[grib]

For those who upgraded the audio system: advice on different speakers/subs?

I finished installing a custom stereo system in my Volt last night. It "piggybacks" on the Bose system - basically I cut the input wires for the front, routed them to an input converter and then to my amp then cut the output wires for the front mids and ran the output from my amp to the component set up front in the doors. The result is factory Bose in the rear, my component set in front (no factory pillar tweeters) and a new sub. (The Bose sub was completely removed.) My goal is sound quality while still keeping the factory head unit.

Special thanks to the 3-4 people who posted pictures and wiring info in previous threads! (Nick D, rubley, WOPonTour, fdeanda and others) It really helped knowing where the in's and outs are on the Bose amp.

Setup:
Focal Polyglass 165 component set
JL 10w3 in a sealed box
JL XD500/3 amp (75x2 and 300x1)

Question:
For those who have done custom installs - has anyone experimented with different speaker sets or sub boxes? I love this Focal component set (I had them in two other cars), but they are a little too bright/harsh for the Volt interior.

The sub is a sealed box facing to the rear pressed up against one of the seats. It sounded good like this in my Impreza hatch - not sure if it's the shape of the Volt or what but it's definitely struggling in both output and sound quality. I know the factory sub was a ported box - has anyone played with 8 vs 10 vs 12, box size, different sub locations or sealed vs ported in their Volt?

 

[Nick D]

I had 2 radio shack 12"s in mine for a few months while i was building my box. I found out one of them was fully blown, so really I only had one of them. It was up-facing, sub pointed towards the hatch glass, they sounded cleanest and loudest in the upfacing position, when facing forward or to the side they did loose a bit of sound. Have you tried pointing the speaker in different directions yet?

So Now I have the infinity kappa 12 in a custom box built in the floor, my box is sealed and the volume was calculated with the specific subwoofer's specs.. It paired perfectly with my 4 kappa 3ways. This exact setup except the infinity sub was moved over from a 2012 Prius C, it sounds much better in the Volt than in the Prius.

I have not had any other speakers in the Volt to compare with, but the sound works for my musical tastes just perfectly. I have the sub turned down a little because its a bit too loud for the car, just starts to rattle everything, and thats with all the sound deadener I did.


Here is the box build if you have not seen it
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?109025-New-Custom-Subwoofer-Box-Construction

And here is the system/deadener install for a reference - but i saw a mention in the comments so im guessing you have seen this
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?57553-My-new-2013-Chevy-Volt-dynomating-and-stereo-install