Hey, I just bought my 05 cobalt ss/sc yesterday and I am planning on putting my system back in from my other car. I Will be changing the hu and speakers. What I am using is
JL ZR components in the front
JL XR coaxial in the rear
JL 300/4
JL 13w7
JL 1000/1
Alpine HU

Now I was reading in another thread that I have to use speed cable to install this?? How I was planning on installing everything is getting a harness for the new radio. Then running new wire from each speaker to the 4channel amp and the rca cables from that amp to the new hu. Obviously, the sub amp is a no brainer on installing that, just a matter of running the rca cable up to the new radio. (and yes I know power and ground, im just skipping that part) Do I have to do anything else to be able to make this work? This is exactly how I did it in my last car, only I didnt have a factory premium audio system with a amp. Please give me some advice. I am looking at doing this tomorrow morning. Also can somebody give me the harness model numbers that I need? I have onstar and XM but I will not use either so I dont care to hook those up. Thanks in advance, mike

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Ok, i wont be changing the door speakers right away so i will be using the factory speakers for a little bit. So do i need to do anything differently as if i was installing this in another car? Also, I read that I need to make a red switched 12v wire, where and how do i go about doing that? This is my first car where installing a aftermarket stereo seems like its going to be a hassle. Thanks again, mike

 

are u doing JUST hu and speakers or the whole shibang? i see 2 amps and a sub in the list

speed cable is just easier to use for the install but its not necessary. u just want to be sure to get the speaker wire from the 4 chan back to the speakers. You must bypass the amp in some way shape or form

 

Hi, Ya i am doing the whole shibang. But for right now I am going to be keeping the stock speakers. I am changing the hu and putting amps and a sub in. Now I am kinda confused when you say that I have to bypass the stock amp. How do I do that? I mean can I just run new speaker wire from each speaker to the new 4channel amp? Would that be bypassing it? Also, I went to bestbuy yesterday and I asked one of the guys for a harness and dash kit. He says that there is two different harnesses. One for onstar and one for the door chimes. I dont care to keep onstar as I will never use it. The other harness he said that I definetely need because it keeps the door chimes. He said that if I go without that harness that some people ended up having alot of problems. I am just trying to figure out how to go about installing a new system in this car. This is definetely not my first time, but it seems so confusing with the cobalt. One last thing, what do i need speedcable for anyways? Thanks, mike

 

read the FAQ and the amp bypass stickies that i wrote

I mean can I just run new speaker wire from each speaker to the new 4channel amp?
Depends on what your referring to. The SS/SC has a stock amp. to correctly wire in a aftermarket 4 chan you must get signal from the speaker output on the amp to the speakers themselves. If you just run wires to the HU and tap them from there via the harness all your doing is amplifying the signal before going into the stock amp. Basically doing nothing but blowing it up and giving you really bad sounding speakers. So you must tap the speaker wires after the amp to eliminate it from the chain altogether... which is doing whats called an amp bypass

 

Ok, I read the faq and the stickies but im still a little bit confused. I see what your saying about tapping the wires before the amp equals bad. What im talking about is can I just run all new wire from each speaker to the new 4 channel amp and then rca's to the hu? That is what I have done in my cars before. Also, I have read that I can also just completely remove the stock amp and bypass it that way. Is that true. Thanks for your time and patience. Mike

 

yes but mind you the front speakers have molex plugs so getting wire thru the doors isnt as easy as ud think.

 

But can it be done like that? I am trying to do this myself but I am also considering just having bestbuy do it. I dont want them to do it but this is very confusing.

 

best buy would do an amp bypass at the amp and not hardwire the speakers as ur suggesting.

all in all it sounds like ur just getting confused. Reason why i dont recommend hardwiring speakers is because in out doors it isnt just wires going thru the rubber boot. There are plastic plugs that connect/disconnect and make hardwiring nearly impossible. Its a million times easier to not attempt to do it but if you do more power to you. Also in the rear you can do pretty much whatever you want. the speakers are easy to get to and close so hooking those up is always easy

 

Ok, I think i have this figured out. One more question. I have xm and onstar but will not use them. What kind of harness should I get since I heard there are two different ones? Also the guy at bestbuy told me they are $100 each?? Is that true? Thanks alot, mike

 

5.) What Harness do i need for my 05-06?

Metra = 70-2103
Warning the Scosche, AI and Bluewave harnesses are for Saturn's... the plug will physiclly work but you will need to repin the speaker wires along with cut or remove the 2 red "jumpers". I dont recommend them but i have the part numbers listed.
Scosche = GM04B
American International = GM-4003
Bluewave = BW-H-GM20

should be 20 bucks tops

 

Thanks alot. I really appreciate it. Mike