Upgrade Alpine sub & speakers

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autokraftgt

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Ya, I used the factory outputs at first, if you don't listen to deep bass like rap you should be ok. I still need to install these infinity kappa 1200w subs that I just got in mail, I don't know why but they are selling cheap now, even have selectable impedance so can run on 1 or 2ohm in sets of 2 and are 600 watts rms. Used to be in $200 range and now are $99 new. They look really pretty in person, carbon fiber cone etc, look expensive, not like that matters in the truck. They would look really good in my Camaro ss, since trunk area is a carbon fiber material all custom done, but I need a little better subs than these cheap $40 Pioneer Champion ones I am using now, they tend to bottom out when up all the way and certain bass notes, but I am overpowering them, supposed to handle 400 watts and I am sending 550 rms to each. I may get a Amp also that puts out a bit more power, this Rockville db14 has been great for like 16 months, but there's not alot of dynamic power, 1,100 watts is 1,100 watts, in good quality amps when big bass hits it many can burst to higher for quick second. Been seeing these semi budget wolfram amps, crazy power for $249, great build quality, something like 1,000 watts 4ohm, 4,000 watts 1ohm, little too much for me, would need new everything. Looking at getting a 1,500 watts rms with some dynamic power.

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Sounds like your amp is sending the subwoofer a clipped signal which is why it's not very dynamic. May want to lower your gain so you do not overheat the subwoofer at high volumes. Higher quality amps tend to hold the proper voltage needed to recreate the music accurately...IE dynamics. As long as you know how to properly set gain levels, you should never worry about "over-powering" a speaker. Watts do no damage, distortion/clipping does.
 

autokraftgt

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Slight f-up... I got my alpine s 10 in the mail today. It’s dual 2ohm coils. Do I need to return it? Amp is alpine mrv 500 2 or 4ohm mono
For what it's worth, you will probably not hear a difference between 300 watts and 500 watts...probably a 1-2db difference....doubling power nets a 3db gain which is barely audible.
 

rotwiler

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Sounds like your amp is sending the subwoofer a clipped signal which is why it's not very dynamic. May want to lower your gain so you do not overheat the subwoofer at high volumes. Higher quality amps tend to hold the proper voltage needed to recreate the music accurately...IE dynamics. As long as you know how to properly set gain levels, you should never worry about "over-powering" a speaker. Watts do no damage, distortion/clipping does.
Appreciate the advice, I think my gains are correct, I used test tones etc and these cheap Pioneer subs have lasted over 6 months turning up max a lot. I have never been great at fine tuning amps, but took my time on this one. The only area I seem to have issues is certain crazy deep bass that is really fast there are certain hz the subs struggle. I am going to go through setting up gains, use volt meter etc when I put in the Kappa 1200w's. If for some reason they don't fit, then may change up the setup and try out ports etc. It sounds very good now, for average person, but I am picky about how bass sounds. Also, the flat plastic piece inside the seat rattling doesn't help, will investigate what's causing that this week, install the 6.5s in front doors and tweeters overhead. I also just bought a box of butyl sound deadening for back behind seat.
 
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Midnight Storm

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Surprisingly BIG upgrade in the stereo today.

I pulled my rear door covers off and did some noico 80ml In the cavities behind the speakers and on the panels in selective spots.
Popped on my harnesses and plugged in the 3 way infinity ref’s. WOW!! Way better highs.
It was all dash (infinity) before this and now its 50/50. Tighter bass for sure but no boom, but that’s what the sub will be for. Coming soon.
 
