Upgrading VE Stock Speakers - How To

Hey mate, I tried your theory of Swapping the Polarity of the subs in my 08 VE SSV, And wow you were correct, such a huge difference!
Ill still be upgrading to a full sound system and 2 12"'s in my own box, but in the meantime while im saving, that's still a great sound it now produces!
Cheers for posting this up here.
Ill be making a Youtube vid of a how to. Ill link it to this post once its done.
Instead of your idea of going behind the seats and all of that on the parcel shelf, I went to the amp, unplugged the plug/harness, cut the speaker wires and then rewired it, that was such a much easier way to do it i found rather then removing part of the seat and everything. There was plenty of length on the cable aswell to work on.

Also keep in mind I have also previously turned the amp gain from 50% to 75% as a Youtube user "Harpal Gill" recommended via the dial underneath the amp.
link to that video is:
Holden VE SS V HIDDEN AMP .mov - YouTube

Cheers

 

Great stuff. Although I probably wasn't clear in saying that I meant behind the seats from inside the boot. No need to remove seats etc! Nevertheless, a great result.

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I removed the centre speaker from my VE2 today. Has improved the sound quality by heaps and now I can fade to the rear speakers without the centre speaker staying at full noise and sounding like crap.
Getting at the speaker wasn't much of a hassle but removing the actual speaker proved to be unbelievably difficult. The 2 small screws holding it in were tighter than hell and due to the awkward location I just couldn't get enough weight on them to get them out. I ended up tearing the speaker up and cutting the metal with snips to get at the magnet and plug. Rough as guts for sure but once I was there I wasn't putting it back together with that speaker still in place.

 

I've just switched the phasing on the subs in my SSV and as everybody else has said...WOW. I could actually get to the speaker terminals from the boot so I just climbed in, de-soldered, swapped and re-soldered. I wasn't expecting a big difference as I'm always skeptical about the quality of "Premium" sound in locally built cars. Next steps are to disconnect the centre front speaker and possibly get some Dynamat to stop the spare wheel well acting like a nice big bass drum for the exhaust.

 

Great write up!

I've gotta ask, I'm getting a Caprice later this year, want to redo the sound system, does anyone know how the speakers are setup in the Caprice? (2010 WM Series II Caprice V) As in size, how many, etc.

 

Hi all,
New to the forum and Holden, but have just purchased a black SSV wagon. Big upgrade over the 1996 Subaru Legacy GTB I'll tell you

I pulled out the multimeter to measure the speakers resistance, and sure enough both speaker and the tweeter measured 2ohms, the same as everyone else has found.

Interestingly enough, measuring the resistance between the positive cable on the speaker and the positive cable going to the tweeter resulted in (very near to) zero ohms.

It looks like the 2ohm speaker and tweeter are wired in parallel resulting in a 1 ohm load to the IQ unit. This leads me to believe that the Holden IQ systems built in amplifier is stable down to 1 ohm.

Or have I screwed this up royally?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm looking at transferring the audio installation from my old Legacy to the SSV and have been furiously reading the forum leaning about trim removal and other peoples experiences with getting better audio into their cars etc.

My installation will be keeping the stock Holden IQ head unit, but I'll be installing a line output converter (LOC) to go from the speaker output to rca connections.

At this stage it'll likely be the AudioControl LC6i (It reviews really well on Amazon, but if anyone has direct experience, I'd be keen to hear it!).

I'm aware that some people have fitted rca connections to the IQ, but I'm not sure about sending my IQ from New Zealand for this. If someone would supply me a howto I'd be very grateful!

From the rca connections, I have a pair of MTX amps. (Yes they are old, but they are also built like the proverbial…).
There's a 2x40 watt for the front house and a 2x160 bridging to a little over 320 watts for the sub. (All ratings rms).
I realise that the 2x40 might seem a little… 'light' but it'll be more than the existing IQ system is putting out eh!

I'll be installing Alpine DD Linear 6.5 components in the front, leaving the rear door speakers stock.

This is the Sportwagon, so there is no hidden amp (well, that I've been able to find on this forum or in the car) or 8" sub(s) in the rear window like the sedans.

My sub is a 12" MTX Thunder 7000 series sub (rated at 400 watts rms) in a MTX factory standard sealed enclosure.

