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Hello all,

I recently bought a 2016 LS, which according to the brochure has a "4 speakers". Well, I finally found out that this meant the two front door speakers + the 2 tweeters in the front pillars.

I looked in the speaker grills in the back doors and they're empty! Also, when I go to adjust the balance/fade, I only have a slider for the front of the car.

My question is: do you guys know if the wiring is still there despite not having the rear speakers or I'd have to run new wiring?

Thanks!

Edited by KrazyLoCo
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from past experience with other cars (GM and otherwise) that have a very basic sound system is that the rear door most likely have the wiring in place, but just does not have any speakers in the rear doors.

also, if you were thinking of just adding new speakers, it probably will not be as easy as that... chance are, since you radio does not have a fader control to fade the sound from front to back, that radio is not likely to have an amplifier for those two extra channels, you will probably have to add an amp to drive any extra speakers you want to add, or replace your radio with one that does have a full 4ch amp inside (aftermarket or possibly OEM)

unfortunately, as mentioned, that car is so brand new so it may take a little wile for them to get out and other people can tell you, probably the easiest bet would be to either pull a door panel off and see if there is a harness in there, or possible pull the radio out and see if it has pins in the right spots in the harness.

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Hello all,

I recently bought a 2016 LT, which according to the brochure has a "4 speakers". Well, I finally found out that this meant the two front door speakers + the 2 tweeters in the front pillars.

I looked in the speaker grills in the back doors and they're empty! Also, when I go to adjust the balance/fade, I only have a slider for the front of the car.

My question is: do you guys know if the wiring is still there despite not having the rear speakers or I'd have to run new wiring?

Thanks!

Check with the dealer or GM because I am fairly certain all models have rear speakers as standard.

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Check with the dealer or GM because I am fairly certain all models have rear speakers as standard.

That's the first thing I did, because I was absolutely shocked to find out that there are cars that come without rear speakers! GM and my dealer were both at a loss and kept referring to "the specs mentioning 4 speakers". That's when I thought about it myself and realized the "4 speakers" are 2x front door, and 2x front tweeters. How lame is that! The LT comes with "6 speakers" which I assume is the same as me + the 2 rear door speakers.

Thanks for the replies everybody. And thanks for all the useful information 1LoudLS

I think I'm just gonna take the rear door panel off and see if there's wiring. IF so, I'm hoping that if I hook up some speakers, my 7 inch touchscreen radio will magically recognize it and offer me the rear fader. *fingers crossed*

Edited by KrazyLoCo
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Just lets us know what you find after you rip off the door panel. I have a 2015 but I'm still interested in all things spark. Good luck!

Sure, I'll try to find the time to rip it apart this week. I'll report back with my findings.

Done.......

Thanks!

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Before you remove the back door panels...make sure you have a back-up plan in case the wires needed are not there so that way you can install what you want without having to close them again and get the job done in one shot...the door panels on these cars have clips, screws, a tight fit and anything with clips is a frustrating job. When installed at the factory they have special tools for the clips etc and you want that panel to fit back in properly. So if you go by the assumption there are no wires at least you will have the stuff needed for a work-around and not have to do it all again...Just my thoughts on that..

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Also, there are no wires for power windows and locks in the 2016 Chevy Spark LS model, as there are no power windows and locks. Just a heads up. I will be coming back here to read about the rear speaker issue because I am interested in just this model of Chevy Spark. I don't want the pre-2016 Chevy Spark, either, and I don't want the more-equipped model of 2016 Spark, either. So this is the model I'm interested in and I am not sure I would tear things up and add rear speakers, truth be told. More on this subject later, eh?

Edited by SalsaSpark
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I have just recently purchased a 2016 LS Spark and have been looking into the speaker situation....

there is no wiring boot running from the body to the door, so i pulled the plugs off to check and see if the wiring is hiding in the B pillar... i could only find a small plasticy type board that felt like it was covering the hole from the inside of the frame... it is quite possible that the harness for the doors is tucked behind the plastics of the B Pillar inside the car... requiring the removal of the lower door rocker plastics to remove the b pillar cover.... i was doing some crawling around sonic forums and that is how they seem to be designed with the 4 speaker system... hopeful that is the case here.... idk when i will have time to try and figure out how this all pops off the car though... keep us up to date if you figure it out!

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I was wondering if you have an update yet. Thank you.

Nothing as of yet! been doing alot of driving around to and from work and errands and whatnot... tomorrow (thursday the 7th of april) is a day off for me, so im going to be doing maintenance to my Nova.. and fiddling with the speaker situation in the spark.. i will take pictures and report back what i find...

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congrats on the car ! but this is just another reason why ill skip the newer sparks when it comes time to purchase a new car...

ill probably stick with chevy but looking like the Trax or a fully loaded sonic hatchback simply because ive been loving the MPG on this little guy... hell im even looking into the V6 camaro

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you will skip the spark as an option because the most basic model offered does not have rear speakers, even though you are also contemplating a slightly larger fully loaded car? I mean I get that if you want something different for your next car is cool, but seems odd that its basic offering being too basic would be something worth noting.

