Aftermarket Nav/spkr/amp questions for 2006 Silverado

[bradleyr001]

Ok, from an aftermarket stereo idiot, please help with some general questions;

 

1- A new head unit, so far between the Pioneer AVIC-D3 and AVIC-Z1. Any other good ones out there comparable to these.

 

2- Going to replace all the speakers with Infinity's top of the line. I like their clear, crisp sound.

 

3- As I would much rather have extremely clear, crisp sound instead of "loud", what is a good relatively low power 4-6 channel amp to go with the system?

 

4- Is it a good idea to upgrade wiring while doing this?

 

5- Might put in a small powered subwoofer to balance the whole system out but I'm not into all that bass crap, so still undecided on this.

 

6- Any other tips out there.

[bradleyr001]

C'mon, not everyone can be illiterate like me with aftermarket stereo knowledge........

 

Have decided to go with the AVIC-Z1, the extra cost is well worth the differences.

 

Rick

[Sierrawolf]

good head unit choice i would run a 4 gauge or 6 gauge power wireing but perfer 4 gauge so i have a lil extra cushion for adding more amps. If you want to to with a 5 channel amp i say Kicker , JL they are really good amps. You might half to rerun new wireing for the new speakers espicaly if you are putting in comepents in the front (witch i would highly recommend doing it will sound really nice) Now are you going to add a sub for some low end ? IF so probly 1 12 or 1 10 (dependsing on sub and cab size of your truck ) i would get a sub that likes to be ported and does not need a lot of power. JL w0 are nice and kicker comp CVR are good to . but all goes by what yoiu want to do. WHen you do your wireing make sure you have a very good ground. scrap some of the paint away off the floor before putting the grounding termal. But over all this should get you on your way of what to do. Oh and get a cap so you do not have head light dimming. that is all.

[bradleyr001]

good head unit choice i would run a 4 gauge or 6 gauge power wireing but perfer 4 gauge so i have a lil extra cushion for adding more amps. If you want to to with a 5 channel amp i say Kicker , JL they are really good amps. You might half to rerun new wireing for the new speakers espicaly if you are putting in comepents in the front (witch i would highly recommend doing it will sound really nice) Now are you going to add a sub for some low end ? IF so probly 1 12 or 1 10 (dependsing on sub and cab size of your truck ) i would get a sub that likes to be ported and does not need a lot of power. JL w0 are nice and kicker comp CVR are good to . but all goes by what yoiu want to do. WHen you do your wireing make sure you have a very good ground. scrap some of the paint away off the floor before putting the grounding termal. But over all this should get you on your way of what to do. Oh and get a cap so you do not have head light dimming. that is all.

Hey, great info Sierrawolf, thanks (and nice ride you got). So your saying to run new 4guage wire to the speakers as well? I wasn't planning on components for the front, just Infinity's top of the line 6.5's, they are super crisp on their own. Have kinda decided on Clarion's SRV303 7" powered Sub, enough bass for me and will even things out a bit. I will look into the other amps you mentioned, clean, crisp sound is my goal. Good idea about the ground, have seen a bad ground do some "wierd" things before........never used a cap but better to get it right the first time. Any further info on Caps? Was looking at installing a high output alternator (200amp) but nothing fits a 2006 for some reason, every list I've seen for fitment went to 2005 and when I ask about a 2006, they don't have one that will fit/work.

[cambo]

1. You are not going to find a better product than a Pioneer AVIC-Z1. However when you do get it installed make sure you get the program/adapter that allows you to use the monitor while the vehicle is on and driving. I had to do this in my girlfriends Celica and its not worth the money if you can't even use it while driving.

 

2. Infinity's and JL Audio ZR component systems are the clearest sounding components. I have heard the Infinity's in my brothers T-100 and I have heard the ZR's in a Silverado and they both sound super great, especially with an amp, which I will mention below.

 

3. JL Audio has a company called Total Mobile Audio (TMA). Everyone of their products are JL products with a TMA name on it with a huge difference in price. A JL 350/4 amp is like $350, for the TMA 350/4 amp, it is only $150. They product, same quality, different price.

 

4. Upgrade speakers? Stock wires? With amp and all that its actually impossible to my knowledge to do that. But you can install aftermarket components without changing the wires. That is what I am doing this Friday. I don't have enough money to buy all the wires, because copper just went to $8 a pound. But once you add the amp, its recommended to upgrade the wires.

 

5. JL Audio will give you the clearness you want in a subwoofer. Look at at W1v2, they are the cheaper models, but are great bang for the buck. If you just want a little bump and thump, do a just one 10" W1v2 with a 250/1 mono amp to it. With that amp you can easily upgrade to two 10" W1v2 subs if one isn't doing you justice.

 

Hope that can help you.

[min9861]

if you are gonna get a z1, wait for the z2.

 

navagation, lets see. so far, kenwood dominates alpine AND pioneer. ive used all of them, and my favorite, kenwood. by far.

 

 

JL JL JL JL. dont waste money JL speakers/components. dont waste money on JL amps. woofers? if you have the money, go for it.

 

not hating on JL's or anything, but JL amp is overpriced for alot of people. you can get same/better sound with same/less money.

