I just replaced the Bose speakers in the back of my 2000 coupe. About the easiest thing you can do when it comes to replacing something in a Corvette. Because my car is a coupe, I wish it was a FRC but that's not for this post, to change the rear speakers you just pry off the rear speaker covers and there the speakers are. You should see the word Bose on the speaker frame. The stock wiring has a plastic connector that plugs into a connector on the speaker. It is this plastic connector that makes it worth your while to go to Best Buy or someplace like that and get a Metra 72-4568 wiring adapter for $11 which will do both speakers. http://www.metraonline.com/products.aspx?s=72-4568
You need this because the replacement speakers you are installing will have the more traditional 2-blade connector and not the plastic connector like the Bose speakers. The Metra adapter has a plastic adapter on one end and the two blade connectors on the other end. You remove and unplug the Bose speaker and then plug the plastic connector on the Metra into the plastic connector you just unplugged from the Bose speaker. You now plug the 2-blade connector on the Metra into your new speakers 2-blade connector and then just reinstall and put the speaker covers back on. Took me 5 minutes to do this in the Best Buy parking lot.

This is probably covered elsewhere but when I learn something new I like to put it on the CF. Hope this will help other audio rookies like myself.

Remeber this is for a coupe, other models will need to remove some plastic trim to get to the rear speakers. Also remember you can't pry off the front speaker covers you have to remove the door panels, which is in the top 5 of easy things to do with a corvette, to get to the front speakers.

David in AZ

 

Nice,so what did you upgrade to?

 

thanks for sharing

You can probably get better speakers than the Bose at Walmart!

 

I bought some Infinity speakers that Best Buy had on sale. Very crisp sound now. I listen to the smooth jazz stations a lot so fidelity was what I wanted and not too concerned about mega bass.

David in AZ

 

Great, I knew whatever you picked was going to be much better than the stock ones

Glad you are happy

Rick

 

How did you get the top screw out without taking off the rear panel?

 

I only needed a little more room to get to that top one. I pulled up on the panel while my son got the socket on the top one. But like I said, on mine I only needed to get a little more room to get to the top one.

How about your car? Can you see 95 percent of the top one?

David in AZ

 

I would say like 60 percent. I ended up going to get a 7mm open end instead of using a socket driver.

 

I'm about to do this myself and was wondering if it could be done without pulling of the trim pieces. So thanks.

 

did u already upgrade the fronts?

 

I did, I replaced the 3 1/2 inch speakers in the front with Polk DB351 speakers.

 

My stock rear bose speakers are so quiet in my 98 coupe. It seems like most of the power is coming for the front speakers. After install the new after market speakers in the rear are they louder than stock?

 

Most of the power does come from the front speakers but I never really thought of the rear speakers as being quiet. Changing the speakers might make a cleaner sound but I doubt they will change the loudness level any discernable amount.

FYI, I believe I have the fader control on my head unit set to plus 2 for the rear speakers.

David in Glendale

 

My rear speakers seem low power low volume. I would like more base from them but not sure that mounting supports much bass.
Are the rear and front the same size, same speaker from factory. Do the original front door boxes have a built in amp? Do the rears come off the head, or an amp?
Thank you. There is a lot of conflicting info in these post even about size.

 

rear speakers are a mono signal and low power, just used for fill in sound. Yes, you can replace them and get slightly better sound, but to get something that makes a huge difference, you should need to add a separate amplifier. They are not the same size as the door speakers. The coupe has 6.5" in the rear.

 

Thank you so much. Great info. I was told the front main door speakers are also 6.5 do you recall their size? I am aware they have a shallow depth so its tricky to drop and play.
Mark

 

the fronts have an amplified 8" and a 3-4" mid/ tweeter. You can replace with a custom plate and a shallow 8" and tweeter. When I had a C5, I did a 3way setup. 8" midbass, 4" midrange, and 3/4" tweeter. And if course, new head unit and separate amplifiers.

 

Thanks. 8 inch front speaker, ive also heard they are 6.5 and 6.75. Lol Is that speaker a 2 way? I know there is the small tweeter in the box enclosure.
thanks

 

Well not to insult people but I will rear speakers in any car are a total waste and should be disconnected. Being an IASCA Soundstage winner NONE of my cars ever had rear speakers. In a true stereo system you want your music to be across your dash. It is called a soundstage.
Rear speakers just screw up the sound and simply add confusion and make a mess out of what the sound engineers were trying to produce.. Back in the early 60's a rear speaker was cool IF you had a reverb unit that helped produce concert hall sound. A reverb unit would delay the sound a few microseconds creating a cool concert hall sound using a single rear speaker.
Anything beyond that is a complete waste. The third front center speaker is just an absolute mess. Whoever came up with that was completely clueless about sound systems.
In a Vette, and most cars you just need three speakers, a left front, a right front and a sub. The sub should not be a 42" boomer and anything beyond and 8" is overkill. Based on the amp and sub my Xover is set to 79-82 HZ. A sub needs to fill in the missing lows and blend/fill with the mids. It should be a very smooth transition to pickup the lows to the mids. When setup correctly the sound system is simply amazing. making it boom is cool for the kids but just misses what a sub can do.
I have several songs I use for testing. One is Chicago The Band "I am A Man, long version" It goes into a percussion session where you can here each instrument across the front of your dash, Drums in the center but go right to left then go left to right as the drummer does the same. Tambourine on the extreme right, Moracca's right center, Sand Blocks on the extreme left and bass in the center lead guitar just off center to the right, the infamous cowbell to the left. If the system is setup correctly you will have volume and soundstage.
All of my cars are setup this way and I can tell you when people get in my car they wet their pants as they feel they are literally in the center 3rd row at a concert and can feel where each instrument is located.

 

Very interesting notes and I completely understand the concepts of staging, right to left stereo, placement...but I have 2 questions/comments.
1. Corvettes especially those with run flats are so loud with road noise and all, those decibel levels alone are mighty, requiring to push higher decibel sound levels to even hear the music over car and road noise. Can anyone ever expect much quality and imaging in that environment after you start up and get going down the road?
2. I may be completely wrong but it seems some great sound systems actually place sounds, instrument locations, R - L much more graphically than actually perceived when in person, at the event. I've attended and participated in many "concerts" from rock to orchestral and can't recall hearing placed sounds as precisely as a stereo system does even in the best concert hall. And unless the driver is sitting center, off axis sound has to be built in or adjusted, but then if a passenger is present, they suffer greater loss. Does it really make sense to go to great lengths to create a great sound inside a dumpster sound box (corvette)?