[Demonator]

Hello,

I have a 2017 1SS 1LE. I am trying to upgrade my speakers. I have done some research on it, but it's all really confusing to someone who doesn't know much about audio setups.

Could anyone tell me exactly what I need to get just to get some higher quality sound? Maybe share what you guys have done. It would be immensely helpful if you could include links.

Appreciate it.

[Aragorn]

Maybe this thread.

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=484279

[Chutzpah]

A timely post… I just tied in my new speakers today. The job isn’t finished, I just wanted to make sure it would work before reassembly. Anyway, I eliminated the useless rear side speakers and used their signal for the new speakers. I installed (2) Alpine R-S69.2 6”x 9” speakers and an Alpine KTP-445U Amplifier. The amplifier can drive 4 speakers, but I have it configured to drive just the 2 speakers at 90 watts each. It’s PLENTY of power.. All I have to say is wow, the speakers aren’t broken in yet, but so much better. The sound stage is now 60 % back and 40 % front with the fader in the middle. I may change out the fronts to match the rear speakers, but at this time I’m very happy with the results for less than $400.

My recommendation to you would be to buy the plug and play harness from Sub thump and or Gen 5 DYI. (I forget which one or if both carry it). As well, what I found (after the fact) is the speakers can easily be installed from the trunk….no interior disassembly is needed. I wish I didn’t cheap out, bought the harness and just ran the two rear side panel speaker outputs from under the dash to the trunk and installed the speakers without interior disassembly. You can use the standard metra adapters inverted, as shown in my picture. If you need more info on how to install, let me know. There a couple of tricks that would make very short work of it. The added benefit is I can remove a speaker from the trunk, if it happens to fail.

I ended up changing my initial foam type and location to the underside of cars speaker surround, as well added flocking tape.

Oh and one more thing… your post and my reply probably should be in this section of the forum https://www.camaro6.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=228

[ctrlz]

Changing the speakers without adding amplification will not be worth the effort.
I tried this with the Bose system because I had an extra set of low impedance JBL 6" speakers laying around.
I did some measurements and subjective comparisons. I'm no fan of Bose, but the system performed and sounded better with their speakers. Again, this is without changing the stock amplifier or adding signal processing.

[Rock-It Man]

Go to crutchfield.com and use their site to match you up with a speaker upgrade, or chat with an expert. I'm not affiliated with Crutchfield but am I am a customer.

When I looked into upgrading my Gen5 Camaro's sound system, their recommendation was that changing the head unit was more trouble than it was worth, although they do sell them, and adapter kits too. Still, you may not retain all the functions of the original unit, which controls all your car's preferences as well as XM radio.

They will recommend speakers that are a good match for your car.

Not the "extra speakers you had around".

[Msquared]

There's a whole forum for Audio and other electronics questions like yours, and you might get more replies if you check there. I have a 2019 1LE, so like you I had no amp at all in the trunk. I did about the minimum you can do, and I documented it here. Although I got some audible improvement from just replacing the front four speakers (and you have to pick carefully because of the very low stock amp power), going to the little Kicker amp with built-in DSP was a really important and worthwhile addition.

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by Msquared

There's a whole forum for Audio and other electronics questions like yours...
going to the little Kicker amp with built-in DSP was a really important and worthwhile addition.

Agreed.
And if this car lent itself to simple speaker swaps to improve the sound, that sub-forum would be filled with recipes and opinions, frankly more valuable information than you could get from any vendor, whose only job is to sell you stuff. Go over to the sub-forum, and you will find you need additional amplification along with any new speakers to realize gains. There are hundreds of threads.

[Msquared]

Originally Posted by ctrlz

Agreed.
And if this car lent itself to simple speaker swaps to improve the sound, that sub-forum would be filled with recipes and opinions, frankly more valuable information than you could get from any vendor, whose only job is to sell you stuff. Go over to the sub-forum, and you will find you need additional amplification along with any new speakers to realize gains. There are hundreds of threads.

I can honestly say that just swapping the door and dash speakers for the Audiofrog GS690 and GS25 units, respectively, made a real improvement in sound quality all by itself. The challenge with a 1LE (no separate amp) is that you have to choose speakers with a high sensitivity and a ~4ohm impedance or the stock power won't be enough. I'd never even heard of Audiofrog before I started looking at this swap, but among high-end speakers their specs stood out as especially appropriate. They were a great drop-in upgrade all by themselves, but the amp/DSP also made an equally large improvement after that.

[ctrlz]

Typically going with lower impedance improves volume output, but the amp has to be able to handle the load. Doubt a small head unit amp would be 2 or 3-ohm stable.
Also, once you replace a one way driver with 2-way or more, you have to either know the speaker's behavior or audition it. Advertised sensitivity for a 2-way (say 95 dB at 1 W/1 m) may be entirely based on the tweeter, and the mid-driver may be relatively starved for power.

[Msquared]

Originally Posted by ctrlz

Typically going with lower impedance improves volume output, but the amp has to be able to handle the load. Doubt a small head unit amp would be 2 or 3-ohm stable.
Also, once you replace a one way driver with 2-way or more, you have to either know the speaker's behavior or audition it. Advertised sensitivity for a 2-way (say 95 dB at 1 W/1 m) may be entirely based on the tweeter, and the mid-driver may be relatively starved for power.

Yes, the GS25 and GS690 are both single-cone drivers, just like the factory drivers, and they are both 4-ohm rated and measure very similarly to the factory drivers. The GS25 is 87db sensitive and the GS690 is 92db. They are literally made for drop-in replacements like this.

The one thing you have to do on the Camaro if you drop these in, though, is add a capacitor in line with each dash speaker. The OE dash speakers have a 68uF cap on their terminal block, so it comes out with the speaker. I would recommend using more like 200uF for the GS25s since they have range down to 200Hz, and they will blend with the GS690s better with a high-pass frequency closer to 200Hz than the ~600Hz the factory caps provide.

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by Msquared

The one thing you have to do on the Camaro if you drop these in, though, is add a capacitor in line with each dash speaker. The OE dash speakers have a 68uF cap on their terminal block, so it comes out with the speaker. I would recommend using more like 200uF for the GS25s since they have range down to 200Hz, and they will blend with the GS690s better with a high-pass frequency closer to 200Hz than the ~600Hz the factory caps provide.

very important advice.
That factory cap is blocking a big chunk of the mid-range.

[Msquared]

Originally Posted by ctrlz

very important advice.
That factory cap is blocking a big chunk of the mid-range.

Agreed. I should mention that some people have run this speaker without any high-pass cap at all. It will naturally start rolling off below 200Hz all by itself. However, Audiofrog themselves (Andy Wehmeyer) advise the use of a cap to prevent damage from low-frequency inputs. It's certainly easy enough to include inline.

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by ctrlz

very important advice.
That factory cap is blocking a big chunk of the mid-range.

So that's why I can barely hear some midrange that comes through clearly with my headsets using the same input

[Zr8000]

I went with focal flax with alpine type x amps. The fronts are an active system ran off a jl twk88 instead of using the cross overs sent with the speakers. The biggest gain will be adding an amp and upgrading the components in the door and dash