Adding a resistor for 4 ohm dash speakers=works!

[adrianp89]

A wire brush, star washers, and a nut and bolt. Would have to drill a hole; unless you have the bench rear seat then use the holes where the split seats mount.

 

[albacore]

Just make sure those resistors are away from any wires or plastic, they will get hot and melt stuff under the dash.

For those of you who are concerned about a ceramic resistor heating up, I have an alternate solution for you. I have the base 6-speaker system. I replaced all six speakers with Kicker speakers. I am running all four door speakers off a separate amp, and run the dash speakers off the head unit. Same problem, the dash speakers were harsh and overly bright due to the ohm issue. It's the tweeter in those Dash speakers that are causing the harsh tones and overly bright sound. Rather than add a ceramic resistor, I simply cut the wires that supply signal to the tweeter portion of the dash speakers. Problem solved, sound is much better, and no concerns about a ceramic resistor heating up under my dash. Only the mid drivers work in my dash speakers, and I get plenty of highs from the three-way 6 x 9 speakers in the doors.


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[WilliamS]

It lowers the amount of power going to the dash speakers so they do not over power the doors. Allowing more fade forward so the big 6x9s can make up the frequency difference.

 

[trp3383]

Would these work and dissipate the heat better? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077BRVKHF/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Gibbs]

Blackbetty14,
Have you had any issues with the resistors getting hot enough to melt anything? Any other adverse effects?
I'm seriously considering this to help lower the volume of 4 ohm dash speakers.

 

[JinxCanada]

I did a full kicker upgrade on my 14 ram CC with the 5.0 base system. The speakers are a huge improvement with the stock radio and crutchfield made everything plug and play. Something I knew going in was the dash speakers are 8ohm stock, everything aftermarket is 2-4ohm so when u swap them out there is 4ohms less resistance and thus the dash speakers overpower the system and u have to adjust the radio and fade toward the rear speakers. Which lowers the sound out of the front door speakers as they are connected to the dash.

I've been driving around for a few weeks and missing having the balance centered in and getting more sound from the front doors. So I purchased some 4ohm 10w ceramic resistors and just spliced them in the harness adapters. So I didn't mess with the stock wiring at all and just spliced into the metra speaker adapters. 15min of Removing the speakers and cutting the positive wire and soldering in the resistor and walla! She's back to normal and I balanced out. I paid $4 shipped for 3 resistors and can't believe the difference they made. This is a must to balance the system out after a full speaker upgrade. The system is 100%, now if I can only finish my subwoofer install

could you please post a link where you got them? I MIGHT have to do this as well...certainly worth a shot just so I can hear the difference. I did the kicker CS upgrade in my truck and the dash speakers are much more present than before for sure. I don't really mind it so far, but I like to have options. TIA

 

[JinxCanada]

never mind I found them on ebay. so you used 10w 4ohm resistors? would there be much difference in a 20w 4 ohm?

 

[JinxCanada]

maybe a silly question, but couldn't you just wrap the resistor in electrical tape to prevent any disasters from heat? or that wouldn't work? I just wondered.

 

[JinxCanada]

found these on ebay...looks to be the same or similar as the OP used. pretty cheap and might be a great option for the "brightness" of the 3.5" CS Kicker speakers.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Ohm-10w-...506308?hash=item3f7d9eea44:g:jd0AAOSw42JZKozW

 

[Rusty942630]

I was just looking at the kicker speaker upgrade with a sub under the rear seat. This fixes the problem that I would have had.

 

[JinxCanada]

I was just looking at the kicker speaker upgrade with a sub under the rear seat. This fixes the problem that I would have had.

yep. I think I'm going to do this as well. certainly seems like a win...and if I don't like it I can always take out the resistors I guess. it's worth a shot for $5.00

 

[blackbetty14]

Would these work and dissipate the heat better? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077BRVKHF/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They will work. I don’t think they get that hot but I could be wrong. Bulky isn’t really a good thing in that area. I went for the slimmer but if you tucked it down into the cavity there u would have more room.

 

[blackbetty14]

Blackbetty14,
Have you had any issues with the resistors getting hot enough to melt anything? Any other adverse effects?
I'm seriously considering this to help lower the volume of 4 ohm dash speakers.

Nope. They worked fine till I yanked them. My neighbor purchased all my speakers from me and I installed them in his 16 3500 and they work good. No idea bout the heat but there isn’t anything really in there honestly.

 

[blackbetty14]

never mind I found them on ebay. so you used 10w 4ohm resistors? would there be much difference in a 20w 4 ohm?

Sorry the listing ended. They are just standard 10w 4ohm. I went with a better brand vs a cheapy. 20w will absorb too much power and really degrade the speaker loudness. The stock system puts out around 15w to the speaker and they are rated for about that so that’s what you want to be around. Below it is better than going to high. I wouldn’t do the 20w 4ohm. Keep it at the 10w.

 

[blackbetty14]

maybe a silly question, but couldn't you just wrap the resistor in electrical tape to prevent any disasters from heat? or that wouldn't work? I just wondered.

No you don’t want anything wrapped around it. Especially not something that can burn like electrical tape. There is a reason why they use ceramic, it’s ability to take a lot of heat but also helps with heat transfer.

 

[blackbetty14]

found these on ebay...looks to be the same or similar as the OP used. pretty cheap and might be a great option for the "brightness" of the 3.5" CS Kicker speakers.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Ohm-10w-...506308?hash=item3f7d9eea44:g:jd0AAOSw42JZKozW

Those will work fine. The 5% offset isn’t the best but will be fine. I think I used a 2% offset, the higher quality will cost you alittle more.

 

[blackbetty14]

Like I said. If you put a aftermarket 4ohm speaker in the dash where the original is 8ohm they become very noticeably “bright” or louder than normal and throw off the balance. Setting the balance to favor the rear +2 or so will help balance it back but then u take away from the front doors.

You should definitely do the 10w 4ohm on the positive side of the metra wiring adapters so you literally don’t even have to do it in the truck. Makes for a clean install and can be converted back to stock. Once doing the resistors you can turn the balance back to stock “center” and enjoy all the crisp medium and highs from the dash and the full loudeness from the front doors. It balances the whole setup back.

 

[magician]

Amp the door speakers and run the dashes off the head unit.

 

[blackbetty14]

Sounds like a lot of tuning to get it all back to sounding good. I think the stock systems are decently “loud” but lack the power to and sensitivity to get the sound that the elites are after. You can only get so much out of a 6x9 door speaker that rattles the door even in stock form lol. Throwing more power at it will just compound the problem. Leave it hooked up to the stock headunit and add some 6x9s in good speaker boxes somewhere and a sub hooked up to an amp and crank it up and be distortion free.

 

[trp3383]

They will work. I don’t think they get that hot but I could be wrong. Bulky isn’t really a good thing in that area. I went for the slimmer but if you tucked it down into the cavity there u would have more room.

I used them and they are actually small. You can also crimp spade connectors on the wires so you don't have to solder.

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