 

JL components, i dont hate it, i just dont care for it. my friend recently got some. not as good as you think. my rs series sound ALOT better, and he knows it.

 

not a big fan of infinity either but they are decent. but i dont think its worth spending taht much money on top of the line infinity components.

 

amps, atleast get name brand, no power acoustic, off brand crap.

 

 

no program/adapter is needed to make your tv work while your car is moving. ground your parking brake wire.

 

i dunno if you saw, but im a kicker fanatic. i like their product, fairly priced, sounds nice and looks nice.

[bradleyr001]

if you are gonna get a z1, wait for the z2.

 

navagation, lets see. so far, kenwood dominates alpine AND pioneer. ive used all of them, and my favorite, kenwood. by far.

 

 

JL JL JL JL. dont waste money JL speakers/components. dont waste money on JL amps. woofers? if you have the money, go for it.

 

not hating on JL's or anything, but JL amp is overpriced for alot of people. you can get same/better sound with same/less money.

 

JL components, i dont hate it, i just dont care for it. my friend recently got some. not as good as you think. my rs series sound ALOT better, and he knows it.

 

not a big fan of infinity either but they are decent. but i dont think its worth spending taht much money on top of the line infinity components.

 

amps, atleast get name brand, no power acoustic, off brand crap.

 

 

no program/adapter is needed to make your tv work while your car is moving. ground your parking brake wire.

 

i dunno if you saw, but im a kicker fanatic. i like their product, fairly priced, sounds nice and looks nice.

Thanks for the info and reply.....

 

I bought the Infinity speakers, 6.5's, 3-way, and their 4x6's with a Clarion powered 7" subwoofer. It is a very clean, crisp setup when heard at the stereo shop. But got everything off EBay for much less. Haven't purchased the Z-1 yet.......how much better and what are the differences between it and the Z-2? Was looking at the JL amp, but so far only purchased the speaker setup. Like I said, for the music part, clarity is WHAT I am looking for, don't care for all that teenage, gangster BASS Crap.....but you do need a little to balance everything out. Will look into the Kicker amps...

 

Good tech tip on the ground wire.

 

Why do you say Kenwood is the best in Nav systems?

 

Rick

[min9861]

becuase from what i know, their navigation isnt cd-based. kenwood is an actual seperate module, which doesnt run off discs. its an actual software. kenwood uses the same software as garmin. it shows you what street is gonna be next, better re-calcuation time.

 

check for yourself at a local audioshop and youll see the difference.

[bradleyr001]

becuase from what i know, their navigation isnt cd-based. kenwood is an actual seperate module, which doesnt run off discs. its an actual software. kenwood uses the same software as garmin. it shows you what street is gonna be next, better re-calcuation time.

 

check for yourself at a local audioshop and youll see the difference.

OK, makes sense, but are milli/micro seconds really that important?

 

Wouldn't the Z1 and Z2 and I believe some of the Eclipse units that have hard drives take the disc lag out of the game also. The Z2 looks impressive, googled it and saw some previews.....might be worth the wait to mid April release timeframe.

[Dyabolical]

A couple of comments on this thread:

 

JL is overpriced. For the same money you can get ALOT better gear. Infinity is nice, but Rainbow, Seas, CDT, RE...brands like that are so much better. The only JL product i would actually spend MSRP would be the W6 series...incredible SQ...not the best output though.

 

As far as amping your reference speakers, i would recommend Diamond, kicker, JBL....possibly a Pheonix Gold Xenon series if you can find one. As far as powering it all, just go straight for the kill and pick up a kicker 1/0 hyperflex kit. Comes with 1/0, 4awg, distrobution blocks, and fuseblocks with fuse. Ebay is where you should get it.

 

Zapco amps are insane on sound quality, however they are ultra high end and will cost a small fortune.

 

Edit:

Forgot to add this. Capacitors are absolutely worthless. Caps do nothing to stop headlight dimming. The easiest and best way to fix dimming is what is called the "Big 3 Upgrade." It is simply upgrading the very small stock grounding system to something that is a little better suited. Basically the big 3 is:

 

1. Engine block to chassis ground

2. chassis to battery (neg) ground

3. alternator to battery (pos) hot

 

Think of it this way. Your vehicle's ground system was designed to hold voltage and amperage on just stock items with no aftermarket equipment. In order to cut production costs, the manufacturer will use the smallest possible ground they can safely get away with. By adding aftermarket equipment, your stock ground is no longer sufficient to produce current to supply all electrical items. So by upgrading the grounds to a more reasonable size, you provide a more suitable circuit for the current to pass through. I recommend a MINIMUM of 4 guage, with 1/0 being best. The big 3 is a good upgrade for any vehicle however, stereo or not. And it should be a MUST for anyone using any type of power assisted trailer braking or winching. The lower the resistance, the less stress on your electrical components.

 

If you have any questions on it, be sure to PM me. I have been into car audio for many a year now, and have been an IASCA/MECA/USACI competitor for a few seasons.

 

Triple point Spring Bash coming up in Lawton, OK in a few weeks.....i am hoping i get an invite to spring nationals! Pro Modified class.

