2019 Silverado Speaker Level Audio Tap

[grimmysnr]

Hello folks,

 

I have a 2019 Silverado non-bose with the 8-inch screen.  I am attempting to install my 10 inch Alpine Subwoofer and amp that was a holdover from other pickups that I had.  I got all the wiring complete such as battery, ground, and remote switch at the F27 fuse.  The amp turns on and everything appears to be working fine, except I have no audio inputs.  I referenced the PDF install guide for the new Kicker subwoofer that is now offered for the 2019 Silverado/Sierra with Bose/non-Bose which tells me to disconnect two 28 pin connectors and locate a Blue and Brown/Blue set of wires.  I am supposed to tap into those wires for my input.  These connectors are supposed to be off the audio control module over by the glovebox, but I am having a difficult time trying to discern if I have the right connectors or not.  Looking underneath my passenger footwell behind the glovebox I found this junction box with all sorts of wires.  There are some blue and brown striped wires, but there also seems to be a couple sets of them.  I just wanted to reach out to all of you and see if I am on the right track and I just need to dig further or if I need to look elsewhere.  I am one wire tap away from getting this working.  Thank you!

[WhineyTTwins]

If you still have too much confusion, you will want to tap behind the headunit. I am still waiting to take delivery of my truck in order to begin my stereo upgrade but there is a good chance that the schematics have not changed. If you want to get behind your headunit and send me a picture, I can go ahead and cross reference a wiring diagram for the headunit and tell you which to tap.

 

Edit: Also, you can always just pop off the door panels and confirm/tap speaker wiring from there. 

Edited March 20, 2019 by Ericruiz911

[grimmysnr]

Eric,

Thank you for your response.  I kept digging around yesterday and I found the audio control module and the two connectors called out in the attached PDF instructions.  There is almost zero room to work since that junction box in the picture above is in the way and the connectors were impossible to disconnect.  They have some weird tab that you have to pull down and then it still would not pull out of the module.  I found the wires after peeling back this cloth wrapping with mounds of glue on it.  I will take a picture of where the module and connectors are.  The wiring colors you mentioned in your conversation are still accurate.  In fact, in the passenger door sill, there is a wire loom going to the back of the truck that you can gain access to easily without having to remove the B-PIllar trim.  The blue/black and white wire is sitting in there and is much easier to peel back the wire wrap.  What I have noticed, and found in other forums, is that any wires that are twisted together are typically speaker wires.  This seems to be the case.  So I have tapped both channels off the one input for the front speaker, but knowing what I know now I think I will move the connections to the wires that go to the back speakers.  Inside that same wire as the right rear speaker looks like another twisted pair that goes to the left rear speaker.  I will likely tap both channels from there to make sure the amp gets a full signal from two separate sources. 

 

I will snap some photos tomorrow since I was able to get it hooked up today.  Overall it sounds better, but I think I need to tune it a bit more.  I also think that maybe, just maybe, the one 10" might not be enough.  Either that or the stock radio is just not powerful/dynamic enough to pump out the right audio.  It seems like I have to really crank the volume before I start to hear the sub.  The volume is halfway, but seems quite loud for how far turned up it is vs when the subwoofer really kicks in.  I might have to play with it a bit more.

 

In either case, I did find the wires and it was a pain to get to.  I don't think tapping off the back of the unit in the dash will work because the audio module is mounted on the passenger side wall, behind the glove box just below the passenger fuse compartment.  I will get some more photos soon.  Thank you again for confirming the wire colors.  It appears that the colors have remained the same.

 

 

2019 Kicker Subwoofer Install.pdf

[bigwig]

Can you tell me which radio option you have on your truck? I just picked up my Trail Boss and it sounds horrible. Mine has the rpo code of IOR, which is the most basic radio from what I can tell. It does have the 8" screen. I was thinking about the Kicker kit but was wondering how your Alpine turned out, and what head unit you are pushing it with (IOR, IOS, IOT, IOU). I will be following.

[white94rx]

My sub box from Subthump is supposed to arrive this week. He's also sending me a 16-18 Camaro T harness. He thinks it will fit, and give me speaker level inputs to send to my amp. I'll post here if it works or not. And if not, I'll be using the info in this thread to get speaker signal to my amp.

