Alpine speaker help

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Ramisgood

Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Posts
33
Reaction score
13
Location
Colville, Wa.
Ram Year
2018
Engine
Hemi 6.4
I have the 22 Uconnect 5 Alpine and am wanting to upgrade the speakers for better audio definition. Of course, I've seen where people are installing the Infinity Reference 3 1/2s but know they are made by Harmon Kardon. Are the HK speakers better than Infinity or JBL? What about the Kenwood's? Don't have any store near me where I can go "test drive my ears" on a comparison test.

Liking classical music as well as regular instrumentals, I am desirous of clear string sounds and wider range than what the stock speakers provide. Watching Tube and reading on here, I haven't seen anyone describe the clarity provided by differing aftermarket brands.

I don't want to pour a bunch of money into the upgrade as Momma is still a little upset about the last one I did. The Focal speakers sang with their amp but it was almost 3K. Thinking the stock amp should be adequate.

Thanks.
 

canadiankodiak700

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2019
Posts
1,048
Reaction score
984
Location
Northern Ontario, Canada
Ram Year
2019
Engine
3.7L Pentastar
The Harmon kardon system in the tasks are still just crappy speakers, not necessarily made by Harman kardon. Their name is just branded onto the system for marketing They may actually do the tune for the EQ in the system but either way they're still base roll off and frequencies that are not there. As for comparing the JBLs and the infinity and kenwoods I myself am very partial to kimwood exelon personally I think they sound much better than the JBLs or infinity. I don't really notice much difference between infinity and JBL other than price I might say the Infinity might be a bit clearer. But regardless of which route you go they're going to sound a hundred times better than OEM. You can get a really nice set of Kenwood exelon that have a 6x9 woofer for the door and a 3 and 1/2 mid-range for up in the dash that is specifically designed for a RAM. They work amazing.
 
OP
OP
R

Ramisgood

Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2022
Posts
33
Reaction score
13
Location
Colville, Wa.
Ram Year
2018
Engine
Hemi 6.4
Thanks for your input. Today we went to Cartoys to audition what they had but ran into one of the most incompetent people I have met that essentially ignored us after he tried to get a couple of different sound rooms to work. As we were walking out the door following a 15 minute stand alone (there wasn't any other customer in the store) he showed us a box of Alpine speakers and said it was what we needed. It's my opinion he just grabbed Alpine since that is the system we have in our truck. When I told him we traveled more than a 100 miles to hear some speakers and not look at a picture on a box, he got the other worker bee that was intent on selling us a set of Focal Utopias with associated very high end gear which would place it in the "$10 - 20K" range.

My wife is an extremely talented singer but not interested in a car audio system that I am. It confuses me how she can play the piano and sing so beautifully, even harmonizes extremely well, yet be content with distorted "music". Ah, such is the dilemna of a happily married old man.

There isn't any place in town that has the Kenwood Excelerons. We did hear the Infinity 6X9 Reference but it was down right awful. They must have it connected to two grade school boys with their tin cans because there is no way so many people would be recommending them as an upgrade from what we heard.
 

joshuaeb09

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2016
Posts
1,426
Reaction score
2,402
Location
Medina County, TX
Ram Year
2022
Engine
6.7 Cummins
I've had both the Infinity's and now the Skar Audio 3.5's in my dash in all 3 locations. While I do like the Infinity's for most applications I think the imaging with the Skar's are better with their silk domes. The cost ain't bad at all, but they're big and a really tight fight to finagle into the dash corners. I'm also running the CDT Audio 6x9's in all 4 doors with the CL-69S midbass upfront and the matching HD-690SEX in the rear. Also did the Pioneer sub swap at the same time. For running off the factory Alpine amp it's all sounding pretty good after breakin, but the limitations of an 8" sub in that plastic box are pretty clear. All in all it's much cleaner and I'm just waiting for my ANC bypass harness to finish it off for now (The higher output can trigger the ANC when playing certain frequencies and then it's fighting to cancel itself out generating all sorts of acoustic oddities).

I'll probably eventually get a JL Stealthbox to round out the lows some time next year.
 