[bradleyr001]

Great info on the "Big 3", gonna make that a priority and yeah wouldn't hurt in stock form either.

 

Listen, I know there are better.....around every corner there is something bigger and/or better than whatever it is you just got/bought. My goal is not to win the next Car Audio Nationals, but to get some clean crisp sound from whatever system I end up with. To be honest, I wasn't totally displeased with the stock system, just got bored I think and after putting a lift, tires, exhaust, CAI, and a couple other goodies, well the interior needed something too.

 

My system final choices are;

 

Pioneer AVIC-Z2 (Maybe a Z1) still a bit on the fence with this one.

Infinity speakers

Clarion powered sub, with small 7in sub in it

Kicker ZX700 Amp (more than enough power for me, don't want to scare the deer and elk away when out hunting)

 

Thanks all for your inputs and always good to learn a few tricks along the way, just wish I had a few to put out there.

 

Rick

[HJainoor]

I personally prefer the Kenwood system vs. the other brands for many different reasons.

 

1. Kenwood partnered with Garmin in '06 and built an awesome navigation module (KNA-G510). It has the same foundation as the Garmin Nuvi (Garmin's #1 portable nav piece).

 

2. The navigation module (KNA-G510) is a seperate flash drive component that can be mounted anywhere at any angle. This way you haven't have to choose between navigation or a video source. You can play both at the same time.

 

3. "Text To Speech" feature. Audibly tells u the name of the street to turn on as oppose to "turn left in 100 feet".

 

4. Has the ability to connect XM Nav Traffic to it via GXM-30 (which is also a XM tuner) for live traffic updates, weather, stocks & more.

 

5. You can also have XM playing through the KNA-G510 via the GXM-30.

 

6. The KNA-G510 has a built in vehicle computer, sort of like an electronic instrument cluster with all relevant information displayed, including elevation and latitude & longtitude coordinates.

 

7. The KNA-G510 software can be updated through Garmin's website. Simply download the update onto a SD card and stick the SD card into the KNA-G510 and you're done. This should be a huge selling point since Garmin constantly updates their databases.

 

8. If you off road or drive on a lot of rough terrain (like I do), this system is awesome because it's a flash drive setup. No need to worry about the laser getting out of alignment or the expensive DVD rom disc getting scratched by bumping into the laser housing.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[HJainoor]

I personally prefer the Kenwood system vs. the other brands for many different reasons.

 

1. Kenwood partnered with Garmin in '06 and built an awesome navigation module (KNA-G510). It has the same foundation as the Garmin Nuvi (Garmin's #1 portable nav piece).

 

2. The navigation module (KNA-G510) is a seperate flash drive component that can be mounted anywhere at any angle. This way you haven't have to choose between navigation or a video source. You can play both at the same time.

 

3. "Text To Speech" feature. Audibly tells u the name of the street to turn on as oppose to "turn left in 100 feet".

 

4. Has the ability to connect XM Nav Traffic to it via GXM-30 (which is also a XM tuner) for live traffic updates, weather, stocks & more.

 

5. You can also have XM playing through the KNA-G510 via the GXM-30.

 

6. The KNA-G510 has a built in vehicle computer, sort of like an electronic instrument cluster with all relevant information displayed, including elevation and latitude & longtitude coordinates.

 

7. The KNA-G510 software can be updated through Garmin's website. Simply download the update onto a SD card and stick the SD card into the KNA-G510 and you're done. This should be a huge selling point since Garmin constantly updates their databases.

 

8. If you off road or drive on a lot of rough terrain (like I do), this system is awesome because it's a flash drive setup. No need to worry about the laser getting out of alignment or the expensive DVD rom disc getting scratched by bumping into the laser housing.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[HJainoor]

I personally prefer the Kenwood system vs. the other brands for many different reasons.

 

1. Kenwood partnered with Garmin in '06 and built an awesome navigation module (KNA-G510). It has the same foundation as the Garmin Nuvi (Garmin's #1 portable nav piece).

 

2. The navigation module (KNA-G510) is a seperate flash drive component that can be mounted anywhere at any angle. This way you haven't have to choose between navigation or a video source. You can play both at the same time.

 

3. "Text To Speech" feature. Audibly tells u the name of the street to turn on as oppose to "turn left in 100 feet".

 

4. Has the ability to connect XM Nav Traffic to it via GXM-30 (which is also a XM tuner) for live traffic updates, weather, stocks & more.

 

5. You can also have XM playing through the KNA-G510 via the GXM-30.

 

6. The KNA-G510 has a built in vehicle computer, sort of like an electronic instrument cluster with all relevant information displayed, including elevation and latitude & longtitude coordinates.

 

7. The KNA-G510 software can be updated through Garmin's website. Simply download the update onto a SD card and stick the SD card into the KNA-G510 and you're done. This should be a huge selling point since Garmin constantly updates their databases.

 

8. If you off road or drive on a lot of rough terrain (like I do), this system is awesome because it's a flash drive setup. No need to worry about the laser getting out of alignment or the expensive DVD rom disc getting scratched by bumping into the laser housing.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[HJainoor]

Sorry about the duplicate posts guys. How do u delete them?