Speaker wiring questions

Petrol Head · 05-31-2020, 10:48 AM

For those who’ve installed a complete aftermarket system, how did you run your new speaker wire to the door speakers? The factory harness for door electronics that connects into the body is terminated at the body with no room to fish wiring through the conduit like you could in old cars. I used to do car-fi work in the late 90s-mid 2000s, so This is obviously my first attempt at working on a car stereo install in a very long time. Needless to say things have changed considerably. You used to be able to fish speaker wire from inside the kick panel through the flex conduit to inside the door with no problem.

SilverCamaroVert · 05-31-2020, 12:46 PM

I used a t-harness and reused the stock wires. Certainly not as good as upgrading but probably good enough. The door speakers (where a lot of the power go anyway) have a much heavier gauge than the dash speakers.

You could consider reusing the door speaker wires because they are heavier and run new ones to the dash (and rear if keeping rear).

Petrol Head · 05-31-2020, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverCamaroVert

I used a t-harness and reused the stock wires. Certainly not as good as upgrading but probably good enough. The door speakers (where a lot of the power go anyway) have a much heavier gauge than the dash speakers.

You could consider reusing the door speaker wires because they are heavier and run new ones to the dash (and rear if keeping rear).

So you used a t-splitter in the trunk and ran the output of your aftermarket amp into the splitter? I have the Bose system so do you have a link for that harness? I’m not about to cut and hack into my factory wiring. I’ll be using the AVB converter module which removes the factory Bose amp completely and cleans the digital crossed over signal into 4 full bandwidth analog outputs with no bass roll off as you turn the volume up. From that I’ll be running two amps, one for the fronts and one for the rears. Running New wiring to the rest of the speakers shouldn’t be a problem for me.

SilverCamaroVert · 05-31-2020, 02:16 PM

I have that module. I’ll dig up some details of my build later today and post.

SilverCamaroVert · 05-31-2020, 02:31 PM

I broke away from what I was doing sooner than expected.

I used the Pac Audio aph-gm02 t-harness. (IIRC, the labels on the wires were all wrong though.)

I started without the AVB module as it wasn't available a year ago. I used the AudioControl dm-608 plus a 4 channel and a mono sub amp and the harness. (and power/rca's)

I didn't connect the rear speakers or the center.

I used the factory wires by feeding my new amplified signal through the t-harness back up to the speakers. I'm only pushing about 75w to dash and 120w to doors so the factory wiring probably isn't getting stressed too badly.

This spring I got the AVB module and eliminated the Bose amp. I kept the dm-608 but I'm feeding optical to it and using it for active front stage among other things.

Version 1.0 with just the DM-608 was bad. Factory compression/limiter was a pain and bass rolloff was terrible. Especially in a convertible.

The NAVTV AVB is much better and worth every penny if you truly like SQ at all.

05-31-2020, 10:48 AM	#1
Petrol Head Account Suspended Drives: Fast if no one's looking Join Date: Aug 2019 Location: Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 1,794	Speaker wiring questions For those who’ve installed a complete aftermarket system, how did you run your new speaker wire to the door speakers? The factory harness for door electronics that connects into the body is terminated at the body with no room to fish wiring through the conduit like you could in old cars. I used to do car-fi work in the late 90s-mid 2000s, so This is obviously my first attempt at working on a car stereo install in a very long time. Needless to say things have changed considerably. You used to be able to fish speaker wire from inside the kick panel through the flex conduit to inside the door with no problem.

05-31-2020, 12:46 PM	#2
SilverCamaroVert Drives: 2019 LT3 RS Convertible Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 126	I used a t-harness and reused the stock wires. Certainly not as good as upgrading but probably good enough. The door speakers (where a lot of the power go anyway) have a much heavier gauge than the dash speakers. You could consider reusing the door speaker wires because they are heavier and run new ones to the dash (and rear if keeping rear).

05-31-2020, 02:16 PM	#4
SilverCamaroVert Drives: 2019 LT3 RS Convertible Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 126	I have that module. I’ll dig up some details of my build later today and post.

05-31-2020, 02:31 PM	#5
SilverCamaroVert Drives: 2019 LT3 RS Convertible Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 126	I broke away from what I was doing sooner than expected. I used the Pac Audio aph-gm02 t-harness. (IIRC, the labels on the wires were all wrong though.) I started without the AVB module as it wasn't available a year ago. I used the AudioControl dm-608 plus a 4 channel and a mono sub amp and the harness. (and power/rca's) I didn't connect the rear speakers or the center. I used the factory wires by feeding my new amplified signal through the t-harness back up to the speakers. I'm only pushing about 75w to dash and 120w to doors so the factory wiring probably isn't getting stressed too badly. This spring I got the AVB module and eliminated the Bose amp. I kept the dm-608 but I'm feeding optical to it and using it for active front stage among other things. Version 1.0 with just the DM-608 was bad. Factory compression/limiter was a pain and bass rolloff was terrible. Especially in a convertible. The NAVTV AVB is much better and worth every penny if you truly like SQ at all.

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