Non-Bose Stock Stereo Upgrade (Just Completed), A Few Valuable Tips!

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minngolfer

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Just wanted to give a quick update on an install I completed on my 2008 Tahoe LT.

*USE LINE-OUT-CONVERTER, read on, you'll see why!

The stock stereo was the non-Bose and was absolutely terrible. Now I'm no longer 18 and I have a young son who sits in the back seat so I wasn't looking for earth-rattling bass, but still wanted clearer highs and a little bit more low end.

My solution was to replace the front components with Alpine SPS-600C ($149 at Best Buy, but picked up for $70 off amazon), replaced the rear door 6.5s with Apline SPS-600, and added a 10-inch Rockford Fosgate Punch sub. I powered the front components and sub with a 4-channel amp, pushing approx 65w per channel on channel 1 and 2 which is about perfect RMS power for the front components, and bridged the other two channels on the amp to power the sub.

A couple questions that I had posted but can now answer for others in regards to the front stock A-Pillar tweeters. The tweeters are run in parallel with the two front door 6.5" speakers and don't have any obvious crossover, perhaps it's built in to the factory clip inside the A-Pillar. I didn't want to overly modify the stock A-Pillars, so I decided to simply unplug the A-Pillar tweeter and installed the two new tweeters in the black corner sail panels. This made the wiring extremely easy as I could just hide the crossover in the door cavern.

Some of the accessories I stocked up on prior to installing included: speaker adapter brackets (14.99 each pair from Crutchfield, need these unless you want to retrofit or build your own adapters, speakers slides (clips that tap on the speaker terminals, 4 pairs from Best Buy parts department for $5, plus about 30 crimp connectors), 100 feet of 12 gauge speaker wire ($15 Amazon), amp install kit ($12 Amazon, was $49 at Best Buy for the same kit), hole saw/drill, used the 2" model for the tweeter install in sail panels.

Because I wanted to keep the install looking as stock as possible I took Crutchfield's advice (which I now realize is crap), and bought an amp that had speaker level inputs (means that you don't need RCA outputs on your deck, as most factory head units don't have them). Bought the Bazooka M465 4-channel amp ($130 from Crutchfield on clearance, not bad price for the RMS wattage). With the amp having the speaker level inputs I had to tap into the factory harness for the front speaker signals, I ran the spliced signal back to the rear seats with the 12 gauge speaker cable, and then actually split the signal (took the front drivers side and front passenger, and essentially doubled the signal by splicing) this allowed me to pickup the signal again for the sub that I was running off of Channel 3 and 4 of the amp. I ran these four speaker signals into a speaker level harness that was included with the amp. Because the amp had low and high pass filters, I was able to cut the highs out of channels 3 and 4, and cut some of the lows off of channels 1 and 2. Again, channels 1 and 2 were the front door components, and channels 3 and 4 were bridged for the sub. The output speaker wires from the amp were the run back up to the head unit, where I had spliced into the harness, thus returning 65 watts RMS to each speaker. Now everything was fine......EXCEPT.......

Alternator whine! I know this has been mentioned on other forums and perhaps even here, but this was an easy fix and was simply some poor advice from Crutchfield, that left me troubleshooting for 6 hours yesterday. Simply put, when I turned on my car with the stereo powered off, the speakers would whine/crackle in line with the RPMs of the vehicle, this was extrememly annoying. It didn't stop when the stereo was on either, it sounds like a winding siren inside the car. When this happened I called up Crutchfield and they told me I had a bad ground.....wrong, I spent an hour re-doing ground work. Called Crutchfield back, they told me I was picking up interference and needed to pick a different path to run my signal wires (speaker wires from head unit used in place of RCAs on their advice) back from the head unit to avoid interference.....wrong, tried 3 new paths to no success. Finally, they told me to re-route the power wire.....wrong, tried 3 new paths, no success.

To summarize this, and hopefully save others 6 hours of useless troubleshooting, DO NOT USE SPEAKER LEVEL INPUTS!!! This morning I went to WalMart of all places, bought a Scoshe 4 challed Line-Out-Coverter for $18. I tapped my four signal wires into it under the back seat (the ones I had run from the factory harness on the head unit, removed the speaker level adapters from the amp, and used to Line-Out-Converter with RCAs to hook the Scoshe LOC into the amp, and ****, the Alternator whine was gone. All in all, this 5 minute fix took 6 hours to fix due to very poor advice from Crutchfield!

Overall, this setup sounds very good. Don't expect it to sound like a $2000 system, as it isn't. However, it is a giant leap up from the stock system, and comparable, if not better than the Bose. It definitely has more low end bass than the Bose system, and I believe the tweeters are also more clear. Main advantage to me was the factory appearance, and the ability for steering wheel controls, XM Radio, and Onstar features to remain active without major retrofit with the use of an aftermarket head unit.

I initially put the speakers in without the amp just to see if there was a noticeable improvement, and it actually sounded worse than stock due to inadequate power. The ideal power rating for the Alpine components are 40-80 watts RMS, the amp was right in the sweet spot and made all the difference in the world. The rear door speakers sound okay using the head unit power, but not a huge issue for me as my 2-year old doesn't really care.

RECAP OF COSTS:

FRONT SPEAKERS:

Alpine SPS-600c 6.5" Components w/ External Tweeter ($70 Amazon vs. $149 at Best Buy)

REAR SPEAKERS:

Alpine SPS-600 6.5" ($60 Amazon vs. $100 at Best Buy)

SPEAKER ADAPTERS:

Listed as Chevy Impala adapters on Crutchfield ($14.99 x 2 pairs, worth every cent)

SUBWOOFER:

10-Inch Sealed Box (Amazon $29, vs. Best Buy $69)

10-Inch Rockford Fosgate Prime/Punch Sub (Amazon $43, vs. Best Buy $79)

AMPLIFIER:

Bazooka 4-Channel M465 ($130 on Crutchfield, about 50% off, was on clearance)

Amp Wiring Kit ($12 off Amazon, was $49 at Best Buy for same kit!)

EXTRAS:

Scoshe 4-channel Line-Out-Converter, A MUST BUY for this type of install ($18 Walmart)

Wire Crimps ($5 for about 30)

Speaker Slide Adapters (need 4 pairs, got free from Best Buy install dept, just sweet talk the installer)

RELIEF:

12-Pack Bud Light ($9.99 at Frys Marketplace)


TOTAL COST:

Approximately $400 with NO TAX due to buying just about everything online!

Local Shop (Audio Express) quotes $850 for the same setup, plus tax.


***************MORAL OF THE STORY**************

USE A LINE-OUT-CONVERTER TO CONNECT TO THE AMP, DO NOT USE SPEAKER WIRE ADAPTER/HARNESS!
 
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VikingFan

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This would have been helpful a week ago! I had the exact same experience as you and ended up going the exact same route as you. No matter what, the high-level inputs pick up noise no matter where you run them. This should be a sticky!
 

BBHOE

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What did you use for the remote power wire to the aftermarket AMP? I'm having a problem trying to find one that turns on and off with the key since most everything is turned on and off with bus signals now?

Thanks
 

cwh

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The PAC line out converter that I used has a remote turn on wire. Works slick.
 

DanSATX

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Great article and very thorough write-up Mr. minngolfer. I'm a new Forum member and you've given me inspriation to upgrade my '07 Tahoe's stock stereo system. I recently finished my schematic and wiring run lay-out. I'd really appreciate your comments/corrections with a few pointers. I can send it by email. [email protected]

Thanks,
Dan
 
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