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So I haven't had the chance to rip off the door panel yet, however I had the bright idea of just straight up asking GM directly. GM of America told me to contact the parts department. GM Canada well... here's their ridiculous reply:

Thank you for your email, however, adding any extra speakers would be considered a modification to original factory design.

General Motors of Canada Company vehicles are designed and tested to meet our standards for performance and quality, as well as all government regulations pertaining to fuel economy, vehicle emissions and motor vehicle safety. We do not recommend any deviation from the factory design and construction of our product, as these changes may adversely affect the safety and performance of the vehicle, as well as the terms of the warranty.

Please discuss legal compliance and warranty coverage concerning the intended modification directly with the vendor involved. No vendor has the authority to create or alter our New Vehicle Limited Warranty, as provided with each new vehicle.

Should you wish to proceed with a modification, we should clarify that warranty claims will not be refused simply because a modification was performed to the vehicle. If a malfunction occurs, General Motors of Canada Company will require that the Dealer complete a diagnosis to determine whether the modification affected the performance and reliability of the vehicle or any of its components. If the diagnosis reveals that the failure was not the result of a factory defect in material or workmanship, but was related to the modification performed, required repairs will not be covered by the warranty.

Thank you for contacting General Motors of Canada Company. Please visit our website again.

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Haha.. Yep..Standard corporate template letter..all true..but rear speakers? For Gods sake..wired properly they will not hurt the car more than a blown fuse if you make a mistake. Shaving a head or thinner head gasket, well that may be an issue..but IMO not properly installed & fused speakers.

the issue here is that since the radio only has outputs for two speakers (two channel internal amp), there really isn't a good way to wire in and add just a pair of speakers properly.

you could wire them in series with the front speakers, but then the increase in resistance will drop the volume down so much that there really wouldn't be gaining anything in adding them (unless doing it solely for passengers in the rear. but if you wired them in parallel with the front speakers the drop in resistance would cause the current to be way too high and (with the vast majority of OEM radios) would likely burn up the internal amp before blowing the fuse. also if you somehow got a short in the wiring, the fuse may blow, or again you may just burn up the amp.

with that particular radio, the only proper way to add rear speakers would be for you to also add a small amp to drive those new speakers and there is still plenty of ways to do it wrong and damage something in the car and get your warranty voided.

its not hard to do at all, but if done poorly or incorrectly, there are definitely plenty of ways to cause a lot of damage. and with GM spending the time and money they do designing and testing all the car systems, you really cant expect GM to take any other stance on the situation. the last thing any manufacturer really wants you to do is buy anything aftermarket, they would much rather you spend more money and get their overpriced OEM options.

Edited by 1LoudLS
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the issue here is that since the radio only has outputs for two speakers (two channel internal amp), there really isn't a good way to wire in and add just a pair of speakers properly.

you could wire them in series with the front speakers, but then the increase in resistance will drop the volume down so much that there really wouldn't be gaining anything in adding them (unless doing it solely for passengers in the rear. but if you wired them in parallel with the front speakers the drop in resistance would cause the current to be way too high and (with the vast majority of OEM radios) would likely burn up the internal amp before blowing the fuse. also if you somehow got a short in the wiring, the fuse may blow, or again you may just burn up the amp.

with that particular radio, the only proper way to add rear speakers would be for you to also add a small amp to drive those new speakers and there is still plenty of ways to do it wrong and damage something in the car and get your warranty voided.

its not hard to do at all, but if done poorly or incorrectly, there are definitely plenty of ways to cause a lot of damage. and with GM spending the time and money they do designing and testing all the car systems, you really cant expect GM to take any other stance on the situation. the last thing any manufacturer really wants you to do is buy anything aftermarket, they would much rather you spend more money and get their overpriced OEM options.

By reading your post it seems you understand more than the average person about this kinda electrical stuff and make some very valid points. Common sense dictates to me that if the speakers in the front sound OK then what's the problem? Most times these cars are driven with one or two. Passengers can also hear those speakers..I don't know if xtra amps, wiring, & removing those hard to get off rear door panels then trying to get them back on with a good 'no rattle' fit..well..just does not seem worth it to me. Chances are if you have the 4 speaker base model the money would be better spent getting some decent aluminum wheels since those crappy hubcaps look, well, really crappy.

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You guys seem to know a lot more about this than I do, so I have a few questions.

Doesn't the 2016 LS come with the MyLink radio now?

Since it does (I just checked Chevy's site), wouldn't the radio have the same outputs for front & rear speakers that it has in the LT1 & 2, since I doubt they made 2 different MyLink radios?

So even if the wiring isn't already there, wouldn't it be a simple matter of adding the rear speakers and running the wires to the radio?

Might there be a software upgrade needed if the OP's radio doesn't show a front and rear fader control, or would it perhaps come on (or the option to turn it on) appear once rear speakers are attached or detected?

Since I am still on the fence as to whether or not to get a 2016, I'm interested in how this works out.

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