Replacement for '98 GLX BOSE head unit?

[Willie Anderson <willie.anderson@analog.com>]

Greetings, GLX ListFolk,

My recently acquired '98 GLX has a "normal" pre-98 stereo head unit
in it - the OEM BOSE unit has been ordered by the dealer that sold
me the car and will be installed as soon as it arrives.  If it ever
arrives.  It is back-ordered, whatever that means in this situation.

I've been waiting for this unit for about two months, and I'm tired
of waiting.  However, I don't really want to replace the entire
stereo system, just the head unit (no flames, please, about the BOSE
speaker/amp system).  But I'm getting mixed messages regarding just
what kind of head unit with work with the BOSE amp.

Crutchfield claims that there is no adapter for their products to
the 96-98 BOSE system, so that I'm SOL for this particular car. 
When I called up Soundgate (www.soundgate.com), who makes adapters
for Crutchfield and others, they claim that the 96-98 BOSE system
doesn't need an adapter since the BOSE amp uses normal speaker
voltages as input.

I'm really thinking that I'd like to get one of those Kenwood MASK
systems (hides itself when powered off - cool) that has more than 6
FM presets and shows the new ASCII messages which are embedded in FM
broadcasts, which is something that the 98 BOSE head does not have
(I gather, from reading the BOSE manual that came with the car). 
But I can't get consensus on whether it or any other aftermarket
head unit would work with the BOSE.

Help, Mr. Wizard!  Who is right?  Who has the authoritative
information?  Thanks in advance for any help,
-- 
Willie Anderson