[Christopher12]

As many of you thoughtful folks know I am looking at a 2014 Volt with 25k and really like it. I'm an addict with music. I was pleased with the speakers, they're nice. I have seven thousand dollar monitors at home for precise monitoring, I thought these speaks were nice enough. I just think I might like more power, especially for iPhone connection stuff, which may have less volume (source may have less output).

My question is, down the road if you wanted to add another stereo or amplifier if possible, could you do so without losing features? These cars now have touch screens, so integrated with the functions of the car, they're important. Would you risk compromising that?

Thank you sincerely for any ideas!

 

[llninja]

No. The center console infotainment system is how you do all your configuring, see how much energy you use, control the climate control system, set the 8 or 12A charging, pretty much everything. So you cannot pull out the infotainment system and replace it with an aftermarket stereo. You can, however, decide to install new speakers and a big subwoofer in the back, and drive that directly with an amp connected to your smartphone without touching the infotainment system. I did that with my Toyota Supra, adding bazooka bass tubes, putting in better speakers in the back, and running new wires from the powered amp I had under the rear deck. Smartphones didn't exist at the time, but I had a Sony discman plugged directly to the amp using the discman volume dial to control the volume. If I needed the FM radio, I still had the front speakers hooked to the factory stereo. Ahh, the days of blasting RunDMC while cruising around in CampusTown... African Americans would turn around to see if it was someone they knew, then scowl when my car full of Asian-Americans drove by.

 

[accelerus]

2017 Volt here - and you actually can upgrade your sound components while still retaining factory function.

You still need to use the stock unit, but you can upgrade the amp/tweeters/sub and it's all quite easy/clean.

I tapped the signal lines in the back and added an Alpine amp, and replaced the kinda meh Bose subwoofer with a heaver and tighter Dayton 8". You still retain all factory control/settings, with zero issues. For hardcore audiophiles this might not be enough as you are still getting a signal that's been fiddled with by the bose EQ but it's good enough for me.

Pics (clickable for high res)

 

[Christopher12]

Oh, interesting. But do you imagine wiring an external amp into the Volt's already existing system? Or an entirely separate system with separate speakers, so FM radio and the like still comes through the stock system?

 

[Christopher12]

accelerus that's fantastic!! I like it! If you went to a shop for this (i can see you did it yourself quite well, but i might not have the expertise), what do you estimate would be the cost, all told?

Nice system! It's good and loud now for you?

 

[accelerus]

Oh, interesting. But do you imagine wiring an external amp into the Volt's already existing system? Or an entirely separate system with separate speakers, so FM radio and the like still comes through the stock system?

The Alpine amp stands alone separate from the Volt, all it does is power the subwoofer using input signals from the existing audio system. All the vehicle sounds/chimes/onstar/etc still work just fine through the stock speakers. I'm not a hardcore audiophile so I didn't bother changing out the door speakers.

Subwoofer and tweeter hardware upgrades are the best bang for buck as well as ease of DIY. These are the tweeters I replaced with:

http://www.daytonaudio.com/index.ph...rs/amt2-4-air-motion-transformer-tweeter.html

I have no idea how much a shop would charge though... I've always done my own work. As with anything, I'd expect quality work to be "not cheap".

Even though you think you might not have the expertise, just spend a weekend reading up on general car audio and wiring that's what I did all the years ago when I started upgrading stuff in my cars over the years.

And yes -- it's plenty loud, I don't run around town blasting music as a way of showing off. The alpine amp and 8" dayton will shake you pretty good if you crank it up.

Funny enough: I have a dashcam that runs 24/7, when I dropped my volt off for it's first free service at the dealer, you can see the tech kid hop in the car to drive it in the service bay and he quickly realizes "oh damn this is custom" and proceeds to crank it up and shake the car pretty good with some Crystal method I had playing via the thumb drive, lol.

 

[Christopher12]

Thank you. I never blast around town... I'm sort of an introvert, and prefer to be on the road, or somewhere secluded to blast music. It's quite common for me though. It's a party of joy and music inside that vehicle.

accelerus, I get that you power a sub with your Alpine amp... but for the tweeters and mid range speaks then, you are using the stock system. Is that satisfactory for you?

 

[accelerus]

Thank you. I never blast around town... I'm sort of an introvert, and prefer to be on the road, or somewhere secluded to blast music. It's quite common for me though. It's a party of joy and music inside that vehicle.

accelerus, I get that you power a sub with your Alpine amp... but for the tweeters and mid range speaks then, you are using the stock system. Is that satisfactory for you?

