Best cheap audio mod for none Alpine radio

[crockett]

For the longest time I thought that my bare bones Tradesman with the none Alpine 3.0 Radio has no speakers in the corners of the dash. I simply didn't hear anything coming out of that direction and though that all the sound comes from the front door speakers, and a little bit from those speakers hiding behind the seat belt. Keep in mind that my 1500 is a regular cab.

When I found out that there are supposedly speakers hiding in the dash, I had to pull the grill off to make sure. And I found something.

This is how this embarrassing pile of crap looks like.





There is a cheap paper cone lurking inside. I think they had to cover it up to protect it from disgusted looks. Tiny magnet and this thing weights nothing.





So I went online and found these JBL GX302 speakers on sale at Crutchfield for only $39.99 a pair, down from $69.99.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109GX302/JBL-GX302.html

True 2-way design:





Proper magnet, these speakers weight about 4 times as much as the stock units. If not more.






Crutchfield is awesome. They include the matching cable adapter for the RAM as well as an installation guide & kit free of charge. That's another $20 in savings. Did I mention free standard shipping? Or their excellent customer support service helping me to choose this speaker kit? You can't beat it.

Installation was a 10 minute job. The dash speaker grills come out with a plastic trim removal tool. A screwdriver will do as well. The speakers are held in place with 2 x 7mm screws. The new speakers connect directly to the OEM connector with the included adapter cable. No soldering, no crimping.

When I was done, I was blown away by the sound improvement. Now there is a true font-stage playing. You can hear voices and music in-front of you, and not muffled somewhere below the dash.

The highs are very clear and crisp, the mids produce very smooth vocals, and you can even hear some base coming from these speakers.

They compliment the stock door speakers very well.

Impedance of the JBLs is 2.3 Ohms which helps a lot to pronounce the front-stage, compared to the 8 Ohm stock speakers. The radio has no issues and I didn't notice any clipping.

I do understand that I didn't invent the wheel here, but thought that this cheap mod with this set of speakers is worth mentioning to all those living with this Radio 3.0 system.

Well, there you have it. $39.99 and 10 minutes. Well worth it!

 

[turkeybird56]

Not sure wat is there with MY 19 Bighorn. May have to look for giggles, LOL. Nice report...

 

[Darth]

I hate those factory 3.5" speakers. You are right, factory speakers are crap. However, because Ram decided to be the only auto manufacturer on the planet to use 8 ohm speakers, it is impossible to find aftermarket 8 ohm 3.5" car speakers. I tried changing them out with aftermarket 4 ohm speakers (Kicker) but because of the ohm difference they overpowered/were louder than the rest of the system. Nice write up

 

[WilliamS]

I hate those factory 3.5" speakers. You are right, factory speakers are crap. However, because Ram decided to be the only auto manufacturer on the planet to use 8 ohm speakers, it is impossible to find aftermarket 8 ohm 3.5" car speakers. I tried changing them out with aftermarket 4 ohm speakers (Kicker) but because of the ohm difference they overpowered/were louder than the rest of the system. Nice write up

put a 4ohm resistor in series with your new kickers and you will be amazed at the difference a $.09 part can do.

 

[TomT]

I hate those factory 3.5" speakers. You are right, factory speakers are crap. However, because Ram decided to be the only auto manufacturer on the planet to use 8 ohm speakers, it is impossible to find aftermarket 8 ohm 3.5" car speakers. I tried changing them out with aftermarket 4 ohm speakers (Kicker) but because of the ohm difference they overpowered/were louder than the rest of the system. Nice write up

Do the non-Alpine systems have the door and dash speakers wired in parallel? That would explain the use of 8 ohm drivers to achieve a 4 ohm load on the factory head unit.

 

[crockett]

Do the non-Alpine systems have the door and dash speakers wired in parallel? That would explain the use of 8 ohm drivers to achieve a 4 ohm load on the factory head unit.

Didn't measure it but I bet $100. No external amp and the radio is designed for 4 ohms.

 

[TomT]

Didn't measure it but I bet $100. No external amp and the radio is designed for 4 ohms.

If that’s the case you could swap in a high efficiency, two way, component set with a passive crossover. Most all passive crossovers show the amp/radio a 4 ohm load. Just connect the crossover where the two speaker wires come together. You might want to make sure the crossover has an option to lower the tweeter driver level, just in case it overpowers the midbass.

 

[Darth]

Do the non-Alpine systems have the door and dash speakers wired in parallel? That would explain the use of 8 ohm drivers to achieve a 4 ohm load on the factory head unit.

Yes the door and dash are wired parallel in base/non Alpine system

 

[WilliamS]

Do the non-Alpine systems have the door and dash speakers wired in parallel? That would explain the use of 8 ohm drivers to achieve a 4 ohm load on the factory head unit.

They do use an 8 ohm in the dash from the factory and 4 in the door.

Didn't measure it but I bet $100. No external amp and the radio is designed for 4 ohms.

There isnt an amp, and the headunit can run down to 2 ohms as ive run 4 ohm speakers in the doors and dash, but the dash speakers overpower the doors and you lose a lot of low end.


So if you put in a 4ohm 3.5 in the dash, put a 4 ohm resistor in parallel with the dash speakers and you will notice a world of difference.