Alpine system speaker upgrade

[rotwiler]

I skipped the fronts, they only put out bass and no highs. I did do butyl on door. Amp pro is much better than the lc2i, the alpine system turns down bass by the dsp as sound goes up to protect the oem sub. I had a lc2i and never was able to achieve the right sound. Amp pro plugs into stock radio harness and bypasses the oem alpine amp. I am running a SoundQubed around 1500 watts at 1ohm and 2 infinity 1200w subs, along with JBL power series 6x9 rear and gx302s up front. I think it sounds excellent and front doors put out plenty of bass. Sounds really clean now.

 

[canadiankodiak700]

I understand that there will be some loss of bass due to underpowering the speakers. What I dont get is how it that would effect the output of the sub. It literally seems as if there is no sub anymore. It is hard to explain I guess, but if you sat in my truck you would think I did not have a sub at all. Whereas before I swapped the door speakers, you would have known immediately that I had upgraded the sub over the stock alpine sub. It is that drastic of a difference.

I think you are going to find that the bass you thought you were experiencing was actually the mid bass from the oem 6x9. If you get in my basic 6 speaker ram, you would swear there was a sub. The oem 6x9 put out some fairly substantial mid bass.
You get a better amp on that sub will be a huge help. Age a better amp on the doors will really bring it to life

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[bigred90gt]

I skipped the fronts, they only put out bass and no highs. I did do butyl on door. Amp pro is much better than the lc2i, the alpine system turns down bass by the dsp as sound goes up to protect the oem sub. I had a lc2i and never was able to achieve the right sound. Amp pro plugs into stock radio harness and bypasses the oem alpine amp. I am running a SoundQubed around 1500 watts at 1ohm and 2 infinity 1200w subs, along with JBL power series 6x9 rear and gx302s up front. I think it sounds excellent and front doors put out plenty of bass. Sounds really clean now.

I have no intention of running multiple amps, so the amp pro would be overkill for my needs.

i decided to go ahead and get the kicker key amp instead. Prices had gone back up to msrp for the punch amp and LC2i, so the kicker amp was cheaper. It will be here on 8/11

 

[bigred90gt]

I think you are going to find that the bass you thought you were experiencing was actually the mid bass from the oem 6x9. If you get in my basic 6 speaker ram, you would swear there was a sub. The oem 6x9 put out some fairly substantial mid bass.
You get a better amp on that sub will be a huge help. Age a better amp on the doors will really bring it to life

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I installed the 3.5” in the dash, and while I was already hot and half eaten by mosquitos, I went ahead and put the oem 6x9 back in the front doors. You are correct, as pathetic as it is, more bass comes from the 6x9 than it does from the sub. I’m interested to see how significant of a difference the amp makes. I’m guessing it will be substantial. Right now it’s wired same as oem, which is one Chanel to each voice coil. I’m going to wire it in parallel and run it at 1ohm.

I know the box will be the next limitation, but I did what I could to it by lining it inside and out with dynomat, and put a little polyfill in it. Short of fiberglassing it to reinforce it, there isn’t much else I can do. Since I actually use both of my fold flat floors a bit, I can’t afford to give up either one right now.

I swore when I bought this truck that I wasn’t going to jack with the system. I actually think the alpine system is one of the best sounding oem systems I’ve heard. All of my past vehicles have had fully custom systems, multiple amps, aftermarket head units, etc. I had no intentions of starting on this one, because I know it will eventually end up there. I’ve started down the rabbit hole already unfortunately.

 

[bigred90gt]

I will probably be posting the 6x9s for sale if anyone is looking for a set for the back doors. I’m gonna include the adapters with them.

 

[bigred90gt]

Also, I ordered the JBL gx302 3.5” speakers. It was confirmed, they shipped, everything Norma. When I got them, they sent GX328. Before I installed them, I made sure they were same specs. Not sure if maybe the gx328 replaces the gx302, but they should have updated the listing. Just a word of caution for anyone that wants to order a set off amazon.

 

[rotwiler]

The Amp pro features are overkill by allowing multiple amps, but for even just subs, Is best. The Amp pro takes the oem headunit signal before any processing, then sends it out to rcas. The LC2i installs after the amp/dsp so the amp/dsp interferes with the sound and on top of that rolls off the bass as the system is turned up. I found a open box amp pro for $140 on Amazon and been happy with. I also tried a pac line level converter, the lc2i and a ax-dsp, all except the amp pro had issues. The LC2i would add a odd processed sounding bass or would random be louder, bass rolloff still happened and I could ever get the bass to have a clean sound, to me sounded processed. The ax-dsp sounded excellent and installed just like the amp pro, but was plagued by a bad app, I was able to get the ax dsp app to accept I had the amplified system, then would go into the app to make a new adjustment and app would revert it to the non amplified system, so I had zero bass control and had to turn it up or down using bass knob. Which sucked, if wanting to turn down radio, I had to turn radio and bass knob. After like 20 emails to customer service, multiple firmware updates, app installs etc it never would work right. All customer service said was, get a iPhone or apple tablet, it has issues on android. Then right after that they came out with a newer version of the ax-dsp.

