[StormTrooperCamaro]

Hey all, so I’m looking to replace my front tweeters, as I think one might be a bit blown. When it comes to installing new tweeters, it’s it only a matter of cutting and reconnection the two wires that go to the stock tweeters? I’m having a hard time finding a good video on the install process.

[SilverCamaroVert]

The "tweeters" are actually a like 2" full range speaker. People make plates you can put regular component tweeters in if you like. Maybe if I'm bored some day I'll make some thingiverse files for making a 3d printed plate.

I think I cut the factory wires and crimped blade connectors onto them IIRC.

https://www.audiodesignscg.com/jacks...-audio-system/

[17rsvert]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

I think the speakers are different, Bose vs non-Bose, so you need to specify what system you have to get a useful answer.
The Bose system presents some compatabilty issues.
Bose amp sends lower frequencies to those drivers than most tweeters can handle.
The frequency curve sent by the Bose amp is not flat.
The Bose driver is very low ohm impedance, so finding a match is not easy and most replacements will not play loud enough to match the rest of the Bose drivers.
Not an easy swap.

[SilverCamaroVert]

I certainly don't have any hands on experience with the non-bose but impedance, power handling and frequency response are definitely very different between bose and non-bose. I suspect physical size would be virtually the same.

If you aren't doing a full system upgrade, buying the stock speakers is likely your best bet bose or non-bose in the camaro. The mounting space is not a standard size.

[Msquared]

Here is a pretty good video on the installation process, starting at 18:18 for the tweeters. Also, here's another video with the tweeter install beginning at 4:30. BUT DON'T CUT THE AIRBAG BUNGEE CORDS LIKE HE DID! That bungee is there to keep the trim piece from becoming a projectile if your air bag goes off. For obvious reasons, that is important.

There's a clip to pry open so you can slip the bungee connection off and remove the A-pillar trim piece completely. The Five Star video sort of discusses it, but you can't really see what they're showing you very well. This is a picture of the clip:


The open end is facing down the pillar toward the dash, and you need to pry it open a bit and then slide the clip up toward the roof. It takes some muscle.

This video shows pretty well how the trim piece is popped off its clips, though. My advice here is to be really careful not to pull them too far off when they break loose, or else you'll pull apart the little microphone in the pillar that you need for voice commands and hands-free calls. Ask my how I know. Luckily, they are cheap to replace.

This video also gives a good sense of the one tough screw on the driver's side tweeter. It's the one closest to the windshield. But honestly, you just need a 7mm combination wrench and some patience. You just turn it 1/8-1/4 turn at a time, and in a minute or two you'll have it out. This is not one of the harder fasteners I've ever had to deal with. The other screw on this tweeter and the two on the passenger tweeter are not hard. A 1/4"-drive ratchet and shallow 7mm socket work fine.

There are two or three drop-in replacement speakers for the stock units, which have mounting tabs ready to go. I replaced mine with Audiofrog GS25s and they are a huge upgrade in sound quality. The stock non-Bose tweeters are 4ohm units. The Bose are supposed to be 2ohm, which may mean the aftermarket speakers are going to change the loudness and/or frequency response.

ETA: One more thing is the wiring connection to the speaker, and the capacitor at the stock connector. Yes, you can cut the factory connector off and add normal spade connectors if you want. But unless you are going to add your own crossover of some sort, you should add caps in the positive signal line to replace the stock ones, because they serve as a high-pass filter and to protect the drivers if they get a big full-range signal or thump or anything else harmful. The stock cap is 68mF. If I had it to do over again, I might go with a higher-value cap because the GS25 can go lower in range than the stock value allows (i.e., it could help to lower the high-pass value). For me, instead of cutting the wires, I cut off the factory connectors from the speakers and soldered leads with spade connectors onto those. Then I connected the spades to the new speakers and the factory connectors back to the factory speaker wires. This just allows you to avoid cutting the factor speaker wires (there are no Metra adapters available for these). See the pic below, which is like what I did:

[StormTrooperCamaro]

So for my car it is an on Bose system and I’m looking for the simplest drop in speaker I can get. On a side note, this is my first time doing any audio work, if I just get a drop in replacement do I still have to do a crossover or caps?

[StormTrooperCamaro]

Originally Posted by Msquared

Here is a pretty good video on the installation process, starting at 18:18 for the tweeters. Also, here's another video with the tweeter install beginning at 4:30. BUT DON'T CUT THE AIRBAG BUNGEE CORDS LIKE HE DID! That bungee is there to keep the trim piece from becoming a projectile if your air bag goes off. For obvious reasons, that is important.

There's a clip to pry open so you can slip the bungee connection off and remove the A-pillar trim piece completely. The Five Star video sort of discusses it, but you can't really see what they're showing you very well. This is a picture of the clip:
Attachment 1034779

The open end is facing down the pillar toward the dash, and you need to pry it open a bit and then slide the clip up toward the roof. It takes some muscle.

This video shows pretty well how the trim piece is popped off its clips, though. My advice here is to be really careful not to pull them too far off when they break loose, or else you'll pull apart the little microphone in the pillar that you need for voice commands and hands-free calls. Ask my how I know. Luckily, they are cheap to replace.

This video also gives a good sense of the one tough screw on the driver's side tweeter. It's the one closest to the windshield. But honestly, you just need a 7mm combination wrench and some patience. You just turn it 1/8-1/4 turn at a time, and in a minute or two you'll have it out. This is not one of the harder fasteners I've ever had to deal with. The other screw on this tweeter and the two on the passenger tweeter are not hard. A 1/4"-drive ratchet and shallow 7mm socket work fine.

