Rookie audio tips

[msandli]

I just bought a 2001 Tahoe, sub, no bose, no onstar. The oem cd player doesn't work, and the FM sound from the speakers (it only sounds like 4 are even hooked up any more) sounds worse than any tin can phone I used as a kid. At the moment, I'm planning on either getting a new h/u, amp, and 4 good door speakers, or a new h/u, amp, a good pair of comps up front, and replace the stock sub in back (I bought the Tahoe for the space, after all). I've searched quite a bit, and read quite a bit at diyma, and now my head is spinning, so I have a few specific questions:

1. I think I understand how to simply bypass the stock amp: I can use a harness adapter to tap into the power and grounds from the car, and them just tape up the speaker leads from the h/u and run RCAs to the amp. However, will this effect anything other than radio sounds from speakers? I'm thinking specifically about chimes (open door, check engine light, etc) and any sort of theft deterrent system that will cause my car to become inoperative because it thinks the radio has been stolen.

2. I've seen lots of threads on this sight about where people have finally installed things, but not too many seem to show all the steps about how they got there. I'm specifically interested in pulling trim pieces to run wires. I have a pretty good record for breaking plastic tabs on these sorts of things. Does anyone have any good info regarding this? Even pictures with circles on them saying "tabs here and here" are beyond helpful to me.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[msandli]

I'm starting to find a few things to help answer question 2, such as:

http://caraudiotips.blogspot.com/2012/12/2000-2006-chevy-tahoe-factory-sub.html

Still kind of lost on question 1.

 

[NathanJax]

1. will be fine because you're pre 03.

 

[msandli]

Cool, thanks.

Something else I don't think I've seen answered. For people that put their amps under the second row bench, can you still fold the seat backs down flat? Almost flat? Flat but have to turn amps down/off due to heat concerns?

 

[YukonXL04]

That's going to depend on the amp. My jbl fits under my 2nd row just fine with the seats down. However mine is mounted on the carpet. If I had a board on top of the seat mounts and mounted a amp to that like alot of people do then I'm betting it wouldn't lay flat.

 

[msandli]

That's going to depend on the amp. My jbl fits under my 2nd row just fine with the seats down. However mine is mounted on the carpet. If I had a board on top of the seat mounts and mounted a amp to that like alot of people do then I'm betting it wouldn't lay flat.

Hmm, ok. I'm not planning on doing anything outrageous, but having the seats fold down is a major plus for me. How do you have "mounted" on the carpet? Velcro? Screwed to the body? Do you ever run it with the seats folded down for an extended period of time (longer than the time it takes for someone to get to the 3rd row seat)?

What model is your amp? I want to see if I can find a manual with dimensions.

 

[msandli]

Bump for new question.

just got a new headunit and 4 new door speakers. I want to bypass the stock non-bose amp completely - I'm not sure if it's blown or not, I don't want to run the (non-functioning) sub and D-pillar speakers, and I plan on getting an amp at some point anyways.

I'm thinking the best way to go is to run new speaker wire from the headunit to the speakers. What's the best way to route the wires in the vicinity of the radio: can I pull the top off the dash off easily, or should I go underneath and stay towards the top of the footwells?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[NathanJax]

Go from underneath the dash. If you look between the cluster and a/c controls after removing the front part of the dash, there's plenty of room

 

[msandli]

OK, have speakers in front door and aftermarket kenwood spliced in. factory amp is getting no signal from head unit at all. doors chime. tunes sound much better!

At first, the radio didn't shut off when I took out the key and opened up the doors. After noticing the interior lights weren't shutting on and off either, I put all the window and lock switches back in the door harnesses - works like a charm now!

Hopefully, I will have the energy and wits to pre-run some speaker wires for the back speakers before I reassemble the interior. However, the back speakers themselves will have to wait a bit - I had enough of a time pulling wire for the front ones (it was my first time though), and it looks like tackling that big connector for the back doors is more than I want to mess with in one go around. Hopefully, now that I've seen how the interior comes apart, the next set of speakers and amps and sub should go much faster.

 

[msandli]

Ok, another question. When I get an amp, I might look at also doing a big 3 upgrade. If my current set up is stock, it appears that my battery negative has two different sized wires running off of it (the smaller one appears to run towards the lower front frame, while the bigger one runs under the engine somewhere; haven't been underneath to look for them specifically), while my battery positive also runs underneath the engine, running through the little red box by the alternator on the way.

The big 3 write ups I've seen don't really make it explicit - am I adding on to those wires, or replacing them? It looks like trying to replace the red box and the wires underneath the engine block might be tricky, and as the truck currently works fine, that implies that the current wiring is adequate and correct, so if I don't have to rip out the current wiring, the better.