Question for those that have upgraded their factory stereo

[maxum3300]

Hey guys, I have a question for anyone who has upgraded the factory sound system in their Sierra or Silverado. I have a 2015 Sierra non nose stereo. I want to replace all 4 door speakers and add an amp to power them yet retain the factory radio. I called crutchfield and they gave me the pinouts so I would know what wires to tap for a line output converter but my concern is with the door chime. The chimes come from the driver door speaker. If I tap those speaker wires and feed them to the line output converter they then became the input source for the amp so in turn wouldn't the door chimes be running thru the amp as well and therefore amplified? I have the chime setting turned all the way down as it is and it still is too loud. I certainly don't want to amplify the chime. Anyone else run into this?

[Chance Neel]

1. Get a pro to do it.

2. Get a high quality digital crossover

3. The door chime will run through the speakers but since they have much heavier magnets and require more power it's all relative.

 

Get a decent amp like a JL audio or Alpine for the doors. They won't require much. If you can get a set of tweeters. I put infinity kappa 6.5" speakers with component tweeters in my Jeep and they sounded fantastic. But get the digital crossover or you won't be happy.

 

I just put subs under my back seat that sound phenomenal for their size. I did the dual setup which was about $1100 total including taxes and 1hr of install as well as the digital crossover. A single would make all the difference in the world and it includes an amp. Very much worth it in my opinion I'm happy as can be.

[CaptainMcFunk]

So i literally just did this/dealt with it. The easiest way is to tap into your rear door speakers to get your new front door signals...if that makes sense? The chime is tied to the front door speakers.....so my wiring goes like this:

 

 

Factory wiring for rear door + & - --> new wire to my line output converter (LC6i) --> RCAs to my aftermarket amp --> new speaker wire from my aftermarket amp all the way to the front doors into my Hertz Audio component speakers.

 

Let me know if this doesn't make sense and I can try to explain it in more detail, but this was the only way I was able to keep from amplifying the front door speaker chimes. i didn't have to tap into anything at all behind the dash.

[Chance Neel]

Yea but then you have your back left speaker on the back left and front left losing your surround. You'll miss out on music that uses different channels.

[Svonpress87]

Chevrolet feeds almost all the lows into the front speakers. The rear speakers aren't getting full frequency range due to capacity. Which is why I wired my woofer amp to the fronts then into a crossover. But I too have the chime issue as well as a odd frequency that comes thru when I open driver rear door key off.

[maxum3300]

Chevrolet feeds almost all the lows into the front speakers. The rear speakers aren't getting full frequency range due to capacity. Which is why I wired my woofer amp to the fronts then into a crossover. But I too have the chime issue as well as a odd frequency that comes thru when I open driver rear door key off.

According to crutchfield all 4 speaker outputs are full range so you shouldn't lose anything by tapping the rear speaker outputs. I'm going to do as Capt. McFunk said, tap the rear doors speakers outputs for my line level into my line out converter then run rca's to my amp then run new speaker wires to all 4 doors. Leave the 2 dash speakers connected to the factory wiring fort my chime.

[slee3247]

I simply replaced the door speakers with a set of 6x9 infinity reference speakers and added a Rockford fosgate amp and sub tapped into the b pillar speakers. Sounds much, much better than any factory Bose junk. It helps that it's a regular cab pickup.

 

Any questions feel free to dm..Good luck!

[Nasty]

Yea but then you have your back left speaker on the back left and front left losing your surround. You'll miss out on music that uses different channels.

I disagree with this none of my vehicles have rear speakers. I know I know I'm going to get bitched at for saying this but with Sq vehicles, there are never rear speakers unless it's a sub. It sounds much better everything coming from in front for you a lot of people think more speakers everywhere are better but with car audio, less is more

[Chance Neel]

Completely disagree. Everything from the front sounds junk. There's a reason it's surround sound. It should sound like you're wearing headphones not from a single direction. Regardless when audio is produced they use multiple channels if you cut one you're losing that part of the tract. You don't do audio because of where you think the sound should come you do it so it actually represents where the people created it think it should. For high quality complete sound you need all channels. A lot of music out there uses fades, etc, and you'll miss all of it. What other vehicles have done isn't what matters. My truck sounds beautiful and every vehicle I've owned I've put top notch systems in. Can't believe someone would consider cutting a channel out. Not to mention it imbalances the music. Most rear channels have more bass and now your going to have a front left door with different audio freqs than the front right lol.

[Nasty]

This is where the right speakers, staging and tuning come into play. I knew I'd get shit even though it's just my opinion.

 

I know it's not your everyday vehicle but I compete in sound quality. I have a 2 way setup in my other Silverado right now with no tweeters that would low your mind. And you can't even tell where the speakers are mounted.

 

Again just my opinion or 2 cents whatever you want to call it

[GRN69CHV]

No matter how you cut it, these are left and right stereo systems with front to rear faders not quadraphonic sound. Whether you use the front signals or the rear it's still just left/right stereo. Mine has front and rear amped doors with a 10" powered sub. Very shortly (as soon as the weather breaks and it's warm enough to work outside) I'm changing sytem in mine to a 75Wx4 Amp powering the doors only and removing the Alpine 445U compact amp I installed 2 years ago. Not that it sounds bad (it doesn't), but I am truly tired of the elevated door chimes, even with the amp gain completely turned down it's still annoying. Dash goes back to factory head unit power only. Signal will be fed from the rear doors into LC2i. split to feed Amp and sub. Amp is RF400-4D that I have on the shelf. 2 full range channels from the LC2i feed the front channels of the RF400, pass thru feeds the rear channels of the RF400. Gives complete control of all the doors to set gains and crossover points independent. Driver side dash will be only location for door chime and Bluetooth. Rear doors currently have woofers from a set of Kenwood Excelon's. front doors are Alpine 6x9 Type R's. These will stay until I get more power in there and then figure out if/what I want for speakers. Been there, done it. unless someone can reprogram the HU to virtually eliminate the chime signal beyond the factory settings, there's no way to power up the system without amping up the chime volume other than tapping signal from the rear door feeds.

[Jay Hartman]

I have a 2011 Denali dually. Of course, it comes with the Bose speakers. I want to upgrade the stock head unit and leave the speakers alone. Does anyone have any suggestions for what head unit to use? I know everyone has their own favourite brand. I want the nav system with the head unit. I also want to keep my controls on the steering wheel. Any help or recommendations are appreciated. 

[FHLH]

19 hours ago, Jay Hartman said:

I have a 2011 Denali dually. Of course, it comes with the Bose speakers. I want to upgrade the stock head unit and leave the speakers alone. Does anyone have any suggestions for what head unit to use? I know everyone has their own favourite brand. I want the nav system with the head unit. I also want to keep my controls on the steering wheel. Any help or recommendations are appreciated. 

here you go

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500I209GM/Alpine-i209-GM-In-Dash-Restyle-System.html?tp=49934

Honestly the best and only option.

 

As for the topic at hand. I'd look at a DSP processor that can take the factory headunit and process it properly to an amp(s) then process the proper signal to the individual speaker locations.  I think the JL Fix86 and a processor/amp could do the trick.

[Jay Hartman]

Great thanks

[chrmbly]

Did anyone try this?  I’m thinking of tapping the rear speaker to an lc2i and then run that to a Sony amp with built in dsp to keep the fader (albeit through an app).  Or am I better off getting an lc6i?