Looking for details about what the soundgate GMCRV1 does. I know its for integrating an aftermarket HU with the factory speakers, I would just like to know a little more about how it does it. As I understand it in the factory setup, the Bose 8's in the doors are individually amped but the 3.5's in the doors and 5.25's in the rear are powered by the HU, everything after going through the Bose processor.

Does the Soundgate take a pre-amp output from the aftermarket HU and send it to the amps for the 8's and also send the power from the HU's internal amps to the 3.5's and 5.25's, or does it take all of its inputs from the powered outputs from the HU's amp and condition them to feed the 3.5's, 5.25's and provide signal to the amps for the 8's? Do the amps for the 8's even take a pre-amp level signal or do they take a speaker level input and have a built in converter? I believe the 3.5's and 5.25's are 2 ohm impedance drivers whereas most aftermarket HU amps are only stable down to 4 ohms. Does the soundgate simply add impedance to the circuit to keep from melting the HU amp or does it combine signal to the 8's, 3.5's, and 5.25's in some magic way to come up with 4 ohm loads on the HU amp?

I'm trying to decide whether its worth the hassle of rewiring with aftermarket 4 ohm speakers to replace the 3.5's and 5.25's powered by the aftermarket HU and sending a pre-amp signal from the HU to the 8's amps (that is if they will run on a pre-amp input). I'm thinking JBL or JL two-ways if I replace the 3.5's and 5.25's (have to bump up to 4" for the JBL if it will fit in the factory location without ditching the factory 8" - anybody know if a 4 will fit, even if you have to expand the hole a little?). If the soundgate is only taking amped signals and doing a bunch of converting in order to get a compatible load for the HU amp and sending a speaker level signal to the 8's amps, that would seem to me to be robbing power and probably muddying up the signal.

Before any body says it, I don't want to add an external amp to power a set of after market components b/c the General spent a lot effort to make my Z as light as they could while retaining comfort, so anything I do to it is only going to make it lighter or hold it steady, not make it heavier. Personally I'd like it under 3000 lbs, but in FL, I need my AC.

If anybody has .pdf of the instructions/manual, that might help me figure it out.

Also, I wonder if the soundgate does things the same way as the others like the PAC or Peripheral units (which I don't know the details of either).

Whew, anybody follow all that? I'm not sure I did, and I wrote it.

Thanks guys.

 

Ok the factory speakers are all 4ohm, and they run straight through the soundgate only sends a signal to the stock subs.

 

Thanks, that certainly makes things easier. So is the signal to the subs coming from the pre-amps of the HU or is it feeding the subs signal split off of the powered signals to the speakers?

 

Anyone ever cracked one of those open and taken pictures?

I am terribly interested in the internal electrical construction.

 

Still tryin' to find out if the soundgate takes a pre-amp signal to send to the "subs" amps or if it uses an part of the amped signal to the 3.5's.

Anybody?

 

there is a seperate signal line running to the subs in the doors from the radio.

 

Thanks, that's all I needed.