[lownslowss]

This has been confirmed by Gen5diy, car toys, and a few others. There is NOT an amplifier in the 1SS 1LE


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hawk Fan]

Originally Posted by WhyUMad1LE

It's not as bad as you make it out to be, just stop using bluetooth lol.

I'm with him, POS!
The only way to make it sound better is to turn it off.
I'll try to stay off my soap box, but I think chev hung us out to dry on this one. I wouldn't have minded just a crappy set of speakers, but I think they put crappy stereo electronics in the head unit as well. Something that we can't easily fix. They should have given us the same head-unit-electronics as the ZL1 or 2SS, since that's something we can't upgrade. I've gone to 4 shops now. I'm getting quotes from 2700 to 4k. And 2 of them were honest with me and said I might not like the sound even with the upgrade. Because the only way to truly fix it, would be to upgrade the head unit, which is not available at this time. And on a 2017 1LE, may never be available. I will do something to try to fix mine, I'm just not sure what yet. All you 2SS folks don't know how good you have it, till you listen to a 1SS 1LE. LOL

[WhyUMad1LE]

Originally Posted by Hawk Fan

I'm with him, POS!
The only way to make it sound better is to turn it off.
I'll try to stay off my soap box, but I think chev hung us out to dry on this one. I wouldn't have minded just a crappy set of speakers, but I think they put crappy stereo electronics in the head unit as well. Something that we can't easily fix. They should have given us the same head-unit-electronics as the ZL1 or 2SS, since that's something we can't upgrade. I've gone to 4 shops now. I'm getting quotes from 2700 to 4k. And 2 of them were honest with me and said I might not like the sound even with the upgrade. Because the only way to truly fix it, would be to upgrade the head unit, which is not available at this time. And on a 2017 1LE, may never be available. I will do something to try to fix mine, I'm just not sure what yet. All you 2SS folks don't know how good you have it, till you listen to a 1SS 1LE. LOL

Mine sounds fine through usb with decent quality source files. I had Bose in an Acura and Infiniti and it wasn't a huge difference. But when I try streaming audio through Bluetooth it sounds like garbage.

[Hawk Fan]

Yeah I agree on the Bluetooth, its terrible. For me though, its bad even plugged in. I think part of it may be some of the hearing loss I have from a life time of loud cars, loud music and guns. So I will submit that I may be hearing it different than you are with your younger ears. I can tell you though, my 1999 Ford F250 SD with a $650 stereo I had put in it 10 years ago sounds head and shoulders better then the one in my 1SS 1LE. I can't say the same about the 2SS I traded in to get the 1SS. The 2SS sounded better-TO ME. Its the only thing I'm disappointed with on this car though. The sounds coming from under the hood and out of the exhaust more than makes up for what it lacks in stereo, but I will be looking for ways to fix it. I've gotten some good ideas off this thread, I'm just not sure I wanna try to save a few bucks and dig into it myself. Or pay the high prices the shops are offering for modest gains in sound. If the cops could see me thru my dark tinted windows, they would see that I sometimes wear my headphones while driving! :P

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by Hawk Fan

....Something that we can't easily fix. They should have given us the same head-unit-electronics as the ZL1 or 2SS, ...

They did. The only difference is it doesn't have ANC or an external amplifier. None of that stops anyone from adding a DSP and amplifier[s] and speakers of your choice and budget to achieve significantly better sound than stock.

I'm sorry the shops you went to were incompetent, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, or that GM screwed us. I've already given you guys the information you need.

[Th3Beast]

Originally Posted by Ryephile

They did. The only difference is it doesn't have ANC or an external amplifier. None of that stops anyone from adding a DSP and amplifier[s] and speakers of your choice and budget to achieve significantly better sound than stock.

I'm sorry the shops you went to were incompetent, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, or that GM screwed us. I've already given you guys the information you need.

I have to agree here as well. Granted I have not messed with the system in the 1LE, but back in 2004 I had a full system installed in an Acura TSX. That was at the beginning of the whole integrated headunit/center stack movement. I was a car audio installer at the time, but decided to have a high end shop do the work since the car was new to market and not much documentation on it (i.e. I'd rather let them screw it up than me lol).

It had a factory amplified system which needed to be bypassed. The signal outputs from the headunit were converted to RCA's and then connected to an Eclipse 6 band equalizer. From there it was just like wiring up a normal aftermarket system... RCA's from EQ back to the amps... speaker wire from the amps back up connecting to all speakers. It worked and sounded awesome.

Why can't something similar been done to our cars?

