2 way or 3 way door speakers?

[FL-RAM]

Ordered the Kenwood Excelons today from Crutchfield.

 

[farmallboy]

Ordered the Kenwood Excelons today from Crutchfield.

Congrats! Looking forward to hearing you report back.

The low end tradesman setup leaves a lot to be desired. Not much feeling and obvious clipping around the mid volume mark

 

[FL-RAM]

So, I'm a little nervous about the install. It comes with the adapters to plug and play, but what is the deal with crossover and bypass? I'm just using the stock 5" screen radio.

 

[FL-RAM]

Also...would anyone recommend an amp for the stock 6-speaker system with upgraded speakers? Not looking to blow the doors off, just want to kick it up a notch. I had a Kicker Hideaway subwoofer in my old F-150 but didn't really like it. Way too much bass. I don't want massive, booming bass. I listen to mostly classic rock.

 

[89grand]

Did you order the KFC-XP6903C set? If so, I mentioned earlier that the Kicker Key200.4 would work great. You can still find the older Key180.4 for less, and it's nearly the same. It does a pretty good job at auto eq and time alignment and comes with the microphone to do it. You would have to run new speaker wires to the dash speakers, but that should be pretty easy. I'm going to be doing that myself soon.

If you don't want to cut any factory wires, you'll need a t harness of some sort.

With that amp, you may find the bass is good enough and don't need a subwoofer. If you feel the bass isn't enough, just add a sub later.

 

[78Staff]

Did you order the KFC-XP6903C set? If so, I mentioned earlier that the Kicker Key200.4 would work great. You can still find the older Key180.4 for less, and it's nearly the same. It does a pretty good job at auto eq and time alignment and comes with the microphone to do it. You would have to run new speaker wires to the dash speakers, but that should be pretty easy. I'm going to be doing that myself soon.

If you don't want to cut any factory wires, you'll need a t harness of some sort.

With that amp, you may find the bass is good enough and don't need a subwoofer. If you feel the bass isn't enough, just add a sub later.

I think this will eventually be my solution, bi-amping the dash/front door in some way. I've got an RD400/4 running the front door/dash at 2ohm and the rear doors at 4 ohm, and it's just awful to find balance with this setup. Playing the gain game... stupid Ram and their non-standard wiring setup . I can make it work b/c the rear doors are fill basically, and an RD500/1 runs a 12" for the boom boom. But it's still annoying when changing genres/songs I'm always wanting to adjust in some way it seems.

The RD400/4 is a nice amp and would work great pushing only the Fr/Rr doors, just need to add something smaller up front and re-do the wiring for the dash speakers, which in itself will be interesting job as well. GG has mentioned the key amp, but i really only need two channels, not 4. Maybe I will upgrade to the JL Audio 6ch. Still mulling it over - been fighting DSP issues and have finally decided to drop kick the DSP and just replace the HU all-together, using the new PAC Ram Install Kit that replaces the 8.4 and hvac panel and adds new screen for vehicle settings and the like... no need for DSP anymore will just run Amps direct off the AVH-W4500 - so that is the current project .

 

[89grand]

The Kicker Key is the easiest way for good sound without buying a separate DSP and spending days if not weeks measuring the system with a mic and using something like REW. I have all of that stuff, but for the Ram, I'll be using a Kicker Key 200.4 powering CDT 6x9 woofers in the doors (single cab, so no rear doors), and CDT Untiy 8 wide bands in the dash. The factory 8.4 radio will power the rear (behind the seats) CDT 6X9's.

I'm going to use an Audio Control lc2i pro, using the factory front speaker wires as a high level input. That will allow RCA's to the Kicker amp and Audio Control Epicenter and from it to a JL Audio powered sub. I'll connect the Kicker amp to the factory front door speakers through the factory wiring, and run new wires for the dash speakers.

This sounds more complicated than it really is.

 

[canadiankodiak700]

I think this will eventually be my solution, bi-amping the dash/front door in some way. I've got an RD400/4 running the front door/dash at 2ohm and the rear doors at 4 ohm, and it's just awful to find balance with this setup. Playing the gain game... stupid Ram and their non-standard wiring setup . I can make it work b/c the rear doors are fill basically, and an RD500/1 runs a 12" for the boom boom. But it's still annoying when changing genres/songs I'm always wanting to adjust in some way it seems.

The RD400/4 is a nice amp and would work great pushing only the Fr/Rr doors, just need to add something smaller up front and re-do the wiring for the dash speakers, which in itself will be interesting job as well. GG has mentioned the key amp, but i really only need two channels, not 4. Maybe I will upgrade to the JL Audio 6ch. Still mulling it over - been fighting DSP issues and have finally decided to drop kick the DSP and just replace the HU all-together, using the new PAC Ram Install Kit that replaces the 8.4 and hvac panel and adds new screen for vehicle settings and the like... no need for DSP anymore will just run Amps direct off the AVH-W4500 - so that is the current project .

Put that 4 ch amp on just the front, bi amp the front doors and dash, then like you said, the rears are just for some rear fill, leave them on straight deck power, it's plenty for fill.

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[canadiankodiak700]

So, I'm a little nervous about the install. It comes with the adapters to plug and play, but what is the deal with crossover and bypass? I'm just using the stock 5" screen radio.

The plug and play adapters just write directly to the speaker wire and then you plug them into the OEM wire plug that was plugged into your OEM speaker. Very straight forward. As for the crossovers and such, they connect directly inline to the speakers. They only plug in one way, you can't really mess it up.
Now if you do end up going with the little key amp, and biamp the fronts, you wont use the crossovers that come with the speakers, as the amp will be doing the crossover points for you.


