C7 speaker replacement using LC6i...part 1
06-03-2015, 10:33 PM
#1
Heel & Toe
Thread Starter
C7 speaker replacement using LC6i...part 1
For starters...thanks to all who have contributed to and posted DIY's, Master list of "how to's" and associated pictures and data. I used these tools extensively during my project. With that being said, the pictures I took during my install supplemented what is already available for those who do a similar install.
Over Memorial Day weekend I replaced all factory speakers except the center dash speaker. I contacted Dennis at Double D Mods and his help in equipment selection, customer service, and help were OUTSTANDING!
The install consisted of the following from Dennis @ DD:
- Arc Audio 1200.6 amp, 6 Channel
- Morel MW9 9" woofers (replaced bose 10")
- Morel Hybrid 4" door speakers (replaced 3.5" bose)
- LC6i line output converter
- Adapter rings for the 9" door woofers
I added:
- 5.25 Arc Audio component set (replaced bose tweeters and rear fill)
- All necessary wire taps, appropriate gauge power/gnd wire, fuse, etc
- Sound deadener
I'll try to simplify the effort it took for the project:
1...Using the "Master List of How To's" in the sticky section as a guide, I removed both door panels, interior A-Pillar covers (for tweeter cover access), door sill panels (3 on each side), floor well panels (panel with floor lights attached), rear panels behind seats (rear speaker access), cargo area carpet and the aft end rear panel (OEM sub access). Easy task, just take your time as suggested in the how to's.
2...Removed factory speakers. Nuff said...easy to do.
3...Installed sound deadener in the cargo area and interior of the doors. I had enough room to reach through the door woofer hole to place the deadener in the interior door. Then I installed deadener on the outer door shell.
4...Determined location/mounted Amp and LC6i. I removed the OEM subwoofer/box (stored it away since I won't be using it) which gave me plenty of room to mount an amp or two. I mounted the amp on the passenger side, back wall. I had to drill two small pilot holes for hardware...first making sure I wouldn't drill through any wiring, etc. The LC6i I mounted on the floor between the bose amp and some other module. I used industrial strength velcro to keep it fixed in position. I still have room to mount another amp or processor against the back wall!!
5...Ran speaker wiring from new speakers locations to the rear amp location as follows:
- Component Tweeters...I simply dropped wiring through the hole in the dash where the OEM tweeters are located. The drivers side you can see straight through the dash hole to the floor...easy. The passenger side is not a straight drop but easy to feed it through still. I ran the wiring along the door sills, under the carpet, over to the "hump" to the cargo bay and along the side walls of the cargo bay to the crossover I installed on the rear wheel well.
- Component 5.25" rear...used about 3 feet of wire from speaker location to the crossover as stated above. Then ran the corresponding input/output wire from the crossover to the amp location on the back wall.
- 9" Door Woofers...The doors are similar to C6 doors in that there is a wire bundle going though a large rubber grommet. I fished the wire through the door grommet by carefully slitting a small opening...then sealed it with appropriate RTV after the wire was through. Now the hard part...on the C7 there is a disconnect for the wire bundle going from the door into the door jamb (?) so I couldn't fish wire through there like I could on my C6. I found a small accessible area on the door jamb and drilled a 5/16" hole to run the wires through and sealed as required with RTV.
- 4" door speakers...I ran the wiring through the grommet and door jamb the same as woofers.
6...Installed speakers
- Tweeters...these were easy. They were 1" tweeters and they simply pressed into the existing OEM tweeter location on the cover panel and are more than snug. I was amazed at this!
- 9" woofers...I used the adapter plates Dennis supplied. Simply screwed in place using OEM screw location. Of course I mounted the speakers to the adapter plates first.
- 5.25 rear...simply installed in OEM location
- 4" Hybrids...these were challenging. If you're replacing OEM 3.25" with aftermarket 3.25" then OEM location should work. For these 4" sets, I used one OEM screw location and used spacers/standoffs to achieve proper install...PM me if you decide to install 4" in the doors. These Morel 4" hybrids came with a crossover. I installed the crossover on the door panels. If you pull back the white cover from the bottom aft edge, you'll see a large opening that fit crossovers perfectly. After hooking up the speaker to the crossover, I ran the input (amp wiring) as stated above through the door grommet/door jamb.
7...Tapped speaker wires from OEM amp and ran to LC6i. Using the Hi-Fi schematic from the "Master list of How To's", I identified the corresponding wires/colors on the X2 harness off the OEM amp (green connector). Additionally, when I removed the OEM speakers I made note of the colors and +/- to validate schematic was correct since I have a 2015 C7. I used "posi-tap" wire taps and 22 gauge wire to make the splices for the LC6i. I only had to tap into the door woofers and the door speakers for this install. Speaker connection for the component set was achieved through the amp per Arc 1200.6 manual. Wiring the LC6i is pretty straight forward. Used about a foot or so of wires for the tap since the OEM amp and LC6i were literally next to each other on the cargo floor.
8...Hooked up RCA connectors from the LC6i to the Arc amp.
9...Ran power/ground as required for amp and LC6i. This was incredibly easy since the batter was a foot or so away from the batter as well as chassis ground.
10...crossed fingers and hoped for the best. Success!! The sound is apples/oranges compared with factory. Best thing is I retained all functions from the infotainment center. Bluetooth, ONSTAR, PDR, NAV, etc...
If anyone has questions, please PM me and I will answer as soon as I can. I am out of town a few days a week with limited computer access. I can send pictures as well if I have one related to the questions.