There are two or three drop-in replacement speakers for the stock units, which have mounting tabs ready to go. I replaced mine with Audiofrog GS25s and they are a huge upgrade in sound quality. The stock non-Bose tweeters are 4ohm units. The Bose are supposed to be 2ohm, which may mean the aftermarket speakers are going to change the loudness and/or frequency response.

ETA: One more thing is the wiring connection to the speaker, and the capacitor at the stock connector. Yes, you can cut the factory connector off and add normal spade connectors if you want. But unless you are going to add your own crossover of some sort, you should add caps in the positive signal line to replace the stock ones, because they serve as a high-pass filter and to protect the drivers if they get a big full-range signal or thump or anything else harmful. The stock cap is 68mF. If I had it to do over again, I might go with a higher-value cap because the GS25 can go lower in range than the stock value allows (i.e., it could help to lower the high-pass value). For me, instead of cutting the wires, I cut off the factory connectors from the speakers and soldered leads with spade connectors onto those. Then I connected the spades to the new speakers and the factory connectors back to the factory speaker wires. This just allows you to avoid cutting the factor speaker wires (there are no Metra adapters available for these). See the pic below, which is like what I did:

So for my car it is an on Bose system and I’m looking for the simplest drop in speaker I can get. On a side note, this is my first time doing any audio work, if I just get a drop in replacement do I still have to do a crossover or caps?

[Noize]

I also had to cut off the factory connectors on the driver side speaker and make my own connector to my sweet new Audiofrog GS25 mids. The passenger side had extra wire, and it was cake compared.

I am going to run the doors and rear 6x9s off an aftermarket amplifier, but running the Audiofrogs up front full range (no cap) with great sound quality and no ill effect. Their rolloff is very sharp below 200Hz

The factory amplifier is pretty tame on the 1LE, and I tested them with bass gain at +8 and hip hop at 70% volume and heard no audible distortion.

The dash and door speakers in the 1LE are 4 ohm (doors are marked as 20w 4ohm), so since you have a Bose system, putting a 4 ohm speaker in place of a 2 ohm speaker is going to cause you issues with them being much quieter than before. I'd either leave it alone in that scenario, or go hog wild and replace all speakers at minimum.

[StormTrooperCamaro]

Originally Posted by Noize

I also had to cut off the factory connectors on the driver side speaker and make my own connector to my sweet new Audiofrog GS25 mids. The passenger side had extra wire, and it was cake compared.

I am going to run the doors and rear 6x9s off an aftermarket amplifier, but running the Audiofrogs up front full range (no cap) with great sound quality and no ill effect. Their rolloff is very sharp below 200Hz

The factory amplifier is pretty tame on the 1LE, and I tested them with bass gain at +8 and hip hop at 70% volume and heard no audible distortion.

The dash and door speakers in the 1LE are 4 ohm (doors are marked as 20w 4ohm), so since you have a Bose system, putting a 4 ohm speaker in place of a 2 ohm speaker is going to cause you issues with them being much quieter than before. I'd either leave it alone in that scenario, or go hog wild and replace all speakers at minimum.

Whoops that’s my bad I meant to say that I had a non-bose system in my car.

[Msquared]

Originally Posted by StormTrooperCamaro

So for my car it is an on Bose system and I’m looking for the simplest drop in speaker I can get. On a side note, this is my first time doing any audio work, if I just get a drop in replacement do I still have to do a crossover or caps?

Then you can just drop in replacement speakers that are also 4ohm (I think all the direct replacements are). I would still use the capacitor that came with the car, or maybe go up to a 150uF to lower the high-pass frequency (if the speaker you end up using is rated down to ~200Hz like the Audiofrog). I'm sure Noize is right that you don't have to use the caps - that the speaker naturally rolls off anyway. However, the cap is there as much for protecting the speaker as for the filter function it provides. Your call on that, though.

For simplicty, it's hard to the beat the AF GS25. It's got the tabs ready to screw in to the factory location. There is a Kenwood speaker that's a lot cheaper, but it's also a lot less sensitive and has less low range. Especially for the stock "amp" (which is really just a chip in the radio receive unit behind the glovebox), the AF seems like the best bet because it's the most sensitive drop-in 2.5" dash speaker I know of. And it sounds frickin' great. Really.

[deftone31]

Hi Matt,

I’m currently running into issues with my Bose system. My headunit is pretty much on full blast and I have extremely flat results of audio. All speakers are boss OEM. When it comes to the receiver, do you know which connections are
Directly linked to the Bose amp? Or where the chip is on the receiver ? I’m wondering if there is something I can reset, or cords I can check for continuity of power. I feel like something is faulty

[ThirdGenNut]

I always use the box my tweeters come in to make my mounting plate. trace the speaker outline onto the cardboard then use a razor knife to cut the shape out. trace the ID of the tweeter nut then cut it out. connect the wires and tape them down so they don't rattle, screw it in.
Instant improvement every time.

[Msquared]

Originally Posted by deftone31

Hi Matt,

I’m currently running into issues with my Bose system. My headunit is pretty much on full blast and I have extremely flat results of audio. All speakers are boss OEM. When it comes to the receiver, do you know which connections are
Directly linked to the Bose amp? Or where the chip is on the receiver ? I’m wondering if there is something I can reset, or cords I can check for continuity of power. I feel like something is faulty

I’m sorry deftone, but I have no amp in my trunk at all, much less a Bose system, so I don’t have any good info for you on this issue.

[Plasar]

Deftone31:

Hey buddy, good question, but start a new thread under your name. Your topic is completely different from the thread by StormTrooperCamaro.

I and others will respond there.

Cheers.