Trailblazer Audio speaker replacement

kjkim93

Original poster
Member
Jan 1, 2012
696
Its been awhile guys. Finally back. Let my cousin borrow my car and use this account whenever he needed it. Needless to say I got back my car in a horrible state, 4x4 that was broken by him still isnt fixed, but winter has ended so it can wait. But as a DD I wanna replace the speakers in the front and back door. The Bose system AMP and tweeters will stay. Any recommendations for some speakers? Crutchfield is recommending Kenwood KFC-1665s for the front and another pair of Kenwoods for the back.
 

07TrailyLS

Member
May 7, 2014
423
Toledo ohio
Rockford fosgate, clarion, jl audio. Just to get you started. I think our door speakers recommend 6 3/4? If I'm not mistaken.
 

Matt

Member
Dec 2, 2011
4,019
6.5" is the usual size. When I replace mine, I'm going with Polk's.
 

Matt

Member
Dec 2, 2011
4,019
Mine front door speakers are 8"

Sorry, should have said usual replacement size. If it's the Bose with the amp and 6 speakers, it's 1.5 or 2" "tweeter", 7-8" driver in the front and IIRC 5.25 or 6.5" in the rear.
 

Reprise

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Jul 22, 2015
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I'll echo the polks, from a 'value for $' standpoint - I put 2 pair of the db651s in my wife's Element and they sounded pretty good w/ the stock HU and amp. Crutchfield would run half-off specials all the time on the db series (I think now it's a 50% off on the second pair, so really 25% off).

When I went to audition speakers recently, I heard Kenwood, Alpine, JL Audio, and Focal. I liked the Focals best, but I'm not paying $1200 for a pair of speakers - not for this ride (probably not for any ride). Went with the Alpines - I heard some detail in the component set that I got that I didn't hear with the others, more natural voicing (silk tweeters help here, I suppose).

Probably my favorite speakers ever were Boston Acoustic - but they exited car audio some time ago. Still have a pair of 6 3/4" components in my garage - I can't use them in this setup as they have a funky 3-ohm impedance - but one of these days, they'll go in another vehicle.
 

MAY03LT

Member
Nov 18, 2011
3,412
Delmarva
The problem with that is the speakers won't get a full range signal. The crossover points are not adjustable. For instance if you put a 2 way speaker in place of a front door bose speaker, the tweeter won't play since the oem speaker gets a low passed signal. Maybe a dedicated mid bass would work in the fronts.
 

Reprise

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::facepalm:: I forgot about that - he's leaving the stock amp in place. Really should rip that out, if you're replacing the speaks. That means another amp (and a HU), but it's going to sound a lot better doing that, than just replacing the speakers.

That's the thing - the only thing you can really replace by itself with the Bose amplified system is the HU - anything else, you're pretty much ripping everything out. Although - if it wasn't for the fact that my Bose amp was on it's last legs - I would've stopped at the HU myself - it was 'good enough', for a vehicle that's not my DD>
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
Probably my favorite speakers ever were Boston Acoustic - but they exited car audio some time ago. Still have a pair of 6 3/4" components in my garage - I can't use them in this setup as they have a funky 3-ohm impedance - but one of these days, they'll go in another vehicle.
I can attest to that. Keep hoping a component set pops up on ebay but that's a long shot. They always had a slightly elevated midrange which I like because... well that's where the magic is.

My friend had the polks and they sounded good. Not anything special but pretty flat response all around I'd say. A lot better than most at the same price though.
 

Matt

Member
Dec 2, 2011
4,019
The problem with that is the speakers won't get a full range signal. The crossover points are not adjustable. For instance if you put a 2 way speaker in place of a front door bose speaker, the tweeter won't play since the oem speaker gets a low passed signal. Maybe a dedicated mid bass would work in the fronts.

Because the crossovers are in the amp itself, can't you go tweeter in the dash and mid in the fronts? That's what I'm leaning to if it would work.

If so, what do you do with the rears? 2 way or what?
 

Matt

Member
Dec 2, 2011
4,019
Anyone, Beuller?

Looks like I might be the guinea pig eventually.
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
2 way in the back works. You can do tweeter off of the high pass signal in the dash and mid range/bass for the door. that'll work fine.
 
