'14-'18 Aftermarket Sound Systems - What ya got?

[prox_denali]

Holy cow that’s a mess. It’s been nothing but rain where I am. As far as I know SC and FL are the only states who haven’t gotten snow. Y’all stay safe out there! And x2 on what y’all’s systems look like in the cargo boxes. I’m surprised nobody has done one to accommodate for the trucks with them. Small loss I suppose but it would be neat to have the cargo space AND the sub. I wouldn’t be against buying another cargo box to cut it up and add a sub inside of it, honestly would be pretty cool. 

[Chris1985]

I like the idea of half storage/half sub. Interested in how that turns out. Hopefully you can find a used center console box and save some money, try posting some add’s and see if someone has one. Lots of people are moving onto the newer models so you never know. If you’re around a $1000 i would just look into replacing the stock speakers and add a sub. If you buy from crutchfield they will include all speaker adapters and wiring harnesses for free with purchase of the speakers. I know the audiofrog gs25’s fit the dash location perfectly with no modifications and you can do 6x9 or 6.5 in the door with the provided bracket.

[Chris1985]

I would keep the rear door speakers for now and focus on the fronts & sub.

[jscottl]

20 hours ago, dieselfan1 said:

Where you at?

 

Northeast Kentucky. It's a mess. Trees down. Electric down. Water storage tanks empty because pumps require electric. Whole town 30 miles from here lost power when sub station went out.
 

Edited February 20, 2021 by jscottl

[prox_denali]

5 hours ago, Chris1985 said:

I like the idea of half storage/half sub. Interested in how that turns out. Hopefully you can find a used center console box and save some money, try posting some add’s and see if someone has one. Lots of people are moving onto the newer models so you never know. If you’re around a $1000 i would just look into replacing the stock speakers and add a sub. If you buy from crutchfield they will include all speaker adapters and wiring harnesses for free with purchase of the speakers. I know the audiofrog gs25’s fit the dash location perfectly with no modifications and you can do 6x9 or 6.5 in the door with the provided bracket.

I thought that the factory harness for the dash speakers had to be cut for new ones? Do the audio frogs plug and play? Or is there an aftermarket harness out there somewhere that mates to the factory harness that plugs into the dash speaker? If so, I must’ve missed them! 
 

 

[Chris1985]

I don’t believe there are any available harnesses for the dash speakers but you can cut the stock wires and add m and f insulated plugs so polarity can’t get reversed or use these https://www.amazon.com/Connectors-Replace-Battery-Builder-Hobbyist/dp/B081MQNGR1/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=xt60+connector&qid=1613882671&sprefix=xt6&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExOUVHMVY1RzM3NkJEJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODQ5NTc4MlUwMEFWRE1HWFZaWSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNjA0MTg2MVRaNkJDUk43SEM5RCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl
 

quick disconnects and easily switch back to stock speakers, these do need to be soldered in though. 

[Chris1985]

https://www.amazon.com/Glarks-Disconnect-Electrical-Connectors-Assortment/dp/B01EFNEBSE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=mf+insulated+connectors+14g&qid=1613883018&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExTFA5VzZaRUdSTDFDJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjY2MjI2TFpDMlVSU1RGRkkwJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAxMjQ1NThCWVFSV1lZM0JHVEYmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[Chris1985]

These are the crimp type 

[prox_denali]

I'm still somewhat confused, would changing the dash speakers mess with the door chimes? - i.e change the volume of them or not be present at all? I assume the chimes sound from those? Or would they not change because the headunit isn't being changed?

[dieselfan1]

If you change head units, you need an adapter for the chimes. What happens is they are way too loud. I think the phone volume is affected too.

The dash speakers have a oddball connector that Crutchfield don't have an adapter for. I just cut the wires and spliced them to the new speakers.

They have adapters for the door speakers.

On my setup everything works just like stock and it was all plug and play except for the dash speakers that I had to splice the wires. Easy .