 

 

 

 

[grimmysnr]

Hey folks,

 

I was able to get my sub tuned and it sounds great.  I kept the input from the front speaker since Eric pointed out that the volume and range of frequencies on the front is much greater than the back door speakers.  If you Fade and Balance to the back you will notice that it is very quiet.  I think they are there to help fill the sound, but do very little else.  Other than ease of access, I would not tap into the rear speakers at this point.

 

The only problem I ran into after that was tuning.  It took quite a bit of gain and tuning filter to get the sub to respond at the right volume.  I had my gain set at the mid point and it took almost half to 3/4 volume before I could tell that the sub was doing its job.  Naturally, this is not the typical listening volume and I wanted more performance at lower volumes.  I left the equalizer on the radio alone and just focused on the gain, filter, and base boost on my amp.  Everything works great and I am happy with the results.  It is no premium system, but it works.  I am not very confident that simply changing speakers for higher quality units would be worth my time.  The stock headunit just seems weak and it would more money to invest in a 4-channel amp, maybe a DSP, and the speakers themselves.  All I really wanted was some extra thump.

 

My next problem is the phone feature of the radio.  I can make calls and listen to music over Bluetooth and Android Auto.  However, whenever receiving a call my truck will start ringing and will continue to ring even after clicking the answer button.  I cannot talk or hear anything over the truck communications.  I have to physically pick up the phone and switch to handset to talk.  Even then, while talking, the truck continues to ring.  After hanging up the truck also continues to ring and will not stop.  I can shut the truck off and start it up and it will still be ringing.  Only after shutting off the truck and walking away for a while it will reset.  If I hit the OnStar button and immediately hit the end call button on the screen the radio will return to normal.  The GM tech says that the Android version 9.0 Pie on my S9+ is the cause.  Supposedly once I update to 9.1 it should fix it because the bluetooth is not sending a signal that the call has been picked up.  I think i will test this with a different phone whenever I get around to it.  Verizon hasnt released 9.1 for my model yet.

 

I will post some pictures once we have a nice day and I can go mess with the truck and not freeze to death.  **Quick edit, my radio is the 8" MyLink non-bose**

Edited March 29, 2019 by grimmysnr

[grimmysnr]

On 3/21/2019 at 10:05 AM, bigwig said:

Can you tell me which radio option you have on your truck? I just picked up my Trail Boss and it sounds horrible. Mine has the rpo code of IOR, which is the most basic radio from what I can tell. It does have the 8" screen. I was thinking about the Kicker kit but was wondering how your Alpine turned out, and what head unit you are pushing it with (IOR, IOS, IOT, IOU). I will be following.

Well I am now corrected.  I did a QR scan of my RPO code label located on the driver side door area and I have RPO IOR which is the 7" Infotainment non-bose.  I also attached a picture of the audio module and the connectors referenced in the Kicker guide.

[WhineyTTwins]

15 hours ago, grimmysnr said:

The only problem I ran into after that was tuning.  It took quite a bit of gain and tuning filter to get the sub to respond at the right volume.  I had my gain set at the mid point and it took almost half to 3/4 volume before I could tell that the sub was doing its job.  Naturally, this is not the typical listening volume and I wanted more performance at lower volumes.  I left the equalizer on the radio alone and just focused on the gain, filter, and base boost on my amp.  Everything works great and I am happy with the results.  It is no premium system, but it works.  I am not very confident that simply changing speakers for higher quality units would be worth my time.  The stock headunit just seems weak and it would more money to invest in a 4-channel amp, maybe a DSP, and the speakers themselves.  All I really wanted was some extra thump.

