Seems that the days are getting closer when the snow will finally be gone and i can start thinking about bringing up a vette from the states. Anyway i have an 02 duramax crew and i hate the stock deck, so obviously my vette of a similar year will have similar deck. I am just looking for advice on what i can and can not do.

01-03 Z06

I want an indash DVD unit (that i can still watch while driving, yah yah yah i know it's unsafe, but it's moreso for my passengers on roadtrips) something like this: http://www.kenwoodusa.com/products/L...&k3=57&pr=1973

I prefer the cleaner look to this over a flip up unit. Does anyone have any expirience with this headunit? will it work fine for what i am looking for?

Now i am not an audiophile, but i do enjoy some good tunes with some good lowend sound (think a strong kick in a good nickelback song) So should i look into switching out some of the stock speakers and amps? IF so what should i be looking into doing? i don't want some show type of system, just something basic that when i turn it up i will get my head bobbing and my right hand rippin' into the gears.

I plan on taking this car on a road trip at the end of the summer from alberta too my familys farm in Oklahoma to introduce my GF to my deceased grandfather (i've never seen his grave) then meandering back to the hoover damn to propose on our 2 yr anniversary, so this car is going to be in my life until the day i die.

 

sounds like you're going to make a good vette owner. good luck..oh and...DON'T GET MARRIED :ROFL: actually don't listen to me, i've never been so i have no idea

on to the system. best thing to do is rip the bose out of the car. throw in a good set of components in the doors (2 or 3 way) a decend sub in the back 10"-12" and a decent amp. some people will swear that no rears are the way to go (like me) but some people prefer rear speakers. My suggestion is to leave them out at first, if you dont like them then you can always add them later. I wouldnt throw a lot of power at them, probably just power it from the head unit.


the vette has a 1.5 din opening so you can't get a non flip out lcd head unit with out some surgery. good thing is, it's not that hard to do and if you read the c5 faq, i have a how to on there to help you along the way. A bunch of people on here have done it and everyone of them looks top notch.

a lot of us are also going the car pc route which is another option :-) Check out my sig, and gbvette's or blownz06's progress posts for more ideas/info (i can't think of who else is doing the mod right now but they'll chime in i'm sure


good luck and have fun. alll the guys on here are really great, calm and helpful if you ever run into any snags.

 

Thanks a lot scott.
after posting this i spent a few hours reading through all of your numerous posts on audio subjects.

I am diving in a bit deeper than i think i want too lol. I noticed there was a member that installed a double din into his c5 by just honing out around his existing HU. I think i might go that route, but am also tempted to just hire it out. I am fairly handy and can install basic stereos. been doing it for years so i am not too worried about making things work.

I am just not 100% on what the stock existing equipment (speakers) there will be in the vette i end up with. Since this will be a road trip car i am a bit leary about taking up alot of room with subs and amps. Is it possible to get a little more lowend out of the stock speaker/amps? or just replace the fronts with an aftermarket setup ran off of the HU? I was thinking an infinity kappa series 6.5 components off any random amp... Do you think that sort of setup would offer more lowend than a stock setup with an aftermarket HU?

What size of speaker is in the back? is it in the hatch or just behind the seats? As you can tell i haven't spent much time in C5's (my dad has a C4, i had a C4, and i've owned 5 fbodys)

Usually i enjoy having rear speakers, what are the pros and cons of not running them?

 

Also before i go to bed, the only times i've seen an aftermarket DVD system i've been really put off on the inability to have movies playing while driving. can this be "fixed" at all? i am sure it must be. Is it just a matter of a certain ground being sent to a parking brake or something?

 

theres a cheat that allows you to ground out some sort of interrupt or brake wire on most units, tho i recall seeing a post recently where a manufacturer was coming out with a new 2din unit that does have the DVD playback interrupt.

they were showing it at SEMA in Vegas. So you may want to look for that post or wait a bit and look around.

 

the rear speaker sizes are in the c5 audio faq. there is/was a forum member that is a prof installer that will mod your console for you when you are ready to go that route. his name was eatrice i have his email address ifyou need it.

you don't have to take up a lot of room with a system. ifyou get a subthump stealth box you lose very little space and the amp can be mounted vertically against the back wall in a coupe (frc's and vert's are a little more challenging to sneak an amp in that location but it 'could' be done

With the c5 there is a lot of room in the doors you could put a 3 way component system in there with 8" bass, 4" mid, and tweeters. This is a set up thet eatrice had as well as some others. you'll need a decent amp to push power to them but it may be a solution to not having a sub. Most people here go with 2 or 3 way components with a 6.5" driver (add 4" if it's a 3 way) and are extremely pleased.


you can't run anything off the stock system without adding an amp. you can replace the bose 'twiddlers' with 3.5" speakers but the subs are a staple in the bose system...can't take them out.

pros of not running rear speakers are better sound stage and less expensive (less equipment)
cons would be more expensive and worse soundstage...butyou may like being in the center of all the music...it's just a pref. thing. most of the winning sql competition cars dont run rear speakers.

 

Thanks again scott!

I will be getting a z06 (FRC) so finding a suitable amp location might be a bit of a challenge. I've always been a big fan of 10's in my other vehicles, also i do enjoy feeing immersed in the music (in the middle i spose) so i will more than likely retain a set of rear speakers, might leave them stock or just go with some basic 5 1/4 off of the HU i decide on.

Could i use a 4 channel amp to run the 2 way mids? (6.5, and tweet) and also run a 10' sub off of it as well?

 

sure can, just make sure you match up the impedance of the sub and the amp and you'll be good to go. My last system had a four chan. phoenix gold ti 500.4 running 2 way components and a single sub (2 ohms) and it kicked hard!

the frc is just like the vert, check out where i put my amp and you may find that location suitable for you too.

 

I looked at your pics that you have linked just under your avatar and there are only like 4 outside shots (gorgeous car btw, love the rims)

One last question. if i just swap out the stock HU for an aftermarket one, will the stock 8' speakers still work?

 

yup if you get a bose interface so you can tie into the bose amps. check out the c5 faq!!!!! I know it's a pain to read all of it but there is a lot of good info there too

 

perfect, thanks scott i think i have a good idea of what i wanna do. I'm gonna start with a good HU and then see how i enjoy the sound from there... also going to do sound deadening in the trunk.