 

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[xSHIFTxNASTYx]

Since we're on the topic of audio here, I'm going to chime in. I'm going through this myself right now (again). Can't remember how long ago it was but I swapped out my door speakers for what I thought would be better but it sounds like garbage and I think my HU already blew one of my tweeters. Some good info in this thread, now I didn't realize that signal mix sends more to the tweeter from the Bose digital processor but I have the non-Bose setup. Does the HU still do this or is it strictly from the digital processor in the Bose setup?

 

I've seen in a couple of different threads there is an amp I can add to clean up the signal to the door speakers. I feel like they need more power to clean up, maybe they're clipping from the HU. So now I can't decide if I want to try and clean up what I have now or go straight to pulling everything out and doing a proper cross over setup...then an 8" or 10" sub somewhere for proper bass.

 

I like the factory Kicker setup GM offers. I also like the idea of going custom and getting a separate amp rack built just for the sub and install another one just for the speakers. Do they make a-pillars that already have the tweeter pods in them or is everyone making those themselves? I don't have the resources to do that myself but would like to get my tweeters out of the dash and freed up. It's a tight space and the wires I had to splice are junk wiring too (not the wiring I used, talking about the stock wiring).

Edited February 26, 2021 by xSHIFTxNASTYx

[prox_denali]

Ahh I see. I guess I gotta do what I gotta do and snip the wires. It'd certainly be nice to see someone who made these. I think there was an Alpine kit that had plug and play dash speakers but it has since been discontinued. It also costs a fortune. As far as Shift's situation goes, I guess it depends on what you've got in there now and if you can justify it enough to tear it all out and start over again. I'd probably be the last person to ask about the sound systems on these trucks but I'm also looking to do this myself. I just want to have all of my ducks in a row before I start tearing into a virgin sound system that I've never messed with before. Indeed though, I am certainly learning a lot!

[jscottl]

Finally got everything installed and Duha chopped.

 

[BSherrod]

On 2/18/2021 at 6:31 PM, Chris1985 said:

 

I am currently gathering all the equipment to start a build on my 17 denali W/Bose so i cant speak to much about the install side of things from my experience yet but i have talked to a couple who have done a number of these trucks. Did you have a budget in mind to start with?

 

As far as keeping the stock HU you can use that nav-tv which is nice but like stated expensive, I haven't talked to anyone who has used the llj harness but it looks good to, I will probably end up ordering my amp rack from them and modifying it to fit. They also sell speaker adapters and a couple other things for these trucks. I will be using the pac ap4gm61 to get optical from the head unit but you can also use rca depending on your set-up. It's about half the price of the nav tv and seems to have all the same features.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_541AP4GM61/PAC-AmpPRO-AP4-GM61-Aftermarket-Amplifier-Interface.html

 

Pac also makes a harness that plugs straight into the bose amp and if you decide to go with a sep amp you don't have to run any new wire. As long as the new speakers are going in the same locations. https://www.crutchfield.com/p_541APHGM02/PAC-APH-GM02-AmpPro-Speaker-Connection-Harness.html

 

I got a mti box for my truck with 2 JL 13tw5's - they make a bunch of different options depending on your budget and how much bass you want.  They aren't cheap but very well built and can be customized to whatever you want.  https://mtiacoustics.com/ 

 

If you search around you can find a basic prefab box for around $200 depending on the configuration. Ive also talked to a couple people who have done the jl center console box and they have been really happy with them but like anything else could have some rattles that you might have to chase out. The kicker seems like a good option to..

 

I will be going active 3 way up front with audio frog gb10 in the a pillars, gb25 in the stock dash location and gb60's in the doors. You don't have to get that crazy, many companies make wide band speakers that could be better replacements for the 2.75 in the dash and then just upgrade the doors. Audiofrog makes a gs series as well that is made to integrate into stock locations easily, focal has a integration series as well that could run off the bose amp and still be a nice upgrade. 

 

I don't think any of this is hard as you think and based on what you have already done to your truck you should be able to handle this but if you feel overwhelmed you could always take it to a local shop. Either way it's not a bad idea to get a quote from a couple places and see/hear some stuff in person anyway. 

 

Here's a couple pictures of my box and pillars. Now i just need winter to get over so i can start already!!

 

 

Really like the look of those pillars, did you dab or buy those like that?