88 Bose radio, worth saving?
 

So the new 88 Vette radio just blasts static very loud when turned on. Antennae does go up & down, but its the same very loud static no matter what.
I'm assuming this is something small, BUT is the factory radio worth saving? I did get a new radio with "modern features" from crutchfield, but its not going to flow with the interior style. Not a big stereo guy here, but i gotta have some kind of tunes for road trips. Lets say if the speakers are not blown, they are probably going to stay where they are, lol.. Am i being picky or should i just slap in the new radio & call it a day? I care enough about originality to not hack stuff up & save all replaced parts, but function is what I'm after.
Dumb question, but worth throwing out there! Maybe someone else is in the same boat. Thanks!

It could be something as simple as a break in the antenna connection between the antenna and the radio. If it has a CD player in it, you can try playing one to see if the radio itself and speakers are good. If it has an external input jack, you could see if connecting your smartphone to it would work also.

If you decide to go with the Crutchfield radio then you will probably be money ahead to buy their adapter harness which makes it basically a plug and play replacement.

I did pull the factory radio out, but got distracted & didn't mess with it anymore for the day. I feel dumb, because I think the antenna was just unplugged! Space was tight back there on disassembly & I did not unhook it, but there it was, lol. I looked at it wondering why it was so short, then realized it runs out towards the passenger kick panel/PCM. That area has been messed with by a previous owner so I'm guessing they jammed the PCM back in & that pulled the antenna out. I'll play more with it this weekend.
I do have the new radio & install stuff from Crutchfield, but kind of curios is the factory tunes are good enough.

The Bose audio system was pretty high-tech for the time. But that's not to say that over 30 years later you couldn't improve upon it.

i had that problem with my 88. It was the amp for each speaker that was bad.

Welcome to the forum.

I read somewhere the Bose speakers go with the Bose radio, they go together. Change radio brand speakers need replaced also. Talk to a radio shop about compatible units. 77 vette had a bad antanna cable, ran new coax cable. I use sirius radio for long trips, its portable dock radio one radio three docking stations one subscriptions, car, work truck and garage.

One can check with Crutchfield and see if they have any adapters to take an aftermarket radio and adapt it to the Bose speakers.