[John G]

Hi all,

I just bought my 2013 Volt and got such a great deal I thought I could upgrade the speakers and add a sub.

Pictures coming soon, but here is what I have added so far:

Front stage: CDT ES-62AS set. This set is a complicated install, as the woofers are 3" deep, the crossovers are the size of your hand, and there are two sets of tweeters. The main tweeters extend flat to 50k (most good tweeters roll off at 20k), and then there are the "upstage" tweeters designed to bring the soundstage higher, to eye-level.

Rear speakers: CDT HD-6EX coaxials. These drop into the rear doors.

Sub: CDT SQ-12 12" sub from my wife's Honda Odyssey Minivan. I had the installer build a custom 1.2 cubic foot enclosure for this that is removable.

Processor: Alpine PXE-H660. Bought this used from ebay. Working fine. This allows to retain the stock head unit, allows Audyssey automatic EQ in the vehicle (like a typical Home Theater receiver). Thought this would be useful.

Amp: Alpine PDX-v9 5-channel amp to run everything. This is stable at 2 Ohms and birth sheet indicates 123 WPC x4 and sub is 519 I think.

I had an installer dynamat the heck out of the doors, build the box, and install everything. I bought the components above and paid a total of $1050 to the installer for labor, tuning, a little extra dynamat, wires, etc.

So far, very happy with the install, thought the tweeters are a little bright at this point. I'll manually dial that down a little once they break in. So far, this is a HUGE upgrade over stock and isn't costing me any noticeable range in daily driving.

I am experiencing two issues that I hope to solve.

1: Incoming calls on Bluetooth. I can barely hear the person on the line, and they can barely hear me. Not sure what is going on there, but I have to take an incoming call off of Bluetooth.

2: There is a discernable high-pitched whine coming out of the tweeters (not sure which ones yet), even when audio system is off, but this only happens when I press the gas pedal or the brake pedal. I'm guessing this is some kind of magnetic field that my wiring or amp is picking up from the Volt. I am not sure how to fix this, but it isn't terrible. Wasn't noticed until I left the installer, as they had the Volt parked while they worked on it. I'll troubleshoot and report back what I find.

 

[dunwoodyvolt]

I have a 2013 Volt and am considering a similar upgrade - please post photos and update. Thanks!

 

[dazednkenfused]

1. Could that be the volume setting in the phone config menu? Interference with the amp?

2. Ground look feedback. Needs a new ground location. Try different amp if it doesn't work.

 

[kinvodA]

Looking forward to seeing pics. I would also like to upgrade the stereo. I only have the base model so I don't think I have the Bose system. Are there expected to be any major differences to potential upgrades?

 

[John G]

Here are a few pics of the audio upgrade.

The pic of the A pillar shows the imaging tweeter installed up high. The main tweeters are in the factory A pillar locations.

The subwoofer is in a custom box, 1.2 cubic feet. It is a triangle shape designed to hug the back of the back seats and not overlap the hinge seam in the back trunk.

I had to cut out a little of the utility tray underneath to accommodate the audio processor and the amplifier, which are mounted in front of the battery and beneath the tray (where the stock BOSE amplifier used to be).

Hope I have enough posts to allow pics. So here goes...

 

[John G]

Waiting on mods to approve my post with pics.

I got my two issues solved though! There are two output options on the audio processor, and the installers had apparently used the wrong ones. So I switched these and then went through the Audyssey setup with the microphone. Both problems vanished, and the sound is SWEET. Perfectly smooth. No obnoxious frequency peaks.

So, hopefully the mods will OK the pics and will have them for you soon.

 

[John G]

Looking forward to seeing pics. I would also like to upgrade the stereo. I only have the base model so I don't think I have the Bose system. Are there expected to be any major differences to potential upgrades?

I don't think you will see any major differences. I had my installer remove the BOSE amplifier altogether. You'll just have to figure out where your signal comes out of the head unit and splice into that. I'd recommend an audio processor between your factory head unit and your amp. The combo of PXE-h660 (Alpine processor) and the PDX-v90 (5-channel Alpine amp) seem to work very well. I believe the h660 is an older model. I picked mine up for $180 on e-bay. A newer version is available.

If you're not running a sub, then you'll only need a 2 or 4 channel amp, depending on what you're doing in your rear stage.

The rear cargo area seems to be a good choice for mounting amp and processor, as there is a 12 volt battery in that same compartment, and space elsewhere in the Volt is limited.

I paid a professional installer and supplied my own gear. Not a bad deal, but it could certainly be a DIY job if you know what you're doing.