Upgraded the audio in the Volt

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Continuing with the non-stop upgrades to the Volt, I installed the beginning of my audio upgrade after work today. I'm thrilled with the outcome!

This was a small budget upgrade, everything came to just a tick over $200 and about 3 hours worth of my time. I designed it to be as plug and play as possible, making it easy to return the car to stock with minimal wire cutting. I ended up only needing to cut 2 wires, power and ground for the amp. I stole them from the power port located in the upper dash storage pocket that I have no intention of ever using.

I used an Alpine KTP-445U amplifier in conjunction with a factory integration harness I found from PAC. The amplifier tucks behind the radio perfectly, and allows me to not only set the high pass crossover but retain the factory turn signal and door chime sounds WITHOUT any additional modules. The amplifier does not require a remote turn on, it senses the speaker input. A bonus to this is that Alpine included a second remote OUTPUT, which is active any time the amp is on. This will be incredibly useful when I pull everything apart again to install a line out converter for my sub amplifier later.

The speakers are inexpensive Pyramid W64's. I chose these based on several factors: size, design purpose, price, and most of all compatibility. They have a 94db sensitivity rating and have a frequency response of 65-3,500hz. They play very well with the 45 watts of input power from the Alpine, huge upgrade over stock. So much so my plan of leaving the factory tweeters alone is blown out the window, I plan on ordering replacements shortly and in the process changing the crossover point of the stock setup from ~5500hz down to a more reasonable 3000hz. This (should) help them blend much nicer with the mids. I used Metra speaker adapters and wiring harness' so no cutting was required. I used closed cell foam tape from the hardware store between the door and adapter, and the speaker and adapter to dampen vibrations.

This is by NO means a professional system, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. What say you all?




 
Originally Posted By: Marco620
I installed Kicker speakers in mine. Helped out tremendously.Hope you got beats now.


It sure helped! I can't wait to get my sub installed. The bottom end is severely lacking.
 
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