 

My next problem is the phone feature of the radio.  I can make calls and listen to music over Bluetooth and Android Auto.  However, whenever receiving a call my truck will start ringing and will continue to ring even after clicking the answer button.  I cannot talk or hear anything over the truck communications.  I have to physically pick up the phone and switch to handset to talk.  Even then, while talking, the truck continues to ring.  After hanging up the truck also continues to ring and will not stop.  I can shut the truck off and start it up and it will still be ringing.  Only after shutting off the truck and walking away for a while it will reset.  If I hit the OnStar button and immediately hit the end call button on the screen the radio will return to normal.  The GM tech says that the Android version 9.0 Pie on my S9+ is the cause.  Supposedly once I update to 9.1 it should fix it because the bluetooth is not sending a signal that the call has been picked up.  I think i will test this with a different phone whenever I get around to it.  Verizon hasnt released 9.1 for my model yet.

 

 

Are you using an SMD DD-1 to match input voltage to amplifier? Ideally, we want to know where the factory headunit distorts. In my 2014, I had no distortion across the entire volume range so that was a big plus. We need to figure out what your max volume is before distortion. From there, you match your the input gain on your amplifier to match the output voltage of your headunit at that max volume before distortion. Another thing to check is for bass roll off. The factory headunit could be automatically rolling off the bass at higher volumes to protect the speakers but a shop with the right tools will need to check for that. I really wish I had my truck to get started on this. Just FYI, I am not saying you don't know how to do this but I am trying to describe it in detail for others who are reading the post and are inexperienced with car audio so please don't think I am challenge your knowledge here. Just out of curiosity, what is amp and sub are you running? Simply changing the speakers does help, but it is not super drastic. Changing out the wideband in the dash probably makes the biggest change to the system.

 

As for the phone issue, it happened once in my 2018 since I upgraded to the Galaxy S10+. Since then, it has not done it. It very well may be a Android Pie issue but from what I have heard, the 2019's already have a handful of software update recalls that need to be addressed so I would look into that. Check with your dealership to see if your vehicle has any pending recalls.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Ericruiz911

[Rfordhamjr]

Hay grimmysnr

great info on this. I just bought a 2019 Chevy LT and it was the 8 inch screen. Im looking for the speaker lines as well. This is a photo of the harness just below the drivers side power seat controls.  Is it save to assume that the blue/yellow and white would be my speaker wires?

 

 

[saber]

Anybody know which of these wires are the + and - of the front speaker wires.

Are the left speakers wires in the same place on the drivers side?

[grimmysnr]

On 6/3/2019 at 4:51 PM, Rfordhamjr said:

Hay grimmysnr

great info on this. I just bought a 2019 Chevy LT and it was the 8 inch screen. Im looking for the speaker lines as well. This is a photo of the harness just below the drivers side power seat controls.  Is it save to assume that the blue/yellow and white would be my speaker wires?

 

 

Sorry it took me a while to respond.  I did not get notified.  Unfortunately, I am unable to tell exactly which one, but the good news is that any set of wires that is twisted together is generally a speaker wire set.  I cannot say which colors are which.  There may be other wires that are spiral, but to be sure look at the wires coming off the audio module in the above picture.  It is actually best that you tap from the front speakers because the overall volume level is much higher than the rear.  I attempted to tap the rear speakers the same way you are looking to do and ended up going with the wires off the audio module.  If you adjust your fade to the rear speakers and balance left or right I think you will be disappointed with their output at the same volume level set on on the radio.  Once I get back to my truck I might be able to look under there and see if I can find out which wires are which.  Either way, I recommend you tap off the front speakers.  I will see what I can find later.

[grimmysnr]

On 6/4/2019 at 10:43 AM, saber said:

Anybody know which of these wires are the + and - of the front speaker wires.

Are the left speakers wires in the same place on the drivers side?

If you look at the picture above, the audio module is the better place to tap these wires.

[Rfordhamjr]

No worries on the delay. I'm only starting to rip into it now. Also there must be a different wiring harness in the 8in display. Here's a picture of what I'm looking at

[Rfordhamjr]

OK I think I got it now. What a pain getting to that. 

 

Blue and brown/blue right?

[grimmysnr]

1 hour ago, Rfordhamjr said:

OK I think I got it now. What a pain getting to that. 

 

Blue and brown/blue right?

Yep!  Those are the ones.  I couldn't get the connector out without doing exactly what you seem to have done to your hands.  So I gave up and left the connector installed and then tapped in place.  Solid blue is positive and the Brown/Blue stripe is negative.