Add Subwoofer in 2012 Avalanche with Bose Nav System

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keith3516

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Greetings - looking for some advice here. My wife bought me a subwoofer for my new Avalanche. It's made to go under the console. I gather the rear climate vents won't work afterwards, and I'm fine with that, but I do have a couple other questions:

1. I realize the Bose systems take a real beating in these forums, but mine sounds pretty good with the exception of being just a little light in the bass area. I'd love the subwoofer addition, but knowing this is sort of a matched and tuned system, am I opening a can of worms? My wife will be a bit butthurt but understand if we just pack the thing up and return it.
2. Installing the box itself doesn't seem too complicated. The wiring is what concerns me. Is there already a "subwoofer output" somewhere in that system? If not, where should I get my audio reference from and how?
3. Will I need a dedicated sub amp to drive the new subwoofer?
4. Where can a get a good reliable wiring schematic so I don't blow anything up?

I've looked all over the place online and everything I find is either for older vehicles or not applicable to the Bose or Nav system. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
 
Well since I didn't get an "avalanche" of responses I went ahead and bit the bullet and installed the sub via the wing-it method. Turns out it was pretty easy overall. I figure I'd go ahead and share my experience in case someone else comes across this.

She got me a 10" MTX in a custom enclosure made to go under the center console generally where the factory one is. It came with instructions to remove and reinstall the center console, but no wiring instructions.

Turns out the wiring is easy. Looked at the factory sub and identified the positives and negatives (there are two of each). The positives to the sub itself are shades of red and the negatives are shades of green. From there it was just a matter of matching them up to the wires in the harness, snipping the plug off, twisting the pairs together, and connecting them to the corresponding positive and negative posts on the new sub.

I did learn you need to push it as far forward as you possibly can so the center console mounting screw holes all line up again. Also, make sure you remove all the rear climate vent ducts and force the duct door closed so you don't lose climate air and it doesn't block you from pushing the enclosure all the way forward. I also had to cut away a few tabs of plastic inside the console to make it fit back in place but nothing that would compromise it. You will lose the climate control to the rear center vents. Other than that, you can't tell it's ever been apart and sounds much better.

All told - about 4 hours including cleanup. Well worth it. Good luck if you read this.
 
Interesting information. I have an 11 LTZ with bose and it sounds like there is a subwoffer already in the console.

Did they make a bose system without a subwoofer or did you just swap your factory one out? If you did not have a subwoofer where did you find the factory amp and wiring to connect to? Thanks
 
Pulled the factory one out and replaced it with the MTX. The factory one isn't bad, but it's only 6" and sounds like it. Jumping to 10" made a huge difference. I would guess the sub is standard with the Bose package, but I don't really know for sure. Good luck.
 
And yes, it is under the console, but not where I thought - it's way up forward partially under the dash.
 
The Reason Bose takes a Beating is this:

other than Denali - Hummer - Escalade

EVERY other platform has the so called Premium amp. basically a Dumb lump of aluminum...read on

...In short, GM makes two different Bose speaker systems for the GMT-800 series vehicles: The Bose “Premium” (non-lux) and the Bose “Luxury” (lux). The non-lux system is what you get with an SLT/LT Silverado/Sierra/Suburban/Yukon/YukonXL/Tahoe. It utilizes a mid-range speaker in each door, a tweeter in each A-pillar (the tweeters are wired in parallel with the front door speakers, and they are given a capacitor to act as a high pass cross-over) and a 6.5” dual voice-coil subwoofer mounted in the center console. If your door speakers say “Bose” on them, you have this system. SUV’s also have a speaker in each D-pillar as well (these mid-high range d-pillar speakers are wired in parallel with the rear door speakers on the NON-lux systems and on the LUX systems, they are wired into a separate channel on the amplifier, so they can reiceive different signals than the rear door speakers).

Now, Denali’s and Escalade’s have the Bose “Luxury”, or [RPO code] “Y91” Bose speaker system. The great part is, that the speakers themselves and the subwoofer are IDENTICAL to the non-lux system. Both non-lux and lux Bose speakers are referred to as [RPO code] UQ7 on the build sheet and in your glovebox sticker. The ONLY lux/non-lux difference is the AMPLIFIER. And what a difference it is! The Luxury amplifier is of MUCH higher quality and also has more RMS wattage output. It deals with sound completely differently than the non-lux amp and processes it in a much cleaner fashion, for MUCH MUCH better sound quality. It also devotes much more power to the subwoofer, so with a Lux system, the sub is actually woken up and makes itself heard. Now remember, this is still the same 6.5” sub, so it wont blow out windows, but I bet it will sound much richer and deeper than you ever thought a 6.5” sub could sound! The Lux amp is also fully computerized and utilizes an onboard DSP (Digital Signal Processor, or Digital Sound Processor; ive heard a DSP be called both names) to tweak the sound and also provide different soundfield/reverberation/environment settings, such as “Driver”, “Spacious”, “Passenger”, and “Rear”…it is a “Smart” amp. The lux amp also is fully integrated with the vehicle’s Class II data-bus, so functions such as muting and control of the amp are all done via the BCM (body control module…basically the cars main computer) and Class II data. The non-lux amp is jokingly called the “Dumb amp” because it lacks any computer or control of the sound. The only thing it has is a simple passive crossover to prevent high range signals from going to the sub. So basically, that’s the difference between, for example, an Escalade Bose system and a Tahoe Bose system…a 600 dollar amp versus a 170 dollar amp...
Click to expand...

From DP written by: DuroTotheMax
Full DIY Thread here: http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40437

Note that as I mentioned above...only Denali, Escalade and Hummer get those Lux amps. To date I do not know if anyone has figured a way to install/retrofit a GMT900 truck with the Lux amp..or for that matter if it's possibly even a dealer option..?? I just dont know.

For those with 2003-2007.5 however there is in fact a way to do the change over and at the same time add a Nav (LUX version) to their rig. I can tell you that the difference in sound is absolutely AMAZING..!

Cheers,

theo
 
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Wow...excellent post Theo. I wondered about that... If anyone does figure out how to retro the better amp into the standard system on new models, please post.

I'd do that in a heartbeat.
 
I hear ya Keith.

The install went very smooth, took 3 hours and after going to the dealer yesterday to do a VIN re-learn..ah am tickled.! Dealer hit me for 1/2hr labour ($86.79)...ouch for literally 3 min work.! (subject for another thread.)

But worth it I guess...This thing rocks.! What i really notice is that when you ask for more volume, it goes up alright but it is a clean rise in sound..very noticeable that. There is simply no comparison to stock at all.

Only thing I'm not crazy about is the map output of the nav...but what can i expect from 2002/03 tech eh.? maybe a new Map disc will fix that...not quite sure. Its the OEM look that I wanted to keep.

cheers,

Theo
 
Hey, a final footnote on my rig. So the heat came with spring and I noticed the climate controls didn't seem to be working correctly. $1,000 later I found out you need to disconnect the linkage going to the climate control duct door before closing it. When I closed it without disconnecting that linkage it broke the controller in the duct above it and the entire dash had to be removed to replace that controller - plus the cost of the controller. One of those "dammit!" moments...:eek: Hope nobody else has followed my directions and done the same thing.
 
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