This forum is dedicated to helping people with questions about installing radio equipment in vehicles. This can include antenna installs, electrical wiring questions/problems, and mounting systems. Pictures of installs are welcome.
Note: Discussions regarding lighting, sirens, and other equipment now has its own forum in the 'off-topic' section below.
hi,
this is my install on my "new" 2007 SLT GMC Sierra. All options are in, rear DVD, NAV, XM.. pretty nice truck.. The final touch is not done on my install because i'm waiting for my Comprod disguised antenna, wich will replace the factory Am/Fm on the front fender. Thats why i have this ugly Antennex B132S on magnetic mount & pl259 connector. Main power was soldered on the accy wire under the steering column (brown one). The mic is unplugged and wait in the center console, factory M with 3 button option, great deal.
Everything looks pretty cool, but that speaker mounting location doesn't do anything for me. What was the reasoning behind mounting it under your foot?
thats the only place i found for the speaker, there is too much wire and boxes under the dash to hide in there, do you have a better place ? unless its not on the dash even under the seat its sqweezy with all the motors and stuff... any suggestion anyone ?
I don't mind that speaker location, but if you were going to put it there, I would just try to make it less visible so it blends in with the car. But it makes me ask one question....
Isn't that a front firing speaker on the control head?
I am not very familiar with the MCS models from Motorola - what control head is that - it seems to fit nicely in that slot and has given me an idea... lol
on those trucks i have had luck with mounting the speaker to the passenger side panel just infront of the door. i have tried to find a good image of where im talking about, but apparently none exist anywhere on the internet. sorry!
There is a common, aftermarket, plastic speaker available that would
take up half the height of your Motorola speaker and would fit better
in that spot next to the brake pedal. In my experience they sound
just as good as the Motorola units and, if you absolutely must put the
speaker there would be a much better fit.
Tom in D.C. In 1920, the U.S. Post Office Department ruled
that children may not be sent by parcel post.
HarrisonRHW : yes it'S a front speaker, i disconected it because the audio is not enough powerful and clear as an external speaker with all the road noise, people talking and ambiant music. I just found a small sized external speaker that i previously had with a sm120.. it will probably replaced soon as i get time to spend.
As far and the comprad antennas go (if you don't mind me asking), what are you looking at for cost of one. Do you have to send what you have now, or do they send you a new OEM antenna?
you have the choice, comprod is about 100km from here so i can go there and give them the original antenna (what i already do in the past year for special car antennas and stuff) i'll probably save what it will cost me in time and gas to get there. They take brand new OEM and do the modification. Total lenght of the antenna is about 28in. VHF 150-174wide. SWF can be tolerated @ 10% for my use (90% rx and 10%tx) The cost of the antenna & am-fm coupling is about 500$CAN.... a rape.. i just get one on ebay, brand new, shipped to my door for 75$USD.
I never really knew that such a thing existed... I am surprised this isn't a market that hasn't taken off. Now I wouldn't expect companies to carry stock of everything.. but I am surprised that you don't see like a kit for GMC SUVs already made up. I have a 4Runner, so the only option would be have a modified Tacoma whip made and then do the modification to use a Tacoma whip because the 4Runner is an extending antenna, but I am fine with mounting stuff to the top of the car (though not drilling holes)
Again, very nice low profile (speaking in terms of having the antenna, not the magnet antennex). Good job on keeping everything discrete, and man does that MCS radio fit in there nicely.
Mount the speaker to the side of your console. I've remounted at least 50 of them over the years in a variety of Chevy / GM model trucks due to previous installers putting them in the passenger or driver's side footwells beneath the a pillar. Its a bad place that just beats up your speaker and gets it dirty and stepped on.
one of those compact speakers in that body style of truck will fit under the dash directly in line with the steering column. You won't hit it with your feet or legs there and doesn't look so odd.
FWIW, when i get THAT hellbent for space that i have to even CONSIDER mounting a piece of equipment in a deathtrap place like the floorwell, i go to my stock and pull out a standard 3in' round speaker, some cut to fit grille plastic, and i mount it inside a piece of trim and i make it a flushmount speaker. I've done them ALL over explorers, and i can't imagine that the 07 GMC would be any harder to fit a 3in' speaker.
Too many people seem to place unneccessary importance on having the loudest speaker in the world, and then placing it in the worst spots known to man. I've had much more success taking a smaller speaker, and mounting it in a more effective and more direct audio path and getting the same suitable results. Most recent install i have now is a simple 3in' round speaker (can't remember where i got this batch of speakers) which is mounted behind a 2in" hole-sawed hole in the pillar trim [edit] over my left shoulder, [/edit]on my 04 explorer with a piece of speaker grille mesh & speaker cover hot glued over it on top. The clearance behind it is less than 1 inch, and this fits with room to spare, AND it's flush....AND it's loud enough, AND it's in a direct enough audio path to my ears that i can turn the speaker vol. down and still hear EVERYTHING. I simply hate people that take radios, mount consoles, and then take the speaker and direct the audio into stupid places...like the passenger side A pillar, and then you have to turn the radio up past "firefighter volume" and then you have 9 million competing audio sources in your rolling office.
If you look at what i have now, and you see how low i can keep my volume and hear everything, AND how unobtrusive it is... you'll do the same.
again, FWIW.
"How do you plan to outwit Death?"
"With a knight and bishop combination; I will destroy his flank." --Antonious Block
even under the seat its sqweezy with all the motors and stuff... any suggestion anyone ?