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Matt

Member
Dec 2, 2011
4,019
Thanks mate.
 
May 6, 2018
137
Sanford, ME
As far as bypassing the bose amp, I tried making an adapter harness that failed miserably from a video. Can I just cut the harness and splice the wires together? Do not plan on using bose system again. Cant run my own speaker wires through the front doors on this thing so gotta rely on the factory wiring when I put in the new hu.
 

Matt

Member
Dec 2, 2011
4,019
Why can't you run new speaker wires?
 
May 6, 2018
137
Sanford, ME
I don't know what the bose system sounded like because I bought it with a blown factory amp I'm guessing, put the amp fuse in I have power but no sound and drains the battery. Too many hours of trouble shooting an outdated sound system in my opinion. I cant run new wires because all the wires in the front door are a quick disconnect type as we all know. I'm guessing they designed it that way for easier door removal. There are no videos out there that i could find to run new wire to the front doors because its not a straight through shot.
 

Blckshdw

Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
I haven't looked at the schematics, but if the wires/plugs entering and exiting the amp are 1 to 1, splicing them together should work.
 

xavierny25

Member
Mar 16, 2014
6,323
Staten Island, N.Y
I don't know what the bose system sounded like because I bought it with a blown factory amp I'm guessing, put the amp fuse in I have power but no sound and drains the battery. Too many hours of trouble shooting an outdated sound system in my opinion. I cant run new wires because all the wires in the front door are a quick disconnect type as we all know. I'm guessing they designed it that way for easier door removal. There are no videos out there that i could find to run new wire to the front doors because its not a straight through shot.
You can do 1 of 3 things depending on what speakers your using. The factory wires are good for most speakers.
1. Cut and splice them at the kick panel where the wires feed into the boot.
2. Cut and splice them at the amplifier and run to you head unit our amp, if your going that route.
3. They sell flexible boots that you can put whatever wire you want to go with, of course your going to have to pop a hole in both the door jam and the door itself to get this to work.

I guess this all depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.
 
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May 6, 2018
137
Sanford, ME
You can do 1 of 3 things depending on what speakers your using. The factory wires are good for most speakers.
1. Cut and splice them at the kick panel where the wires feed into the boot.
2. Cut and splice them at the amplifier and run to you head unit our amp, if your going that route.
3. They sell flexible boots that you can put whatever wire you want to go with, of course your going to have to pop a hole in both the door jam and the door itself to get this to work.

I guess this all depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.
I was thinking about making my own holes or splicing them in where they come through but, would hate to cut tje harness at the radio but could possibly have to go that route.
 

Matt

Member
Dec 2, 2011
4,019
I'll be replacing mine sometime this year and bypassing the amp because the passengers side front speakers work intermittently. I just plan on running new speaker wires straight from the HU and bypassing the amp all together.
 
May 6, 2018
137
Sanford, ME
I am going to just run the wires from the factory amp to the new hu for the 4 door speakers. I wanted to know if it would work just tapping into the speaker wires to the amp for just those 8 wires? All the bypass videos i see have all colored wires but, my factory amp wires have 2 or 3 bare wires running to the amp harness? Thinking ground wires? Dont need to touch those do I?
 
Dec 5, 2011
574
Central Pennsylvania
Want to see if that works first before trying to push new wire into those doors!
If you're trying to "push through" the amp - it won't work. My recollection of the bose setup is that the signal to the amp is digital so the wiring is AFU. Even if it weren't digital, it still wouldn't work as the input to the amp is "low level" and output is speaker level - you'd trash the amp or worse, then have to run wire any way.
If you've done an actual HU replacement, your best bet is to do "home runs" from each speaker to the HU. If you're using an amp between the HU that isn't a factory amp - obviously RCA to amp and "home runs" from amp to speakers is best. If you've got rear audio (backseat headsets plug into console or a factory DVD player), bypass that MF altogether with "home runs". Using a decent "fishing rod" to get your wires through the boots in the doors, it shouldn't be that bad of a job, really.
 
