GCG

My pleasure, Jim

When replacing the OEM Bose twiddlers (front and/or rear) with aftermarket speakers, unless special attention is given, the likelihood of ending up with out-of-phase speakers is significant.

Since now you will be checking after the twiddlers were removed, you'll need to base your inspection on the color of the wires. If you're going to do this, you should check all 4 speakers, not just the rear ones.

Let us know your findings

Gilbert

2k2wranglerx

so no matter what i need to change out my spade connectors for the opposite sizes?

knewblewkorvette

After reading that he has a new JVC receiver and using it's power, I'm concerned about the 2.3 ohm speakers. That 22 watts is into a 4 ohm load and unlike most amplifiers, receivers are not stable into a 2 ohm load. The speakers won't be hurt but he is risking smoking the receiver's amplifier section if using it to drive two sets of 2.3 ohm speakers. I would HIGHLY recommend using 4 ohm speakers with that JVC receiver.

GCG

I understand your concern, but he is currently using his new headunit with the original front and rear OEM Bose twiddlers, which are 2 ohms, and so are doing all the people that have upgraded their headunit keeping the rest of the system intact.

In the car world is not uncommon the use of speakers with lower impedances than what's usually found in home systems, etc. Although no longer a necessity, it's been an easy way to extract more power from a 12v system. Even though car audio manufacturers rate their equipment at 4 ohms, it would be very surprising that they could not handle a 2 ohms load.

On the other hand, there is the rewarding aspect of an upgrade process. Unless it provides a satisfying experience, it is considered a failure. You may want to take a look at this Post for more details.

saxtech

I just ordered the JBL 3.5" GX302 (Crutchfield ran out of the 3.5 JBL's so I had to go to Amazon)
And the 6.5" JBL GX602 from Crutchfield https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109GX602/JBL-GX602.html

I will cross my fingers and hope all goes well. Thank you again GCG.

Can we hear the experiences from anyone here who has installed these JBL GX Speakers into a C5 with a modest aftermarket receiver such as my JVC KW-V940BW Receiver while keeping the rest of the Bose system and wiring with the Metra Corvette-Bose XSVI-2004 Bose Interface for 97-Up

Heres my receiver:

I will certainly update after installation.
Thank you again :-)

GCG

Your system is working fine now. It should continue to be fine

As mentioned above, this is a very popular upgrade and I haven't heard from any failure caused by driving the 2-ohm OEM Bose twiddlers with a new headunit.

Don't forget as well. One kit will do both rears.

saxtech

Yes, Crutchfield is shipping a FREE pair for purchasing the rear 6.5" JBL Speakers from them..... Although they ran out of the 3.5" JBL's, they said that I do not need these wire adapters for the FRONT. Is that correct ?

GCG

Congratulations on the free adapters! Yes, only for the rear ones.

GCG

Generalizations are dangerous . It is wiser to inspect and proceed accordingly

Pay attention to the + and - signs in ALL speakers terminals and, for example, use a red permanent marker to identify the + wire in each speaker before unplugging or desoldering anything. Then make sure your new connections are done keeping the CORRECT polarity.

ron993

I am about to upgrade my speakers and radio to a double din. I have the front and rear speakers like you suggested in my cart. I also have the metra harness for the rear speakers. Do i need a harness for the front speakers?

GCG

No, just for the rear ones.

saxtech

So I installed both my front speakers and rear speakers today. JBL GX302 for the front and JBL GX602 for the rears. The fronts went well except that I broke a few tabs on the door panel on the first door (drivers side) but it was not noticeable once I re-secured the door panel bolts. Once I learned from my mistake on the first door, all went well on the second door.

GCG was correct that on the Spade connectors, BIG terminal on the OEM speaker is GROUND and the SMALL terminal on the OEM speaker is Positive. So I made a little pig-tail and soldered it to the OEM wire with new spade connectors to reverse this with the new speakers having the large terminal as positive and negative was small.

FYI.... if you need to go back and check your installation, the POSITIVE OEM Bose wire has a RED Stripe on it. This wire goes to the positive terminal on your new JBL speaker but you will have to change the spade connector , or make a pig tail wire because the positive on the OEM Bose is SMALL and on the JBL, it is large.

With my speakers installed in front, they made a nice improvement with the highs being more crystal clear and this is exactly what I wanted.. An example of what I heard was the drummers high-hat cymbal. With the old OEM Bose speaker, it sounds like a hand clap. But with the new JBL's, the high-hat cymbal sounded more metallic. Just like it should sound. I WAS IMPRESSED...

Now on to the rear speakers.

Oh Emm Geee……. I had such a hard time removing the rear pillar panels to get to the rear speakers. I was a little scared after breaking the door panel tabs, so I called Crutchfield. The tech had me download an app on my phone so he could see what I was doing through my camera on my phone. It was so cool. He walked me through the process and I really had to put muscle into popping the tabs lose. I crossed my fingers and hoped that I wouldn't break anything.

He watched me and gave me suggestions.

After some struggles, all went well and I got the panels off and the JBL GX602's installed into the rear without pulling the trim panel completely off.
SUGGESTION..... When reinstalling the little fastener near the corner of the speaker, it is easiest to do this fastener lastly by removing the speaker grill. Just gently pry off the speaker screen and you will be able to line up this small tab once the panel is completely re-secured as a last step.

I did one at a time and listened with the balance control. I installed one speaker and left the OEM in on the other side to compare. WHAT A DIFFERENCE in highs. I move the balance control from the new speaker side to the old OEM speaker side and again, the drummers high-hat cymbals sounded metallic like they should, unlike a human hand clap on the OEM side.

