Speaker upgrade

[BG'sZee]

Figured I'd do an update since I made some changes lol. It was better for sure, but it just wasn't where I wanted it. I ended up swapping my 4 channel amp out for a 6 channel that has DSP built in. The dash speakers were a little too bright with them and the front doors setup as 3 ways. Couldn't turn the dash down with out turning the 6x9s down. Also still didn't have much control over the eq settings. Just had channel summing and that was it.

New amp has full DSP so all the Eq adjustments you could ever want. Also with it being 6 channel the dash mids and tweeters are on their own channel. Then the 6x9 woofers have their own and then the rear doors. Much better balance now. Can turn down the highs on the dash with out killing the midrange bass from the doors. With the digital EQ I was able to fix what bose did. Sounds great now. No more clock radio sound lol.

Imo to anyone who is going to go through the hassle of adding an amp, just go a head and get a DSP or get an Amp with DSP built in. All the channel from the bose amp has some weird crossovers settings. Channel summing helps, but you really just need to be able to adjust all the frequencies to balance them back out.

That must sound amazing - bad A$$

 

[Jdifranco13]

I did, I went with the Infinity Kappa 693 components for the front (tweeters in the A pillars), Kappa 693 coaxial in the rear doors, and AudioFrog GS25 in the dash. I've got the factory subwoofer still in the box, just can't find the time to put it in. Still no word yet on the NavTV decoder...

Hey Man! Just saw this comment. We were talking last year about stereo upgrades. What made you go with the infinity over the Focals you were originally thinking?

 

[Jdifranco13]

Nothing fancy, just a Kicker 46CXA400. I had points on Crutchfild from the other stuff that knocked 45 off. The factory 200watt amp is a little anemic and it only had high level inputs. Having the DSP with low level outputs and the option to tune the line out in the software. It just made sense to switch to an amp that could take advantage of that. It made a huge difference. Way louder and I have a lot more control of the crossover frequency and volume. Actually pretty impressed with the kicker sub now with this amp on it. Spent two hours driving today and actually had the sub turned down about halfway. Before it was at max and still seemed lacking. My wife instantly said the radio is way more boomy now lol

Hey Man, you seem to have a lot of knowledge on this crap. Just out of curiosity, do you know what the RMS and total wattage on the factory Bose are? I want to make sure when I upgrade I get stuff that will be louder than the factory, cause that's one of my complaints about it, aside from overall sound quality. Thanks!

 

[Matt Trakker]

Hey Man, you seem to have a lot of knowledge on this crap. Just out of curiosity, do you know what the RMS and total wattage on the factory Bose are? I want to make sure when I upgrade I get stuff that will be louder than the factory, cause that's one of my complaints about it, aside from overall sound quality. Thanks!

Wouldn't you have to add an amp to make it louder? If you upgrade the speakers they should be able to handle more watts?

 

[Jdifranco13]

Wouldn't you have to add an amp to make it louder? If you upgrade the speakers they should be able to handle more watts?

Yea I would be adding an amp too, but would love to know what the current ones are rated at so I know if I'd be okay with something that's 80-160, or if I would want something that's more a peak of 200 watts.

 

[Freak]

Yea I would be adding an amp too, but would love to know what the current ones are rated at so I know if I'd be okay with something that's 80-160, or if I would want something that's more a peak of 200 watts.

Ignore "Peak" watts. It's meaningless for practical purposes. 80-100 Watts RMS will be plenty unless you want to compete. It's hard to find any real info on factory sound systems, even if you find watt numbers, they'll almost certainly list peak, to make them seem more powerful than they are. Plus they often list total system wattage, with no detail about how many to each speaker.

If you're swapping speakers, along with adding an amp, it will be better than the Bose. Anything with 80 watts RMS or higher will crush the stock setup in volume. Hell, they'll probably overpower the stock sub. My old setup (which is getting swapped into my Z) was 100 watts to each of the doors, and it was way more than enough (I did have subs in it).

 

[Jdifranco13]

Ignore "Peak" watts. It's meaningless for practical purposes. 80-100 Watts RMS will be plenty unless you want to compete. It's hard to find any real info on factory sound systems, even if you find watt numbers, they'll almost certainly list peak, to make them seem more powerful than they are. Plus they often list total system wattage, with no detail about how many to each speaker.

