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2002 C5 Z06 Sound System Installation Walk Through & Pics
Hey Guys (& Gals),
Putting this thread together is a lot of work, but I've already gotten so much help from this forum that I wanted to put this together to try to give back.
Tonight's (6/18) first part will only include the list of parts, pictures, and explanations. This should help some guys in the future assemble a buy list of things they need - especially a lot of the little things you will definitely forget! Trust me, you do not want to have all of your interior ripped apart and half of the stuff installed only to realize that you forgot to buy enough RCA cables. I'll later update the thread or this post with a follow up of the installation this weekend (6/21-22/14). I know there are tons of install guides out there already, but i figure it can't hurt to have another for the specific parts I'm using.
*I am not a vendor and I am not marketing or promoting any of these products. I'd love to post prices for each item but I believe that could violate the forum rules. I do not work for any of the companies that make or even sell these products. People replying to this thread please understand the rule below:
Commercial posting
Members are not prohibited from mentioning it when they have a good (or bad, for that matter) experience with a non-supporting vendor. But such mentions cannot be so specific (address, phone number, e-mail address, URL, price, part number, offer to send contact information via PMs, etc.) or so frequent that they become marketing and promotional references.
Written part list for quick reference (no pics):
JL Audio 500/5 (Discontinued FYI)
Polk Audio DB6501 6.5-Inch 2-Way Component Speakers (front)
Chevrolet Corvette C5 1997-2004 Front Door Aftermarket Speaker Installation Adapter Plates
Infinity Kappa 52.9i 5.25 Coaxial Speakers (rear)
JL Audio 12w6v2
ASC Chevy Corvette C5 Z06 Coupe 1997-2004 Single 12" Subwoofer Enclosure (trunk)
Pioneer MVHX560BT Digital Media Receiver (NO CD PLAYER)
Metra 40-GM10 GM Antenna Adapter
Metra 99-3300 Dash Kit For GM (single din)
PAC Premium Sound System Radio Interface 1997-2004 Corvette - PAC ROEMVET-1
3x Mediabridge 12ft RCA to RCA Gold-Plated Connector Cable
Rockford Fosgate RFK4 4 AWG Power Only Amplifier Install Kit
JL 500/5 (Discontinued FYI). I liked this because I really didn't want to deal with multiple amps and I also didn't feel like I needed a big sub. The 12w6v2 I ended up buying is actually way more powerful than what I originally planned, but I couldn't say no to the deal for this amp and sub bundled from a local private seller. This amp supplies a clean 500 watts RMS 1-4 ohms across all 5 channels divided into 100w/channel x2 front, 25w/channel x2 rear, 250w/channel x1 sub. To do this effectively you really want to use 3 RCA cables and have at least 6 channels on your head unit. You could also buy an EQ to do that, but of course then you need to wire more things, buy more cables, and so forth.
Unfortunately buying used can have present problems. I knew that this corner was damaged before I bought it amd I'll work around it. It's not going to be a show car after all.
Polk Audio DB6501 6.5-Inch 2-Way Component Speakers (front). I read a lot of reviews online and was sold on these because of the bang/$ they supposedly offer. They apparently perform at a level *close* to many of the top performers at a fraction of the price. These are component so for anyone that does not understand what that phrase means, they include 6 major parts - 2x woofer (6.5"), 2x tweeter, and 2x crossover. If that sounds confusing it should be easier to explain as I give more pictures and descriptions of the installation. These are built really well, you can see it and feel it in person. As I will explain again later, a vendor accidentally shipped me 6.5" infinity coax speakers instead of 5.25, and comparatively these seem 5x better built even though the infinity's might be a bit heavier.
I think these grills are cheesy, but it doesn't matter because they will be covered inside the door.
These are about 2 inches deep (the cheaper infinity 652.9i's that accidentally shipped are 3 inches deep).
Chevrolet Corvette C5 1997-2004 Front Door Aftermarket Speaker Installation Adapter Plates. These are cheap but made of very solid plastic. There are many other alternatives out there made of other materials like MDF or metal. These work for what I need but will update if for some reason the quality does not match what I'm expecting.
