2000 Cadillac Deville radio/speaker upgrade

[brownsfn2]

Ok. I just finished looking through over 40 pages of posts. I tried to search but this topic did not come up.

I just bought a 2000 Cadillac Deville Base model. It has a non-bose radio. When I play the radio either on AM, FM, or CD I can hear a slight hiss in the background. I know it is the radio or speakers because when I turn it off I do not hear it anymore. It is loud enough to annoy me and I was hoping someone here might have had this problem before.

I have thought about just replacing the radio and speakers with original Bose parts from ebay or salvage yards (hoping the problem will go away) but then I read that this might be very difficult and perhaps more difficult than buying after market. I would still love to explore this option since I love the look of the integrated radio. An aftermarket one just seems to flashy and won't look like it is part of the car. (Too many lights and flashy things))

So I was hoping that someone might have some advice for me. I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. I have installed and mounted a DVD player in my minivan and I can work a soldering iron.

Is there a way to fix the existng radio? Can it sound good by itself?

Should I try the Bose cd/cassette radio upgrade? I can get one off of Ebay for around $100.

Should I upgrade the speakers to the Bose that are the original parts?

How hard is it to do the Bose upgrade?

Are there any aftermarket reccomendations that would be cheap ($300 complete) but sound good and look like its part of the car? (I do not want one of those systems where my neighbors can hear me from miles away.) I just like good music that sounds good in the car it provides nice ambience.

Can I fix the hiss sound?

Thanks for any help. This is my first cadillac and the first time I have really bought a used car that I have wanted to upgrade. I am really excited about this car though.

[CadillacSTS2003]

what i gather from your info would be a problem known as alternator whine
best solution is to place speaker wires AWAY from any high power wires

upgrade to bose forget it

cheapest aftermarket route would be to just swap the hu and keep the factory amp and speaks which will not remove the hiss noise

[brownsfn2]

I thought that alternator whine would increase or the sound would change as I accelerate. This does not happen. Do you think the speakers could be bad?

[brownsfn2]

I also thought I read somewhere that I might be able to just swap the standard HU for the Bose HU with RDS and DSP. Is this true?

Won't I lose steering wheel control and other fucntions with an aftermarket install?

Thanks again!

[CadillacSTS2003]

without an aditional tuner you will lose the seek on your wheel control it will act as a fade on a aftermarket unit

you will GAIN RDS with the newer unit i dont think DSP because DSP is effected in the AMP since you dont have stock bose i have no idea what this could do, it could lock up the unit, it could do nothing

also its easy enough to find out if its your alt
unplug it (obviously for a limited amount of time) see if it continues to make noise if it does then its not alt whine

[K@ddiD@ddi]

Check your ground wires, alternator whine is caused by having poor grounding either at the battery, at the radio, or at the amplifier, remember the old school Pyramid amps?? That was caused by poor grounding circuits from the factory

[00 Deville]

The stock to Bose conversion is possible. But i would suggest that you read the post below and it will remove all thoughts of wanting to convert your stock radio to the Bose.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums...onversion.html (Stock to BOSE conversion)

[Heide264]

Does the hiss increase with volume and disappear at lower volumes?

Mine does it for example if I am running my iPod because I have to turn the volume up pretty high on the hu and down on the iPod to prevent really crappy sound.

If so, I don't think there is anything wrong with your system at all. Just putting too much power through something or other. I am upgrading to an aftermarket system - hopefully I can work around this issue.