I've seen a lot of vague and conflicting information out there, and I ain't got much book learnin', so I'll ask a question probably already beaten to death.

I want to upgrade the sound system of my LTZ. Factory amp under the rear deck. I'll try to do it in sections, because poor.

From what I gather, because the amp splits the highs/lows, to upgrade any speakers, the amp must be bypassed, or a new head unit put in.

Can door speakers be put in plug and play? Since it is technically an 8 speaker system, will they have to be component speakers? How about the rear 6x9s?

After the speakers, can I put in a new head unit and use the factory amp?

Brand preference: Focal 5 1/4 in the doors, or another brand 6.5?

Tl;DR- How big of a pain is it to upgrade the premium system?

 

I did the complete replacement, yes, big big PITA.


The factory premium door speakers are 2 ohm. So if you replace with 4 ohm, it'll be very low volume.
I put 6-1/2 components in the original mounts in the doors, but it took a lot of cutting and gluing. The originals were 6 inch, so stick with 6 if you can.


The amp is the weak spot. OK, so are the speakers.


The best plan is to get someone else to do it, but if you want it done right, that'll be expensive.

 

As soon as I figured out that it was a Bi-Amp system, I decided to just bypass and use another amp. I also am thinking about a full resto so I didn't want to mess with it too much.


I by-passed it and used Memphis Audio all the way around including 2 12" Memphis in the trunk. Kenwood DIN mount DVD/Garmin using an adapter. I went ahead and ran all new wiring and left the original wiring for when I put the radio back in.


Was definitely expensive, but soooo worth it haha


This is all on a 2002 Dale Earnhart Sr. Edition

 

Yeah, I knew this was gonna be an expensive PITA. I guess if I get right down to it, the only problem I have with my current system is that I get some vibration sound from my door/side view mirror area. Perhaps some fatmat will knock it out.

 

If you are going to buy an aftermarket headunit, you can run the speakers straight off of that by running wires from the headunit to the speakers. Buying speaker wire is pretty cheap. Most name brand headunits are all 4x50 watts. I run an aftermarket amp but you actually don't need it. If you do it this way you wouldn't have to worry about buying any kind of harness. You can find most car audio online and do it yourself and it is way cheaper then going to a store and buying it.

 

Replacing the head unit in the 06/07 requires a module to replace the chimes and a relay to replace the turn signal noise. I bought the LanStar1, that also replaces OnStar since it was in the original radio as well.
This needed new speakers for OnStar and chimes, which I installed under the dash.
And I used an SWI-Alpine to interface the steering wheel controls.
Like I said before. Big PITA.
In my new car, I just did he simple add a Sub and Done!

 

Wow they made that a lot harder. Your not kidding there. The 6th gen was pretty simple all you needed was a module to retain all the chimes. It was about $40 I think.

 

All I want to do is install a larger amp and put better speakers in. What do you recommend?

 

Sticking with the Orin al HU and adding amp is the best way to go.
If you put the new amp where the old one was, you can use the same 4 pairs of wires for inputs.
If you find a good 4 channel amp with a wired input option, that would be easiest, or you could use a LOC (line output converter) to convert to RCA cables.
Again, you need all 4 channels.
If that amp also has a line out, or sub out that would be best
There are some 5 or 6 channel amps that could do 4 speakers and sub, but I like separate amps.
Run new
Wires to speakers, the fronts need component speakers, so you'll need to wires the external crossovers anyway.
You can split the inputs to the front speakers to feed the sub amp, (most people will say to use the rear for subs, but that would be only if you're not using rears.

 

The only thing I want is good quality sound as my Pontiac I have Boston Acoustic pro series speakers and a Sony x plode amp so the sound is amazing.