Infinity Kappa 52.9i 5.25 Coaxial Speakers (rear). The vendor accidentally shipped me the 6.5" version (652.9i). For the price these go for they seem built well, but as mentioned before, the polks definitely have a superior quality feel but I have not heard them both yet. These will be returned to the vendor to get the correct 52.9i.
JL Audio 12w6v2. These are supposed to be fed 300-600w RMS and I'm only going to be giving them 250w RMS from the 500/5, but i really do not need so much bass in the first place. I'll let you guys know how it sounds after the install. Between slightly underpowering them and giving them a bit less airspace then they ideally want, it will never sound as perfect as it could, but I suspect it will be good enough for me.
ASC Chevy Corvette C5 Z06 Coupe 1997-2004 Single 12" Subwoofer Enclosure (trunk). About 1.1 cu/ft volume. The 12W6V2 wants 1.25 cu/ft to be perfect, i think i can skate by with this. There are similar enclosures out there but a big difference in that some fit flush with the trunk only giving about .9 cu/ft and some that overlap over the floor (like this) offering a bit extra volume. It is the only thing I ordered that has not arrived yet, so no pics.
Pioneer MVHX560BT Digital Media Receiver (NO CD PLAYER). I love this little thing. It's so small that the plates behind the stock stereo don't even have to be removed. The reason why it's short is because it doesn't have a CD player, which I could care less about as I haven't listened to one in about 8 years. What it does have is Bluetooth, Pandora streaming, USB, and 6 channel (connect 3 RCA sets) that can control Front, Rear, and Sub, exactly what i need for my 500/5.
Less than 5 inches from the **** to the deepest point.
Metra 40-GM10 GM Antenna Adapter. This is a basic part that let's an aftermarket radio connect correctly to your stock corvette Antenna.
Metra 99-3300 Dash Kit For GM (single din). From what I read in other threads there are a variety that will fit, but this one fits the best.
PAC Premium Sound System Radio Interface 1997-2004 Corvette - PAC ROEMVET-1. This is a wiring harness kit that will connect all the stock head unit harnesses to an aftermarket harness. I'm actually not sure if it is overkill for my install because it's really aimed at people that want to use an aftermarket head unit with the stock speakers. I'm also a bit worried that it's not made to even be used at all for someone like me that's running new wiring 100% from an amp, so i will update if there is a problem.
3x Mediabridge 12ft RCA to RCA Gold-Plated Connector Cable. In some cars cheap RCA cables are fine and you can buy the thin 99cent version. However C5 Corvettes, especially with the bose system, are known to get a lot of feedback/whine in the stereo sound and one of the major causes of this problem is from cheap RCAs. There are a number of people online reviewing these specific RCA cables saying that they previously had whine on their old cables but these fixed the problem. Just an FYI, a few other reasons for the whine are bad grounding/cheap ground wire.
JT&T Products (2121H) -16-14 AWG .250 Tab, Fully Insulated Nylon Female & Male Disconnect Terminals. I'm assuming I'll want to use these for subs and the front speakers. Specifically 16-14awg because i ordered 14awg speaker wire.
Morris Products 10772 Quick Splice Connector, 22-18awg. I am assuming i might want to use these to wire between the head unit and the PAC harness adapters. Typically a lot of those wires are thin 18-22awg.
Irwin Industrial Tools 2078309 8-Inch Multi Tool Stripper, Cutter and Crimper with ProTouch Grips. I have a similar tool I've had for over 10 years and this one just seemed so much better. Reviews were amazing and the price was right. Sometimes little things like this can make an install that takes hours a little easier to bare.
NTE Heat Shrink 2:1. I have a heatgun already so I figured why not try this out for fun and see if it makes the install cleaner.
Cal-Hawk 180-Piece Rubber Grommet Assortment. After reading some other install threads I saw that the cleanest way to run the wire through the door was to add a nice rubber grommet. This kit has a big variety for a low price so should cover me.
