CloudLS9

I recently bought a custom subwoofer setup on Craigslist. The guy had just bought a red Z06 from someone in Florida and he said it was installed by the prior owner. Was the prior owner a member here?

I don't have photos of it installed in my silver ZR1 yet.. still need to clean the car, but here it is in the other guys car before he took it out.











The guy I bought this setup from was only asking $300 for the whole setup including custom enclosure, two subs, two amplifiers and a custom amp rack with an illuminated corvette logo . He said he replaced it with a smaller self powered all-in-one single 10" sub so he could get some trunk space back. Then he was just trying to get it out of his dining room.

I installed this setup in my car this past weekend. I figured while I was tearing things apart, I might as well upgrade the radio at the same time so I added an AVH-2300NEX and backup cam. I integrated everything via the PAC RP5-GM11. Steering wheel controls were retained. I also wired in an e-brake bypass so that a passenger could play with the radio without me having to pull over.

The Pioneer head unit really woke up the stock speakers in my 2012 ZR1. I was surprised by the difference in sound quality before I even added the subs. With the subs added, it sounds even better. Whoever designed this box did a nice job. The frequency range extends low and flat and its' nice and punchy, not boomy. Trunk space is overrated.

In my prior Corvette, I mounted a Nexus 7 in the dash (I had a thread on that here). This time around, I wanted to simplify things. I contemplated going with one of the various Chinese Android head units (Joying / Pumpkin). In the end I decided to go with the Pioneer & Android Auto as I don't have as much time to tinker these days and I wanted something that was just going to work. All I need is google maps and Spotify when driving.

I'm very pleased with the sound of the head unit, but I'm a bit disappointed in Android Auto. Navigation works well, but the Spotify app sucks. My biggest gripe is that there is no fast forward or rewind in the Spotify Android Auto app!, only skip. I found this same complaint on the Spotify board on a thread started in 2015 and it still hasn't been added yet. I mean seriously? Even my tape decks in the 80s had FF and RW. There is no text search feature either. When I had my phone on a wireless charger mount, I used to frequently search for an artist or song before I started driving then let it play through their most popular tracks. Now it seems I can only listen to songs that have been previously added to playlists and it won't let you fully scan through a long playlist at a stop light, only the next few tracks in the queue. The phone is locked out when Android auto is running as well. I'm assuming all these limitations are "for safety" but how do they expect people to give up their cheap plastic phone mounts if it means loosing functionality? I could theoretically put the phone back on the dock and link over bluetooth instead of Android Auto, but then I'd be looking at maps on my small phone screen like before. Disappointing. I haven't tried the Apple CarPlay option with this yet. I have an older iPhone laying around so I may put my sim in that to see how this experience compares. Does anyone know if the CarPlay Spotify app is any better?

Homer3D

Oh wow. That is a very nice setup for $300. Seeing those PPI amps takes me back. I use to have the a set back in the mid 90’s. Those were some of the best amps but PPI is not what it used to be.

I have an iPhone with CarPlay. I haven’t tried with Spotify but I believe in my other music apps there are 2 functions for the skip back/forward buttons. If I just press and release the skip forward button, it moves onto the next song. If I press and hold, it fast forwards through the song. I will have to check. I have 3 cars and sometimes I forget which feature is a part of which car.

CloudLS9

Thanks.. I new the PPI ams were classics, but did't realize they were that old. In the late 90s I was rocking Fosgate Punch amps and Cerwin Vega subs.


This morning I put my phone sim in my old iPhone to try out Apple CarPlay. The Apple Spotify app does in fact support FF and RW. It looked and functioned similar to the regular Spotify app... much better. I wish the Android Auto Spotify App would get an update as I'm not certain about the prospect of giving up my current Android phone. Overall I think I prefer the CarPlay interface over Android Auto, but Apple Maps isn't nearly as good as Google maps.

-=Jeff=-

Yeah those are some Nice Art Series PPIs, I remember those back in the day.. I ran Orion HCCA for a while then

02BlownZ06

That looks pretty good, not practical but nice!

CloudLS9

Thanks. Yes, it takes up a lot of space. My thoughts are that the ZR1 itself isn’t very practical either, but fun. When I need practical, I grab the keys to our MDX.

02BlownZ06

Point taken, sir. How does it sound??

CloudLS9

Between the exhaust, supercharger wine and kicking subs... she sounds like American freedom ...