If you're swapping speakers, along with adding an amp, it will be better than the Bose. Anything with 80 watts RMS or higher will crush the stock setup in volume. Hell, they'll probably overpower the stock sub. My old setup (which is getting swapped into my Z) was 100 watts to each of the doors, and it was way more than enough (I did have subs in it).

Cool! Thanks for clarifying that. That's what I assumed would be the case, but not an expert on this stuff. I would def be adding an amp with speakers, and they would be very good quality speakers at that. I just hate these factory systems, if you want to drive with the windows open at all, you can barely hear the music. Not that I'm trying to annoy others, but I just want some damn volume without turning the knob to 100. Lol

 

[landpilot]

Hey Man! Just saw this comment. We were talking last year about stereo upgrades. What made you go with the infinity over the Focals you were originally thinking?

They didn't have the same sound I expected in the Silverado that they did in my F-150... not sure what the issue was, but definitely different. I picked up the factory Kicker sub add-on back in November when it was on sale and added that as well, and it sounds really nice. Just waiting for the Nav-TV processor so I can eliminate the Bose amp and put in something better.

 

[Matt Trakker]

I just noticed there is no HD radio. WTF?

Does anyone use a media player or USB stick for MP3/FLAC files? I'm thinking about getting a new phone and the one I'm looking at doesn't have SD card slot.

 

[Jdifranco13]

They didn't have the same sound I expected in the Silverado that they did in my F-150... not sure what the issue was, but definitely different. I picked up the factory Kicker sub add-on back in November when it was on sale and added that as well, and it sounds really nice. Just waiting for the Nav-TV processor so I can eliminate the Bose amp and put in something better.

What's the deal with the amp? You can't bypass it now?

 

[scubatech]

What's the deal with the amp? You can't bypass it now?

The B & O I had in my F150 was pretty good. I don't listen to a lot of music unless I'm on the road, mainly talk radio. But I had to turn the sub down in the Ford. My friends older Corvette has a great sounding Bose system!

 

[landpilot]

What's the deal with the amp? You can't bypass it now?

no, it's on a data bus and you need something like the nav Zen AVB-GM to decode the data and output it into something the amp can understand. If you just grab the speaker outputs from the Bose, you're still getting all of the preprocessing from the Bose amp, and it does some funky things with the front stage and the rear doors. It's not cheap, but I spend a lot of time on the road so it's worth it to me.

 

[8ball_99]

Hey Man, you seem to have a lot of knowledge on this crap. Just out of curiosity, do you know what the RMS and total wattage on the factory Bose are? I want to make sure when I upgrade I get stuff that will be louder than the factory, cause that's one of my complaints about it, aside from overall sound quality. Thanks!

Sorry for some reason I didn't get a notification about this post. I don't know what the factory system wattage is rated at. You could actually get a rough idea just by looking at what the bose amp is fused at. I didn't check that when I had everything apart, But my guess is not much. I don't remember the gauge of the power wire going to it. I do remember it wasn't very large though. If I had to guess it's probably 240 watts or so. If the power wire is 10 gauge and fused around 30 amps it could be up to 400 watts or so. That's just how amps work. If you buy a china amp and it says 1000 watts but it has two 20 amp fuses on the back, It defiantly isn't putting out 1000 watts lol.

Go by RMS when looking at speakers and amps, like others said. Peak wattage means nothing. If I had to guess stock is probably 35 watt RMS give or take. The speakers and amp I put in can handle more power than I can. I can turn it up to the point where its uncomfortably loud and it's still crystal clear with no distortion or clipping. I'm not even pushing my amp either. It is rated for 125rms x6 at 4 ohm and 200rms x6 at 2 ohms.. My speakers are 3 ohms so I'm in the middle of those two ratings. My highest RMS speaker is the 6x9s at 145 RMS, Rears are 85 RMS and dash speakers are 50 RMS. Don't get to caught up on big numbers. Like someone else mentioned. You really don't need that much. 60 or 80 watt RMS door speakers should be plenty for most anyone.