GTMAT Automotive Audio Dampening 50mil PRO - Noise Reduction Installation Kit. I plan to use this around the speakers. The kit comes with a roller and some degreaser. Same idea as dynamat but from a budget brand.
RCA brand AH1450SR 14-Gauge Speaker Wire (50 feet). Unfortunately most of the speaker wire out there is CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) which only conducts about half as efficiently as pure copper. I understand that my 500w RMS system is not crazy at all, but since this wire is only CCA I went a little bigger than normal just to play it safe.
Rockford Fosgate RFK4 4 AWG Power Only Amplifier Install Kit. I really really did not want to buy this. I felt like it was a huge rip off. I felt like it was twice the price of other kits because of the name brand. After reading through reviews i starting educating myself on CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) mentioned in the RCA speaker wire above. The majority of the amp kits out there on the major selling websites are CCA. If you need a an 8awg kit of pure copper, you effectively would really need more like a 4-6awg kit of CCA. This kit is one of the only kits i could find that was pure copper. Also i read that if your power is 4awg pure copper, you want your ground to match 4awg pure copper. This kit supposedly does both.
Installation
I removed the entire dash so i could remove the HUD and repair it and i also repaired my HVAC while i did the install. Removing the entire dash to get the the HUD is a HUGE PITA. Areas that are prone to easily breaking include the glove box, the defroster grill, and the HUD bezel.
Before i start to talk about the installation, there is something important to mention for anyone upgrading their sound system. If you are going to be installing an aftermarket head unit with an amp powering all speakers on new wiring you DO NOT need any special adapters or harnesses (like the PAC ROEM-VET1). Everything you need is right in the passenger footwell.
Procedure:
roll down car windows and open both doors
open trunk
disconnect ground from battery
Remove center console. 2 10mm bolts hold the main opening console down, then unclip the gas cap harness underneath
Pop up semicircle shaped traction control panel and unclip 2 harnesses going to it, then unclip the harness going to the cigar lighter, then remove 2 more 10mm bolts
Remove ash tray, remove 2x 15 torq bolts in ash tray area then pop the little vent next to the ignition and remove 1x 15 torq bolt. Remove shift ****, pull out on the dash, unclip the cigar lighter power clip from behind, and remove the dash clearing the shift boot off the shifter.
Remove stock head unit. Remove HVAC so you have more space to run wires. All the harnesses that were connected to the stock head unit can be pushed to the back, they will not be used at all now.
Fit single din pioneer head unit into metra dash kit. Bend the metal cage tabs around the head unit so that it is secure in the metra dash kit.
Remove the passenger floor mat. remove the false door over the passenger footwell. Find the harness that has Black/Yellow/Red and cut the entire harness off. Use butt connectors to connect Head unit (HU) black to the black pigtail wire, HU yellow to the orange pigtail wire, and HU red to the yellow pigtail wire. Make sure you make the wire you connect to the footwell wiring long enough to reach the head unit. Tuck the wiring along the trim of the dash so it's clean. check fuses 7 & 11 in the footwell. See pic of the 3 wires below
Connect the blue/white remote wire from the head unit to the long blue wire from the amp kit. Tie off remainder of the head unit harness wires. You literally only need these 4 wires to have a fully functional head unit. Connect RCAs to the back of the head unit. Connect Mic to the back of the head unit and run the mic to where you want (I went with A pillar to the visor area) - wrap up excess mic wire, zip tie it, and tuck under HU. Connect USB cable to back of HU and run to wherever you want (i went with glove box). Same with Aux cable ( i chose not to install it). Run the RCAs and blue remote wire under the dash and center console to wherever your amp will be.
Reconnect battery ground and test if head unit turns on. If not recheck harnesses/fuses.
Secure head unit to dash with 2x 7mm bolts so it does flop around and get banged up.
Remove Door trim: 2x 25 torq bolts behind handle, pop off opener bezel with flat screwdriver, remove reflector, pull away from door (LOUD POPPING) and then remove the power window harness to remove from door.
