Stereo sucks

[RangerGress]

I got my 1500 Ecodiesel yesterday. It has the 8.4 system with the amp and extra speakers option. To my surprise the quality of the sound is kinda lousy, especially the highs. The lows and midrange is dull, and the high end is almost absent. In order to fix it as best I could i used the lousy equalizer settings to significantly reduce the bass and add high-end but it's still not that good.

Is a bummer. Naive me really thought that the Premium Sound option meant premium sound.

 

[Caldwell]

this happens to alot of memebers from what I have read.

there are ways to make subtle improvements, but not sure about complete overhauls.

 

[BlownGP]

Changing the dash speakers makes a huge improvement..

Not sure you would want to change out that awesome 8.4, but after changings all my speakers. Putting in my 7" Pioneer made the speakers sound even better.

 

[ironhead3fan]

I bought the 77KICK42 upgrade from one of the dealers on ebay and it made a world of difference. Much better highs and something I wasn't expecting, much more bass from the front door speakers as well. Best part about the whole thing was they were plug and play. Could I have bought better quality speakers, probably, but I really like the difference these made. With aftermarket speakers, I would have been buying adapters and worrying about fitment. This kit comes with 3 dash speakers and 2 6x9 door speakers. Here are some pictures of the difference between what I bought (77KICK42) and the factory speakers.

Finally did it

 

[DarbyOhara]

I bought the 77KICK42 upgrade from one of the dealers on ebay and it made a world of difference. Much better highs and something I wasn't expecting, much more bass from the front door speakers as well. Best part about the whole thing was they were plug and play. Could I have bought better quality speakers, probably, but I really like the difference these made. With aftermarket speakers, I would have been buying adapters and worrying about fitment. This kit comes with 3 dash speakers and 2 6x9 door speakers. Here are some pictures of the difference between what I bought (77KICK42) and the factory speakers.

Finally did it

I got those kickers for my dash (2014 Ram 1500 Express) and indeed the highs (mostly vocals) became so much more clear and bright, but unfortunately I lost the strong bass I had before. In fact, I had to turn the treble down a notch or two and cranked up the bass. The bass is almost max and if I go a notch up anymore, it starts to sound muddy and crappy. I am hoping that it is just that 5.0 Unconnect junk... and I will replace it with a plug n' play and hopefully I get all my frequencies back. I haven't replace the rear or door speakers yet. That will be on my bucket list after the head unit replacement.

 

[Riskwriter101]

I got my 1500 Ecodiesel yesterday. It has the 8.4 system with the amp and extra speakers option. To my surprise the quality of the sound is kinda lousy, especially the highs. The lows and midrange is dull, and the high end is almost absent. In order to fix it as best I could i used the lousy equalizer settings to significantly reduce the bass and add high-end but it's still not that good.

Is a bummer. Naive me really thought that the Premium Sound option meant premium sound.

I bought my 2013 Power Wagon and it was Nav ready and did not have the premium sound system. When I upgraded and added Nav, I didn't want to trash the head unit so I added the Audio Control LC7i and ran that to both a JL 500 amp and JL 6 channel 750 watt. The Audio Control does a great job of splitting the signal between highs and lows and lets me retain the head unit. The front speakers are Focals component 6x9 and tweeters mounted in the upper door panels for high notes. Sounds pretty good. Rear speakers are Alpine 6x9's (changing to Focal's) and a JL sub in a preformed box under the passenger seat. I've had much more expensive systems in previous cars that didn't sound this good.

 

[rpr]

I bought my 2013 Power Wagon and it was Nav ready and did not have the premium sound system. When I upgraded and added Nav, I didn't want to trash the head unit so I added the Audio Control LC7i and ran that to both a JL 500 amp and JL 6 channel 750 watt. The Audio Control does a great job of splitting the signal between highs and lows and lets me retain the head unit. The front speakers are Focals component 6x9 and tweeters mounted in the upper door panels for high notes. Sounds pretty good. Rear speakers are Alpine 6x9's (changing to Focal's) and a JL sub in a preformed box under the passenger seat. I've had much more expensive systems in previous cars that didn't sound this good.

Nice! What did that setup set you back?

 

[tokenindian]

Yeah focals are nice..I have 4 of their 6x9s in my doors, a 5 channel amp, and a 12 in sub under the seat. Huge improvement over the base system. Just installed a kenwood ddx 371 today to finish it all out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[blackout11]

Ya i kept my head unit and added a 1200 watt jbl system love the head unit with sat and nav and not to many head units can store 1000 songs lol

 

[blackout11]

got another amp hidden under the seat 6x9 jbl in the back and the splitter thing custom box and crossovers and all that jazz its figin nuts was going to go with 2 10's im sure damn glad i didnt this thing rattles my teeth as it is lol

 

[Riskwriter101]

Nice! What did that setup set you back?

Not too bad ... About $1,700 since I kept the stock head unit and all functionality.