I will attempt to insert some photos and comment as required...haven't been successful in the past but will try.
My next addition to the system will be a sub and DSP...I'll post this as well when done.
Over Memorial Day weekend I replaced all factory speakers except the center dash speaker. I contacted Dennis at Double D Mods and his help in equipment selection, customer service, and help were OUTSTANDING!
The install consisted of the following from Dennis @ DD:
- Arc Audio 1200.6 amp, 6 Channel
- Morel MW9 9" woofers (replaced bose 10")
- Morel Hybrid 4" door speakers (replaced 3.5" bose)
- LC6i line output converter
- Adapter rings for the 9" door woofers
I added:
- 5.25 Arc Audio component set (replaced bose tweeters and rear fill)
- All necessary wire taps, appropriate gauge power/gnd wire, fuse, etc
- Sound deadener
I'll try to simplify the effort it took for the project:
1...Using the "Master List of How To's" in the sticky section as a guide, I removed both door panels, interior A-Pillar covers (for tweeter cover access), door sill panels (3 on each side), floor well panels (panel with floor lights attached), rear panels behind seats (rear speaker access), cargo area carpet and the aft end rear panel (OEM sub access). Easy task, just take your time as suggested in the how to's.
2...Removed factory speakers. Nuff said...easy to do.
3...Installed sound deadener in the cargo area and interior of the doors. I had enough room to reach through the door woofer hole to place the deadener in the interior door. Then I installed deadener on the outer door shell.
4...Determined location/mounted Amp and LC6i. I removed the OEM subwoofer/box (stored it away since I won't be using it) which gave me plenty of room to mount an amp or two. I mounted the amp on the passenger side, back wall. I had to drill two small pilot holes for hardware...first making sure I wouldn't drill through any wiring, etc. The LC6i I mounted on the floor between the bose amp and some other module. I used industrial strength velcro to keep it fixed in position. I still have room to mount another amp or processor against the back wall!!
5...Ran speaker wiring from new speakers locations to the rear amp location as follows:
- Component Tweeters...I simply dropped wiring through the hole in the dash where the OEM tweeters are located. The drivers side you can see straight through the dash hole to the floor...easy. The passenger side is not a straight drop but easy to feed it through still. I ran the wiring along the door sills, under the carpet, over to the "hump" to the cargo bay and along the side walls of the cargo bay to the crossover I installed on the rear wheel well.
- Component 5.25" rear...used about 3 feet of wire from speaker location to the crossover as stated above. Then ran the corresponding input/output wire from the crossover to the amp location on the back wall.
- 9" Door Woofers...The doors are similar to C6 doors in that there is a wire bundle going though a large rubber grommet. I fished the wire through the door grommet by carefully slitting a small opening...then sealed it with appropriate RTV after the wire was through. Now the hard part...on the C7 there is a disconnect for the wire bundle going from the door into the door jamb (?) so I couldn't fish wire through there like I could on my C6. I found a small accessible area on the door jamb and drilled a 5/16" hole to run the wires through and sealed as required with RTV.
- 4" door speakers...I ran the wiring through the grommet and door jamb the same as woofers.
6...Installed speakers
- Tweeters...these were easy. They were 1" tweeters and they simply pressed into the existing OEM tweeter location on the cover panel and are more than snug. I was amazed at this!
- 9" woofers...I used the adapter plates Dennis supplied. Simply screwed in place using OEM screw location. Of course I mounted the speakers to the adapter plates first.
- 5.25 rear...simply installed in OEM location
- 4" Hybrids...these were challenging. If you're replacing OEM 3.25" with aftermarket 3.25" then OEM location should work. For these 4" sets, I used one OEM screw location and used spacers/standoffs to achieve proper install...PM me if you decide to install 4" in the doors. These Morel 4" hybrids came with a crossover. I installed the crossover on the door panels. If you pull back the white cover from the bottom aft edge, you'll see a large opening that fit crossovers perfectly. After hooking up the speaker to the crossover, I ran the input (amp wiring) as stated above through the door grommet/door jamb.
7...Tapped speaker wires from OEM amp and ran to LC6i. Using the Hi-Fi schematic from the "Master list of How To's", I identified the corresponding wires/colors on the X2 harness off the OEM amp (green connector). Additionally, when I removed the OEM speakers I made note of the colors and +/- to validate schematic was correct since I have a 2015 C7. I used "posi-tap" wire taps and 22 gauge wire to make the splices for the LC6i. I only had to tap into the door woofers and the door speakers for this install. Speaker connection for the component set was achieved through the amp per Arc 1200.6 manual. Wiring the LC6i is pretty straight forward. Used about a foot or so of wires for the tap since the OEM amp and LC6i were literally next to each other on the cargo floor.
8...Hooked up RCA connectors from the LC6i to the Arc amp.
9...Ran power/ground as required for amp and LC6i. This was incredibly easy since the batter was a foot or so away from the batter as well as chassis ground.
10...crossed fingers and hoped for the best. Success!! The sound is apples/oranges compared with factory. Best thing is I retained all functions from the infotainment center. Bluetooth, ONSTAR, PDR, NAV, etc...
If anyone has questions, please PM me and I will answer as soon as I can. I am out of town a few days a week with limited computer access. I can send pictures as well if I have one related to the questions.
I will attempt to insert some photos and comment as required...haven't been successful in the past but will try.
My next addition to the system will be a sub and DSP...I'll post this as well when done.
The following users liked this post:
Speedfreaq (11-26-2017)
I would love to see how/where exactly you mounted the amp and the LC6i.