Boston Acoustic Sound Upgrade

[tbone587]

Hey everyone I am new to this forum and new to the Camaros. I am getting a 2011 2lt Camaro with Boston Acoustic Sound System. I already have two JL Audio HD Amps that I want to add and Polk Audio SR Speakers for the front. I was wondering how you guys were approaching this installation as far as the sound processor is concerned to retain the factory radio. If I add an amp, will I still retain the onstar, center channel, speaker, etc? My last vehicle I had a double din pioneer navigation, but I want to keep this car having the factory look with upgraded sound. I appreciate any information that can be provided.

[Iwantone2]

tbone, I can't answer all your questions, but here's what I've learned:

You should be able to retain OnStar. I know that there have been a few users here that have been able to retain the center speaker, but others will tell you that the system sounds much better without it. When I replaced the stock BA amp, I used the adapter harness from ********, and it is already made to "remove" the signal for the center speaker. The harness also let me replace the amp with a JL Audio xd400 very easily.

Hope this helps, and I'm sure someone with more knowledge than I will jump in here.

[justa25thTA]

definately go with the ******** harness

[tbone587]

Thanks for the information guys. I was looking at the ******** harness and I was wondering if you lose the center channel or not. I also read it will remove the tweeters as well.

[JohnnyComeLately]

Your turn signal indicator, "alarms" ( eg no seatbelt nag), Bluetooth and OnStar are on the front channels. Your back up warning system is in the rear channels. You lose nothing when you drop the center channel.

I retained my stock unit and just soldered on RCAs onto the factory harness and then put in a PPI 4 channel and 2 channel. I am only running an EQX pre amp at this point as I haven't decided if or how I'll do processing. The Rockford Fosgate 360 is commonly suggested by many dealers when I wince at the price tag of $1000 for other units.

[tbone587]

johnnycomelately, if you remove the boston amp completely and install a dfiferent amp, will the factory sounds still work in that scenario? What is the point of the center channel?

[justa25thTA]

Originally Posted by tbone587

johnnycomelately, if you remove the boston amp completely and install a dfiferent amp, will the factory sounds still work in that scenario? What is the point of the center channel?

If you are just adding an amp, ******** has a harness for that, or if you want to completely replace the factory amp, there is a harness for that as well. Both keep all of the stock stuff in place, including chimes and back up sensors. Get on the phone with ********, they will hook you up.

[JohnnyComeLately]

Yes. All factory sounds will be there. I have noticed there is a heavy emphasis on this forum to go with the harnesses of a vendor on here, but when I can solder 8 wires with 50 cents in solder and 8$ in connectors from Radio Shack, $100 in harnesses makes little sense. Maybe this is the a-hole in me but if you can't master crimp connectors, or solder, maybe you should just let a shop do your install and save your DIY project for emblem vynil overlays

I do understand why people like the kits and so just take my comment as a good natured jab. I just balk at $100 for 3 plastic plugs, just like I never bought HDMI cables at $100.

Back to your question, keep in mind you'll want to retain all four channels if are yanking the BA amp. I saw quite a few thread s where ppl talkedabout just using rear channels but I quickly learned this is less than ideal if you use BT,OnStar, etc. So, you can keep everything by either using the SubThumo harness (plug and play) or put on 4 RCA connectors yourself and then run into a 4 channel amp.

The center is added to help with staging and that's it. The Camaro is a wide car and so rather than biasing the sound for one side, at the expense of the other, you can add a center so that both driver and passenger hear the same audio levels. The downside is our BA amp is crap and for various reasons the center, IMHO, muddied the L to R separation. If you never play your music loud, only listen to compresed Mp3s, you likely won't hear much difference between a center and non-center system.

If you're connecting a non-BA amp I would disconnect because obviously you're intending to hear better audio. Also from what I remember they use a series-parallel of L+R to wire the center. Your new amp might not be happy with this wiring and/or the impedance it creates. I haven't thrown an ohmmeter on fActory speakers but other threads on C5 lead me to believe the BA speakers throw a lower impdance than the normal 4 ohms that aftermarket car audio amps usually run n

[justa25thTA]

Originally Posted by JohnnyComeLately

Yes. All factory sounds will be there. I have noticed there is a heavy emphasis on this forum to go with the harnesses of a vendor on here, but when I can solder 8 wires with 50 cents in solder and 8$ in connectors from Radio Shack, $100 in harnesses makes little sense. Maybe this is the a-hole in me but if you can't master crimp connectors, or solder, maybe you should just let a shop do your install and save your DIY project for emblem vynil overlays

I do understand why people like the kits and so just take my comment as a good natured jab. I just balk at $100 for 3 plastic plugs, just like I never bought HDMI cables at $100.