I know my gear, I've installed it all before (other than the LOC) so I'm experienced, but this isn't my day job.

If anyone has suggestions or recommendations for these installations I'm keen to hear them too.

 

Don't get impedance an resistance mixed up. They're not the same thing. You're also testing with DC.

 

Thanks for sharing the video, will be doing that myself now. I actually like the sound of my system, i specifically wanted a car that i didn't have to waste 4k on for a new system like my old car (especially since it got me a whole 1k when written off!!).
Look forward to seeing a vid on the reversing the wires, i have read that part many times but since i don't know much about it i haven't wanted to do it myself and don't want to pay some bloke to do it for me either!.
So if you do a vid please keep the weekend warriors in mind.

cheers again!

 

Hello
Does 2009 SERIES 1 VE SS support mp3? If i change the headunit which does not support mp3 to 2009 SERIES 1 VE SS headunit, will i be able to start the car before reprograming?
Thx
Ross

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According to my car's manual (from MY08), the SS has the 6 stacker that does play MP3. That's the sort that looks the same as the Omega/SV6 units. Until you have it programmed, it wont work but it will not do anything else to the car. You'll just be driving in silence and have an error message displayed about a "security mismatch" (or something along those lines).

 

I have been doing a lot of research for the aftermarket stereo. Alpine was 1500 but i hated the look of the HVAC. Vlad had the ipod integration but i am not happy with the limited functions from the Ipod. I finally came accross with the one developped in the US for the pontiac G8 and they advised that it should fit in the car. All the kit is touch screen inlcuding the HVAC as well. the finish look is great as well. Its around 650 for the kit ( facia wiring and HVAC control)

https://www.facebook.com/G8Designs

The only thing i need to find out if the kit needs reprogramming with this system.If anyone could help me out if reprogramming is needed?

Thanks
Roshan

 

Thanks mate, that really helped me out a lot. The only thing I'd like to add is, I noticed before I glued the new tweeter to the old one, that the magnets were wanting to grab each other. To overcome this I cut right around the side of the old tweeter till I got the magnet, then levered the back off of the tweeter. I then grabbed the magnet with a pair of multi grips and twisted the magnet off. You're now left with the bare tweeter shell to stick onto.

 

That g8 kit looks very good but jeez it's a lot of extra cash on top of a new head unit and other accessories

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Hey guys, considering upgrading my speaker system in my ssv wagon.
Biggest issue for me is where to mount a sub...

Quite often I lay the back seats down to go away and need the space, so having a big sub sitting in the back is out of the question.

So has anyone got any suggestions where I could mount 1 or 2 slim line subs?

 

I am interested in this also.

 

I went through this about 3 years ago, I read through below thread looking for ideas and the best I can up with was a slim sub in enclosure with builtin amp (soundstream make one - USB-8A, that seem ok on reviews) not sure how it would go in wagon cabin, seemed to be design for utes small cabins. In the end I gave up on the idea as I didn't want to spend time and money on an 8" sub that doesn't have much if an impact.

Nb: I needs my boot space, it normally has a pram and a stroller in it.

http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/showthread.php?t=17657

 

I just saw in Car Audio section, Tasmaniak suggest a bass tube for a VE ute, how about one of these in the back of the wagon, drivers side, near tail light, in front of that netted storage compartment? (no idea how good bass tubes are, but a possible option)

 

I have had mates put slim line subs under the front seats..but not in a commodore. There may be some room issues.

 

The benfit of that would be is the bass tubes I've used in the past allow for you to completly unplug the system safely with no risk of damage or fire. One plug contains Power, Ground and Remote while the other is either RCA or HiLevel input plug. Then the whole thing comes away and you can run the cables out of the way.

 

Don't mean to revive an old thread lol, but just tried the polarity swap for the sub connections on the Cal, and the sound difference is definitely massive. The bass response really is astounding for a pair of budget 8" subs!
I didn't want to go cutting wires however, so instead, all I did after removing back seat and shelf, was simply unplug speaker connectors.
Once there are out, there is a little binding clip on the top side of connector, using a small sharp pointed tool I have for phone repairs I just popped that upward which allows the retaining clips inside the connector holding metal spades inside to be released. Swapped them around and it's done. When plugged back in everything looks factory, which is just how I like I it!
If anyone is after pics to do as above, can post some pics...