There is a large rectangular rubber grommet that seals the door accordion to the inside of the cabin - remove it and run speaker wire from inside the door, through the accordion. Three is a part on the rectangular grommet that is cut out to allow wires to pass through, run your speaker cable through that slit and reconnect the grommet.
Pop off lower door sills. Run speaker wire along sill under carpet to where the amp will be. I put my amp in the front trunk area.
Install 6.5" speaker and crossover onto speaker adapter plate. Drill 2 large holes around crossover to route speaker wire from crossover to woofer and from crossover to amp. Install Plate into doors securing down with 6x stock 7mm bolts and connect wiring to crossover. Do not tighten 7mm bolts too much or you can crack the adapter plate.
Install tweeter wherever you want it - i chose to put it in the door handle area. Route tweeter wire along door frame flush and zip tie, connect to crossover.
Completely remove car battery.
Run amp wire through firewall grommet by removing the black electrical tape and fishing the amp wire through the grommet. Find the wire on the passenger footwell area and pull through, run along passenger side door sill under carpet to wherever your amp will go. Connect amp wire to B+ power post near battery fuse box. Confirm that the fuse on your amp wire is good and installed properly. Zip tie down to battery wiring so it doesn't bang around. (amp wire should be somewhere between 0awg-8awg, i went with 4awg)
remove rear plastic panels that cover the rear 5.25" speakers. Remove 5.25" speakers and replace with aftermarket speakers. Run speaker wire from these to the amp area.
Wire Subwoofer to sub box wire plate and screw subwoofer into sub box. Most sub boxes will fit either in the large trunk well or the smaller side trunk wells. Run speaker wire from sub(s) to amp.
Connect ground wire to bolt sticking up that holds down the center console. Tighten with stock 10mm nut. Run ground cable under rear carpet to amp.
Connect everything to the amp (s). This should include: Power, Ground, Remote Wire, RCA (s), front speakers (4 total wires), rear speakers (4 total wires).
Reinstall battery. Make sure the battery is secured to the battery floor by trying to tug on the battery strap. It should not move!
Turn the car on and test the speakers. At this point make sure you do NOT put the door trims back on because you may need to make some changes on the crossovers.
Once everything sounds good start working on making sure all the wiring is clean looking. use plenty of zip ties but test fit interior pieces to make sure that they will fit back on correctly.
Once everything sounds good and is secured you can reinstall the interior panels.
Reinstall rear 5.25" speaker plastic, reinstall door sills, reinstall door trims (2x 25 torq bolts/reflector/door handle bezel), reinstall passenger footwell false door, reinstall passenger floor mat, reinstall dash (3x 15 torq bolts/ vent cover / ash tray / shift ****), Reinstall center console (3-4x 10mm nut depend on grounding / reconnect traction control & light, cigar lighter, gas cap release), reinstall traction control semicircle.
DONE!
Last edited by AParsh; 06-23-2014 at 04:53 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Like to see the finished product, just don't rush, that's when mistakes occur.
I agree. That's why I'm not starting anything until the weekend. I've installed sound systems a bunch of times, but it has been about 8 years i think since i did the last one. I'm good at knowing what wire goes where, I'm pretty good at knowing how and where to run the wires, but my weak point is tuning everything (the amp, the crossovers, and the headunit.
I'm also going to be planning to remove the full top dash to do some refurbishing on my HUD, and removing the HVAC to solder the board so i can get the LCD screen on it working again.
Also, if you consider that dynamat only requires 25% coverage, it's really not all that expensive. That mat you have is rather light weight, I don't know how much you ordered but the size of the box doesn't really look like you have enough to cover the doors?
You can send the ROEM back, it's only needed if you want to keep the original door sub/speakers combo.
If you want to retain R.A.P. you can get a GM-RAP (about $25, but getting hard to find) or an Accessory Valet ($100 from Top Down Tech), otherwise find a true switched power source in footwell to trigger radio on/off with.
You can send the ROEM back, it's only needed if you want to keep the original door sub/speakers combo.
If you want to retain R.A.P. you can get a GM-RAP (about $25, but getting hard to find) or an Accessory Valet ($100 from Top Down Tech), otherwise find a true switched power source in footwell to trigger radio on/off with.
