Rip It All Out? Alpine stereo redo

[Quint]

I've got the 8.4 Alpine premium stereo. I upgraded the dash and rear door speakers without a noticeable change. I really hate the head unit and really get confused about adding DSPs, LOCs, and additional amps.

In every vehicle prior, I was able to swap out the factory stereo with an aftermarket and then run power to a nice amp and 10" sub. These trucks are more difficult because a lot more is tied into the head unit.

Can I just rip everything out from the head unit to the crappy amp/sub, and put in an easy aftermarket system? I assume that I'll need a new stereo, probably new speakers to match the ohms, and can use my existing amp and sub. The only thing that I think I would need to add is a maestro to work with my truck controls.

Is it that easy or am I missing something about the complexity of the stock system?

 

[RedneckHippy]

Alpine makes a replacement that ties in if your truck is the right year.

 

[BWL]

The alpine premium has an amp, but it's nothing special so the speaker swap you did is about the best you'll do still using it. Rockford makes the dsr1 that takes the signal from the head unit pre amplifier and gives you 8 rca outputs and full dsp tuning. Then you just add amps and speakers like the old days. I can't stand the 8.4, but the aftermarket units aren't any better imho and I like the stock look for would be thieves.

 

[ajairola]

To second what BWL said use the DSR1 (A Rockford and Maestro co-designed product). The user manual is here . The Factory Radios have features you can't get in the aftermarket.

 

[chri5k]

These PAC and Metra kits look real nice for installing aftermarket radios. I probably would have gone that way if they were available when I did the RA2 to UAQ upgrade in my truck. The PAC kit seems to retain the most stock features plus it adds some gauges, up to 4 additional cameras with a $30 add-on harness and assigning the hard buttons to addtional features.

https://catalog.pac-audio.com/catalog/radio-replacement-kits/rpk4-ch4101
http://www.metraonline.com/part/99-6527B

These guys sell a complete kit with a pretty nice Alpine radio and the install kit for $800.
https://creativeaudio.net/alpinebdl191224-07/