Alpine system upgrade consensus?

[Sinistre1]

As for the spl/ airflow video... yeah... no! Buy a fan, or a hair dryer , and a distortion generator. If ANY system I had sounded that crappy at any volume... I'd set it on fire.

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

The last few responses pretty much prove my point.... what do YOU hear? Are you changing it out because someone else tells you it's not a good sound to you ( not sure how that works). To give more credence to my post. My home system consists of 3 pairs of Jeff Bagbys Continuums speakers, look them up and the reviews for them. They replaced a set of statements monitors (you can review those as well) they are all VERY well reviewed. The power for the system is a Denon 4520ci receiver, the source an Oppo 105. I have two near field 15" sealed subs driven byb1200 watts of power. I name drop for a reason. This is all considered to be at least GOOD gear. I KNOW what I hear and in my search for good sound I have gone through many, many well reviewed systems and components. I would not argue any ones opinion regarding the Alpine system. Are there better systems? Undoubtedly. Do YOU need one and will YOU even like it? Only YOU will know and only YOUR opinion matters. Everything else is information to draw from. What I will dispute is that the Alpine system is garbage and is easily bested by ANY basic "upgraded" system. I have heard, used and purchased many an upgrade to realize that the upgrade was in fact garbage. If your only thought is to get different well then it's a no brainer. Better is subjective and relative... and it starts with YOU. Best bet might be to actually hear a system you are considering and then you have a good starting place for comparison. Different isnt always better... it MAY be... but it will always be at the very least different

I agree with you. The grass is always considered greener on the other side. It's always greened over the septic system too! LOL

 

[Perferd]

The last few responses pretty much prove my point.... what do YOU hear? Are you changing it out because someone else tells you it's not a good sound to you ( not sure how that works). To give more credence to my post. My home system consists of 3 pairs of Jeff Bagbys Continuums speakers, look them up and the reviews for them. They replaced a set of statements monitors (you can review those as well) they are all VERY well reviewed. The power for the system is a Denon 4520ci receiver, the source an Oppo 105. I have two near field 15" sealed subs driven byb1200 watts of power. I name drop for a reason. This is all considered to be at least GOOD gear. I KNOW what I hear and in my search for good sound I have gone through many, many well reviewed systems and components. I would not argue any ones opinion regarding the Alpine system. Are there better systems? Undoubtedly. Do YOU need one and will YOU even like it? Only YOU will know and only YOUR opinion matters. Everything else is information to draw from. What I will dispute is that the Alpine system is garbage and is easily bested by ANY basic "upgraded" system. I have heard, used and purchased many an upgrade to realize that the upgrade was in fact garbage. If your only thought is to get different well then it's a no brainer. Better is subjective and relative... and it starts with YOU. Best bet might be to actually hear a system you are considering and then you have a good starting place for comparison. Different isnt always better... it MAY be... but it will always be at the very least different

Totally understand and thx.

I may be in the minority but I like to have all my ducks in a row before I do things. That being said when I do pick up the truck and IF I don't like what I hear I will have that all sorted out and ready to roll. IF in fact i do love the system then I won't upgrade and things are good to go.

Lastly if I like it but feel I could use a little bump here or there then I'll go with that.

 

[Sinistre1]

THAT sounds like a well sorted out plan! Either way report back your thoughts. No skin in the game... just idle curiosity. It has always amazed me how different tastes can be from food, to music, to movies. One man's trash and all that jazz!

 

[Phillyrube]

Something I noticed with my 2008 is that there are no speakers when i balance to the rear. My understanding of the Infinity system is the door speakers are mostly bass. Im also guessing the Pioneer head unit is fed through the Alpine amp?

 

[Perferd]

Yes I have read the front door speakers play the lows. Unfortunately I have no idea what that really means lol. My guess is the 3 speakers in the dash play the highs the front doors play the lows and the read doors play full range while the headliner plays highs and sub plays the lows...

 

[KnurledNut]

I upgraded the dash and door speakers. In addition I upgraded the subwoofer as well. I don't think the upgrade to an Alpine premium system was worth it. Every speaker I replaced was cheap Chicom crap.

 

[Perferd]

I upgraded the dash and door speakers. In addition I upgraded the subwoofer as well. I don't think the upgrade to an Alpine premium system was worth it. Every speaker I replaced was cheap Chicom crap.

You don't think going from base to alpine was worth it or from alpine to the cheap stuff you installed was worth it? I assume you left everything as is just swapped out the speakers for cheap speakers?

 

[HEMIMANN]

Even Polk Audio has gone Chinese. I was very disappointed.

 

[canadiankodiak700]

I watched some of their stuff thx.

