't have a picture of diagram to share of the Relay's location...... Best I can offer is" Behind Right Hand side of Instrument Panel". There was more than 1 type of BOSE relay and harness configuration but I'm pretty sure the 88 set-up was still using the easily recognizable square shaped relay. The BOSE Relay will have 4 wires:

ORANGE= hot at alltimes
PINK = Hot when radio is turned on
Black = GROUND
Pink/Black = Power OUT to AMPS

The shop manual description of "RH side of IP" could mean that it's behind the passenger side hush panel,.... or packed somewhere behind the radio inside the center console. I can't think of any other relay that's mounted under the dash that would have the same color wiring leading to it, so when you start searching look for a PINK/BLACK striped wire.

I add AUX jacks to the Radios that I sell, but have a "thing" about accepting work to other members radios. First: The extra expenses involved; shipping back/forth will cost around $40 and that's before the radio even gets touched. However; my biggest "thing" is a fear of damage to someones radio when it gets shipped here for modification. Might seem like this should only be a minor concern, but I've had a lot of radios shipped here over the years and VERY VERY few are packed properly and many are found to be damaged upon opening the box. Radios are small and heavy and often packed in a box that's too small with little/no padding/protection & ALL the postal carriers seem to treat them like a football. The LAST thing I want to happen is to open a box to find someones radio is busted up !

Example: Arrived this week; After explaining how rough the postal service was with these things I specifically requested a well packed radio,...... You can see holes in the side of the box from where the radio kept poking thru it when shipped: http://berlinetta.info/video/BadPack.mov

:driving: