Sound system

 

This details the installation of the Alpine sound system we selected for our Caprice.

Our Caprice was not equipped with any radio from the factory, although it did have all 4 factory speakers pre-wired to the dash. We weren't out to break any sound barriers or win any sound competitions, however, we weren't going to comprimise on sound quality and features. We decided to go with Alpine for the whole system. Alpine seemed to us to offer the best overall sound quality with enough options for expansion, should we decide to upgrade (which we did almost immediately).

For more information about Alpine Electronics Products visit thier website at http://www.alpine1.com/

Head Unit

We chose the CDA-D855 head unit since it is designed to fill the factory GM and Chrysler openings. It fits perfect and looks like it belongs there. The larger faceplate leaves more room for the display and controls. The display also has room for a spectrum analyzer. It features a built-in CD unit, 40 watts x 4 channels, 4 volt pre outputs, cd changer controls, remote control, MDAC, BBE, AI-net, and detachable faceplate. The feature I like most about it is the rotary knob that controls the volume, treble, bass, balance, fader.

The installation was pretty straight forward. The dash was already apart, but as I recall, there are a few screws along the bottom of the dash from the driver's side towards the glove box.You also need to remove the ash tray asssembly. You may also need to remove the instrument cluster cover (can't remember). Once the screws are removed, most of these parts are held in with spring clips. You need to give them a pretty good tug to unsnap them. The supplied hardware was adequete to secure the head unit to the dash. I purchased a wiring harness adapter so that I wouldn't have to cut any of the factory wiring. One plug houses all of the connections except the antennea.

Speakers

For speakers we selected the DDDrive DDS-R17G 6 1/2" 2-way speakers in front and for the rear, SPS-6939 6 x 9" 3-way speakers. Since the factory front speakers are 4 x 6", I had to make some minor modifications to the front doors to accommodate the larger DDDrive units. In back the Alpines bolted right into the stock locations. I just had to splice new connectors to the factory wiring.

NOTE:

Once I hooked everything up and fired it up, I had no signal to the front speakers. Being a cable splicer, I used a tone generator and probe to trace the wiring and discovered a plug under the dash, just over the gas pedal that was unplugged. It appeared as though the CHP used this plug to access the front speakers for thier radios.

Amplifier and Subwoofer Box

I wan't really interested in a expensive, time consuming, custom built sound system but it didn't take long to admit that we needed MORE POWER! So I chose to utilize the Alpine SBS-254F. It consists of a 10" sobwoofer housed in a angled-front box with a 5 channel amp with built in adjustable crossover attached to the side. The Amp is rated at 25 watts RMS x 4 channels and 80 watts RMS to the subwoofer with a MOSFET power supply. This is clean, clear power, NOT peak power like most amplifiers advertise.

The real beauty of this setup is that with the correct harness it plugs in between the headunit and the speaker outputs eliminating all the extra wiring that would normally be required from the amp. The only other wire required was a power wire to the battery. I used a Monster Cable kit that included the power cable with a built-in inline fuse. I had already installed the interior so I had to pull the back seat and carpet to run the wiring.

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