May 6, 2018
137
Sanford, ME
No, I was going to unplug the speaker wire harness at the amp, follow the colors, splice new wire in and run them to the hu. I'm not using an amp at this time. Will try the home run approach just thought it would be easier since all the wires are in one place. Will my PAC RP5GM11 still retain everything with home runs?
 
Dec 5, 2011
574
Central Pennsylvania
No, I was going to unplug the speaker wire harness at the amp, follow the colors, splice new wire in and run them to the hu. I'm not using an amp at this time. Will try the home run approach just thought it would be easier since all the wires are in one place. Will my PAC RP5GM11 still retain everything with home runs?

I'd contact PAC to be sure, but my presumption is no. I believe the output from the blue module is designed to send the appropriate signals to the BOSE amp - which you are intending to bypass.
You may end up leaving out over half the PAC kit or you may need to get creative with wire routing. I don't know how they would "inject" notifications (OnStar, Chimes, reverse radar, etc...) into the audio output if the output isn't going to be processed and amplified by the BOSE amp. You probably need a different kit or an optional harness.
Also, "wire color in" does not always equal "wire color out" when it comes to amplified systems. Quite often, they aren't even close.
If I started with a BOSE equipped vehicle and the amp was out or I wanted to remove it, I'd home run everything and give up OnStar, door chimes, etc... I'm not big on steering wheel controls for audio, but they're are solutions to retain just SWC and wire everything else direct. If you're putting in a NAV system - most manufacturers have solutions to get most of the inputs you need, simply. Park & reverse can be spliced into. I'm not sure about the VSS as I've not had to deal with that, yet, and a lot of them don't even need the VSS as it can get at the very least "good" data from GPS.
Let us know what PAC says - someone else might find the info useful. I also don't mind finding out I'm wrong.
 
May 6, 2018
137
Sanford, ME
I'll have to make that call but, on the interface box there are 2 slots for amplified and non anplified. Come with a seperate chime box with the kit. The only thing is the onstar I would like to eventually use again just in case. The steering wheel controls I don't care about but the kit also comes with an aux out to hook it up so we'll see. I'll let you know what they say. Figures, I had to buy a trailblazer with a blown amp, I guess thats why the previous owner left the fuse out.
 
Dec 5, 2011
574
Central Pennsylvania
I'll have to make that call but, on the interface box there are 2 slots for amplified and non anplified. Come with a seperate chime box with the kit. The only thing is the onstar I would like to eventually use again just in case. The steering wheel controls I don't care about but the kit also comes with an aux out to hook it up so we'll see. I'll let you know what they say. Figures, I had to buy a trailblazer with a blown amp, I guess thats why the previous owner left the fuse out.

Have you checked U-Pull-It yards? Some won't have a clue what that part is and charge very little for it. I have a scrap yard (literally scrap yard, not automotive focused at all) near me that also takes vehicles. Every time I'm there I check to see if they have any GMT360's and there's usually at least one. I've gotten replacement door seals, console lids, washer hoses, tailgate shocks, random bolts, and the like. I'm sure if I grabbed a BOSE amp, they'd charge me literally $20 or less as they just want scrap value. I need to grab a 17 inch alloy wheel next time as my steel spare is, uh... unserviceable. Give your local scrap yard a look. You may just be able to resurrect BOSE altogether.
As for OnStar - it's expensive and depending on your year, not available without a retrofit kit. I did the digital (Gen5) retrofit on my wife's Bravada when the kit was still available from the dealer. I got the last one they had for $175 and it included a year's service and like 60 minutes of call time. I'm not sure what year they went digital in the GMT360's but my '05 Monte was digital. My '02 Bravada was not.
 

TollKeeper

Supporting Donor
Member
Dec 3, 2011
8,047
Brighton, CO
As for OnStar - it's expensive and depending on your year, not available without a retrofit kit. I did the digital (Gen5) retrofit on my wife's Bravada when the kit was still available from the dealer. I got the last one they had for $175 and it included a year's service and like 60 minutes of call time. I'm not sure what year they went digital in the GMT360's but my '05 Monte was digital. My '02 Bravada was not.

04.5 Was SUPPOSED to be the last Analog, My Envoy was supposed to have been digital, but was not, it was built in 12/04, has the newer style (dumb) radio, but analog OnStar. I also did the retrofit for it.
 

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