2012 GS vert speaker upgrade with the Kicker DS525's (rear) and DS35's (door). Hopes this helps as I found it rather simple, except lining up the bottom screws. I had to use a one inch angled Phillips head screwdriver to do the bottom, outside screws. But it's done!

1: Move seat back as far forward as possible to gain easy access. You can gain access from the top if you open your vert up and put the top in a vertical position so the tonneau cover is raised but I didn't want to take a chance scratching my paint, so I went inside the car.



2: Grasp the oem grills and pull straight off. They slip out of the thin slits in the partition backing (as seen here). Next loosen the four mounting screws.



3: Gently pull speaker from it's mount. Tip! The connecting wire on my right rear did not have any slack in it. BE CAREFUL! I grasped the wire and pulled about an inch of slack from behind the backing.



4: Disconnect the oem speaker wire connector by pushing in on the black tab (seen here).



Congrats! You're almost done. Now you have a big hole to admire............LOL! Do you see that screw hole on the bottom left of this picture? That summ-bitch did not want to cooperate!



Now simply connect the supplied kit adapters to your new Kicks' and then reverse install. You will still see the slits in the backing where the oem grills mounted. There's no way to cover them. But don't fret! You won't see them with the seat reclined as it normally is.



...........these rears livened up the sound somewhat. I can now hear crisp highs coming from the back, which I like better than blasting me in the face. I set my EQ Fade two clicks from full rear and it ROCKS! Much better than oem........and look damn nice too!

Oh! As far as spec comparisons to the oem Bose rears: these Kickers are 130mm cones compared to the Bose at 134mm, but the Kicks weighed .8 lbs heavier and had 3mm thicker magnets. Plus the added benefit of a coaxial setup. They're money well spent for a rear upgrade.

I hope to get to the doors tomorrow........provided I don't miss the PLAYOFFS!

2012 door panel install:

1: Gently pry off the plastic cover and remove the two (T 30) screws behind the door handle.



2: Pry off the door panel. There is an opening (bottom edge below reflector) where you can easily start the process. I used a very thin, flat bladed screwdriver but Harbor Freight sells the pry-bar kit for $7.99 which is much better for this procedure.





3: Disconnect the wiring harness.



4: Loosen the four screws.





5: Gently push in on the black tab and slip off the speaker wiring connector.





Here are a few comparison photos for the your viewing pleasure. Note there is a significant difference between the oem Bose and the Kicker. The Bose is much bigger! It weighs 6 ounces more and the magnet is 5 mm's thicker. The cone is only 87mm though, compared to the Kicker's 89mm. The Kicker didn't sit perfectly well in the oem cutout either, but tightened up well.







6: Prepare your DS35's by attaching the supplied adapters.



7: Attach the DS35 to the door panel and connect the wiring harness.



Here you can barely see the DS35 from the interior.



8: Reattach the door panel. I didn't need to do the string method or anything fancy to get the top hooks mounted correctly. The hooks had small felt pads on them that simply push right onto the top edge as required. I positioned the top edge of the panel into place and started pushing in the panel pins from the bottom. Once at the top I just placed my fingers in the groove of the window glass opening and gently pulled the edge up and pushed the clips onto it's locked position. No strings attached. It actually went on easier than it came off.



Interior all cleaned up!



Now for full disclosure! I am a guitarist, by trade. I do not work as a professional musician, but I know how ROCK! I also know a little something about sound quality. I have a home studio and author my own cd's. So, in saying that, these speakers DID NOT do much for my car. There is some improvement, but not much. The reason I say that is because the three tweeters, that GM placed in the forward dash, overwhelm the sound if you play the system in the normal default mode. By that I mean the oem settings. I set my EQ at +3 treble, -2 mids, -3 bass and Fade -3 Rear. I simply hate the treble blasting me in the face. The GIANT sub in the door is too much for an interior cabin space as well.



GM would have done well to put it in the rear somewhere. It is very hard to get good audio from the oem system. It is not designed well! The DS35's added some minor clarity to the sound and that was it. I get a slightly crisper sound now, but the sub is horrendous. It is hard to get a great sound from this setup. In my personal opinion, I would not waste money on these speakers if you have the new 2012 Vette with the 9 speaker Bose upgrade. It was a waste of money and time for me. The rear upgrade works well, but the minimal gains are simply not worth it.

