Hello Everyone! I'm Tom and I am happy to join the ranks of Blazer owners! I just received it today, but have had my audio system already in the planning phases for weeks.
First off, I must say it is exciting to have a vehicle that uses 6-1/2" speakers, instead of the strange 5x7's (which severely limits the selection, as well as being inferior to larger, more widely available speakers. My previous car was a 2000 Ford Focus Zx3 hatchback. I couldn't wait to get rid of that mess.
In the Focus I had a very average aftermarket system. Which consisted of:
- 4 Alpine Coaxial 5x7's in both doors and rear panels. (two door.)
- Pioneer head unit (which will be transferred to the new system for now.)
- 2 12' MTX Subs in a sealed box
- MTX terminator 800W RMS mono block amp
- I connected all door speakers to the existing stock wiring.
- I ran both my power cables along with my signal wires down the same side. I've now learned that this should usually be avoided.

ANYWAY, now on to the more present issue at hand, 'zee Blazer. It is a 2001 Blazer LS 4 Door 4WD, no Bose sound system. I had been considering to pay a reputable establishment to install all of my new equipments for me, since I would hate to mar my new baby! However, that would cost too much for it to seem logical to me.
But being the kind of person that enjoys doing it themselves, I will do just that. All of my parts have came in for the new system, save for the baffles, as for some reason they were shipped DHL. ^_^ The new system will include;
- 60W RMSRockford Fosgate Punch 6-1/2" component speakers for the front door panels
- Matching 60W RMS Rockford Fosgate Punch 6-1/2" coaxial speakers for the rear door panels.
- I will be using the same Head Unit/Subwoofer/Mono block amp from the Focus.
- Sony Xplod 4 channel amp. 60W RMS per channel. Rated (600W)
- Baffles for all the door speakers
- Brand new 12 gauge wires for all the speakers
- Power distribution block (To run both Amps without having to run two power cables to battery.)
- Last but not least, the dash bezel kit.

So here begins the list of questions I have for you more seasoned Blazer Audiophiles.....

- What is the easiest way to prevent your subwoofer box from sliding around in your trunk during turns/acceleration? (one of my largest pet peeves.)
- What is the best/easiest way to run the wires from the battery to the amps?
- Where is the best place to mount one amp? (the other is attached to the subwoofer box.) I would rather not have to remove my seats or anything that invasive.
- How exactly does one remove the original factory radio? (I can never seems to find a concrete answer. So apologies if this have been covered 1,000,000 times already.)
- My component speakers have a built in crossover already placed inside the mids. So does the distance still play a critical factor between the tweeters and the mids?
- I have a horrible phobia of screwing up drilling a hole incorrectly in my car while trying to install the tweeters, so is the factory placement of the tweeters in a desirable position? If so, I can just pop off the grill and fabricate my own mount, somehow.
- Are baffles sufficient enough to reduce rattle/unwanted vibrations? Obviously dynomat would be ideal, however money does not grow on trees.
- Are the rear door speakers more difficult to access than the front doors?
- When fishing the new speaker wires, is there any serious level of difficulty in doing so?


I'm sure I'll think of other questions I wanted to ask after I post this. If I do, I'll let you know.

Thanks in advance, I can't wait to hear your tips and advice!

 

- What is the easiest way to prevent your subwoofer box from sliding around in your trunk during turns/acceleration? (one of my largest pet peeves.)
I used Velcro. it holds it down but when u need to move it you can easily.

-What is the best/easiest way to run the wires from the battery to the amps?
There a couple different firewall holes just look for other wires running from the engine bay into the cab. running the wires to the back you could either remove the plastic pannels along the door jams and run the wires that way.

- Where is the best place to mount one amp? (the other is attached to the subwoofer box.) I would rather not have to remove my seats or anything that invasive.
The plastic pannels on the back of the seats are a common place. or you could do what I did.




- How exactly does one remove the original factory radio? (I can never seems to find a concrete answer. So apologies if this have been covered 1,000,000 times already.)
There are three screws you need to remove. one above the gauges, and 2 below the steering wheel one to the left and one to the right. you might have to shift your truck out of park because the shifter bar gets in the way. the dash board will pop off with a little pull. The rear wiper control and push button 4 wheel drive pops out and the wires unclip. the lighting control on the other side I usually leave alone and just let the dash board hang there for the time being but the light controls unclip just like the wiper control and the push button 4 wheel drive. Once the dash is off the head unit is held on by 2 screws and once you get them off it should slide out and all the wires just un-clip from the back.

- I have a horrible phobia of screwing up drilling a hole incorrectly in my car while trying to install the tweeters, so is the factory placement of the tweeters in a desirable position? If so, I can just pop off the grill and fabricate my own mount, somehow.
The easiest way to do this is to put the tweeters from the components in the dash. There are stock tweeters located there and you can just swap them out.

- Are baffles sufficient enough to reduce rattle/unwanted vibrations? Obviously dynomat would be ideal, however money does not grow on trees.
I don't even have baffles and I have minimal vibration. I recommend you be careful popping off the door panels the clips tend to break if you rip them off. this causes unwanted vibration.

- Are the rear door speakers more difficult to access than the front doors?
they are about the same. the rear door speakers are just located in a different spot than the front speakers

- When fishing the new speaker wires, is there any serious level of difficulty in doing so?
only question I can't really answer for you. I used the stock speaker wire and ran the new speaker wire from the ends of the old speaker wire.this is pretty easy to do especially since you are probably going to do everything at once. My speakers sound good with the stock wire not really sure if it makes enough difference to mess around fishing wires to the doors.

hope that helps. anymore questions just ask. I've ran into almost every kind of problem you can have installing a system so.

I can also take more pictures if you want to see more of what exactly I did