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Speaker Upgrades (non-Bose 2017 Premier)

39K views 120 replies 19 participants last post by  MDBolt 
#1 ·
Recently replaced the factory speakers with a set of Infinity Reference speakers on our non-Bose 2017 Premier. I went with these because it got decent reviews, plus it has an angled tweeter, which allows you to bring the sound stage higher than knee level. It also went on sale (as a possible price mistake) on Amazon for less than $40 for a pair so I jumped. Other accessories I picked up to make it a truly plug-and-play affair was a set of Scosche speaker brackets and speaker harnesses (I went with the American International SH3802 that I picked up off of eBay).

As posted by other upgraders here, the door panels are held by 2 #7 hex screws, one located in the door pull cup, and another behind the door handle. The best way to release the panel at the door handle location is to insert a thin pry tool or flathead in the upper posterior corner - it just pops off afterwards. Then, using a pronged pry tool, I started with the lower front door clips, moved along the entire lower panel then moved upwards. As noted by @LaBrother previously, the top clips are fastened in an odd way, and I didn't want to break anything so I ended up replacing the speakers while just prying and propping open the door panels with a shim. This had the unfortunate side effect of not allowing me to install Dynamats as I had originally intended.

The speakers are held in place by a single #7 hex screw. Interesting note, the factory speakers (at least the non-Bose we had) are rated as 20W 4-ohm ones, but have a pretty hefty appearing voice coil, compared to the factory ones in our Subaru. Forgot to mention, in lieu of the Dynamat, I used a set of foam rings to help keep the sound isolated into the cabin (and not spilling over into the door panel causing unwanted vibration) - worked as intended.

The sound quality is vastly improved. Certain nuances in some of the songs I listen to were brought forward, and my commute is a much more pleasurable experience now. The factory in-dash tweeters seem to be OK for the higher frequencies for now, and the built-in tweeters on the coax speakers help them out a great deal. It doesn't seem like I need an amp for now, but certainly a DSP is in the cards (the Bolt's built-in EQ leaves a lot to be desired). Also might think about a small sub, which I plan on placing somewhere in the cabin, but that might be months to a year away from fruition. For now I'm really happy with the simple, 2-hour DIY upgrade.
 
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#3 ·
All 4 doors. Just reviewed my receipts, it appears that I only spent a little over $100 to do the entire upgrade. Interesting note, I took the Bolt in for the squeaky axle issue today and they loaned me a Malibu. The sound is so much flatter on the factory speakers, which I would assume are the same ones found in the Bolt. The simple upgrade is so worth it.
 
#4 ·
Took a quick photo of a pair right before installing. Here they are mounted on the bracket adapter posted earlier. The speaker harness adapters are also visible (though not yet attached to the speakers).

Wasn’t able to take a pic of them installed because of the tight working quarters. But several weeks into it, the music is just amazing. Especially since I had that loaner for a while, I had a definite point of comparison from a GM product. For those with Spotify subscriptions, there’s actually a short playlist by Bowers & Wilkins to test car audio quality (it was made for BMW I think). Playing that playlist in the loaner (with stock speakers) compared to the Bolt with the new speakers is like night and day.

Next up- amp and sub...
Subwoofer Loudspeaker Audio equipment Car subwoofer Electronics
 
#5 ·
Took a quick photo of a pair right before installing. Here they are mounted on the bracket adapter posted earlier. The speaker harness adapters are also visible (though not yet attached to the speakers).
I'm guessing from the angled tweeter these are the IX and not the EX model, correct? Infinity Reference REF-6532IX

If so, currently Crutchfield has a sale on these. While you got a heck of a price that isn't likely to be found again (was that a Camelcamelcamel alert by chance?), they are $75 / pair and that includes the adapter brackets, wire adapters, and some handy install instructions. Speakers are $10 cheaper on Amazon, but the other parts cost more in total.

For $150 for front and rear speakers, brackets, and wire adapters... I think this is still a good deal.
 
#10 ·
MDBolt a concern has arisen. I ordered just one set of the speakers you got from Crutchfield. I have not seen them yet but a friend had told me to be careful. He says that there are shallow speakers and fat speakers. Long story short....he has concerns that the newer speakers will interfere with my door windows. Can you confirm/deny this?
 
#11 ·
No concerns at all. My windows are able to open all the way with the new speakers installed. Enjoy! Don’t forget that these speakers need a couple of weeks of constant playing (I’d recommend at least 30 on the volume level) to break them in.
 
#12 ·
30!?!?! I better bring some soft ear plugs. LOL!!!

I will put these in my front doors first and if I like them....then I will do the rear doors.
 
