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I too went with Crutchfield. Bought a Kenwood Excelon model. I am told the Excelon have a much longer warranty. Crutchfield provided a plug and play harness so I can use my steering wheels controls. I did not get Nav or XM radio. Absolutely love it.
ANY of you guys while upgrading speakers, are you also adding sound deadening stuff? I am thinking of filling the doors with regular stuff they sell at home depot for houses and stuff it in the doors, etc...
What ideas do you have?
Don't do that.
Here's a link to an old, excellent thread covering an entire system upgrade including insulating/stiffening the doors, and the pics are very good.
In the thread there's a reference to a Forum Vendor RAAMaudio that supplied kits for the insulation/etc. I don't know if Rick is still in business, but he was a great resource.
And here's a link to a thread from RAAMaudio describing how to insulate the whole car. Unfortunately there are no pics, but Rick's explanations are very useful.
ANY of you guys while upgrading speakers, are you also adding sound deadening stuff? I am thinking of filling the doors with regular stuff they sell at home depot for houses and stuff it in the doors, etc...
What ideas do you have?
Crutchfield sells a Dynamat door kit for $99. Little pricey but works well and very easy to cut and use. You get what you pay for. Had a few vibrations/rattles with certain notes in the driver door....gone after install
ANY of you guys while upgrading speakers, are you also adding sound deadening stuff? I am thinking of filling the doors with regular stuff they sell at home depot for houses and stuff it in the doors, etc...
What ideas do you have?
First you can't stuff your doors because your window has to be able to move up and down inside the door. Also you don't want to add anything that will absorb water and act like a big sponge inside your door. Go with a product made specifically for this purpose like Second Skin Sound Deadener. You can get them on Amazon in sheets, and you cut, peel and stick them, trying to cover as much as the door area as you can.
Just bought a Z. And I have a Kenwood nav HU. I just want to replace the 3.5 in the upper door. And the 5.25 in the rear. The center one must be disconnected already because there’s no sound up there.
Im sure I’ll get better sound doing this???? Or should I just keep the bose stuff until I’m ready to rip it all out.
Thanks.
I disconnected the center after some forum research. Sounds better with much improved stereo separation. You will not miss it. I also replaced the 5.25 rear speakers, because they were easy to swap out. Bought a good efficient set that Crutchfield recommended. Honestly no real difference in sound with the stock Bose system. After I added an amp, they sounded really good. If you are gong to change the door speakers, hold out and do components rather that add new 3.5's. I am running a new Kenwood HU.
I should have listened to all the good advice I received here on the forum and went right to an amp and all new speakers . If you like listening to music this is where you WILL end up.
You will lose the Nav interface with the HUD, but not the HUD itself. Crutchfield seems to be the most popular alternative to Double D, and from what I've read here they provide good customer service.
I'm partial to Kenwood stereos, having had very good experiences with them in multiple cars, and they do have plenty of Nav head units with Apple CarPlay. You'll want to make sure you get one that has a tilting face to help with glare. With you car being a coupe, you probably won't need a capacitive touchscreen, which is more helpful for preventing glare in verts, but it wouldn't hurt to have in your coupe either. I have a Kenwood DDX9903 and absolutely love it.
Hey Ed, what exact features of the HUD will I lose upgrading the head/Nav unit? I didn't realize the Nav system integrated/networked with the HUD? Haven't used the Nav system yet.
Thanks!
Hey Ed, what exact features of the HUD will I lose upgrading the head/Nav unit? I didn't realize the Nav system integrated/networked with the HUD? Haven't used the Nav system yet.
Thanks!
I never used it myself, but I believe the turn by turn directions would show up on the HUD.
I never used it myself, but I believe the turn by turn directions would show up on the HUD.
Yes that's correct. The heads up display still works but you won't get any of the turn directions through the HUD anymore. I thought that was a small price to pay in exchange for all the positives gained by replacing the head unit.
Yes that's correct. The heads up display still works but you won't get any of the turn directions through the HUD anymore. I thought that was a small price to pay in exchange for all the positives gained by replacing the head unit.
Yes. The HUD only shows the turn indications in street mode which I never use so no loss at all.
Mine is a vert. I replaced all of the Bose system with the Kenwood head unit, JL Audio component speakers in the doors, 5-1/4" coaxials in the rear, and a pair of 10" subs in the trunk in custom enclosures molded to fit in the corners of the trunk. I mounted a 900W JL Audio amp behind the passenger seat along with the crossovers from the component speakers. It sounds great now when rolling down the highway with the top down.
Since we have some experienced people here - what you think of this build - Do have - Pioneer 8200 NEX (with Nav). JL Audio 300/4 amp. Do need - 6.5" Component set for doors. 5.25 Coaxials for the rear.
For Bass - Stuck/debating on different options for the Vert, without losing Trunk space. Recommendations ???
Originally Posted by TorchRedFred
Go with a product made specifically for this purpose like Second Skin Sound Deadener. You can get them on Amazon in sheets, and you cut, peel and stick them, trying to cover as much as the door area as you can.
Since we have some experienced people here - what you think of this build - Do have - Pioneer 8200 NEX (with Nav). JL Audio 300/4 amp. Do need - 6.5" Component set for doors. 5.25 Coaxials for the rear.
For Bass - Stuck/debating on different options for the Vert, without losing Trunk space. Recommendations ???
Any idea how much of this stuff is needed to do 2 doors, floor / console area? Not sure if it's worth doing the trunk behind the seats/etc in a Vert?
