Thinking about replacing the premium 'alpine' amp with a 77KICK45 upgrade

I have been doing some looking and found so old posts on another forum where a guy replaced the factory 'alpine' amp with the upgraded Kicker unit. The price does not look too bad and if will add some extra power to the front doors then it might be worth the investment. I am really trying to keep from gutting the whole system right now. That will probably happen somewhere down the line but not for quite a while.

Anybody tried this?? If so, was it worth it?

Not sure about your year, but the "Premium" Alpine on the 2014 (HU 8.4AN) has some pretty severe emphasis.



I took a bunch of measurements with REW and a good Mic. Signals being sent to each speaker are posted in another forum, but I could replicate if there is interest here.

As an example, this is what is sent to the front door. This particular one is demonstrating what +/-9 on the BASS adjustment does. Red line is the flat setting.




I have the Alpine and is does not make me happy. I am looking to install a DSP to get back to a flat response and go from there. I cannot imaging it would be worth the money without dealing with the underlying problem.

My guess is that it is probably not that much different... I have found much value in the RTA graphs you have shared (both here and at the other forum). They have confirmed what my ears were already telling me.

I really do not want to go the MS-8/LC8i/3sixty.3 route. Honestly I will probably just replace the HU and bypass all the factory wiring completely instead. I am not looking for perfect right now, just better.

I already upgraded the dash speakers and the sub so I am getting plenty of highs and lows.

The piece that is missing is any real presence of mids. The doors perform at such a low volume that they have virtually no impact on at all. I turned of the crossover on the sub amp figuring that the factory sub signal was already trying to compensate for the weak door speakers but the sound gets real muddy a upper volumes.

So here is what I was thinking as an intermediate solution...

My first thought was to tap the signal going to the doors only and feed it to an amp and upgrade the door speakers. I realize this will do nothing for the weird curve, just hoping that overall it would level with the rest of the signals from the other speakers.

I was almost ready to go this route when I saw the post about the upgrade Kicker amp. So then I figured if there is a solution that does not require any rewiring then it is worth a look.

dengland said:

Not sure about your year, but the "Premium" Alpine on the 2014 (HU 8.4AN) has some pretty severe emphasis......

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I was thinking about this... Since you are taking the measurements with the stock speakers playing in the doors.... how much of the curve is the signal from the HU/amp and how much is related to the speakers inability to perform???

Basically, would the curve be different with better speakers and a properly deadened door?

Just thinking out loud here...

I really need to start looking at the names between forums....Yes, you have seen the graphs. Sorry about that.

If I make the leap that front and rear doors have the same 6x9, then I would say it is the signal, not the speaker.




I am not sure what frequency range you are talking about when you say mid-bass. The rear is relatively flat from 200-800Hz. Front is more dramatic of a decline.

Could part of it be that the lower bass frequencies are boosted, making your brain think something is missing?

In other posts folks have talked about deadener in the door helping with mid-bass.

I made a couple of new plots from the data I had.

Levels were not identical even though the volume setting on the HU was. Mic could have been closer or other factors. I tried 2 different alignment settings about 6dB of shift overall. In both cases the front curve was lowered.





The second graph has 25dB less at 400Hz. Very audible difference.

dengland said:

I really need to start looking at the names between forums....Yes, you have seen the graphs. Sorry about that.

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LOL!!!! Happens to me all the time!

If I make the leap that front and rear doors have the same 6x9, then I would say it is the signal, not the speaker.


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I am not sure what frequency range you are talking about when you say mid-bass. The rear is relatively flat from 200-800Hz. Front is more dramatic of a decline.

Click to expand...

Based on this and the graphs in your next post maybe the better option would be to tap the signal for the rear doors to feed the amp for the front doors.

Could part of it be that the lower bass frequencies are boosted, making your brain think something is missing?

In other posts folks have talked about deadener in the door helping with mid-bass.

Click to expand...

Probably, but based on the performance of the speakers I am not sure there was much to begin with either.

If you do the kicker amp you might as well do there DSP called the "Front Row". Looks pretty easy to use as far as DSP's go. Ask GrayGoose about it, it really looks like something cost effective and easy to clean up the huge peaks in our systems.

Etroze86 said:

If you do the kicker amp you might as well do there DSP called the "Front Row". Looks pretty easy to use as far as DSP's go. Ask GrayGoose about it, it really looks like something cost effective and easy to clean up the huge peaks in our systems.

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Interesting.... I can't tell from the website if it allows speaker level inputs or not... I was hoping that Greygoose would see this eventually and offer some insight. He definitely knows Kicker products

I'm sure he will chime in soon

I just came across this on DIYMA if ur gonna do the DSP route...

Precision Power DSP-88R (DSP88R) at Onlinecarstereo.com


31 band independent EQ for 8 channels and time alignment for $200! 2 months ago i would have beel all over this like a fly on $hit

Thats a hellva good deal for a lot of adjustability.

That a sweet unit (and even sweeter deal) but is taking things a little further than I was wanting to go.

Maybe you might want to go there once you hear a truck that has some processing power

True! Good thing you live in North Dakota and not North Carolina LOL!!

Right I have buddies that I work with that just want to try and get close to the sound I have in my truck just from sitting in the passanger seat. Most don't want to put the money into it that I have though so I point them in a cheaper direction like just changing stock speakers.

I have never sat in a vehicle with processed sound beforei my truck. There's no turning back now. I'll never not have one.

Ms-8 allows u to turn processing off at any time. Pretty amazing to hit a button and can hear the difference with and without. It's one of those things, u don't know what ur missing until u have then u don't know how u lived without it.

Etroze86 said:

Maybe you might want to go there once you hear a truck that has some processing power

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BradKnob said:

I have never sat in a vehicle with processed sound beforei my truck. There's no turning back now. I'll never not have one.

Ms-8 allows u to turn processing off at any time. Pretty amazing to hit a button and can hear the difference with and without. It's one of those things, u don't know what ur missing until u have then u don't know how u lived without it.

Click to expand...

Believe me guys, I am agreeing with you, a fully matched and processed sound system would be awesome... And is totally worth the time if you put enough into it. The time is the part I don't have.

For now i am just upgrading with some modest 6x9 and maybe this amp if I feel like it will make a measurable difference. I'm hoping the extra power will help with the low end fade.

How would you guys compass the JBL MS-8 to the Rockford 3Sixty.3?

I have a local shop saying the MS-8 is needlessly more complicated and it has pretty significant Bluetooth delay issues.

Also that the three primary "inventors" of the MS-8 have left JBL and support has suffered.

Any thoughts on pros/cons of MS-8 vs. 3Sixty.3???

They also told me the 3Sixty.3 is more successful at achieving the set it and forget it claim?