If you have the 7 speaker setup, it may improve your audio. Again, they may improve your audio.........

 

Thanks for a very good description of the procedure and excellent pictures. I may actually tackle this job having seen your pictures. One question - you said there is an opening at bottom to begin to pry the door open. can you describe in more detail where that is? also, for both taking the panel off and putting it back on, is the trick to start at the bottom and do the top last?

I also appreciate you honesty that the mod produced modest improvement in sound. that's not a surprise, and the mod is still worth it for me, as it's not a very expensive mod. thanks again for the great info.

 

What about using a different brand of speakers for this upgrade? Polk? Pioneer? etc..
I have a 2011 3LT Bose...

 

Yes! On the bottom edge of the door panel, just below the reflector.



(.........sorry the picture is not oriented correctly........PB is causing this, not my camera)

.........as far as reinstalling: Line up the top edge and start inserting your door pins from the bottom. Once all pins were fully seated I grasped the top edge with my fingertips, pulled backwards and pushed (at the same time) the four clips onto the metal rail. The felt pads slid right on there mounts easily. I triple checked them and insured the rubber seal was underneath the top edge, just as GM does it..........

Oh; the sound? It did add some clarity to my setup. Would I do it over again with my car? NO! It was not a worthy upgrade for my time or money.

I recommend buying better speakers............and disabling the front tweets.....if you can!

 

Sorry to hear that. But thank you for posting the process and review. Let us know if you replace with better speakers.

 

Thanks guys.......I'm looking at other options now.

OH! The oem's are rated at a higher power handling capacity also.

 

Very useful, thanks.

So let me understand - if you have the BOSE system, it seems there really is very little to be gained by a speaker swap if you don't do anything about those sub-woofers in the doors.

and if you chnage those, you need to install an amp to drive whatever subs you put in??

Can you tell I am not an audio guy??

vetfever

 

Getting ready to do Illusion Audio C8 8" component set up front with a Mosconi Zero 3 270 X 2 amp. Guarantee it will sound better than stock bose or non bose. These cars (C5/C6) are easy to make sound good. Just need good components (ie not JL, Kicker, etc) and amplification. I'm starting with no sub because components use an 8" mid/woofer. May add a 10 or 12 later if needed. Obviously ditching factory head unit too.

Here's the gear...

http://www.illusionaudio-america.com/carbon/c8/
http://www.mosconi-system.it/product/zero-3/

 

Nice write-up. I hate the stock sound system. There are so much better units on the market. I upgrade the stock nav unit to a Kenwood, and I am also going to change the speakers.

How is the sound?

 

I’m not a car installer, yet I hope this may help someone.

I use 3-way active stereo cross-overs on a pair of tri-amped home speakers. Selecting new drivers is a bit tricky. The Vettes factory amps are likely very specific for the drivers. Replacement higher-end drivers should match the factory amps/speakers in ohms and sensitivity. Additionally, the new drivers frequency responces (from their factory "spec sheet" curves) should be acoustically matched to sound naturally balanced together. This happens when the ohm loads, sensitivities, and driver response curves are all matched together carefully.

Otherwise, the volumes of different speakers may become unbalanced while adjusting the Vette’s main volume controller either up or down.

Basic helpful Terms for first timers:

ohms - is how much load a amp can handle before peaking, and, how easy a speaker driver is to drive
sensitivity: how loud in dB's a speaker driver is when measured with one watt at one meter distance.
frequency response: example - tweeters 2K Hz and up, midrange 300-2K, bass 30-300Hz

 

In my experience with an '07 w/ bose system, i used the DS speakers, and kept the subs. I disconnected the center stage speaker. Sounded much better. A year later I installed Kawal's aux input (that taps into the xm box) along with a Kinvo Blue Tooth and NOW it sounds amazing. The source sound from my smart phone is 100x better than the source sound from the antenna xm or the stock head unit. It is perfectly balanced* for me.

*disclaimer - I like a heavy 4 on the floor beat and the system kicks it nice. I could see how the bass is a little overwhelming on some types of music but if you use your smartphone as your source, you can use the phone's equalizer to dial in the tone.

 

OP, great write-up!!

 

Oh boy, I'm responding to a 2 year old thread, sorry...