How to hook up an amp and sub-woofer setup without affecting the existing Premium system. This is for those like myself that like the stock Premium head unit and sound, but feel the bass is a bit lacking. Hooking into the system the way I did leaves the existing system working like normal, even the stock sub-woofer.

This will ONLY work with the Premium Sound System. To do this you have to tap into the wires leading to the stock amp in the premium system. The non-premium system does not have the amp to hook into. If you have a sub-woofer in the back this will work for you.

This will let you tap into the Low-level amp inputs on the stock amp and provide low level (RCA) inputs into your add-on amp. So you do not need any converters and get the clean sound that comes from the low-level inputs. Also the stock amp is in the rear so routing the wires to your amp is easy.
This was all and all a pretty easy mod; the longest and hardest part is removing the panels in the back of the cargo area to get to the stock amp.

A few basic tips here. Don't hook up a 1200-watt amp and subs this way. It won't hurt anything, but the subs will be WAY louder than the rest of the sound system and things will not sound right at all. You will want something in the 50 to 300 watt range depending on the efficiency of your subs. I am running an old MTX 50-watt RMS stereo amp into a pair of Rockford 100 watt 10" subs. This added just the bass punch the stock system was lacking but does not over-power the rest of the system.


Tools needed.
10mm socket, extension and ratchet. (To remove the panels)
Automatic Wire Stripper (something like a GB SE-94 Automatic Stripper and Crimper) (http://www.amazon.com/GB-SE-94-Autom.../dp/B00004WLL0)
One stereo RCA type audio cable. 3 to 6' long depending on where you are going to place your amp.
A length of 16-18 gauge wire, long enough to reach your amp. (This will be the remote on for your amp; blue is the normal color for this wire)
Electrical tape.
Phillips screwdriver.
The HHR Premium stereo wiring diagram found here https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/show...ed=1#post92807
I would suggest you print out the C3 connector chart so you can have it handy.
First be sure the car and the radio are OFF! If the HU is powered up you could fry something with a slip-up.
Step one. Remove the panels in the cargo area covering the stock amp and speaker box. I did not remove mine all the way, just enough to get to the amp. Directions and photos on how to do this are here https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/show...p?t=195&page=5.
Once you have access to the stock amp you will need to unscrew it from the sub box. It is held in by 4 Phillips head screws, 2 at the top and 2 on the bottom. Be careful here, if you drop them they go down into a very small area between the deck and the exterior side panel. (I know, I still have one stuck in there). Once you have the amp lose you can move the amp down to the deck where you can see the connectors.
Looking at the connector side of the amp, with the mounting tabs downward, the left most connector is C3, which is the one we are going to tap into. It is the smallest of the 16 pin connectors. Note that we need to tap into one of the tan wires in this bundle, and that TWO of the wires are tan! You can see which one is the right one by looking at where it comes out of the connector.
Note that the drawing of the connector on the wiring diagram shows the connector from the PIN side. We are going to be looking at the wire side so the numbers are backwards. Pin one is on the left side and pin 8 is on the right side, both on the "top" row of pins.
We are going to tap into 5 wires total off of this connector.

4 of these are taped together as pairs.
Pins 1 and 3 - Brown (BN) and Brown and White (BN-WH) - These are the Left rear amp inputs to the stock amp, they are taped together. We will tap them so they will feed the Left input side of your amp.
Pins 2 and 4 - Tan (TN) and Dark Blue (D-BU) - These are the Right rear amp inputs to the stock amp. They are taped together. We will tap them so they will feed the Right input side of your amp.
Pin 8 - Pink (PK) - This is the radio on signal. This goes to the "remote on" input for you amp. This is what turns your amp on when the radio is turned on, and keeps you amp from running when the radio and car is turned off.

