I wanna keep the stock headunit. Regardless of how bad it is, it's important to me.

The vert has two rear cubbies. I put an amp in one and subbox in the other.

I scrap the two rear speakers and the center speakers and put all the sound in the doors, 'cept for the sub.

Not exactly sure what will go in the doors - hadn't had the car that long - but I think I can figure that out from the posts on here.

Lastly, I don't want to drill or mount anything in those two rear cubbies. Is it possible to wedge the gear in there with foam or something else that would keep it from shifting around?

Also, what size subbox am I looking for?

I would probably also tap into the XM unit behind the waterfall for the ipod and run it to the center console.

 

I think that gives me the stealth look with the upgraded sound. And I won't lose any functionality, such as the chimes, the stereo playing after the car is cut off, etc., right?

 

I have a C6 vert with the so called... up-graded Bose stereo! It is a piece of crap!!!! I have changed out the small door speakers, with Polks and changed the rear speakers with Polks, which are very nice speakers. the stereo does sound..a little better, but it still sucks! The only way you are going to get a "nice" sounding stereo system in the vette, is dump the stock BOSE crap and completley change out everything. I know some people say their system sounds fine, but believe me, I have had some awesome systems in past cars and my wife's BMW 530i has a stock system that BLOWS away the C6 system. I love my vette, but GM should be arrested for what they call a Option BOSE system. OK I feel better know!

 

Sounds like a good plan

6.5" components are what you're looking for in the doors. Get the best that you can afford.

Sub box depends on your sub, most are made for 10" if they don't come with a sub included.

Wedging an amp in with foam works, but you may have heat issues if you pack it too tightly. With the cover closed you may even have heat issues if your amp puts out a lot, so you may want to stick with class D amps. A 4-channel that can be bridged for the sub would be perfect, contact C5BearsFan to see what kind of deal he has on an XR-4S.

There are adapters made now that can give you control of the ipod thru your oem radio.

The oem radio puts out a flat signal, all of the new aftermarket decks have some type of digital sound processing that makes the sound so much better. If you can afford a DSP unit that would give you great sound with a stock HU.

 

The Head Unit is not the major source of the issues that most people complain about when describing the C6 Bose stereo. So keeping yours is not a major setback if that's what you want. It is your car after all.

The main limitation you'll encounter with the stock Bose head is the tone controls are minimal at best, and are 'tuned' to work with the Bose speakers.

As Mark suggested, get a DSP to tweak your new system.

If you must mount your amp in a cubby, try removing the lid and using industrial Velcro to attach the amp to a sidewall. You should be able to remove everything and restore it back to stock in the future, if that's your goal.

Putting the amp in a small closed box is probably going to cause it to overheat and shut off and/or fail prematurely.

Good Luck with your install.

 

OK, the only other place i can see for an amp is behind the passenger seat. Is there any other place?

 

Also, when you say 6.5s for the door, are you talking about one, two-way speaker or is there a two speaker set up I can do for each door?

 

"Components" refer to speakers with a separated tweeter and an external crossover that completely separates the hi and low frequencies. 6.5" components is what most use in C6 doors, the big speaker gets mounted on a plate where the sub was and the tweeter gets mounted on a plate where the twiddler was.



"Coaxial" speakers have the tweeter mounted in the center of the big speaker. Some have external crossover, many send full signal to big speaker and just filter lows away from tweeter with capacitors mounted on the speaker itself.



I've always suggested putting external 'modules' for new HU's above the passengers feet, someone else recently suggested mounting a small amp up there. A small one would fit, and it does make sense if you want a completely stealth install. Pull down the plastic cover above the passengers feet (the one with the light mounted on it) and look up. You'd have to rig up some sort of bracket or just let the amp hang, and all of your adjustments would have to be done before a permanent mounting, but that's another option for where to put it.

 

As far as the head unit goes, you might have some misinformation here. I recently installed a Pioneer 930 and I still have my chimes and the stereo still plays after the car is shut off (until I open the door). The PAC harness you need to get keeps the chimes going for you. The only downfall is you won't be able to see the Nav on the Heads Up display.

The new head unit made quite a difference in the sound. And, with the new smooth metra install kit it looks stock. Not trying to talk you into it, just passing on some info you may not have.

