Please review my stereo upgrade plan. Thank you.

[mattluttrell]

My Bose amp appears to have gone out while I was checking fuses. I just bought the 02 Escalade this week and didn't like the Bose stereo anyways.

Please let me know what you think of this plan:
1. Apline bluetooth media headunit (with Crutchfield wiring harness and mount kit)
2. Polk Audio 6.5" speakers + adapters for doors
3. Splice in tweeters with 6.5" door speakers? (not sure of this)
4. Head unit powers door speakers.
5. 8" Kicker CVT in place of Bose sub in back.
6. Small mono amp to power sub splicing high level output of other speakers; using Bose amp's power.

Does this sound feasible? Most of the threads discuss the Bose amp being in the console, except 2002 Escalades where it is in the back. I haven't been able to find great documentation on this. I'm also a bit nervous about damaging the perfect trim around the instrument cluster or doors when I install this stuff.

Any words of advice on my choices or the install?

 

[yates ™]

splice in tweeers? Buy components for your front speakers, it will come with with speakers, tweeters, and crossover. But coaxial speakers for the rear doors which will have the tweeter built into the speaker and will also have crossovers. Your headunit should have RCA outputs for front, rear, and sub (may be called non fader so no need to slice into wiring. You will either need to run your new highs off a new amp, bypass the factory amp, or confirm your factory amp is working condition.

Not trying to sound like a dick but I urge you to research this more before taking this on or it will end up sounding worse than the Bose you currently dislike.

 

[mattluttrell]

splice in tweeers? Buy components for your front speakers, it will come with with speakers, tweeters, and crossover. But coaxial speakers for the rear doors which will have the tweeter built into the speaker and will also have crossovers. Your headunit should have RCA outputs for front, rear, and sub (may be called non fader so no need to slice into wiring. You will either need to run your new highs off a new amp, bypass the factory amp, or confirm your factory amp is working condition.

Not trying to sound like a dick but I urge you to research this more before taking this on or it will end up sounding worse than the Bose you currently dislike.

I appreciate all input. The Bose sounded bad tp start and doesn't work at all anymore. I'll probable not use the tweeters at all up front. I haven't decided yet.

I'm interested in hearing from someone who might have worked with the existing wiring in this year Escalade or has experience with the sub in the back. It isn't documented as well as 03+.

 

[yates ™]

It's not much different than other years. For highs you will need to bypass the existing amp or new speaker wire.

 

[Yukonboy2014]

If budget allows, replace that kicker sub with a JL Audio one. The JL's are fantastic subs.

 

[wreedps]

What interface are you going to go with?

 

[Zygocrybiate]

I advise against polk audio stuff, in my experience they sound decent, but are overpriced and dont last. Get kenwood or pioneer, and if you can afford it Alpine Type-S component speakers are the best for the money.

 

[08grey]

If you can afford it boston acoustics components for the highs and mids. The kicker sub will be fine JL would be better.

 

[Chiggy]

I just installed the Alpine ICS-X7HD. I love it, it's all digital media without a CD or DVD player. With the parking brake bypass (which I found out was needed because the wires coming from the radio had nothing to hook up to. It wouldn't let me even use the settings button because it thought I was in gear even in park with the brake on)
I'm going with Focal component front and rear most likely with a 4 channel alpine or JL amp. I haven't decided on the sub and amp yet but it will go in the MTX thunderform box on the drivers side in the rear.

 

[mattluttrell]

The Alpine media player is nice. We have one in another car.

This order is getting returned. I discovered that I wasn't pressing the power button long enough after a battery disconnect.

Now I'll just be planning on a sub upgrade. I'm enjoying the direction this has taken. Now I'm looking at Kicker CVT 8" 4ohm in back box with bridged amp off Bose amp.