Alpine system upgraded with JBL and pioneer

[Spindrifter]

Got a pair of Cerwin-Vega 6" x 9" 3-Way XED Series speakers from a friend, going to test one in the rear door for fitment and see if it is an improvement of the stock one. I'll post up my impressions...

 

[SyN]

Shadow: Once you get your new rear speakers installed you can adjust your fade to send more of the sound back to them.

I replaced the corner dash speakers with the JBL Clubs to, so I wanted to keep a good amount up front still to enjoy the Clear/Clean/Crisp highs.

I only adjusted my fade (one click back).
This was perfect to my listening.
I could easily hear the new JBL Club 6x9s singing in the back, but still was getting plenty of rich clean music up front.

Most might like 2 or 3 clicks back on the fade.

I’m perfectly thrilled with my choice & selection of replacement speakers. The Sub is next on the list.

 

[shadowhawk]

I looked at the front setup, and it's all buried under the dash cover. nothing in the pillars. Mine is a 2016 Sport.

 

[SyN]

These dash speakers are super easy to get to & replace.
The center dash speaker is just flat out stupid for a fella with ******** hands but can be done.

My advice would be if you have plans on replacing your stock dash speakers replace them with the highest quality dash speakers that you can afford.
In these trucks this seems to be where the main sound stage is focused.

 

[shadowhawk]

So they are easy. Good. Next purchase might be front speakers

Thanks for the insight

 

[invisabiker]

I originally installed three JBL 3020 in the dash on my 2018 club cab with the Alpine system. sounded much better. but still had the mod bug so I changed them to Jl Audio C2-350x 3.5-Inch 2 Way Speakers, they are 4 ohm so I was not sure if they would be loud enough. they might not play quite as loud but the 4 vs 2.5 ohm issue doesn't seem to make much difference and they sound to me even better. the next thing I didn't like about the Alpine system was the bass boost as I still had to run the bass equalizer most of the way down. I had some JL audio C3 separates from a old install so I changed the front 6x9 to the 6.5" JL audio woofers. it worked great just the right amount of bass and removed much of the (muddy sound) my system sounds really nice now. wondering if the JL audio tweeters from the old install might sound better on the dash, when will it stop? I know some people are disconnecting the center speaker and someone said that turning off surround sound will turn it off but not on my 18 club cab with the Alpine system. if you want to try it without just put a spiral note book or something like it on the center speaker. for me I'm so much closer to the left speaker that I like having the center to keep voices center. just my opinion I'm sure others might disagree.

 

[shadowhawk]

ok- so the only way I'm going to get more bass is more power, right? that means an amp. I'm sure my music choice is lacking bass on a lot of song, but I'm just need hearing much from the new pioneer.

ok- if I throw some Imagine Dragons on, there's much more bass in the music, and it's much better.

 

[blackbetty14]

ok- so the only way I'm going to get more bass is more power, right? that means an amp. I'm sure my music choice is lacking bass on a lot of song, but I'm just need hearing much from the new pioneer.

ok- if I throw some Imagine Dragons on, there's much more bass in the music, and it's much better.

Different songs will have more Bass. Its hard to tell you what songs have more but more POP/RAP will have more than say country etc.

Remember that the SUB has to BREAK IN, so it will get a bit louder after being used for a bit.

 

[shadowhawk]

I'll give it a bit, and for sure I need to change my song selection for a while

 

[blackbetty14]

So I tested the surround sound turning off the center speaker. I can't confirm it does in "OFF" mode but I can def hear a difference up in the dash area (its quieter in the OFF position). Also the display on the head unit shows the center speaker active in the ON positon.

Also it should be stated that NOT all the music is surround sound capable. This means more than likely all "radio" minus HD radio prob isn't capable. But my Sirius seems to do it which I expected.

 

[shadowhawk]

just a quick update. I put the Pioneer in about 3 weeks ago, and it's finally loosened up. I have a nice thump without it being obnoxious for my 50 yr old ears.

