I just bought a 2009 cobalt. I have 2 kicker 12" l7s and a Hifonics Brutus amp that i would like to hookup to it. I know it is reccomended to change the head unit but i want the car to look as natural as possible. Is it possible to hook this up without changing it and if so how would i do it. I went to the local sound store and bought an adaptor but its not working right. I tried pulling up the wiring diagrams for the stereo but it is not the wiring diagrams that i need. any help?

 

Hi Juanito,

Welcome to the Chevy Forums.

The Brutus is a great amp. What you have to do is use the wires originally going to the OEM speakers as your signal input to your amp. The OEM head unit probably will not have ports for RCA cables, so you may have to adapt the wiring so it will go into your amp's RCA input. (In the event the OEM head unit has RCA ports, you're in good shape.)

Primary power for your amp needs a large (50-100AMPS, depending on your total RMS watts power draw.) fuse within 18" of your battery. The Negative wire needs to go to a frame or engine bolt. The remote(18-20ga, blue) needs a very light inline fuse, say 1.5 to 3 amps. The lighter the better. Don't bother with a potato capacitor, a high-output alternator and a red top battery is money better spent. Your A/C will thank you for it.

From there, you simply run the output of your amp to your crossovers, then to your speakers, or directly to your speakers, if you're not using crossovers.

I put a 300watt RMS system with an Emerson head unit and a Rockford Fosgate amp a couple years ago. Believe me you'll be so glad you hooked yourself up to the real tunes. Best of luck. Post again to keep us updated.