Got rid of the center spker... WOOWWW!!!
 

I have the BA and didn't really like the sound of it. It did not compare to my Alpine with Imprint technology that I have in my SUV. :cry:

Like most, I started by adding a couple of 10" subs (kicker) that I purchased from Subthumb, great product by the way. That took care of the low end frequencies and improved the system by a ten full but I was still not happy with the overall sound. :mad0259:

I started to feel that my center speaker was responsible for the poor quality, in my opinion the reason is that the center takes away the stereo effect and contributes to an overall excess of high frequencies even after adjusting the treble to -9db.:)

Well tonight I said, enough is enough, :mad0260: out comes the tools and diagram. 20 minutes later the yellow wire is cut, hence no more center speaker. Wowww, I tell you, with all honesty, this was absolutely the right thing to do. :bow:

The system is 20 times better, the stereo effect is superb, the cabin is perfectly balance between the highs an the lows and i don't have to play with the tone settings anymore unless i change CD or source. i am finally happy with the BA system. :drinking:

Cheers!

cool

true stereo FTW

I had planned on putting an Alpine PDX-4.100 4 channel amp in next week and reading your post just made me think of something. When I get rid of the center channel, am I going to loose my OnStar capabilities?

no they will still play throught the rest of the speakers.

thanks.

Interesting, sounds worth a try.

very interesting

Still not sure why anyone would put a center channel in a STEREO system.

Any way to do this without cutting?

so it looks like it has surround... to fool the noobz

Why couldnt you carefully pop up the center grill and unhook the wire harness?

Cheers
K

The issue I have with the BA system is the lack of treble. The tweeters must really be poor or severly underpowered. I like a lot of highs in my system and I'm not getting it. I'm very disappointed in the BA system. I too have an Alpine Imprint system in my Jeep and going from it to the Camaro is a world of difference, understandable of course with the money I have in the Alpine system. But it's really difficult to listen to the Camaro's stereo. :(

So I just cut the center speaker wire. Wish I woulda just disconnected it from the speaker terminal but to late for that. Everything works as far as I know and the sound quality is night and day. OMG!!!! You may have just saved me $1400 on new Amp and Speakers upgrade. The sound is so much better I am seriously considering it. Good call.

So, does anyone know WHY we have the center speaker? Other than to fake surround sound...Did you lose anything else as far as audio?

Where did you cut the "yellow" wire from?

Thanks

I didn't loose anything. I cut it about 1 inch away from the amp.

Is the amp the one in the trunk? Or is there another?

Thanks,
Michael J.

Just the one Amp. It's behind the rear tail light on the drivers side

Going to give it a try this afternoon, i havent yet added a sub, so I will see how this effects just the standard BA sound.

Seems a lot easier through the grille.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWP1UWiLEGM

Great video. Simply unplugging is a better solution than cutting the harness.

Any idea what that black box is on the side of the center speaker?

The black box is just the plastic shourd (molex) around the connections for the speaker. what hold the plug inplace.

at the end he mentions possibly cutting out somethign to make room for a deeper speaker.... for anyone thinking about this I would advise against cutting out that plastic as it is part of the climate control duct work. you will lose some air flow there.

Guys, the reason I went with the wire instead of un-hooking it at the speaker is because I did not want to pop the speaker grill and removing it than putting it back together. The plastic is delicate and if not careful you can break it. In addition, we all know from experience that once you start taking plastic panels apart, there is more chances of getting rattling noise. Cutting the wire may seem radical to some, but to me (I'm a elec technician) it's an easy and quick fix if I ever want to put it back the way it was. At the end of the day though, god the sound is soooo.. much better, it's simply awesome.

Sounds like a simple thing to try! I assume there's only 1 yellow wire? ;)

Is there really that much of a difference? Im thinking about doing this, but I just dont understand why there would be such a drastic improvement.

I think I'll go with the unplug solution just so it's reversible for me. So I'd pull the speaker like in the video then just unhook that harness on this side right? That the easiest way to do this?

Edit: Ok I'm going to go wash my car, I better have answers by then :paddle: :D I'm looking forward to trying this later today, but I will not be cutting any wires.

YES , Center plug (X2). I would suggest leaving enough room between where you cut and the plug just in case you want to revert back. You'll love the sound. Good luck!

I have been unhappy with the BA system since day one, so I may try unplugging the wire and see if there is any improvement.

I experienced the same deal long ago with home surround sound. Muffled loss of clarity all from that center channel. No matter how good that speaker is or how high you bump the high end it cant clear out. I cant believe I didn't already do this in the camaro. Thanks for lighting a fire under me! Good call!!

I'm glad somebody finally did this. I can't hear any other speakers unless I fade it way to the back, even then the center channel still makes the system sound like crap. I will be disconnecting the speaker ASAP.

I will be doing this on Saturday after I wash her.

OK I have an update. After reading this I went out and did it both ways. At the amp and at the speaker. Now if you can work with the plug on the amp snug up to the rear fender that would be the easiest. I contend pulling the plug on the speaker is far easier. Even with the custom dash mat I have velcro'd down. Now for the results. This is the weird thing. Some songs on my mp3 were more muffled with the speaker pulled. This seemed to be the case more then not with the mp3. With xm,it sounded better 90% of the time unplugged. Considering I listen to the mp3 more often I opted to leave it plugged.
*********I suggest DOING THIS AT THE SPEAKER FIRST. Why cut a wire before you know what YOUR ear prefers?

Very interesting indeed. Great post!

I did the speaker unplug this morning before i left for work, literally took 3 minutes. I agree, do this at the speaker, soooo simple. I am not exactly sure i notice a huge difference like some are stating, but the stereo effect is much better. I am curious for the guys that saw such a dramatic difference, what are your EQs set to? Mine are treble: 9, mid:7, bass: 11

IAS - thanks for the black box info.

I think the center speaker will work great for my 9500ci. At least thats my plan for it.

SS Drift... it should work perfectly.

9,7,11???? WOW and you guys wonder why you speakers distort out so quickly. try bringing eveything down equally, to where nothing is abvoe zero. try -2, -4, 0 you will not be boosting the signal so badly and will be easier on the speakers.

Pretty much the same settings I have mine at.

I know if you have your bass set over 5 and run the volume over half way your likely clipping. I''ve got my treb's maxed,mostly because I lost most of my high end hearing from the military. My volume is never under half max. So I keep the bass at 4 if it's not distorting. Mid will be between 3 and 5 depending again on distortion. I ride that fine line of clarity/clipping. Running around zero and negative is so flat you may as well throw a cerwin vega spaker and a marshall amp. There isn't any fidelity in those settings.

Thanks, I'll give it a try