Hi, this is my first post on here,
I have a 2000 ZR-2 Blazer and my only complaint is that it lacks the Bose system. I have read a lot of threads where people basically said "just don't do it" and said it was very difficult but I have a local junkyard with probably 4 blazers and 5 Bravadas plus a jimmy or two and I hate the looks of aftermarket stereos, my understanding is that to do the swap i need the new stereo obviously, the amp, and the wiring harnesses to support them. Has anyone done this who can tell me where this is all located at and how best to do it?

 

The only "very" difficult part I can imagine anyone would encounter is dealing with swapping out the required wiring harnesses. On top of that I'm sure that the retarded anti-theft system that's built into the factory junk is going to have to be reset to your vehicles VIN number in order for the Bose HU to work in your truck as well.

I really do understand your displeasure with how the aftermarket units look, especially in these trucks. However, I still have to recommend not messing with the swap. The only thing special about the Bose factory stereo systems in ANY vehicle is the name. The speakers that are used are still the cheapest units they can use. The amplifiers barely offer any more power output than the standard factory HU does. Speaker placement still sucks and the default tuning of the system doesn't play to any positive attribute (if any exist) of the speakers that are used.

I would imagine the information you seek is located on this website. The sheer amount of data that exists on these trucks on here is amazing. You'll need all the associated harnesses, speakers, head unit, amplifier(s), possibly even door panels or other associated grilles, etc. in case the depth behind the regular ones and the Bose ones are different. I can't imagine the time it will take to do all that work will even remotely be comparable to the small gains you'll get from the swap but to each his own.

 

If I did the swap I would use aftermarket speakers and get one of the modified stereos that has either an AUX port or bluetooth capabilities. So what I really want from the stereo itself is it's 6-channel capability and most importantly the look.

 

In that case why not look into hooking the Bose stereo up to an aftermarket amp(s) as well as the aftermarket speakers. You could pull the low level outputs that would normally go to the Bose amp and run them directly into the low level inputs of an aftermarket amp. At that point you could have some real power to work with your aftermarket speakers. You could also play with the channel configurations any way you wanted to, not to mention the fact that if you really want to get great sound from your speakers you could also use a Digital Sound Processor before the amp(s). That would net you much better EQ controls along with better crossover controls and things like time alignment as well. That all depends on the budget you were planning on throwing at it though.

The advantage of going with aftermarket amps is that you won't need all the extra Bose related harnesses and crap. Just the one that carries the low level signals out of the unit. That's a ton less work and trouble that can yield much better overall results (better sound, more output too) over trying to reuse the majority of the Bose setup. That's still a fair bit of trouble just to get an aux port or bluetooth functionality with the extra channels.