 

Well, all those HUs are really shiny black and my dash is definitely Ebony. Have you guys found one with a bit, flatter black? Metra install kit?

And MarkCZ, thanks for clearing that up. I definitely want to go the component route. Much better sound.

 

Dennis can get you an oem matching bezel as well as anythign else you need. Whatever you do with amp do not wrap it in foam etc. Bein a vert a small amp may fit hidden in the area where the top stows

 

The new Metra kit is an exact match to your existing bezel. Do a search and you will see that Dennis posted some pics of the kit a couple of months ago.

I just installed a Pioneer 930 and you can't tell it isn't stock. The 930 is not gloss black and the volume **** has a chrome ring which matches the other *****.

The chimes will sound a little different though, but they are still there. Bottom line, the new head unit and Nav is far superior to the stock head. The interface with my Ipod is awesome, and I love the bluetooth. Absolutely love it.

 

Dave, that's a $1,000 HU!!!

However, I gotta admit, you are exactly right. That trim is a spot-on match for the Corvette's ebony.

Since you guys went with a new HU with total iPod functionality, I am assuming you put the iPod in the glove?

 

Dennis can get it for you for $839, which includes the trim kit, the PAC harness and he will even pre-wire it for you.

I also purchased the XM module as well. And yes, my Ipod is in the glove box, although some put it in the center console.

 

Sounds like Dennis is gonna get some biz. However, I can do wheels and exhaust for what I think this stereo is gonna cost me.

 

ARC Audio sells a KS mini Amp (KS125.4 and a 500.1 that will actually fit under the passenger foot where the old Bose Amp is located. Some how it all fits. By the way where did you get my AVATAR?

 

LOL. I can't steal from a fellow Tarheel?

I was looking for pix of C6 Monterey Red Verts on the Net and found this one. It looks like mine exactly. My pix sucked really bad, so I stole that one.

BTW, sent u a PM.

 

I stock and have the best prices on killer little amps, far better than Class D and totally stealth in our C6's

I have an ultra low weight sub enclosure that is nearly ready to release, one minor mod then goes into production using the best materials there are, it will be half the weight of anything else I have seen and take up less space in the rear, it fits into the drivers side cubby. I have a very sweet sub in stock for these, some have bought them to replace the JL subs they had and loved the improvement.

I just sold out my Image Dynamics inventory as they went under, sadly, so working on a new line of speakers but being patient as super high end but decently priced set will be out soon!

And, I make the lowest weight high tech, speaker baffles, door filler plates, etc and have one of the best deadening products ever, RAAMmat BXT II but also the best prices, I own it, I can sell it for the best performance/price ratio ever.

If interested, PM, email, call, etc.....

Thanks
Rick
801-829-4997
rick@raamaudio.com

 

Fellow Tarheel Buddy...I bought all my products from Rick at RaamAudio. He is great to work with!

 

I would use alpine class d. I use them in mine and never a heat problem putting them in the compartment. They make them in 600 and 1000 watts for the sub. We make custom fiberglass sub boxes that hold a 10 inch subwoofer and weigh only 6 lbs. You can get them painted,wraped or carpet and use one or two. So you can put the sub over one side and use the other compartment for your amp that drives the rest of your speakers. We were at the corvette c6 and c5 cruise this past Sat and we ran a 15ft cable to a guys C6 convertible and tested it againist his stealth boxes and it blew it away. He bought one on the spot and is selling his stealth box. We put a kicker comp 10 in our box that I bought at Best Buy for 129.00. I changed all of my speakers except for the large one in the door. I put 2 ways in place of all and added 2 tweeters inside the air vents over the head unit. The other alpine is the 6.1 class d to run all but the sub. The weight is 5.5 lbs on the sub box. and its soild as a rock using fiberglass. i will put it up againist anything thats coming on the market or that is out there allready. We are the first to use the vert rear compartment and now people are trying to copy us. PM me for our pricing and you will find out that the other companies are over charging and making you use there subs instead of you making the choice. We manufacture our own boxes here in the US. I am the owner and i put in place a money back if you find a better sounding or better quaility box any where!
Thanks
Scott (Subman99)