So I was thrilled at the sound difference.

I used the Metra harness connectors that Crutchfield provided free for purchasing the rear JBL speakers from them. With the new Metra harness connectors, I did NOT have to worry about reverse polarity and I just plugged them in and everything was good.

Putting everything back together was so much easier than removing the stubborn panels.

Guys and Gals, I purchased the front and rear JBL speakers for a total of only $100 shipped..... This really is a No-Brainer decision for a cheap upgrade mod and I highly suggest that you do the work yourself on a nice day in the driveway with a big soda :-) Just take your time.

Crutchfield is GREAT with tech support in case you get stuck.
They had the rear speakers and provided free, the rear wire harness adapters. They did not have the JBL 3 1/2 " Speakers (GX302) so I purchased the front speakers elsewhere.

I Hope all of this helps someone on the fence about doing a hundred dollar mod. You will be so proud of yourself once it is done and happy that you did it.

Have fun !

Gary

GCG

I'm glad I could be of help and that you liked the results

How would you say the new speakers play in terms of loudness when compared to the OEM twiddlers?

Thanks for returning to post your thoughts after finishing the installation. I'm sure this will help others.


Just a quick question to leave no place for doubts: did you verify that by using the adapter harness, the car's factory wires ended up connected to the right terminals of the rear speakers, so the correct polarity was preserved?

Do you remember the wire color for the OEM rear (+)?

saxtech

GCG,
Thank you for all of your help. No, I didn't verify the factory wire configuration but I did ask the Crutchfield Tech if I needed to reverse the wires as I did on the front speakers. He knew what wire adapter harness I had (they sent it to me) so he looked my question up and insisted that I did NOT have to reverse anything as I did on the fronts. I trusted him as he really knew what he was doing and confirmed his answer by looking up in his literature if I just need to plug the harness adapter in as is. After installing the new JBL Rear speakers, I have no fear of absence of bass so I feel confident that he was correct. After all, the Metra wire harness adapter was made for this car. https://www.crutchfield.com/p_120724...g-Harness.html


As for loudness, I was impressed and felt no need to turn up the volume excessively to obtain moderate sound levels. I didn't have a chance to spend quality time with the system yet, but from the little tinkering that I did do, I am not disappointed.

I asked the tech also about NO CHIME. He said the chime is in the SMALL black box from the new Metra Adapter Harness used to connect the new JVC Receiver to the OEM Bose wiring system. He suggested that I do a firmware update to the little black chime box and then call him back if it doesn't change things. I will have to do that next weekend if no rain. Here is the Metra harness in case you would like to look into this. https://www.crutchfield.com/p_120SVI...Interface.html

I hope my feedback helps. Thanks again.

Gary

ron993

Gary

I am about to do the same to my car. I ordered the speakers off of Amazon. Would you be willing to send me a copy of of crutchfields install instructions?

GCG

Gary, I'm sure the harness is plug-and-play, it's just my OCD kicking in

I just wanted to have visual confirmation that the right wires were ending up at the right speaker terminals.

-Rear OEM wiring:

• Right:
  • (+) -> DK BLU
  • (-) -> LT BLU
• Left:
  • (+) -> BRN
  • (-) -> YEL

-Adapter Harness:

• White -> Wide Spade -> Speaker (+)
• Black -> Narrow Spade -> Speaker (-)

So it would have been a matter of verifying if on the right side DK BLU was going to the adapter's White wire, while on the left side it was the BRN.

Again, it's just me and my craziness

Regarding the new speakers, not only they are good quality coaxials, but as I said before, they are an extremely well suited replacement @ 2.3 ohms with the added bonus of high sensitivity. I just wanted to confirm what I was expecting: that in addition to providing higher quality sound, they play louder or at the same level than the originals, and not lower. This is important for this kind of upgrade to be perceived as rewarding.

Thanks again for your feedback. Too many people just leave their threads open-ended, without resolution or results, and that doesn't help others.


NOTE: I'll talk to you about the chime in your other thread. I don't want to side-track this one

saxtech

I'm sorry GCG, that I didn't document the color of the rear wires. I usually do and I did with pictures of the front speakers when I was fresh and just starting the project. By the time I got to the rear speaker removal,. I just got anxious at the end with the stubborn panel removal and disappointment that I broke some tabs on the door panels that I just wanted to get the job done. Hopefully, someone planning this upgrade, will pick up where I left off and can continue this thread with everyones notes to make it a complete tutorial.

I will look for your advice about the no-chime issue. I have to take the receiver back out to address this so it won't be until next weekend (weather permitting).

Thanks again GCG.

Guys, if you are inclined to tackle this project, please add photos and notes as I forgot to do so regarding the rear speaker wire colors.

GCG

Hey, no worries! The important thing is that in the end everything went well and the results were as expected

Gilbert


NOTE: In case you want to revisit the broken fasteners, here you go:

Door fasteners in boxes of 15 pcs @ around ten bucks per box. Click here.

saxtech

Unfortunately, the part that broke was 2 places on the door panel itself where these white fasteners slip into :-( The door panel slots were damaged. After 20 years of not being separated, the white male and female receptacles were so stuck together that the weakest link was the plastic tabs on the door panel and 2 places broke.

I'll be looking for your thoughts on the Chime issue.

Thanks again Gilbert

knewblewkorvette

Not cheap but these will fix that.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Corvette-C5...wAAOxy9eVRUwFV