#13 ·
That’s what I thought too, but once these were in, I’d constantly have them at 30-35. Seems to be the sweet spot for the speakers in terms of clarity and volume sufficient enough to drown out road noise.
On the Bolt’s built in amp the sound gets distorted above 40. I think that might be because they wanted to protect the paper cones in the stock speakers from blowing out at high volumes. It feels like the bass is somewhat suppressed above 40. So I’m definitely considering an amp very soon.
By the way I did the same thing, went front speakers first, loved them, then finished out the rears to fill out the sound nicely.
 
#14 ·
Did you have to replace the clips in your door? From the Imgur shot that someone sent me it says that you MUST replace the door clips even if they are not damaged.....

 
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#15 ·
Did you have to replace the clips in your door? From the Imgur shot that someone sent me it says that you MUST replace the door clips even if they are not damaged.....
Nope! But remember that I did not take off the door panel entirely. The top part was still attached to the door while I replaced them. Just used a shim to prop open the lower part while I worked.
 
#17 ·
Thanks for posting the pics. Yup, I’m pretty sure I never made it to the clips with the way I did it (the one labeled as “2” in your images), I only got to the retainers. I recall popping open 8 of the 9. That was enough to prop open the door panel, insert a shim, and do the replacement in that fashion.
 
#22 ·
Glad it worked out! By the way, the best equalizer settings for these speakers that I’ve found after testing with a pink noise audio file paired with a freeware app RTA: treble 0, mid +4, bass +3, with fader/balance both at zero (essentially leave the listening position dead center).
 
#26 ·
I’m going to assume it’s called a door speaker harness. Checked on GMPartsDirect and found that their OEM replacement includes the ENTIRE door wiring assembly and costs $85. Not worth the trouble at that cost,
IMO.

by the way, how were you able to hook up the speakers after breaking one of the Connectors? Did you just splice the speaker wire directly?
 
#37 ·
Hey MDBolt if you live in a cold place like I do ( Ontario ) have you found that the speakers don't work so well in the cold? They rattle and sometimes I have to turn them up to 45-50 to get them to kick in.
 
#38 ·
I have noticed some rattling when cranking up the bass in the colder weather (but not as cold as you since I live in MD), which may be from some of the sound foam contracting. I might have to squeeze in some more in the future. But no, haven’t experienced the issue of them refusing to work until cranking it higher. Perhaps one of your connectors came loose? I recall reading one of your earlier posts that one of the connectors broke. Might be worth checking.
 
#40 ·
Thanks for the heads up but that appears to be an American deal only. However if you DO pick some up let us know how you installed them. Would be VERY interesting to follow.
 
#41 ·
Bit the bullet and ordered a pair last night - ended up being a reasonable call because today they're back up to $75. Will report back here with pictures whenever I get the time to install them. It looks to be a lot more challenging than the door speakers.

Also was randomly thinking about your speaker issue, @Digi and the more I thought about it, the most logical explanation would be loose power connections. That would explain why you need to supply so much power from the amp just to get them started. The circuit is likely still connected since you're still able to produce sound by cranking it up, albeit at a likely compromised fashion at that since you need to supply the additional power to produce it.

If that ends up being the case, and you still haven't found OEM replacement harness connectors, might be worthwhile to just splice the wires on directly using Posi-taps or something similar.
 
#42 ·
MDBolt. It was just the drivers side speaker that was doing it. Since it is now a little warmer it has not done it. But when it get colder it does.

Have you done the tweeter install yet?
 
#44 ·
Nope, haven’t had time to open things up yet to install the tweeters. The holidays have been crazy busy for us, but I’ll definitely update the thread once I do. Also plan on taking pictures as promised.

Were you able to check your connections to that speaker to see if anything was loose? Another potential point of looseness would be at the spade connectors at the speaker terminals.
 
#43 ·
I was looking at the speaker filters on crutchfield hoping to find a good match for the stock head unit. Would 3 or 4 ohms be preferable? Would a low max power and higher sensitivity make the most of the stock electronics? So far a lot of JL Audio, JBL and Rockford Fostgate coming up.
 
#45 ·
In my case, I did go for the higher sensitivity and didn’t need a ridiculously high power rating. 3 or 4 ohm should be fine. The stock speakers (at least for the non-Bose variety since that’s what I have) are 4 ohm 20W ones. No idea on sensitivity. The specs for the Infinity Reference speakers as installed in our Bolt:
3 ohm, 60W RMS, 93 dB sensitivity, and frequency response: 53-21,000 Hz

As I’ve mentioned, the speaker swap alone has resulted in appreciable gains in both power and clarity with the stock amp.
 
#48 ·
Ordered another set of the same speakers from Crutchfield Canada.
I think I know where I screwed up with the front speakers....I put the speakers “inside” the plastic door frame instead of on top.
Will tru it out when I get these new ones.
 
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