Car Stereos: 07 Silverado 2500, rca cables, line output converter

Question
I am wanting to hook up an aftermarket amp and subs to my factory head unit in my 07 Silverado 2500 and wanted to know how easy or hard it will be?  My truck also has the steering wheel sound controls and I still want those to work.  The head unit is just the base Chevy head unit.

Answer
Hi Jeremy,

Installing an after-market amplifier into your vehicle should be a fairly straightforward job.  There won't be any RCA output jacks on the factory head unit, so you'll need to use a device called a line output converter.  This connects to the factory speaker wires and converts the audio signal to a low-level output.  This output can be connected to your new amplifier using RCA cables.  You do not need to disconnect your speakers to install a line output converter.

The easiest place to find the factory speaker wiring is at the radio harness, at the back of the factory head unit.  Removal of the stock head unit is fairly simple in your truck (though it may be different, depending on whether you have the "classic" or new body style, both types are pretty easy to disassemble).  Your best bet is to connect the line output converter to the rear speaker wiring.  This should be yellow (+) and brown (-) for the left rear speaker, and dark blue (+) and light blue (-) for the right rear speaker.

Another challenge is finding a place to connect your amplifier's "remote" wire.  This controls the amplifier power, and usually I'd connect it to a factory wire or fuse that switches on and off with the key.  However, in newer GM vehicles, this can be pretty hard to find.  I'd suggest buying a line output converter that has a built-in signal sensing amp turn-on output.  An example is PAC Audio's SNI-45T adapter (formerly called TRUNK-LOC).  

Hope this helps!

Brian