 

[AustinQuattro]

This guy John with A.I.S. Audio Integration Solutions (A.I.S.-Audio Integration Solutions <1pocket73@sbcglobal.net>) made a harness for me on my 2019 Silverado and he's about to make one for my 2024 I have now. It taps in and gives you a signal for all channels, but also gives you wires that keep you from needing to rewire the truck, all plug an play. Excellent work he does. Hope it helps those not wanting to tap into the speakers manually and cut anything, since it's all plug and play. See the video below.

Also, thanks for all this...I'm ordering the same 6x9s and rear door speakers today, and just reusing the 10" Infinity Kappa sub I have in the SubThump box I had made a few years ago. SubThump had a single 10" box that I had him adjust to be the same size as the dual 10" box that filled the entire underseat area, but the speaker box was only on the passenger side, and the drivers side and center are just storage, so I don't lose my underseat storage. There's enough room for an amp, tow rope, lug removal stuff, and a truck gun.

Question here, did you sum the output from the door and the dash, then feed it to the amp, then the crossover and from the crossover back to the door and dash locations? Because the outputs are separate and not full range. Just trying to make sure I get the full signal. I'm thinking I'll just go with the tweeter in the dash instead of adding the 203S, might lose a little mid, but most of that is coming from the door anyway, and I can avoid putting a speaker in the A-pillar. Thoughts?

 

[AustinQuattro]

This guy John with A.I.S. Audio Integration Solutions (A.I.S.-Audio Integration Solutions <1pocket73@sbcglobal.net>) made a harness for me on my 2019 Silverado and he's about to make one for my 2024 I have now. It taps in and gives you a signal for all channels, but also gives you wires that keep you from needing to rewire the truck, all plug an play. Excellent work he does. Hope it helps those not wanting to tap into the speakers manually and cut anything, since it's all plug and play. See the video below.

Also, thanks for all this...I'm ordering the same 6x9s and rear door speakers today, and just reusing the 10" Infinity Kappa sub I have in the SubThump box I had made a few years ago. SubThump had a single 10" box that I had him adjust to be the same size as the dual 10" box that filled the entire underseat area, but the speaker box was only on the passenger side, and the drivers side and center are just storage, so I don't lose my underseat storage. There's enough room for an amp, tow rope, lug removal stuff, and a truck gun.

Question here, did you sum the output from the door and the dash, then feed it to the amp, then the crossover and from the crossover back to the door and dash locations? Because the outputs are separate and not full range. Just trying to make sure I get the full signal. I'm thinking I'll just go with the tweeter in the dash instead of adding the 203S, might lose a little mid, but most of that is coming from the door anyway, and I can avoid putting a speaker in the A-pillar. Thoughts?

I was googling info on replacing the speakers and found this forum, then I created a profile just so I could respond and engage here lol. I'm usually on the GM-Trucks forum, but you guys seem more involved.

 

[ZR2NYC]

I was googling info on replacing the speakers and found this forum, then I created a profile just so I could respond and engage here lol. I'm usually on the GM-Trucks forum, but you guys seem more involved.

tons of audiophiles on this forum, all with great info.

 

[8ball_99]

This guy John with A.I.S. Audio Integration Solutions (A.I.S.-Audio Integration Solutions <1pocket73@sbcglobal.net>) made a harness for me on my 2019 Silverado and he's about to make one for my 2024 I have now. It taps in and gives you a signal for all channels, but also gives you wires that keep you from needing to rewire the truck, all plug an play. Excellent work he does. Hope it helps those not wanting to tap into the speakers manually and cut anything, since it's all plug and play. See the video below.

Also, thanks for all this...I'm ordering the same 6x9s and rear door speakers today, and just reusing the 10" Infinity Kappa sub I have in the SubThump box I had made a few years ago. SubThump had a single 10" box that I had him adjust to be the same size as the dual 10" box that filled the entire underseat area, but the speaker box was only on the passenger side, and the drivers side and center are just storage, so I don't lose my underseat storage. There's enough room for an amp, tow rope, lug removal stuff, and a truck gun.

Question here, did you sum the output from the door and the dash, then feed it to the amp, then the crossover and from the crossover back to the door and dash locations? Because the outputs are separate and not full range. Just trying to make sure I get the full signal. I'm thinking I'll just go with the tweeter in the dash instead of adding the 203S, might lose a little mid, but most of that is coming from the door anyway, and I can avoid putting a speaker in the A-pillar. Thoughts?

