jon6230775

Hey Guys,

I just upgraded my Shaker 500 system and since it took me a while to find the info I wanted, I thought I'd post my findings here for anybody else who needs help. I found a lot of info on the 2012, but in my car (2011) its different.

My basic goal was to improve the sound without spending a lot of money. Here's what I did:

1. I replaced the door speakers with 6x8 Kenwoods. I think anything would be better than the factory speakers. I'd spend less than $200 on this.
-Note- I found a video on Youtube where a guy removed the rear speakers without removing the side plastic panels so if you're gonna replace the rear speakers you might wanna check that out. In my opinion, it probably isn't worth it. Note that for some reason you'll get a lot of treble from the new aftermarket speakers. Not sure why. I would turn the treble setting on your Stock unit down to around -2 or -3 bars.

2. I researched replacing the door woofers. Based on everything I read, it isn't worth it. Most people just disconnect them or leave them. You don't wanna go aftermarket since you'll have problems with fitment and Ohms. There is an expensive upgrade. You can google "Shelby kicker premium sound" It will take you to the shelbystore dot com. For my money, it isn't worth it. I tried disconnecting them, but I found that I like the sound better with them in. Just don't plan on getting serious base from them. Set the bass level on your factory unit to +2 or +3 bars. That will get decent sound.

3. Now this is what would've really helped me: I decided to get bass the traditional way- from the trunk. I wanted to go simple, so I got an Infinity Basslink. I am very happy with it. But you have to make sure you get the imputs from the right place. I used speaker level inputs because I could skip the remote wire.
-Note- DO NOT get your signal from the rear speakers. I know.. its tempting. But DON'T do it. There is not low frequency signal being sent to those speakers. Your sub will be worthless.

You want to get your inputs behind the driver side kick plate, on the left. Get your head up under the dash and look to the left. You'll see a metal box. That's your sub amp. From what I can tell, it's wired weird. The small connector is the line level input, but I couldn't figure out exactly what those wires are. The large connector has the power inputs, and the speaker level outputs (out to door subs). The basslink lets you connect up to four speaker level inputs to make sure you get the right bass signal. You don't need to do that. I just used the fronts (one connector with four wires which comes with the basslink). It gives you a left and right for the front. Now the door subs actually have two cones, and each one gets its own signal. So what I did is I just grabbed the inputs off of the left door sub. I wired one cone to the "left front speaker input" from the basslink, and one cone to the "right front speaker input" from the basslink. I did this so that it would pick up all the frequencies. No need to grab from the right speaker as well, since the subs aren't actually stereo.

If you don't get a Basslink, it should be the same for any amplifier that accepts speaker level inputs.

Factory color code for door sub wiring:
Left Sub Door Cone1 Positive: Solid Brown
Left Sub Door Cone1 Negative: Blue with Brown line
Left Sub Door Cone2 Positive: Gray with Yellow line
Left Sub Door Cone 2 Negative: Violet (Purple) with white line

The right Sub in same order is:
+White with Orange line
-Grey with Blue line
+White with Violet line
-Grey with Orange line
(I didn't use the right side)

On the Basslink, I selected:
- "Auto" (That skips a remote wire)
- 180 (That gives you a reverse phase so as not to mess with your other speakers)
-I have the crossover at 120
-I have the bass boost almost at max. This gives you more rumble and less thump
-I have the gain about 3/4

With all of this, I'm very happy with the sound. It isn't perfect, but its a huge improvement, and cost me around $350 all together.

BTW- Run your battery power along the passenger side. You'll find a rubber boot thing under the dash. Go outside the car, and remove the cardboardish trim from the wheel well. You wanna turn the wheel all the way to the left to give you space. Its just a couple pop out connectors and it comes off. From there you can access the other side of the rubber boot. There's a little tab that I snipped and it gave me a perfect pass through. from there its straight up (through an existing hole in the body) to the battery holder.

Good luck!