^ Thanks. Turns out it was the volume. I had read others say it was very loud so I turned it all the way down to the lowest setting before I installed it and it was too quiet to hear. For my ears, the setting before the loudest setting was the best, so that's what it's on now.

Everything is done except installing the shifter and mounting the sub box down. I had the day off today and spent all afternoon out with the car. I am really **** about the details so I spent a good amount of time making sure the wiring was clean and the stereo was physically mounted straight & even how I wanted it in the dash. Very happy with the turn out. I'll update this again once I'm done with the shifter and have it all back in one piece... hopefully later tonight.

 

Good deal, glad to hear thats all it was. I'd be interested to see pictures of your install and your subwoofer, and hearing about what you think of the sound of it once you have it all installed and the sound adjusted to your liking. One other question out of curiosity, do you plan on adding the XM tuner later on ?

 

Done except mounting the sub down. Some of the leather from the center console was separating along the right side so I used 3M spray adhesive on the back to reattach it. Also noticed the weather stripping on the a-pillar wasn't in the track so I tidied that up when I put it back together.

Stereo is great, sub is definitely not as powerful as I had hoped, so I'll probably be buying a new setup over the winter. MGW shifter is really nice. I opted to switch out the chrome ring on the boot for the black one supplied because the chrome against the black shaft looked off to me. It's going to take a little getting used to because of how close together the gears are but it's a good thing.

Really appreciate all the help, happy to pass on anything I can to the next person. Getting the steering wheel controls programmed wasn't too bad but there aren't many videos online and the instructions are terrible. Also getting the screen to line up perfectly around the edges was time consuming, but worth the time.

 

Looks like it turned out nice What did you install for a sub ?

 

Kicker PT250. Got it used and thought it would be enough but it isn't for me. I liked (and still do) that you can easily unplug it and take it out. But the downsides are that the frequency doesn't go as low as I want and the sound starts to distort when I set the gain up to the level I like, so I have to back it off and then it's too quiet.

 

Yeah, I can see at only 100W where it wouldn't be enough. I personally designed and built one myself for my vert that sits behind the seats and uses dual 8" square Kicker Solobarics powered by a Kicker amp at about 300W each. It sounds really good. Here's some photos of mine,

 

On that note... let's talk subwoofers. I was going to create a new thread, and still might so people notice it, but I've been doing a ton of research about subwoofers on audio forums and am coming up a little short.

I'm almost certain I'm going to go with the Vettenuts corner sub box on the driver's side (since my passenger side has the battery). I like how small it is and won't take up much space in the cargo area. I've read that the positioning of the sub in the corner and the shape of the Corvette cabin means you need a subwoofer more powerful than you would in a normal car to get the bass you want. This means I need to mate up the sub to the box size and get it right.

I can't find any specific information about the volume in cubic feet of that box. It looks smaller than the JL Stealthbox, which advertises to be in-spec for a 10W3. The 10W3 calls for a sealed box size of .625cubic feet. If I had to guess, the Vettenuts box would be around .5cubes, but that's just a guess.

I'm looking for a sub that will be "punchy" and also hit low frequencies well. I originally liked the Dayton Audio RSS265HO-44, but after reading more, it seems like it is designed for clean, filling bass and won't have the punch I'm looking for.

Then I found the Image Dynamics IDQ10 which calls for 0.6-1.6 cubes in a sealed box; a little more than I think the Vettenuts box provides.

Do you or anyone else have experience with either of these subwoofers or other subwoofers that are loud and punchy, with good sound quality, in the corner box?

 

I suggest contacting @Pb82 Ronin , he's really into the high end stuff and can probably give you some good ideas and advice for what you're considering.

 

To bump this instead of making a new thread since there is a ton of good information which answered some of my questions. I am wiring up my PAC GM11 interface now for my Kenwood DMX957XR. Like to add a couple questions I have.

Since the radio has a pink cable for speed sensor on it, I do unravel that long pink wire and connect to the PAC connection? Well I connected them and cut a about 5ft of wire off the radio and put the fuse back inline. Guess without an interface that connection could go a ways to a fuse box or something.