Considering that the PAC was only about $10 more than the GM RAP and way less than the accessory valet, shouldnt i just use it? I mean if i just plug everything in with the PAC unit but then run the RCAs to the AMP and the amp is wired to the speakers, it should still all work, right? My understanding was that the PAC unit does everything, so it should also do RAP.
Maybe i assumed/read information incorrectly?
Here is the diagram from the PAC website showing how it connects. I assumed I would connect the stuff circled green but not the stuff circled red (since my head unit will control all RCAs with my amp).
The red "To Acc Source" wire in that pic needs to be connected to the switched source that you'd connect the red radio wire directly to if you don't use the ROEM.
Connect RCA's directly between HU and amp, do not go through the ROEM.
If you want to use the stock radio power wires (and fuse) for B+ and ground without having to splice into oem wires, you can get a Metra 70-1858 for $10.
Also, if you consider that dynamat only requires 25% coverage, it's really not all that expensive. That mat you have is rather light weight, I don't know how much you ordered but the size of the box doesn't really look like you have enough to cover the doors?
this
the oem1 is made to use an amp with the OE head unit
and dynamat on the doors helps, but the door panels were my main source of rattles. i covered the backside of those with the dynamat xtreme. that thick stuff. helped quite a bit. you may also want a couple male panel pins, they break very easily when removing the door panels
you're going to have more bass than you need with that sub. ideally a larger box would help extend the lows, but, larger boxes take up space. i have a little 8w3v3 in my z06 in a .33cu/ft box. there isn't a lot of space in a c5 if you want to haul anything and i use mine as a grocery getter frequently
if you get this hooked up at the sub sounds boomy at all, it's 100% the sub. guys on the audio forums are getting good numbers from that sub in 1.5-2.0cu/ft
JL often publishes specs as small as possible since that sells subs, they are however, not optimal
For connecting two bare wires to each other, unless you use solder and heat shrink, I usually use a standard butt-splice. However, I don't put one wire in each end of the splice, I'll twist the wires together like I was going to use a wire nut, then crimp the pair inside one end of the butt-splice. This also comes in handy down the road if you want to add another gizmo (just use the other end of the splice).
FWIW, I'd dump the ROEM and just run HU black to the black pigtail wire, HU yellow to the orange pigtail wire, and HU red to the yellow pigtail wire. When you're done check fuses 7 & 11 in the footwell.
Mark...you are a friggin genius. Thank you so much for saving me a ton of time and actually making the install easier/cleaner without that huge ROEM box in my dash. Fired up perfectly on the first try. Now installing the amp to test speakers.
I am pretty happy with the outcome of all the work.
-Successfully repaired HUD
-Successfully repaired HVAC - see thread: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...splay-fix.html
-Successfully installed head unit (thanks to MarkC5Z!) and successfully installed polk component speakers into doors. Sounds AWESOME. Will install the rears and sub this week when the sub enclosure arrives.
Will be doing similar in the future, I am planning on deleting rear speakers so I have a proper front sound stage. Would like to know if you think it helps sound having the rears.
Will be doing similar in the future, I am planning on deleting rear speakers so I have a proper front sound stage. Would like to know if you think it helps sound having the rears.
If you put a sub in the trunk and have properly powered (70wRMS +) components in the doors, in a vette you won't miss the rears.
If you later decide that you miss the rear fill-in sound, you can always just run some speaker wire from HU to rears and run them off of HU internal amp.
I ending up getting the sub and rear speakers in yesterday. I'm pretty sure i need to do a whole lot of messing around with the settings on my 500/5 because I thought after installing the fronts they didnt sound right, now with the rears in i can hear the rears about 10x more clearly than the fronts. This is comparing 100w RMS on Polk components in the front to 25w RMS Infinity Coax in the rear. I'll plan on spending more time screwing with the amp settings this week to see if i can work that out.
06-19-2014, 01:32 AM
2002 C5 Z06 Sound System Installation Walk Through & Pics