Yes - i just did a direct drop in replacement for the tweeters, they don't suck down much power and are the same impedance as the stock, just a higher quality better built unit vs the stock bose stuff.

Door speakers I left alone just because I didn't have a desire to tear the whole car apart. In terms of bang vs buck and ease of installation, doing the sub and tweeters helps enormously.

Of course, a non bose car won't have the tweeters or sub box in the back so you have to plan around that if that's your initial setup.

 

[Christopher12]

Yeah i wonder if the one I'm looking at has stock or Bose!? This is the actual car: http://www.burkechevy.com/VehicleDetails/certified-2014-Chevrolet-Volt--Northampton-MA/2980106223

I think it's probably stock.

I agree that upgrading woofer and tweets would make a huge difference. You must be having fun. ; ) I never use a/c... don't care about fancy features much at all. I like a nice sounding, good and loud stereo. When you are producing and mixing, it's a wonderful way to demo the work in an entirely different context... a traveling one at that. ;

 

[llninja]

Yeah i wonder if the one I'm looking at has stock or Bose!? This is the actual car: http://www.burkechevy.com/VehicleDetails/certified-2014-Chevrolet-Volt--Northampton-MA/2980106223

I think it's probably stock.

I agree that upgrading woofer and tweets would make a huge difference. You must be having fun. ; ) I never use a/c... don't care about fancy features much at all. I like a nice sounding, good and loud stereo. When you are producing and mixing, it's a wonderful way to demo the work in an entirely different context... a traveling one at that. ;

Yup, this is a non-Bose. Bose equipped would have a little silver Bose logos on the front door speaker grill.

 

[hellsop]

And Bose would have 7 speakers, not 6 like cited in the description.

See also http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread...30-smaller-40-lighter-and-uses-50-less-energy

 

[turboguy327]

I added a 12” and 900w amp without affecting the factory stereo at all. And I used heavy duty forklift battery connectors so it’s easily renewable.

 

[rickhb]

The Alpine amp stands alone separate from the Volt, all it does is power the subwoofer using input signals from the existing audio system. All the vehicle sounds/chimes/onstar/etc still work just fine through the stock speakers. I'm not a hardcore audiophile so I didn't bother changing out the door speakers.

Subwoofer and tweeter hardware upgrades are the best bang for buck as well as ease of DIY. These are the tweeters I replaced with:

http://www.daytonaudio.com/index.ph...rs/amt2-4-air-motion-transformer-tweeter.html

I have no idea how much a shop would charge though... I've always done my own work. As with anything, I'd expect quality work to be "not cheap".

Even though you think you might not have the expertise, just spend a weekend reading up on general car audio and wiring that's what I did all the years ago when I started upgrading stuff in my cars over the years.

And yes -- it's plenty loud, I don't run around town blasting music as a way of showing off. The alpine amp and 8" dayton will shake you pretty good if you crank it up.

Funny enough: I have a dashcam that runs 24/7, when I dropped my volt off for it's first free service at the dealer, you can see the tech kid hop in the car to drive it in the service bay and he quickly realizes "oh damn this is custom" and proceeds to crank it up and shake the car pretty good with some Crystal method I had playing via the thumb drive, lol.

Which Alpine amp did you install? Did you need to cut any of the styrofoam casing to fit the amp?

 

[clublife.peoria]

No. The center console infotainment system is how you do all your configuring, see how much energy you use, control the climate control system, set the 8 or 12A charging, pretty much everything. So you cannot pull out the infotainment system and replace it with an aftermarket stereo. You can, however, decide to install new speakers and a big subwoofer in the back, and drive that directly with an amp connected to your smartphone without touching the infotainment system. I did that with my Toyota Supra, adding bazooka bass tubes, putting in better speakers in the back, and running new wires from the powered amp I had under the rear deck. Smartphones didn't exist at the time, but I had a Sony discman plugged directly to the amp using the discman volume dial to control the volume. If I needed the FM radio, I still had the front speakers hooked to the factory stereo. Ahh, the days of blasting RunDMC while cruising around in CampusTown... African Americans would turn around to see if it was someone they knew, then scowl when my car full of Asian-Americans drove by.

Lol! The Asian-Americans on my campus were always studying, I don't think I ever saw a single one "cruising around." I somehow got stuck in a dorm with a bunch of football players though, so needless to say, my circle of friends were the exact opposite