Also there is the steering wheel controls from the PAC, I am trying to see where they go. Has a 3.5mm jack and brown/yellow and brown wire. I have the 2012 2LT so have the steering controls and don't want to lose those, but don't see where these connections from the pac is supposed to go.
Update : Just talked to Crutchfield, if anyone has a question about the steering wheel control. The Kenwood has a single blue/.yellow wire and that goes to the single Blue/Yellow wire that is in the SWC bundle the brown can be capped along with the 3.5mm that has a plastic cap on it, just tape or heat wrap it to stay on. Also, the rear camera red wire will get connected to the main red from the PAC unit. The red wire on the back end by the camera can be capped, and just ground the black wire back there to the car.

Also, the stereo has a CAM+ and CAM-, but I believe that is for a CMOS camera and I won't use that.

Another probably stupid question, what is a Video and audio out on a Stereo for? Can you run it to a larger screen?

So I won't touch the radio's Ant Con?

Man getting excited to get this bad boy installed! I wasn't interested in more than a backup camera but a dash cam hookup would be pretty cool. Actually maybe my dash cam I have would interface with it. Man an idatalink connection would have been cool.

PS Madonsp that is a clean speaker install! Almost think Verts have a better sound stage to deal with.

 

Thanks, I appreciate that, I don't know if vents have a better sound stage or not, I just know that when the tops down if there's a sub in the very back, the sound can get muffled which defeats the purpose of the sub, hence my design where you get the same sound out of it no matter if the tops up or down.

As far as your questions, the video and audio outputs, they are for a rear seat entertainment if the vehicle is so equipped, you'll also see the PAC has RCA connector for an RSE (rear seat entertainment) connection which is basically the same thing, the RCA's off the interface will not be used as Corvettes of course have no rear seats. You're correct on the Pink (speed sensor) wire, if your Kenwood has a corresponding Pink wire, you want to connect the two up. You are also correct in hooking up the Blue/Yellow wires together for the steering wheel controls. Do you have steering wheel controls on both sides of your steering wheel ? If you do, the phone buttons on the left will default to Onstar, to be able to program them to do otherwise, you'll have to disable OnStar, on mine I did this by pulling the OnStar fuse in the footwell fuse panel, after doing so I was able to program them the way I wanted them to be.

All other wires from the PAC that don't have a corresponding wire from the head unit will just be taped off and not connected to anything. On your PAC, be sure to connect the harness to the Amplified Factory Audio side of the PAC when you're plugging everything in as shown in the attached photo, as all Corvettes be it Bose or Non-Bose system are amplified.

I agree with you that it's a shame that iDatalink doesn't make an interface for the Corvette and I've written to them a few times expressing my disappointment that the don't make one.They do however make one for my Ford Pickup and I connected it to the OBD ports wiring to have the added displays on my Pioneer system which I must admit is kinda cool to have, but us Vette users are SOL when it come to the iDatalink. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Do you know if the wiring colors are about the same on the newer PAC GM1A-RST as the are on the RAP5GM11?
I decided to go with the newer one since they had those in stock for immediate Prime shipment.
Thank you for all the help!

 

Yep, all head unit wiring connections should be the same, the connectors to the RST are different than the GM11, so if you're wanting to remove a GM11 and install an RST it by plugging in the connectors from the GM11, it won't work because of the different connectors, but as far as wiring the head units harness to the RST the wiring colors are the same.

 

Perfect thank you for the info!
I don't have anything except the factory Bose navigation nav in now so everything will be wiring from scratch with the rst module.
Thanks again!

 

I'm also about to bump this thread as well. Want to thank the OP for such a detailed post. Your OCD level of detail on that harness is fantastic. I just picked up a 2013 grand sport and will be doing my Head Unit and camera install this weekend.

 

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions. Out of curiosity, are you installing a navigation system, and are you installing XM radio ? What brand of head unit are you going with ?