Factory Amp?

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William_Ray

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2002 Tahoe without Bose, but with factory sub. Do I have a factory amp? I'm thinking no and need to buy the correct harness for my DD install.

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t76turbo

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2002 Tahoe without Bose, but with factory sub. Do I have a factory amp? I'm thinking no and need to buy the correct harness for my DD install.

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I have an 01 with the same configuration as you. There is an amp in my case and it is located behind the glove box. You can open the glove box and I think the right inner wall,of the box itself pushes in slightly to let the box open beyond the normal stopping point and basically hang free. The amp is right behind that on the right side.

Looks kind of like an ECM for a car. Silver box with two large plugs going into it.

One note on an issue I experienced. I just bought this 2001 Tahoe for my son and the entire sound system was crap from age. So I replaced the speakers and then replaced the radio. After the radio install, my amp wasn't turning on. Radio looked to be working per the display but like someone hit the mute button. It is a pioneer deh-x9600. High end single din radio. Called crutchfield and went through a lot of troubleshooting. Eventually on a hunch used my powerprobe 3 to apply full 12 volts to the blue turn on lead out of the radio and it (the amp) kicked on. But the pioneer only had less than 1 volt out on that output. So I ended up cutting the connection to the radio and t-tapping the turn on wire from the metra harness to the key on 12v wire next to it. It works perfectly now.

But have no clue what's up with the turn on lead/power antenna output from the pioneer or if it is a matter of the factory amp needing higher voltage than normal to kick on. I thought it was an issue with the radio. The crutchfield rep said it was and was sending me a new radio. I happen to have two of this model radio in the boxes as I am installing one in my 1970 C10 truck as well. I put the second one in the Tahoe Ian's had the same issue. That's when I tapped into the key on power and cut out the pioneer altogether.

You mileage may vary with a different radio.
 
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William_Ray

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Thanks for the advice. I was curious about this. I found a review on Amazon regarding something similar when looking for the correct wiring harness. Is this similar to what you're talking about?uploadfromtaptalk1440417008701.jpg

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William_Ray

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Not sure if that photo came out or not. I was using my phone

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t76turbo

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Thanks for the advice. I was curious about this. I found a review on Amazon regarding something similar when looking for the correct wiring harness. Is this similar to what you're talking about?View attachment 34540

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You're welcome.

I think that (the comments in the Amazon review you posted) is it. Mine doesn't have Onstar so not sure if that is a factor or not.

And I don't recall the color of the wire I tapped into for key on. I would say just validate it has 12 volts key on only. I think it was pink on the vehicles harness but may have been red on the metra harness side. They ar not all color coded the same across the connections.


Edit****. I do remember the crutchfield tech suggesting I should have 2 harness plugs in the back of my fqctory radio. I only have the one main plug plus the antenna. Sounds like the guy in the review is refer ding that hqrness maybe. Like I said above, I just used the wire right next to the blue on the metra harness that was key on 12v.
 
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William_Ray

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Well I found two different wiring harness adapters for my Tahoe from Metra. One says it's for factory amplified applications and the other is for non amplified applications. In my experience, Bose is usually the only factory systems (GM wise) that come with a factory amp. My Tahoe isn't equipped with Bose but does have the factory sub in the rear and OnStar.

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YukonXL04

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You do have a factory amp. I believe all of the 99-02 SUV's had the factory amp. The non amplified option is for the trucks I believe, my 00 didnt have the factory amp.
 
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William_Ray

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Yeah I do. I just got off the phone with Metra tech support and apparently I do have a factory amplified system. I confirmed this by dropping the glove box and looking. It turns out I need the Metra 70-1859 harness adapter and not the 70-1858 that I purchased.

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William_Ray

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Well my install went smoothly. New double DIN head unit and sub. Also added a backup camera. Thanks for the info!uploadfromtaptalk1441856135677.jpguploadfromtaptalk1441856164714.jpguploadfromtaptalk1441856187966.jpg

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