Stereo Information (Wiring, Upgrades, etc...)

[Evolvd]

It's the base 6-speaker system. 2-way components in the doors and sail panels, and 6.5 (dual cone?) rear deck speakers. 4ohms will sure make things easier, but I'd bet the RMS wattage on the head unit is possibly in the single digits.

I honestly don’t know, there’s a huge audio thread that covers every package. I’ve only had the Shaker and B&O systems.

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[m3incorp]

Adding an aftermarket amp would take care of the min watts the head unit is putting out. There are small enough amps that you could mount under the dash if you wanted but I would not when the trunk has plenty of room. You can get one amp that will take care of your speakers and subwoofer. Yes, power, ground and speaker wires will need to be run to the amp.

You are correct there. It's about $530 for the dash kit with LCD climate controls and a decent mid level double-din head unit. If I didn't upgrade the stock head unit with an amp, I'd still be limited to the 20 or so watts (x4) the aftermarket head unit would supply, although I doubt the stock head unit even supplies that much. I really don't like that tiny 4" screen, but it is usable if I could get about 20-30% more volume out of it. I would actually prefer keeping manual climate controls, especially with the random issues I've heard about with these kits. Is adding an full range amp to the stock head unit a matter of mounting a small amp behind the dash, or would new speaker wires, power/ground need to be run to to a second amp in the trunk?

I had planned to stay pretty basic, just a single 400W Infinity Kappa 8" in a very nice slot ported box tuned to 34hz on an old mono block amp i had laying around. But now, I've found myself getting the upgrade bug.

 

[DeepImpactS550]

With both the Scosche and the Metra kit a normal length radio is no problem.

So no need to "modify the subdash" (cut) as crutchfield suggests?
Since I don't have the 8" display, are there any options other than the scosche or metra?

My base system has had extremely harsh mids ever since new, to the point where I had the midrange permanently set to -6 (max). I was hoping upgrading to the Powerbass plug-n-play door speaker/tweeter kit would help, but it really didnt. The tweeters sound so much better, but not much difference in the upper mids.
I'm thinking the factory amp in the head unit is just garbage, and is probably clipping before 3/4 volume.
I've decided I want to try upgrading the head unit, but I really don't want to spend more than the crutchfield scosche kit cost /w head unit (~$525). Any other options?

 

[Cathul]

Both kits have a manual. Follow the manual.

 

[DeepImpactS550]

Both kits have a manual. Follow the manual.

Cutting was required, but I managed to do it without any major damage. I bought a set of components and I wanted to use their included crossovers, rather than run a resistor on the tweeters, and run the mids full range, as the factory system operates. It looks like that's not happening without hacking up the molex connector that goes through the door panel.

 

[Cathul]

Well, disconnect the factory tweeter, run new wired to A-pillar, use existing wiring from passive crossover midrange output to stock midrange wiring.

no cutting required with the help of the idatalink harness.

 

[Evolvd]

Well, disconnect the factory tweeter, run new wired to A-pillar, use existing wiring from passive crossover midrange output to stock midrange wiring.

no cutting required with the help of the idatalink harness.

^this

I ran a pair of speaker wire inside each A-pillar for my aftermarket tweeters.

 

[DeepImpactS550]

Well, disconnect the factory tweeter, run new wired to A-pillar, use existing wiring from passive crossover midrange output to stock midrange wiring.

no cutting required with the help of the idatalink harness.

I have the base system without any mids in the doors. Was planning to mount the crossovers behind each kick panel and run the wires through the door grommet accordion thing. But now I find out it uses a molex plug.

 

[Cathul]

Ah, ok. This changes things.
Indeed it is a lot harder in this case.

 

[DeepImpactS550]

Ah, ok. This changes things.
Indeed it is a lot harder in this case.

Yeah. I don't trust myself to hack up the factory molex connector. The only way I can think of doing it now (aftermarket head unit power) is to mount the crossovers behind the kick panels, cut the wires between the head unit and the scosche module, run the head unit wires directly to the crossovers, then separate woofer and tweeter connections back behind the dash to the factory connections in the scosche module. I had crutchfield do most of the wiring (readyharness), so I'm not even sure if there's a way to separate the woofer and tweeter connections without chopping up the factory wiring.

That brings me to another question. Does the connection split off from the factory door speaker plug to the tweeters, or were the tweeters wired separately to the factory ACM (CD Player unit, which was also the amp)? I'm also assuming there are resistors (bass blockers) wired in-line somewhere to the factory tweeters unless that was done via the ACM. I'd need to remove those too. I really wish this wasn't so complicated. Upgrading the system in my previous 99 GT was so easy in comparison.

 

[Cathul]

ACM only has two channel output for front with the base system.

 

[DeepImpactS550]

ACM only has two channel output for front with the base system.

That is what I was assuming/fearing. That also explains why I always thought the factory system sounded horrible. Full range is likely going into the paper cone woofers, with nothing to cut off the high frequencies. Any idea where the connection physically splits off? That diagram makes it seem like it's closer to the beginning of the wiring.

 

[Cathul]

Must be somewhere before the door connector as the tweeters are in the pillars. Dont know exactly though.

 

[DeepImpactS550]

Must be somewhere before the door connector as the tweeters are in the pillars. Dont know exactly though.

Considering there is that fabric tape wrapped around everything, it may be tough to find, but I just realized I'm over-complicating things. I don't need to wire the tweeters at the factory connection.
As described before, run head unit wires to the crossovers (input) I'll mount behind kick panels. They have a tweeter attenuation switch, so I want them accessible. Then, run woofer crossover outputs back to the factory LF/RF connections at the scosche module, run the tweeter crossover output with new wire, up the A-Pillars to the new tweeters.
This seems to be the simplest way to go without hacking things up. I'm assuming it's easy enough to fish wire from the kick panels to the A-Pillars. If I ever wanted to go with an external amp, I'd only have to run to the crossover inputs.

 

[Evolvd]

Considering there is that fabric tape wrapped around everything, it may be tough to find, but I just realized I'm over-complicating things. I don't need to wire the tweeters at the factory connection.
As described before, run head unit wires to the crossovers (input) I'll mount behind kick panels. They have a tweeter attenuation switch, so I want them accessible. Then, run woofer crossover outputs back to the factory LF/RF connections at the scosche module, run the tweeter crossover output with new wire, up the A-Pillars to the new tweeters.
This seems to be the simplest way to go without hacking things up. I'm assuming it's easy enough to fish wire from the kick panels to the A-Pillars. If I ever wanted to go with an external amp, I'd only have to run to the crossover inputs.

Wiring the tweeters is super easy, but installing the a-pillar trim is a huge PITA lol. The door wiring is more than adequate for anything up to 100 watts per channel. And you aren’t getting that molex connector out and back in without taking the door off.

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