OC455

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Apr 20, 2018
Posts
3,038
Reaction score
2,610
Location
Central NY
Ram Year
2018, 2019
Engine
5.7 Hemi Big Horn, 6.4L Hemi 3500 Longhorn Mega cab
Take a look at AudioFrog speakers. They're pricey, but not Focal pricey.
 

Riccochet

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Posts
1,796
Reaction score
1,618
Location
Somewhere around Charlotte
Ram Year
2020 2500 Laramie Longhorn
Engine
6.4
The Harman Kardon factory speakers are actually a coaxial speaker, unlike the Alpine which are just a paper cone. There are a few vids on YT of people replacing the Alpine's with the HK's and it sounds a hell of a lot better. They're direct bolt in with the same wiring connector, so a direct swap. Sometimes you can find 2 pulls on ebay for like $40 for set.

 

brocker1234567

Junior Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2022
Posts
14
Reaction score
8
Location
Kentucky
Ram Year
2021
Engine
5.7 Etorque
I'm just waiting for my ANC bypass harness
Did you ever get this harness !?? Do u have a model number or link???Do u have an Alpine 9 speaker system ??? I do and I’m having troubles finding a bypass around the ANC. The ANC is causing all types of strange noises!!! My truck literally sounds like a muffler has fallen off. My truck is undrivable the noise is so loud !!
 

FL-RAM

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2020
Posts
376
Reaction score
422
Location
PENSACOLA, FL
Ram Year
2022 Bighorn Night Edition
Engine
V8
I had Kickers in my F150, Kenwoods in my 4Gen Ram, and have Infinity Refs in my current 5Gen. All have been very good, and way better than stock. Not sure I could tell much of a difference between the brands. I recently put Rockford Fosgates in my boat and those are pretty awesome also. I don't think you can go wrong with any name brand speaker upgrade.
 

joshuaeb09

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2016
Posts
1,426
Reaction score
2,402
Location
Medina County, TX
Ram Year
2022
Engine
6.7 Cummins
Did you ever get this harness !?? Do u have a model number or link???Do u have an Alpine 9 speaker system ??? I do and I’m having troubles finding a bypass around the ANC. The ANC is causing all types of strange noises!!! My truck literally sounds like a muffler has fallen off. My truck is undrivable the noise is so loud !!

Heres the harness :

You can also disable via AlfaOBD which I did 1st. The harness is just insurance in case a dealer update re-enables the ANC. I do have the Alpine 9 speaker, but I'm in a 2500. The bypass should be the same for a 1500, but I believe you'll need to install it under the drivers seat instead of under the drives dash like the HD's.

Killing ANC in my truck just opened up the freq response with aftermarket speakers, however, my ANC was functioning correctly without oddities. The issue I was having ended up being a carplay issue that was resolved after an IOS update.
 

RLee276

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2023
Posts
5
Reaction score
4
Location
Utah
Ram Year
2020
Engine
5.7
Thanks for your input. Today we went to Cartoys to audition what they had but ran into one of the most incompetent people I have met that essentially ignored us after he tried to get a couple of different sound rooms to work. As we were walking out the door following a 15 minute stand alone (there wasn't any other customer in the store) he showed us a box of Alpine speakers and said it was what we needed. It's my opinion he just grabbed Alpine since that is the system we have in our truck. When I told him we traveled more than a 100 miles to hear some speakers and not look at a picture on a box, he got the other worker bee that was intent on selling us a set of Focal Utopias with associated very high end gear which would place it in the "$10 - 20K" range.

My wife is an extremely talented singer but not interested in a car audio system that I am. It confuses me how she can play the piano and sing so beautifully, even harmonizes extremely well, yet be content with distorted "music". Ah, such is the dilemna of a happily married old man.

There isn't any place in town that has the Kenwood Excelerons. We did hear the Infinity 6X9 Reference but it was down right awful. They must have it connected to two grade school boys with their tin cans because there is no way so many people would be recommending them as an upgrade from what we heard.
The speakers will sound much different in the store then they will sound in your tru k anyway.
 
Top