Back to your question, keep in mind you'll want to retain all four channels if are yanking the BA amp. I saw quite a few thread s where ppl talkedabout just using rear channels but I quickly learned this is less than ideal if you use BT,OnStar, etc. So, you can keep everything by either using the SubThumo harness (plug and play) or put on 4 RCA connectors yourself and then run into a 4 channel amp.

The center is added to help with staging and that's it. The Camaro is a wide car and so rather than biasing the sound for one side, at the expense of the other, you can add a center so that both driver and passenger hear the same audio levels. The downside is our BA amp is crap and for various reasons the center, IMHO, muddied the L to R separation. If you never play your music loud, only listen to compresed Mp3s, you likely won't hear much difference between a center and non-center system.

If you're connecting a non-BA amp I would disconnect because obviously you're intending to hear better audio. Also from what I remember they use a series-parallel of L+R to wire the center. Your new amp might not be happy with this wiring and/or the impedance it creates. I haven't thrown an ohmmeter on fActory speakers but other threads on C5 lead me to believe the BA speakers throw a lower impdance than the normal 4 ohms that aftermarket car audio amps usually run n

it is (obviously) worth it to me to leave the existing wiring completely intact. I can at any time return it to the factory condition, have you seen some of the pictures floating around here of how some owners have hacked up the wiring harnesses? In the long wrong the extra money spent is pretty inconsequential.

[JohnnyComeLately]

I guess that's where my experience differs and I've never leased a vehicle. Meaning, it's only been preference to be able to return it to stock, not an obligation being met.

Even with a harness kit, a hack will still hack. The speakers and amps still need to be mounted. In the last, I've through pains in different ways to meet what you describe. Early on, I would sometimes solder and T connect so I could just snip my line, wrap with electrical tape, and then reconnect OEM. Others I spent considerable time crimping on male/female bullet connectors (positives all female, neg male, etc).

However, with the Camaro I started to to the T route when time necessity and practicality kicked in. After molding stereos for 25 years (this year), I'm proficient enough that it's not really to approach it with that mindset if being able to "easily go back to stock". If I really needed to, the BA could be back in my car in under an hour once again making sounds of horrendous quality. For the low level input, I'd almost be doing the next owner a favor because I've already decided what I'll do is just solder female RCAs on the amp harness and throw a barrell connector then when they decide to upgrade, their low level input for their Ftermarket amp is already good to go.

Often hacks are hacks from lack of knowledge. I'd rather educate them than just empty their wallet (to over simplify this conversation). Parts of mine could possibly be considered a hack, but electrically and 80% physically my system is sound. I'm still on the fence about my amp rack mount as I tried something unconventional that I have no experience in terms of reliability. Rather than spend a couple hours fabricating rigid steel brackets to positively mount it to an irregular surface (passenger side wall of trunk, spanning from the rear seat to almost the back of the car), I instead suspended it (under tension) with braided steel wire used to hang 150 pound picture frames on walls. My two amps are only around 15 pounds but I'm wondering the effect vibration and side lateral forces will have.

I digress

[JohnnyComeLately]

Sorry if my posts are hard to read at times. I'm usually posting from work on my iPhone. Auto correct does stuff I don't notice till after I finish and it's usually not able to edit easily or quickly.

[tbone587]

Thanks for all of the info guys. I do like the idea of keeping the wiring in tact, but 100 bucks is kind Of steep when I can easily solder on RCA ends. I was under the impression that there was more to the ******** harness, but it seems not. Does anyone have the wiring info to solder on to the plug that handles the RCA outputs?

[sabraitis]

Hey guys,

Bought the FARK from ********. Will install it in spring along with my newly acquired JL XD700. What I haven't been able to find from ******** is harness for the speakers themselves. Does one exist.

If not, should I simply cut the molex connector and direct connect the wires. Sorry if this has been asked, I have been searching and can't find.

BTW I have the ZL1 convertible with BA sound system.

[Camaroshark]

The FARK kit comes with the connector that will allow you to wire the aftermarket amp to your factory speaker harness plug. It has 8 wires,(4 pairs), so you can wire up the aftermarket amp to the factory speaker plug on the other side of the amp.

Watch the ******** FARK video on youtube.

For me, it's not the $100 that was of any consequence. For me I can use and enjoy aftermarket equipment and then flip it back to factory and keep my aftermarket gear if and when I decide to move to my next vehicle.

The $100 is inconsequential when I've weighed in the install and removal costs of aftermarket gear from car to car. Much more is the cost of a mess up ... It's why I stopped using aftermarket sound equipment until the FARK came along.

If they made those kind of kits for all vehicles, they'd make a killing!