That Harness is cool and would save some time. Especially if mounting the amp under the rear seat. Where mine is under the passenger seat I would have had to run a lot of wires back and forth to the factory amp.

So the way mine is. My amp has 8 inputs and 6 outputs plus one line level output. I ran all 7 factory channels into my amp which has a built in DSP. Dash front and rear doors and sub. The line level out goes to my sub amp.

In the DSP software I summed the rear and front doors together. From the bose amp. The rear doors has the most full range signal, but at lower output. The front doors have higher volume but some of the eq range is missing. You do not want to sum the dash with other speakers. All the truck stuff like onstar, Google, phone calls, ect comes in over the dash. You don't want that stuff playing out say the rear door speakers. So say the signal to the front doors for example. You wouldn't want to sum the dash into those channels. Now you could sum the output to the dash with another channel if you wanted. I actually think I did do that. Not to get more to them. But to actually tone down the truck sounds since that signal is now amped. Mixing another channel in with them will basically lower the level of the truck sounds.

As far as the dash goes. Personally I wouldn't do that. Same reason as above. The dash speakers play phone calls, truck sounds, Google. If all you have is a set of tweeters up there. I think a lot of stuff would sound really flat. If you notice earlier in this thread, I pointed out the factory dash speakers are the best looking out of all of them. I think that was by design because they are doing so much. Heck I would have put the 303s there if I could have lol. Mine does sound great though with the 202s and the tweeters.

 

[AustinQuattro]

So I just ordered everything...speakers from Crutchfield, and the amp from Target because they were the only place I found that had it in stock and I got 5% off too, same front and rear speakers minus the mids, and instead of the 6 channel, I went with the Audio Control D-5.1300 5 channel and I'll use the passive crossovers for the fronts and have them on 2 channels, rears on the other 2, and the sub (10" Infinity Kappa) on the 500watts. I'll just bypass the sub amp I have now built into the box. The adapter being made includes a Wavtech Link-6 for $430 or Audiocontrol LC6i for $380. I think I'm doing the Wavtech because it does summing of channels without having to open up the box.

 

[AustinQuattro]

That Harness is cool and would save some time. Especially if mounting the amp under the rear seat. Where mine is under the passenger seat I would have had to run a lot of wires back and forth to the factory amp.

So the way mine is. My amp has 8 inputs and 6 outputs plus one line level output. I ran all 7 factory channels into my amp which has a built in DSP. Dash front and rear doors and sub. The line level out goes to my sub amp.

In the DSP software I summed the rear and front doors together. From the bose amp. The rear doors has the most full range signal, but at lower output. The front doors have higher volume but some of the eq range is missing. You do not want to sum the dash with other speakers. All the truck stuff like onstar, Google, phone calls, ect comes in over the dash. You don't want that stuff playing out say the rear door speakers. So say the signal to the front doors for example. You wouldn't want to sum the dash into those channels. Now you could sum the output to the dash with another channel if you wanted. I actually think I did do that. Not to get more to them. But to actually tone down the truck sounds since that signal is now amped. Mixing another channel in with them will basically lower the level of the truck sounds.

As far as the dash goes. Personally I wouldn't do that. Same reason as above. The dash speakers play phone calls, truck sounds, Google. If all you have is a set of tweeters up there. I think a lot of stuff would sound really flat. If you notice earlier in this thread, I pointed out the factory dash speakers are the best looking out of all of them. I think that was by design because they are doing so much. Heck I would have put the 303s there if I could have lol. Mine does sound great though with the 202s and the tweeters.

well shit, maybe I'll swap the 5 ch for the 6 ch and use the sub amp I have now for the time being, and get the 202s and just set it up exactly like yours...

 

[8ball_99]

Sorry I forgot to mention crossovers. I did use crossovers on my tweeters in the apillers. My amp is 6 channels out. So the tweeters and dash speakers are on the same channel. I set the crossover in the amp for the dash for the 202s frequency range. Since they can go lower then my tweeters I used a passive crossover to the tweeters. The other speakers are on their on channels, so set the crossovers for them in the DSP software.