Newbie Audio Upgrade Help

[2010 Infantry Vet]

I installed JL C2-350 3.5" speakers in my dash corners, and am not impressed with them. I had my kenwood radio powering them (22 rms). That way i did not have them overpowering my door components that are powered by my kicker 175 rms amp. Other guys buy a set of components, and run the tweeters in the place of the dash corner speakers.
I have rockford T2 6.5" components in my front doors, and mounted the tweeters on the plastic triangle piece on the top of the doors. Eventually i am going to remove my JL 3.5" dash speakers, and replace them with hertz 3" midrange speakers. I have heard good things about the infinity midrange speakers mounted in the dash as well.

 

[Tims RT]

I like the idea of the components, but I still haven't wrapped my head around the best way to get around the stock Amp and CanBus system so I can keep the factory H/U and still have all the factory chimes, bells and phone

 

[TomT]

I like the idea of the components, but I still haven't wrapped my head around the best way to get around the stock Amp and CanBus system so I can keep the factory H/U and still have all the factory chimes, bells and phone

The PAC Audio unit will handle all that.

 

[2010 Infantry Vet]

I like the idea of the components, but I still haven't wrapped my head around the best way to get around the stock Amp and CanBus system so I can keep the factory H/U and still have all the factory chimes, bells and phone

Yeah im kinda glad i dont have the factory radio and all of the difficulties of adding rca outputs for an amp. $250 for the pac, and constantly having to update the radio with the newest updates sounds like a pain to me. You can buy a used alpine 7" radio/cd player/gps with multiple preamp outputs for $400.
Ram should have installed pre-amp outputs on the back of the factory radio. They dropped the ball on that big time.

 

[TomT]

Video about the PAC Amp Pro interface.

 

[BWL]

The problem with your budget is good factory integration is going to eat up half of it. The Pac and harness or I'm working on putting a rockford DSR1 that does what the Pac does with maestro and integrates a dsp as well and gives you 8 channel output, but your truck really only needs 4 channels and subwoofer out, which the Pac will do and you can tune well enough with the amplifier crossovers and gain controls. You already have new dash speakers, which I'd retain so a Pac, 4 channel amp and good set of door speakers would probably be your best bang for the buck and give you a subwoofer output to add an amp and sub in the future. You'd need to mount the amp somewhere, but amps are getting smaller than they used to be and if you add a sub you'll need a place to mount amps anyways. You could get a Pac, 4 channel alpine,rockford or maybe even JL audio 4-channel and a pair of decent 6X9s in your budget, but the wiring would put you over budget and I'd run a bigger power cable to the amp so you don't have to run another one when you add a sub down the road.

 

[adrianp89]

I like the idea of the components, but I still haven't wrapped my head around the best way to get around the stock Amp and CanBus system so I can keep the factory H/U and still have all the factory chimes, bells and phone

As mentioned, stick with the Pac piece, and that amplifier harness looks awesome. I didn't even know they made those, but with those two pieces you should be able to install the 445u in an hour or less. If you do components, you can put the crossovers behind the dash and just use the wiring from that PAC amp harness, and connect the speakers to the factory wiring.

Honestly, with the Pac Amp Harness, this is a pretty cake install, maybe 3 hours tops for amp and speakers for a completely newb. (Not sure of your experience.

Yeah im kinda glad i dont have the factory radio and all of the difficulties of adding rca outputs for an amp. $250 for the pac, and constantly having to update the radio with the newest updates sounds like a pain to me. You can buy a used alpine 7" radio/cd player/gps with multiple preamp outputs for $400.
Ram should have installed pre-amp outputs on the back of the factory radio. They dropped the ball on that big time.

No one does this. Scion did it for a little bit and that is because they advertised as being mod friendly. Hyundai/Kia did this in the mid 2000s and really only because they used a Kenwood radio for factory. Other than that, factory pre-outs are non-existent. Zero incentive for a manufacture to do so, and just one more thing to go wrong. Just imagine the warranty claims for ground noise.

 

[2010 Infantry Vet]

As mentioned, stick with the Pac piece, and that amplifier harness looks awesome. I didn't even know they made those, but with those two pieces you should be able to install the 445u in an hour or less. If you do components, you can put the crossovers behind the dash and just use the wiring from that PAC amp harness, and connect the speakers to the factory wiring.

Honestly, with the Pac Amp Harness, this is a pretty cake install, maybe 3 hours tops for amp and speakers for a completely newb. (Not sure of your experience.



No one does this. Scion did it for a little bit and that is because they advertised as being mod friendly. Hyundai/Kia did this in the mid 2000s and really only because they used a Kenwood radio for factory. Other than that, factory pre-outs are non-existent. Zero incentive for a manufacture to do so, and just one more thing to go wrong. Just imagine the warranty claims for ground noise.

Well its a shame no body does, because speaker level inputs sound no where as clear as RCA outputs.

 

[Tims RT]

The problem with your budget is good factory integration is going to eat up half of it. The Pac and harness or I'm working on putting a rockford DSR1 that does what the Pac does with maestro and integrates a dsp as well and gives you 8 channel output, but your truck really only needs 4 channels and subwoofer out, which the Pac will do and you can tune well enough with the amplifier crossovers and gain controls. You already have new dash speakers, which I'd retain so a Pac, 4 channel amp and good set of door speakers would probably be your best bang for the buck and give you a subwoofer output to add an amp and sub in the future. You'd need to mount the amp somewhere, but amps are getting smaller than they used to be and if you add a sub you'll need a place to mount amps anyways. You could get a Pac, 4 channel alpine,rockford or maybe even JL audio 4-channel and a pair of decent 6X9s in your budget, but the wiring would put you over budget and I'd run a bigger power cable to the amp so you don't have to run another one when you add a sub down the road.

That DSR1 sounds great and it 's the same price at the PAC Audio Interface, and I do like the DSP feature but I looked and it doesn't look like they have it for my 2012 yet

 

[BWL]

I thought it was more for the DSR1. Regardless it looks like you're correct and there's no harness for 2010-2012. The Pac is the more proven choice at this point anyways.