head unit

[emperorjj1]

every sub is different. id just be careful with it for the first few weeks

 

[becareless06]

yea thats why havent even made everything neat and nice yet have to build the floor and figure out how to fit both amps the 3200 power akustic amp and the 900 watt crunch mid amp in the floor with some nice lighting.. anyone have any ideas i also have to finish my sound deading boom matt spray on is work pretty well .. im impressed with spray on.. also have the rear speaker baffles to help with clarity of the rear speakers .. now what is everyone doing with the dome light rattle and rear view mirro rattle they are annoying

 

[emperorjj1]

i used foam (second skin overkill) on the dome light and the butyl from second skin damp pro on the rear view mirror

 

[becareless06]

got any pics that would help alot and thanks for all the help emperorjj1

 

[JR's G5]

where exactly do u apply the foam at in the dome light, cuz mine rattles too.

 

[emperorjj1]

its hard to actually fix the dome light rattle because the mounting and design is bullshit but what i did was yanked the dome light cut a ring of foam like a 1/4 in thick or whatever size to go on the outer lip of the dome light and put it back in place. that fixed the rattle even with the system for at least 2 years. now it sometimes rattles when i have it loud but not consistently so if i ever yank the headliner ill put some new foam but its not often enough that its a problem

 

[becareless06]

the clear plastic rattles on my dome light thought about making a seal out of a big oring and cuting it down

 

[SRH]

I just bought a used '06 cobalt with the OEM "premium sound", no OnStar, no XM, no aux input... and had a few noob questions:

1. With the head units I've looked at on Crutchfield, it says I will lose the driver info with the new headunits unless I buy a special adapter for another hundred bucks or so. Are there any headunits where this wouldn't be an issue?

2. I'm only really familiar with home theater audio. Most of the receivers I've looked at for the cobalt are four or six channel, but the vehicle has seven speakers. Will I need one with additional outputs to take advantage of my sound system?

3. While I like some of the features on the head units I've looked at, what I really need is an auxiliary input. Is there a simple and cheap way to add an aux to the oem unit? I've seen mods if you have the XM equipped, but nothing without it.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[06CobaltLS]

yes if you want to keep the chimes(doors, lights, blinker, etc..) then you have to buy the $100 PAC harness..there is a certain model made for the cobalts just do some research. unless you dont care about said chimes then dont worry about it and hardwire the aftermarket H/U into the factory harness..it is a bit more difficult but if you are in a bind with money then try and do the second route. just talk to some of the guys on here or research on how to do it. I went with the expensive harness and it hasnt caused me any problems.

 

[SRH]

Thanks for the reply.

...unless you dont care about said chimes then dont worry about it and hardwire the aftermarket H/U into the factory harness..it is a bit more difficult but if you are in a bind with money then try and do the second route..

Eh. The adapter would be about as much as the HU then with the units I was looking at. As far as the wiring, do I need to find a receiver with seven channels? As I mentioned, most I've seen have four or six.

 

[emperorjj1]

with an 06 the chime module box isn't needed. DIC is separate from the stereo regardless of yr cobalt... for an 06 it would be more cost effective to get a new radio then mess with an aux input module. as far as outputs go it doesn't matter if it has any preouts. with the cheap harness you use the internal amp in the radio and it only has 4... but the stock amp takes the 4 inputs from the radio and separates it into the 7 different speakers (its a six channel amp actually but how it works it has 8 outputs)

 

[SRH]

Thanks for the info. I take it more than four channels is really only useful if you don't use an OEM amp?
So are you saying I wouldn't lose anything in an 06 by replacing the stock head unit (as far as existing functionality)? I'm still seeing some disagreement on this in different forums!

Either way, I think I probably will be taking your advice and go with a new head unit.

 

[emperorjj1]

well the "extra channels" your talking about are only available if you have after market amps. the one in our cars is pretty simple in comparison to whats out there. and if you don't believe me on functionality then take the radio out and see what happens. the chimes dic everything will be there as long as ur cobalt is an 06

 

[SRH]

Yeah, I pulled the fuse to the radio and still get chimes and DIC. Crutchfield apparently has that wrong.
As far as a new head unit goes, I've also heard different things as to whether or not I need a separate adapter. Would the existing hardware work for mounting most after market units? Ideally I could just get by with buying the head unit and whatever wiring harness is necessary.

Thanks again,
SRH

 

[emperorjj1]

nope you need a dash kit