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Ok,

So, me and my buddy are going to start working on his 2002 GMC Envoy tomorrow. He's going all out on this thing, but there's a few things that I need to get cleared up first...

The stereo shop that he is buying his headunit from (Clarion DXZ545MP) swears up and down that this head unit is NOT compatible with his truck. Ironically though, according to his dealer, if he happened to buy this $450 Kenwood cd player (which his dad has in a '34 Ford coupe), it has some kind of thing that allows everything to be routed through it, and everything to work. Well, the only thing I can think of that would be a problem is the OnStar system, which will be disconnected if it isn't already.

Is this OnStar thing what the dealer was talking about, or was the dealer trying to push my buddy into getting this other HU? I know quite a bit about this stuff, and personally, I think it's bull. I guess he could be right if he was running XM, which in a way, could be right. I mean, GM does XM, and Clarion does Sirius, while Kenwood does XM, but I'm not sure the plugs from GM equipment would work on Kenwood. Doesn't matter anyway, because he's going to run Sirius equipment, if he even gets it.

When I go over there tomorrow, I'm going to pull that Kenwood that's in the ford coupe, and check to see if there's some kind of plug on it for that crap, and if there's not... I won't know what to think.

So what I'd like is your opinion on this... Bull or no?

Also, he doesn't have an amp lined up for anything right now, so I'm letting him borrow an older Lightning Audio I have lying around. He's going to power 2 RE12's. I'm not going to let him have this amp forever, but he needs something better than the LA, but somewhere around 100 bucks. I've checked Ebay time and time again with different manufacturers, but have only came up with a Directed 400 as being good. This would do 200 X 2 @ 2ohms. One DVC 4ohm sub on one channel wires to 2ohms if I remember correctly, and these take 175rms, but if we turn it down, we'll be good right? Or are my calculations wrong? Any ideas on a better amplifier for around 100 bucks?

Thanks.

The dealer you were at is a gimp and should be shot.

The problem lies with the On Star and/or Bose factory system. If he is replacing the interior speakers the hell with the Bose deal. If not you will need a wiring harness to adapt your new head unit to work with it. I know American International makes these! THe harness mentioned will also allow the On Star to work. I believe this harness runs around $40 or so

Sounds like someone is trying to sell Kenwood....

I wouldnt bother messing with the other radio, waste of time.

BTW with such a nice truck why skimp on the amp???

He's pretty low on funds... most of this stuff is a christmas present from his parents. I think he bought the 2 RE12's, and the wood to build the box. His parents are buying everything else. Except for the door speakers. I don't know exactly what he has setup with his parents, but it's weird.

Anyway, he doesn't have a Bose system, but is going to use the factory speakers for a little while. Maybe he won't have to buy the special harness since he doesn't have the Bose system?

Oh well... no biggie. I guess whatever works, works, and whatever doesn't work, doesn't work. He wants to keep this thing as stock as possible with little to no cutting on anything so he gets a decent resale value on it, so if something doesn't work, it probably will when the stock stuff gets put back in.

Well, thanks a bunch Ryan.

i swear sometimes i hate shops for that crap, why cant i got into a shop that will sell quality products and will help people out insted of screwing them, oh well thats life.

Precisely... I did get a killer deal on some Excelon components here while back during a closeout special at some stupid shop. The guy did say something like "Those are some nice speakers, and a good deal, but if you'd be willing to shell out X amount of money, I can hook you up with this, and it's like 20 times better". I told him I liked these, and to get me a box. That shut him up.

Anyway... The sad part about this whole thing, those people are taught/told/paid to do that stuff. I'm taking an Entrepreneurship class right now, and they're actually telling me that when I'm making a sale, I should also reccomend this other stuff to them... good or bad, tell them about it, and good chance they'll lean your way. That's the way these multimillion dollar textbook manufacturers think. That's what they're teaching people like me. Personally, I think it's outrageous, but I have to pay attention to it or I'll fail. Failing means no credit, and no early graduation.

I could go on for hours telling you the absurd bull that they teach me to try and steal the working man's hard earned dollar, but I don't think I could handle it.

I'm going to end this message with a quote from 6three6mafia6... "oh well thats life."