Now for the hookup.
First mark on of the wires on the audio cable so you know which wire is left/right after you cut off the RCA connectors. Pick a color to be your right channel, normally the red one. Now cut off the RCA connectors from one end of the audio cable. These cables have an outer "braid" of wire over an inner insulated wire. Strip off about 2" of the outer insulation from each wire. Carefully pull away the outer braid and twist it into a wire. Now you will see the inner wire, very carefully strip off about 1/2" of the inner insulation. This inner wire is made of very fine wires and they break very easy. Twist this wire up too.
Now is where the good automatic wire stippers really come in handy. You will have to strip away about 1/4" of insulation from the wires leading to the stock amp. You do NOT want to cut them if you do not have to. The auto strippers will pull back the insulation very nicely.
The outer (Braided) wire of the audio cable is the negative side and the inner wire is the positive lead. Strip away the 1/4" from the Tan wire (Pin 2). (I did this about 6" down from the connector on mine) Now wrap the braided wire of the Right channel lead of the audio cable around the stripped section of the stock amp wire. If you have a soldering skills and a good soldering iron you should solder the connection. Now tape it off with electrician’s tape. Now strip away 1/4" from the Dark Blue (Pin 4) amp wire, and wrap the inner wire of the Right channel audio wire around that stripped section Again solder and tape. At this point I will tape a section of the audio lead to the amp's pair to provide some strain relief.
Now do the same to the other pair of wires. Outer braid of the left channel audio cable lead to the Brown wire (Pin 1) and the inner wire to the Brown and White wire (Pin 3).
Now strip off a 1/4 " area of the Pink wire (Pin 8) and attach the 16/18 gauge remote on wire to it. Solder and tape like before.
At this point you should check everything attach the speaker leads to the speakers and your amp, attach the power and ground to your amp, plug in the new low level inputs, and attach the remote on lead.
I did a quick test at this point to be sure everything was working right. (It was)
If everything is working right, turn off the radio, and route your wires. Mount the stock amp back in place (be careful not to drop the screws) and put the panels back.

 

Sweet! I'm just about to do this very thing to mine, except I might be in the overpowering range. Thanks for the tip

 

would this product work in this situation? it is a RCA to SPEAKER WIRE kit that is designed to eliminate the stripping of the two-core RCA wires.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-iK7fzPF...CLR2SW&tp=2610


I plan to install my 2x10" Kicker Comp sub box and amp soon...if this product does what it says it does, I should be able to follow your directions, and use scotch-locks to just tap in to the speaker factory speaker wires, and remote wire, and then use the RCA's at the sub connections.

 

I could be wrong here but i would think that you wouldn't want to strip rca wires. I don't think you would want to go from rca to speaker wire either. You will want a rca converter. That will take you speaker wires and turn them into rca. This should have a line level output so you can adjust your output. I'm afraind you would loose a lot of power if you did it without the adjustable converter. My opinion.

 

Stick...that's what i did on one of my other cars. I tapped in to stock rear speaker wires, and used a RCA converter...worked perfectly.

something like this:



speaker wire IN...RCA out.


The other car I am snagging my subs from has an aftermarket head unit, so I just RCA'd from HU to sub amp.

 

Gotchya. Good luck with it.

 

I used this:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-o0fhImn...aspx?i=142SLC4

Seems to be working great so far. It has gain adjustments on it as well. I've found a few other's at different prices and with different features. The one you linked to looks like it would work perfect though.

Maybe you've had good luck with the clip on connectors, but they don't work too consistently for me. I stripped about a 1/4 inch of the wire casing off each of the factory wires, then soldered my wire to them.

 

solder ALWAYS = better...but me and solder guns dont mix well...perhaps more practice...

but I agree...clip-ons NEVER work as well, or are as secure as the good old permanent meld...SOLDER.

thanks for the link. I dont know if the one I linked is the one I used before...but it looks close to it.

EDIT: I just clicked your link...that's the one I used...awesome. I had to tap in to a JBL system in a Lincoln...which if anyone has ever dealt with JBL, they arent too user-friendly...but I simply tapped in to a rear speaker signal, and that works great for the single JL Audio 12" in the car I am talking about.

I usually scotch lock a piece of wire that has a disconnect on one end that connects to another wire that is spliced/butt connected to the device...that way I can easily remove it should the need arise.

 

Guys lets try to keep this on topic.

Just to make sure any new people reading this don't get confused.

You do NOT need a line output converter for this modification!

Assuming you splice in correctly(solder , heat shrink) there will not be any problems tapping into the stock low level inputs as this thread describes.

 

If your amp has RCA inputs, you do need one...

Any one of the three or so we linked to will work. I don't see how our posts are confusing...