The door kit of Dynamat from Crutchfield was more than enough to do two doors. That's the only area I did. Seems fine.
Did not want to give up any truck space....need to be able to fit the golf clubs. Went with a Kenwood help powered/contained subwoofer. Seems to provide adequate bass, and an improvement over what the speakers are capable of. Have not had a lot of car time yet but so far happy with the choice.
I used a sheet of plastic from west marine to act as a backing plate under my rubber mat to keep it in place. That worked very well, really stable.
Since we have some experienced people here - what you think of this build - Do have - Pioneer 8200 NEX (with Nav). JL Audio 300/4 amp. Do need - 6.5" Component set for doors. 5.25 Coaxials for the rear.
For Bass - Stuck/debating on different options for the Vert, without losing Trunk space. Recommendations ???
If you're going to add a subwoofer of some sort, I'd suggest going with a 5 channel amp instead of a a 4 and a 2 just because of the limited space available in a vert. If you do stick with two, get another JL Audio amp. The inside speaker setup is the same as what I have, and from what I've read here on the forums the head unit is solid. What brand are the speakers?
Since we have some experienced people here - what you think of this build - Do have - Pioneer 8200 NEX (with Nav). JL Audio 300/4 amp. Do need - 6.5" Component set for doors. 5.25 Coaxials for the rear.
For Bass - Stuck/debating on different options for the Vert, without losing Trunk space. Recommendations ???
Originally Posted by Corvette_Ed
If you're going to add a subwoofer of some sort, I'd suggest going with a 5 channel amp instead of a a 4 and a 2 just because of the limited space available in a vert. If you do stick with two, get another JL Audio amp. The inside speaker setup is the same as what I have, and from what I've read here on the forums the head unit is solid. What brand are the speakers?
As mentioned in my post above - I do have a JL Audio 300/4 amp. (Wish it was a 5 chnl amp, but that's what I have from my C5 days). I also bought a new Pioneer NEX 8200 (still in box).
What I do need: 6.5" component speak set for front doors, a 5.25" rear coaxial speakers set (to fill in). And need some type of a sub-system for bass (my nightmare) .
As mentioned in my post above - I do have a JL Audio 300/4 amp. (Wish it was a 5 chnl amp, but that's what I have from my C5 days). I also bought a new Pioneer NEX 8200 (still in box).
What I do need: 6.5" component speak set for front doors, a 5.25" rear coaxial speakers set (to fill in). And need some type of a sub-system for bass (my nightmare) .
Scrap the rears, once you do the doors with 6.5 seperate system you will never miss the rears. You could do JL Audio subs behind seat if not wanting to loose trunk space.
Corvette Ed, I'm trying to decide whether to replace my stuck-op-can't-read-the-disk Nav/Head unit in my 2008 with a reman original or an aftermarket. How is the screen fit on your Kenwood, does it fit and look smooth like the original?
Corvette Ed, I'm trying to decide whether to replace my stuck-op-can't-read-the-disk Nav/Head unit in my 2008 with a reman original or an aftermarket. How is the screen fit on your Kenwood, does it fit and look smooth like the original?
Thanks!
The fit on mine is perfect, and allows me to angle the face when the car is on for optimal vision to prevent glare. When the car is off the face returns to the neutral position so it is on a flat plane with the dash.
Here are two pics in the neutral position when the car is off:
And here is how I angle it to help prevent glare (multiple angle positions are available):
For those of you who use your phone for Nav, what do you do when you're in a cellular dead area? Part of what I do for a living deals with cellular dead zones across the country, and there are quite a few of them.
You can download all the google maps before you leave so it doesn't matter if you go through dead zones.
So what's the verdict on these? Seems like not too many options for C6 Vert These don't look too bad and seem to save the space in the tiny trunk.
I've heard from a number of those on this forum who installed the JL sub boxes saying that they weren't that happy with them, saying they lack bass. When I was looking at adding a sub to my vert, I was initially looking for a manufactured sub box also, and I too considered the JL sub boxes, but after hearing the bad reviews of them, and there not being a lot of other choices out there, I decided to see if I couldn't design and build my own box. I, like you, didn't want anything that would take up trunk space and get muffled when the top was down, and my box has more volume than the JL boxes, that's more matched to the speaker requirements, thus, giving it more bass. Here's a write up i did about it if you care to read it.. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...subwoofer.html In the process of designing it I went through a number of modifications to my original idea, here's a couple photos of what I ultimately ended up with. It sounds real good, and with the square subs, it has an even deeper bass than the round ones did, to me they sound more like 10" subs.
Last edited by madsonp; 03-17-2021 at 04:07 AM.
Reason: corrections
I've heard from a number of those on this forum who installed the JL sub boxes saying that they weren't that happy with them, saying they lack bass. When I was looking at adding a sub to my vert, I was initially looking for a manufactured sub box also, and I too considered the JL sub boxes, but after hearing the bad reviews of them, and there not being a lot of other choices out there, I decided to see if I couldn't design and build my own box. I, like you, didn't want anything that would take up trunk space and get muffled when the top was down, and my box has more volume than the JL boxes, that's more matched to the speaker requirements, thus, giving it more bass. Here's a write up i did about it if you care to read it.. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...subwoofer.html In the process of designing it I went through a number of modifications to my original idea, here's a couple photos of what I ultimately ended up with. It sounds real good, and with the square subs, it has an even deeper bass than the round ones did, to me they sound more like 10" subs.
great job on the design and construction! What is the “Trunk” button for?
05-06-2018, 02:22 PM
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