[hondafanatic17]

Whelp I think I'm going to be purchasing a aftermarket double din Pioneer 7 inch touch screen headunit for my 2lt malibu and I am looking to get a few opinions off here of people that have installed aftermarket headunits in there malibus and wanted to know a few things. My questions are: Does your headunit power the factory speakers well? Any distortion/ quality lessened from the install? I have two Memphis subwoofers now at about 500watts RMS and the factory sounds keep up well with the subs, think without the factory amp they will be drowned out by the bass? I've tons of installs in cars before but nothing really this new. Well I've done about 12 Cobalts at work for customers cause those factroy stereos sucked but I almost always either did a amp and new speakers or head unit and amp. Never just headunit and stockies. And everything else I've done was at least 2004 or older so generally the speakers where blew out or dry rotted so I haven't had a lot of play time with new decks and old speakers. So opinions please and thank you! If I get positives on new decks with factory speakers I'm gonna go for it really soon, if not then ill be saving for a little bit more so I can do new Pioneer deck, Memphis 4 channel and Focal Audio or Hertz High Energys speakers in my car. I installed High Energy's in my dad's 900 convertible and man you don't even need a subwoofer with those puppies!

 

[chevyguy8893]

I put in my Pioneer deh7800mp deck which offers a lot of control over all the frequencies through the subs and interior speakers. Before I had the subs running off of a LOC and the bass would drown out the other speakers at 700 watts RMS. After I switch to the aftermarket deck the interior speakers are only set for mids and highs off of the factory amp, and they scream. I did not think they would hold up, but I have everything set to keep all frequency ranges balanced up to 45 on the deck (started to clip any higher than that). I had considered getting all new speakers, but for how well they sound I will run them till they are blown, which I don't think will happen for a long time.

 

[hondafanatic17]

Thanks this was the replay I am basically looking for! I will say I'm pretty picky with my speakers and I do like the factory speakers so I would have been kinda dissapointed to have to swap them out if I did a install. I don't know how many new Chevys you have been in lately but I work for a dealership and I can hands down say that the Malibu has the best sounding non-Bose stereo(which sucks just as much) out of all the GM models currently. The Cobalt/Cruze is pretty flat and basic and the Silverados/Tahoes bottom out like crazy. Anyways yeah thank you for helping me make up my mind. I found a nice Pioneer stereo that I think will look great in my malibu. I wanted something that can be customized to match the factory a little and this one you can change the color of the buttons to like the dead on same greenish color of the backlighting for the other controls and you can also put a background picture in to so yeah I might even scrape off the Pioneer lettering to make it look like I have NAV factory!

 

[chevyguy8893]

I forgot to ask does your car have the factory amp? I have the premium audio in mine which all my inside speakers are still powered by the amp. I worked as a chevy tech for around 4 years up until recently when I decided to go back to school full time. Anyways, the only decent factory stereo was the pioneer option in the cobalts and HHR's, even the bose speakers just didn't sound balanced. It seems like you can spend a lot of money for the "premium audio" and it still sounds bad. The malibu, even with the factory radio, had a good balance between lows, mids, and highs on a good sound stage, and now it is even better.

I have had the same pioneer deck for 5 years now and it is by far the best I have ever owned. The only other brand I would go with any more is Alpine. I can't change the color on mine, but I am still in the process of getting rid of the green so it doesn't bother me that it doesn't match right now. Anyways, I am glad I was able to help, be sure to post up some pictures whenever you get done.

 

[hondafanatic17]

I guess I can say what I call "the middle grade" stereo system in the Malibu. It's a 2lt, what I kinda am guessing is the LS have same system as cobalt, no amp just headunit and cruddy speakers, and the LTs have a amp and better speakers and then you have the Bose option(is this what you have or you just talking about the upgrade from the LS stereo?) and the Bose kinda sucks. Never liked anything by bose that is in a car. Pioneers in the new Equinox sounds way better than the base system I'll give it that. And the Boston Acoustic in Camaro slams, prolly best factory system I ever heard. But with a price tag of 2800 bucks? I'll pass.

 

[chevyguy8893]

My car didn't have the bose option, so mine is just the premium audio with the amp. I was just curious since I wasn't sure if your car was going to sound the same if it only had the base audio package without the amp. The impala ss I owned had the bose system and it was too much bass that wasn't very clean. I would agree that the boston acoustic does sound good in the camaro and the equinox is a whole lot better in almost every way over the previous generation. $2800 would buy a really nice aftermarket sound system, even if someone was paid to install it.