Okay, let me begin by saying that my expertise level with car stereo is about a 4 on a 1-5 scale. I've installed replacement car stereos in every car I've owned. But this one has me stumped.
The Bose gold series unit died in my car due to water leaks, and after screwing around with the receiver unit for two years I finally just decided to upgrade the whole front end of the system. I'm installing a double-din Kenwood DPX301 head unit into my '96 vert with the Metra 70-1857 Bose integration harness.
I've wired up all of it and the unit powers up, but I'm getting no sound from any of the speakers. The power antenna isn't raising either, even though I've definitely connected the blue wire. I hear the relay in the rear bin activating when I power up the head unit, but that's it. I've replaced the 20A fuse in the rear bin, the relay it connects to on the orange wiring, and checked both minifuses on the main block. Seems like there's a relay that's not activating or a fuse that's blown somewhere, but I don't know where else to look. Is there something else that's necessary to kick on the Bose amps and raise the antenna? I can't believe they'd all be blown.
I've talked to the people at Metra tech support and they said I needed to confirm +12V on the blue wire from the head to activate the system. Apparently, some heads only put out 3 or 5 volts on that line. I did, and it tested +12V. They told me that the problem most likely lies within the Bose amp system then, and that it is best to just remove it all and replace everything. I can't believe that, and it still doesn't explain why my power antenna doesn't work either. Suggestions welcome.
Corvette Store
Help with head replacement in '96 vert