Most videos are all about NON factory amplified systems unfortunately lol.

The majority of thier installs ARE about oem amplified systems. I have a non amplified system and it was a while before i found any videos on it.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[canadiankodiak700]

You don't think going from base to alpine was worth it or from alpine to the cheap stuff you installed was worth it? I assume you left everything as is just swapped out the speakers for cheap speakers?

The money paid when buying a truck to get the so called "premium" sound system by alpine is not worth the money. You are further ahead to save that money, get the base system, and use the money saved to upgrade to a real custom system with quality sound. The 3rd speaker in the dash isn't even a true center channel so it's pointless, and it's actually mudding up the sound quality.
You can put a quality set of 6x9 componets in the door with thier tweeter/3.5" up in the dash, bi-amped, add a sub and leave the oem rear doors down low for fill or not at all like the rest of the alpine speakers abs you will have amuch better sounding system


Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Perferd]

Thank you for your reply.

 

[KnurledNut]

You don't think going from base to alpine was worth it or from alpine to the cheap stuff you installed was worth it? I assume you left everything as is just swapped out the speakers for cheap speakers?

What I meant was the "alpine" speakers I removed were cheap Chicom crap. Nothing was marked "alpine".

 

[Perferd]

What I meant was the "alpine" speakers I removed were cheap Chicom crap. Nothing was marked "alpine".

Lol got it, I have seen the YouTubes showing that.

What did you end up going with?

 

[GTyankee]

This is all way over my head, but the guy tells how he set up his Ram

 

[BillyGoat]

IMO, the Alpine system is terrible for the price they up charge. They use 2 ohm speakers due to the weak amp.
I went with the Kenwood XR600-6DSP (dash/rear doors/rear tweets) with the iDatalink Maestro AR which integrates with the stock system due to the Can bus. No wires spliced or cut and ran new speaker wires in case I ever wanted to switch back to stock if I ever sold the truck. Changed out all the speakers to Alpine X components with JL C2-350X’s up front. Kept the stock front middle speaker to only use for the chimes/park assists/phone. Added the stealth box with a JL HD900/5 (front doors-bridged/sub). The DSP makes all the difference....this system absolutely rocks and if setup correctly, zero distortion.

 

[KnurledNut]

Lol got it, I have seen the YouTubes showing that.

What did you end up going with?

Polks for the dash, Kickers in the doors, and a Pioneer for the sub.

 

[Sinistre1]

Even Polk Audio has gone Chinese. I was very disappointed.

Dont get me started on Polks... I had a set of their then flagship Lsi25"s and Lsi9s sent from Crutchfield. Talk about disappointment. Other than the looks they were way overhyped/ overpriced... for my tastes at least. Sent them back and gladly ate the freight... and they were big! Lol

 

[Sinistre1]

IMO, the Alpine system is terrible for the price they up charge. They use 2 ohm speakers due to the weak amp.
I went with the Kenwood XR600-6DSP (dash/rear doors/rear tweets) with the iDatalink Maestro AR which integrates with the stock system due to the Can bus. No wires spliced or cut and ran new speaker wires in case I ever wanted to switch back to stock if I ever sold the truck. Changed out all the speakers to Alpine X components with JL C2-350X’s up front. Kept the stock front middle speaker to only use for the chimes/park assists/phone. Added the stealth box with a JL HD900/5 (front doors-bridged/sub). The DSP makes all the difference....this system absolutely rocks and if setup correctly, zero distortion.

And you addressed my other concern. Integration. I could easily have yanked all the Alpine stuff for some really good stuff that WOULD definitely be an upgrade but then I didnt want to lose OEM integration and or have any extended warranty issues. Since I couldnt find a Sport that had everything.... minus the Alpine, I bought it because I definitely wanted a Sport. I expected to be disappointed and have to change out the system. I was pleased to find that with the caveats noted, it suits my needs. I mean really... without spending mega bucks to quiet and button everything down that Ram cabin is not the quietest backdrop for hyper critical listening anyway... i assume the benefits everyone is hearing is power aimed at beating that noisy environment into submission. Lol. Plus I paid to hear the V-8 soundtrack. To each his/ her own.

Billy goat, your approach definitely sounds like something I could live with and enjoy... more pluses... no minuses that jump out at me. I would have done it straight from the dealership. I just wanted to pay for the truck I want and keep it moving. No downtime or tinkering.

 

[Perferd]

Polks for the dash, Kickers in the doors, and a Pioneer for the sub.

Cool thx and all you did was replace them plugged into the original system. Did you do any dynomat or whatever to sound deaden?

Of what you spent to upgrade do you think it was worth it?