 

[bigred90gt]

The Amp pro features are overkill by allowing multiple amps, but for even just subs, Is best. The Amp pro takes the oem headunit signal before any processing, then sends it out to rcas. The LC2i installs after the amp/dsp so the amp/dsp interferes with the sound and on top of that rolls off the bass as the system is turned up. I found a open box amp pro for $140 on Amazon and been happy with. I also tried a pac line level converter, the lc2i and a ax-dsp, all except the amp pro had issues. The LC2i would add a odd processed sounding bass or would random be louder, bass rolloff still happened and I could ever get the bass to have a clean sound, to me sounded processed. The ax-dsp sounded excellent and installed just like the amp pro, but was plagued by a bad app, I was able to get the ax dsp app to accept I had the amplified system, then would go into the app to make a new adjustment and app would revert it to the non amplified system, so I had zero bass control and had to turn it up or down using bass knob. Which sucked, if wanting to turn down radio, I had to turn radio and bass knob. After like 20 emails to customer service, multiple firmware updates, app installs etc it never would work right. All customer service said was, get a iPhone or apple tablet, it has issues on android. Then right after that they came out with a newer version of the ax-dsp.

I went with the Kicker Key amp, which had a DSP built into it. I’ll find out how it is on Tuesday/wednesday.

 

[bigred90gt]

Amp showed up yesterday. Wiring was supposed to be here as well, but when I checked it said it would t be here till Friday. I cancelled that order, found another on prime that will be here today. If my wife and daughter are still out and about when it shows up, I’ll install it tonight. If not, it’ll have to wait till tomorrow.

I was planning to not buy an amp working kit, because I don’t need the remote wire, RCAs or speaker wire. Unfortunately, but the time I buy enough loose wire to run power and ground, a fuse block and fuse, and ring terminals, it would have cost more than the wiring kit. Seems really stupid, but it is what it is I reckon.

I’m still debating where to run the power wire. There apparently a dummy block off plate in the firewall where one would expect a clutch cable to pass through that a lot of people use. Supposed to be easy to get out, drill, pass the wire through then reinstall. Either that, or I’ll try to find an existing grommet I can cut through to use. Any suggestions? Also, if I go with the block off plate, anyone know what size rubber grommet I would need for a 4ga power wire?

 

[regal81455]

I just did this. The block off plate is two bolts. It will come off rather easily as long as you're the gumby type and can contort your body as necessary to be under and up in the dash lol - seriously though it's pretty easy.

The kits are the way to go - I found it silly too but cheaper that way.

The grommet you'll need will really depend on the kit because the insulation on a 4ga wire can vary tremendously but I'd be prepared for a 3/4" hole w/ a 1/2" ID.

Since I already had a few other wires running through the block off plate for other stuff I ended up making a slit in the boot just the right of the plate where a mass of other wires run through in the lower corner and it worked out just fine.

Either option will work and will be pretty easy. If you haven't used the plate yet thought that would be the route I'd go 1st.

 

[bigred90gt]

I just took a look at the block off plate, and it doesn’t look hard to get to at all front he inside, and it’s in the perfect spot in the engine bay.

I’ll probably cut a couple of inches off and go to Lowes or O’Reilly and fit test grommets. Hopefully it shows up soon. I hate sitting on parts and not being able to get them installed.

 

[Rawhide]

Hey @bigred90gt - Just landed on this forum topic of yours, and I really appreciate the amount of detail you shared on your RAM stereo journey. ...just like missing the last chapter of a good book, can you share how everything ended up with your stereo? Thanks so much!

 

[DarrenMeBoy]

are any of those stock speakers also antinoise system type ?

 

[LenTex]

Any updates on the sound?

 

[BrBlack]

Also interested in an update. Looking at going with a similar sub in the factory box. already got a Pioneer head unit so hopefully with an amp for the sub should make things perfect.

 

[RDNKB34R]

Are the Harmon Karden speakers not worth a flip either?

 

[danielrly]

How did this end up with the key amp?
Great info here, appreciate everyone sharing info.