 

[SyN]

SH: Thank you for your (positive review) post!
Come spring I just might pull the trigger on the little pioneer.

 

[RaftingDave]

This thread is makin' me sad - I am so wanting to replace my dash speakers, and possibly sub, on my 2017 "Alpine" system. But our truck is leased, with two more years to go, and while we're *probably* going to buy it out in 2020, I promised my wife I wouldn't chop it up while it was still on lease.

I'm kind of okay with what I have (stock Alpine), a little EQ tweaking and a little compromise on the sound, but the custom system I had in my old truck was way better....

 

[shadowhawk]

SH: Thank you for your (positive review) post!
Come spring I just might pull the trigger on the little pioneer.

for the price, it's a worthwhile upgrade. with adapters, it's just about $75-80. Just know it will take a few weeks to loosen up. Right after install, it sounded no different than the stock unit, but now it's MUCH better.

 

[TomT]

This thread is makin' me sad - I am so wanting to replace my dash speakers, and possibly sub, on my 2017 "Alpine" system. But our truck is leased, with two more years to go, and while we're *probably* going to buy it out in 2020, I promised my wife I wouldn't chop it up while it was still on lease.

I'm kind of okay with what I have (stock Alpine), a little EQ tweaking and a little compromise on the sound, but the custom system I had in my old truck was way better....

While it will NEVER sound as good as a full aftermarket system, swapping the speakers is probably a $200 and a weekend deal. Not much to invest to not deal with crappy sound for two more years.

 

[shadowhawk]

the doors took me about 30 mins each, the sub was 45 mins.

 

[bfill_rebel]

just a quick update. I put the Pioneer in about 3 weeks ago, and it's finally loosened up. I have a nice thump without it being obnoxious for my 50 yr old ears.

So which speakers and sub did you go with?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[shadowhawk]

the same ones this thread is about. Should be in the first post.

 

[OCSOswat]

First time poster.....

I just picked up a 2015 Ram Sport. I've had it a total of 10 days.... well.. the dealer kept it 3 weeks because it had a rear end noise I noticed on the way home.. new rear end!

Anyway... I just put the Pioneer sub in today. I have to say I'm completely underwhelmed. I had to get out of the driver's seat and lift the rear seat to see it was even playing. I had zero bass compared to the factory Alpine 8. Now granted I know it needs a break-in period but it really sounded nonexistent.

I'm going to take it back out tomorrow and check to make sure I didn't screw up the polarity when connecting the harness as it was near dark when I finished up... and I was grilling chicken at the same time so it's really possibly that I screwed up. That's how little bass is coming from the sub.

With the factory Alpine I ran the bass adjustment at -2. With the pioneer, the midbass in the front doors overpower anything the sub is doing.

I saw a post on this thread with someone having a similar issue. But I've not seen any remedies. I have the JBL GX series 3.5 and 6x9 sets ready to go in the dash and doors. Just hoping they clean up things a little. I'll go back to the factory sub I guess if the Pioneer problem doesn't remedy somehow.

I haven't been into car audio in over 20 years now.. I did installs as a college kid working part time during school and full time during summers.

For those of you adding aftermarket amps and subs.... where are you tapping the signal? Is an aftermarket signal processor like the RF 360.3 necessary just to add a sub?



As a side note.. I though I had applied enough silicone to the hole at the bottom of the enclosure to seal it properly. Maybe that's my error. It really sounds like the sub has no back pressure. Anyone have any tips on how they sealed their enclosure where the phillips head screw went into the factory sub?

 

[TomT]

@OCSOswat If you have the budget, the PAC Audio AmpPRO 4 is the best choice to pull a quality signal from the factory Alpine system. From there you can feed amps directly or go to your choice of DSP and run a fully active system. The sky is the limit once you have a good signal source (either RCAs or optical Toslink).