[Eldi Z]

Indeed so and the only real task is to identify the High Power output wires going from the HU to the speakers (assuming there is indeed no additional power amp / DSP on the way to the speakers).
Once these are identified (preferably directly at the HU and not at speakers' side), the a LOC Hi/Lo can be wired up (or even better, a quality DSP, I.E Mosconi Gladen "4-to-6" or Audison "Bit ONE") accepting the high power output coming from these speaker wires. From there it is easy: RCA Interconnects to your favorite Amp/s replacing the crap OE speakers and adding a decent SubW in the trunk

[formoutofchaos]

Originally Posted by Eldi Z

Indeed so and the only real task is to identify the High Power output wires going from the HU to the speakers (assuming there is indeed no additional power amp / DSP on the way to the speakers).
Once these are identified (preferably directly at the HU and not at speakers' side), the a LOC Hi/Lo can be wired up (or even better, a quality DSP, I.E Mosconi Gladen "4-to-6" or Audison "Bit ONE") accepting the high power output coming from these speaker wires. From there it is easy: RCA Interconnects to your favorite Amp/s replacing the crap OE speakers and adding a decent SubW in the trunk

We used Addison bit one and audio frog speakers and didn't take I think the way the guy did it at the speakers is the only way the signal is not corrupted

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by Eldi Z

Indeed so and the only real task is to identify the High Power output wires going from the HU to the speakers (assuming there is indeed no additional power amp / DSP on the way to the speakers)....

You're looking for more proof than these?

The info I got from a GM rep HERE

Originally Posted by Ryephile

I had a service writer look it up for me. The SS 1LE specifically doesn't have a separate amp, like we deduced. It just has the 8" display and the "receiver", which is located fore of the glove box. Here's a drawing I was given, the perspective is looking from the front towards the aft of the car.

I was also told there isn't the ANC in the SS 1LE, due to the lack of a normal amplifier, however the wire colors going to the speakers is still the Blue+ & Brown/Blue-, and Yellow+ & Yellow/Black- for the front speakers. Sourcing from the rear speakers is an unknown and might not be full-range. Use at your own risk obviously.

Based on my searching in my own car it appears the easiest way to tap into the front channel high-level signal is at the bulkhead connectors behind the footwell kick-panel trim. It's not easy to get to, and you'll have to cut factory wires to splice in an external amplifier.


I hope this helps.

And SlickZL1's post HERE

Originally Posted by SlickZL1

I didn't take pictures of it apart, it was hot and I just wanted to get it done.
So, I originally spent over an hour trying to wire it to behind the head unit, but it was so hard to get to and run the wires that I gave up and went the easy route. Both front kick panels have the speaker wires going to the doors, I simply cut the wires and sent the signal to my lc7i in the trunk, then back up to each door from my new amp.

The rears required removal of the rear seat in order to get the rear panel off for speaker replacement. The same process as the front, stock speaker wires were cut and sent to truck for inputs and then wires from amp run back to the new speakers.

The car audio shop gave me this print out of the wiring colors. It's for a 2016, but as far as speaker wires it is accurate for my 17 SS1LE.

In the second pic you can see my finger holding the blue speaker wires out of the bundle in the drivers side kick panel.

Sorry th pics are all rotated.

[MikeG183]

For what it's worth, I've had good success using these in other OEM intergrations:

http://www.jlaudio.com/car-audio-pro...em-integration

[Eldi Z]

So you used the FiX 86?
How did you go about feeding the input signals to the FiX from the OEM HU?
Did you tap directly to the speaker wires at the speakers' locations (Front Doors / Rear Panels)?

[mcsoul]

Originally Posted by Ryephile

You're looking for more proof than these?

The info I got from a GM rep HERE


And SlickZL1's post HERE

If Active noise cancelling "Does not apply" to the 1LE, than I think the 1LE is in significantly better shape than people wanting to upgrade the 2SS Bose.

If 5-13 and 6-14 are your full range outputs and many amps can handle a direct input and divide the signal up as needed.

[MySS8U]

im so disappointed. I mean our recaros has fans and heated seats ability thats not plugged up but out stereo doesn't have an amp. EPIC FAIL

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by mcsoul

If Active noise cancelling "Does not apply" to the 1LE, than I think the 1LE is in significantly better shape than people wanting to upgrade the 2SS Bose.

If 5-13 and 6-14 are your full range outputs and many amps can handle a direct input and divide the signal up as needed.

Yes to the first part. No idea what you're talking about on the 2nd. The wiring harness is completely different on the 1SS 1LE than normal 1SS's and Bose systems. The easiest way to access the front channel high-level wires is behind the trim in each front footwell kick panel. They're the colors on the drawings I posted.

Originally Posted by MySS8U

im so disappointed. I mean our recaros has fans and heated seats ability thats not plugged up but out stereo doesn't have an amp. EPIC FAIL

A bit dramatic, to say the least. If you're prioritizing climate controlled seats and audio amplifier specs over the actual car, you bought the wrong car.