Military

I picked up a 2006 2LT, fully loaded, last weekend. Besides being extremely happy with all the features (abs, traction control, heated leather seats, etc etc... the works!), I am obviously a little disappointed in the "premium" sound system. While I enjoy the sound from the stock components and tweeters (I'll replace the 6.5"s with Infinity components, eventually), and I think the HU looks *very* nice in the center console up front, the deep bass leaves something to be desired and is going to be the focus of my first mod to the trucklet... wagon.. car.. whatever the hell the HHR is!

I have an Infinity 400 watt RMS x 1 chan amp from when I'd bass out in my old Integra and I plan on picking up a much nicer 8" sub to use in the stock enclosure.. I was checking out Mach2's post on replacing the 8", and that stock pioneer 8" looks as pathetic as it sounds.

Probably my biggest concern is powering a second amp to go with the stock amp. I dread taking apart paneling and drilling through the fire wall to get a new power line running form the battery to the rear. Is there a simpler solution to this that anyone is aware of? Would it be safe to piggy-back on the power already being supplied to the stock amp?

Another concern is where I can place my 2nd amp. Is there any free space behind the rear paneling for a fair-sized amp? Come to think of it, maybe there's space down with the spare tire but I haven't checked out that compartment yet to know if it's safe for electronics down there. I'd really like to keep the amp's wire nest out of sight and avoid drilling through plastic where it's in plain sight. Does anyone have a nifty solution for placing a 2nd amp?

After I get my amp squared away, it'll be cake getting it all wired up (thanks to the PDF with the wiring diagrams!) and delivering some boom to my neighbors. The HHR is like one massive speaker box, so I can't wait to get some heavy duty bass going

captain howdy

Your battery IS in the rear. I have my amp on a rack I built under the rear tray.

Military

Ahhh! They DO give us an extra battery in the rear for the amplifier. That's freakin' sweet. I'll just screw the amp onto the plastic cover over the spare tire and either drill holes or find a little space to run rca / speaker wire between the side paneling and the spare tire panel. And it'll all be hidden away nicely.

captain howdy

It's not an extra battery that is your battery. There are only terminals for jumping the car under the hood. It's definitely the first vehicle I've had like that but I think Cobalts are the same way. No need for a battery relocation kit.

HillsdaleHHR

to the site!!

Military

I see now. That makes sense, I thought it was overkill to have an extra battery for their little 260 peak amp.

Thinking along the lines of that little amp, it seems to make sense that it will be able to dedicate more power to the component speakers once the subwoofer isn't draining power from it anymore. Nobody seems to have specs on the stock system (i.e. what is the rms rating on those stock components?), but hopefully they're rated good enough to handle some extra juice from the stock amp, at least until I replace the components like I had mentioned.

Military

Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm looking forward to contributing to the audio / video forum here. I don't care much to play with the performance of my HHR (it's fast enough w/ the 2.4... don't want to ruin resale or reliability by messing around there), but I plan on putting a lot of work into the audio and eventually video, too.

gringo

Sounds like you have it all figured out! Do you still have that PDF of the wiring system? I'm looking for one so I can install the power to my new heated leather seats.

HillsdaleHHR

to the site Gringo!!!