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[mtnrider]

I just threw these MTX 2 way's in today (front door). Now these are not $200 speakers but I did not notice a huge difference in sound. There was a slight difference but it wasn't earth shattering by any means. I'm going to say don't expect much of anything from just adding speakers without an amp. Anything aftermarket is really going to need more power to drive them period.

 

[Atcer2018]

I went with the Kicker Mopar performance upgrade speakers front and rear. Designed by Kicker specifically for Mopar application. Six 4 ohm speakers with a built in cutoff on the front tweeters, perfect fit in the factory openings and Mopar ready connectors. The rears are 2 ways and the fronts are a midwoofer for the doors and dedicated tweeters for the dash. The setup is punchy and delivers respectable bass without a dedicated sub. About a hundred bucks more than the average aftermarkets but well worth it in my humble opinion. While you’re in the doors replacing the speakers get some cheap knockoff dynamat from Amazon and sound deaden the inside of the exterior sheet metal, it makes a world of difference!

 

[FL-RAM]

Got the Exelons in today. Man, what a difference! You can tell how junky the OEM speakers are. They weigh about half of the Kenwoods and you can tell there is a huge difference in build quality. Haven't really tuned them in yet, but I like it so far. Fit perfectly.

 

[duckman631]

2-way or 3-way?

3-way.

When you take out the 6x9 if you haven’t already and you feel the weight difference between stock and in my case the kicker 6x9, it was mind blowing the difference. I bought the whole kicker set for all 6 speakers for under $200. I can’t believe for the price of these trucks that they couldn’t partner up with kicker and put them in as oem. And if you do dash, put resistors inline with harness for fronts.

 

[Gary2]

I have always went with the MOPAR kicker up grade on any of my Rams that didnt have alpine or what ever was their better OE system . Its nice because you are not putting tweeters in the wrong place and having to many tweeters which usually cancels out some of the sound effects purposely recorded into the music

 

[Graygoose]

3-way.

When you take out the 6x9 if you haven’t already and you feel the weight difference between stock and in my case the kicker 6x9, it was mind blowing the difference. I bought the whole kicker set for all 6 speakers for under $200. I can’t believe for the price of these trucks that they couldn’t partner up with kicker and put them in as oem. And if you do dash, put resistors inline with harness for fronts.

actually used too, do with GM and Subaru still. Partnering with the big guys has its up and downs for sure. Be ready for any change LOL

 

[89grand]

3-way.

When you take out the 6x9 if you haven’t already and you feel the weight difference between stock and in my case the kicker 6x9, it was mind blowing the difference. I bought the whole kicker set for all 6 speakers for under $200. I can’t believe for the price of these trucks that they couldn’t partner up with kicker and put them in as oem. And if you do dash, put resistors inline with harness for fronts.

To be quite honest, even when factory systems are labeled Alpine, Kicker, Rockford, or like my 06 Magnum Boston Acoustics, you're still usually getting cheap paper dual cone speakers that are clearly not on the level of their after market speakers. If Ram had teamed with Kicker, it still wouldn't have the speakers you bought.

The Boston setup in my Magnum sounded pretty decent, but the speakers still look like cheap garbage. I think the manufacturers are just selling the right for the aftermarket brand to advertise, and maybe have some input in the tuning or something.

 

[Graygoose]

To be quite honest, even when factory systems are labeled Alpine, Kicker, Rockford, or like my 06 Magnum Boston Acoustics, you're still usually getting cheap paper dual cone speakers that are clearly not on the level of their after market speakers. If Ram had teamed with Kicker, it still wouldn't have the speakers you bought.

The Boston setup in my Magnum sounded pretty decent, but the speakers still look like cheap garbage. I think the manufacturers are just selling the right for the aftermarket brand to advertise, and maybe have some input in the tuning or something.

The 77KICK are what was used by Ram and Chrysler. The VSS sub I had, is the exact sub Ram had....the VSS Silverado we sell is the one GM installs.
Cant speak for other audio manufactures tho.

 

[FL-RAM]

Took a little ride around the neighborhood just now to test out the system. Right off the bat I noticed the highs are way more sharp and clear and the bass is very deep and pronounced. I had to go into the EQ and turn down the Treble and Bass a notch or two. The bass vibrates the door and I can feel it through the seat. Sounds like an actual sub down there. Night and day difference. Can't wait to get the rears replaced.

 

[FL-RAM]

To be quite honest, even when factory systems are labeled Alpine, Kicker, Rockford, or like my 06 Magnum Boston Acoustics, you're still usually getting cheap paper dual cone speakers that are clearly not on the level of their after market speakers. If Ram had teamed with Kicker, it still wouldn't have the speakers you bought.

The Boston setup in my Magnum sounded pretty decent, but the speakers still look like cheap garbage. I think the manufacturers are just selling the right for the aftermarket brand to advertise, and maybe have some input in the tuning or something.

Yes. The speakers I just took out look like they might cost about $10 if you could buy them at Crutchfield. Definitely bottom-basement quality. I was very surprised to see how cheap they looked and felt. The tweeters look like they came out of an old AM radio. I was surprised at how cheap and light weight the 6X9s were.

 

[FL-RAM]

The next question is, for the rear speakers should I get Kenwoods to have an all Kenwood system, or maybe get a pair of Kickers or something else? Does it even matter?