'93 Riv Bose radio

[Guest jcc3inc]

Good afternoon,

I recently acquired a Riv with low mileage that has been somewhat neglected. It "had" a Bose radio that the previous owner replaced with some aftermarket unit, so I don't know what it looked like. There is a single CD in the space just below the radio. I now have the Bose speakers still in place but no radio to drive them. As yet I have no shop manual so cannot identify which radios were avavilble.

Can someone identify the Bose type radio OR a Delco radio that can operate with the remote CD player? Many of the parts places cannot tell me much about what they have. One place I called has a Model #16161794. Is this usable?

Ideally the replacement radio should be the same as the original.

Thanks,

Jack C.

[dship]

Jack,

Part # 16161794 is for the CD player only (not the radio) for the 92 & 93 Riviera. I believe the part # for the Bose radio for the 92 & 93 Riviera is 12343097. These #'s come from the 86 - 93 Riviera Parts & Illustration Catalog.

[DAVES89]

Jack, I went to ebay and there is a stereo there. It also comes with a climate control. Ebay #370378613834. I also sent you an e mail.

[Guest jcc3inc]

Hello again,

FYI, the Bose radio has an amplifier at each speaker, so it needs ground and + 12V at each speaker as well as the signal from the radio/tuner. It has a bridge type amp using a 1 Ohm speaker, so it is capable of high peak volume.

In looking over the amp/speakers I have, one is ka-put and another is OK. Two more are not yet tested. It appears that these may be somewhat on the expensive side to maintain. Some comments found on the internet claim troubles with the Bose. The little circuit board is loaded with parts!

The shop manual I have for the '91 Riv/Reatta shows (3) variations on the radios; one plain designated "UN6" AM/FM/Tape, one "U1H" AM/FM/Tape/CD and the Bose "U1G" that is AM/FM/Tape/CD. I have not yet received my '93 Riviera shop manual so maybe there are changes.

At this point maybe the U1H radio would be a more economical choice.

Regards,

Jack C.

[dship]

Jack,

The 93 FSM lists the same audio system codes as you have written for the 91 although there is one more non-Bose combo; "UX1" AM/FM/Tape w/ Equalizer.

Both my 92's came w/ factory installed "UN6" (non-Bose) radio w/ the "UW6" 6-speaker system. They blow the doors off they're that good.

[wws944]

A note of warning: The CD players were a first generation design that seem to fail a lot. One reason your head unit may have been replaced was because the CD player went bad. So they replaced the head unit with something more modern.

[Rivieraman]

Jack

the Fatory radio for the BOSE radio in 1993 is very hard to find. I was working at the Buick dealer then and it was the last year and nobody stocked this option. The U1H and U1G radios look alike but the bose says "bose" on it and ther is no EQ there is large bass and trebble buttons. The Riviera is the only one i can think of that used this radio since the CD player out of the radio so this radio would have a cassette. I would check with specmo. They where an arm of GM that rebuilds factoy radio's and has sales and can look up a locate for one. Here is is web site link hope this helps. I have the "bose" in my 89 what a nightmare.

Specmo.com .::. sales-flint, mi

[Rawja]

Plenty of 'em available at Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market I would plan on buying one and immediately sending it off to be rebuilt, they invariably get flakey with age. www.MNRElectronics.com has always done a good job for me and a bunch of people who've used 'em from the Reatta section.

[Guest jcc3inc]

Good morning,

Well, I have a bit of a dilemma; the car I bought less the Bose radio has at least one bad amplifier/speaker. I have not checked the other two as the vehicle is at the body shop right now. If I get another Bose tuner, I'll need at least one amplifier module. The other choice is to get the garden variety radio (D. Ship seems to like that one OK) and then replace all (4) or (6) speakers with 4 ohm units, as Bose uses 1 ohm speakers.

One of my reasons for keeping the Bose is that the car has the single CD player in it and I "hope" that it might work. One commenter said that the likely reason the radio was replaced with an aftermerket unit was the bad CD player! It's a nice car, 51K miles on it, and I'd like to have everything operating as it should.

Thanks for your comments.

Regards,

Jack C.

P.S. I now have a '91 Reatta for sale; 128K, silver, specs and pix on request

[Rawja]

Worst case you just gotta get the CD player refurbished as well. MNR replaces the guts AFAIR, and as an added bonus it'll be able to read CDRs. If you want to dump the Bose you can still use the existing factory CD player if you put in a factory non-Bose head unit.

As far as the speakers, Factory Car Stereo Repair Inc. We know Bose repair, and Car Stereo refurbishes Bose speakers (with a lifetime warranty) or believe it or not, Bose themselves still service them as well.

I am a bit curious though. Did the PO have an aftermarket head unit driving the Bose speakers??

[Guest Rodz1]

I just picked up a low mileage 93 Riv

with the hi end stereo system but not the Bose

and the CD player click click clicks when I try to

load a cd? Any upgrade or fix ideas

Thanks

Geno