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Midnight Storm

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If your keeping the stock alpine Amp for mids and highs, get the jbl Gx302 3.5 inch speakers for dash, $50 a pair and sound great. Also they are same ohm as your stock 3.5s. Doors, I would do the jbl or infinity, 2 ohm ones, think many specs say 3ohm but they are actually 2.4ohm like stock. Front doors, leave it alone, do the front 3.5s, rear doors then decide in front doors. If you add a sub, you will not care about the front doors as much since no highs come out of front doors. Sub box and Amp, that's your decision, lots of options, I would go with a foxbox or if higher end, net audio. And what helped my truck alot was sound deadening the doors and a layer of closed cell foam to stop rattle. I wouldn't go with much different than the jbl302 up on dash unless you are ditching stock amp. The jbl302s sound crystal clear even full volume and are perfect for the alpine Amp. Rear doors the better jbl 6x9s add a tweeter, missing front stock speakers(they are just a full range cone, no seperate tweeter). The rear doors adding the 6x9 balances out the sound from the dash since the highs are much better with the 302s. Infinity makes a 3.5 too think it's the 3022, but I have both and both sound identical, look almost identical and price is within like $2. I see the infinitys and the jbl Gx302 all the time open box on Amazon for like $25 a pair, will need 3 if keeping center.
When you did your cc foam, did you just do a big sheet and sandwich it between the door panel and inner liner?
 

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When you did your cc foam, did you just do a big sheet and sandwich it between the door panel and inner liner?
I just did the upper area of back of plastic door panel. Is where all the rattles are at, around window switch area, handle, etc lots of plastic circle welds there for various options these trucks have and causes a lot of rattle. The rear speakers balance out the fronts a lot, I noticed it also right away. Nice to hear your getting them in, is nice a couple speaker replacements can make these sound so much better. On bluetooth music they get a lot louder than even usb, not sure why that is. Also if you turn on auto volume and put it on 3, will get louder. I did a decibel test to see output and for some reason before subwoofer were in, a few songs got a lot louder than others, the song Make me cry by Noah Cyrus and Feel it still by Portugal the man, hit loudest DB on meter and sounded super clear. The SQ 1250 Amp I bought will be here tomarrow, should be a 10 minute install since everything is wired. I shouldn't have to run any wires since I already have a telephone style cord bass knob now, will be nice having the clipping light on dash for peace of mind.
 
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Midnight Storm

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It’s plenty loud with auto set to 0 ;)

I like to listen from volume 23 to 28
I have my treble, bass and mid all pretty high on the equalizer (5-7 on each)

Thanks again! I’m pretty much following your original post to the T
 

rotwiler

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Today I switched the subs to get a 1ohm load and installed the soundQubed 1250 Amp, sounds really good now, just how I wanted it. I went safe on setting it up, so no way it can clip, tested a bunch of crazy bass songs and zero clipping. I have some overhead now to turn Amp down a little and the bass is a lot stronger. Very happy with this Amp, will see over time. Amp is really small, about half size if other Amp I had.
 

cnitty

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I upgraded all speakers in my 2017 limited to Infinity kappa 6x9 doors and ref 3022cfx in the dash.
I purchased a pair of Kappa 300m's Was thinking about changing the 3022 speakers out with the 300m.
Do you think it would be a worthwhile upgrade over the 3022 without running a amp or should I just keep what I have?
 
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Midnight Storm

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I got the JBL 3.5 in the center this evening. Man, that was a pain in the ass! The one bolt is so close to the glas that I had to take my smallest 7mm socket and use tiny vice grips to spin it.
Worth the effort tho!

Sub and amp install booked for Monday :)

Anyone get better tweets in the headliner? I’d like some more surround sound up there.
 

rotwiler

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I upgraded all speakers in my 2017 limited to Infinity kappa 6x9 doors and ref 3022cfx in the dash.
I purchased a pair of Kappa 300m's Was thinking about changing the 3022 speakers out with the 300m.
Do you think it would be a worthwhile upgrade over the 3022 without running a amp or should I just keep what I have?
The 300m is less sensitive, 3.5 ohm and basket is large so would need to modify mounting area. If not amplifying, the 3022 is better in my opinion. May have great highs, but wouldn't be as loud.
 

rotwiler

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I got the JBL 3.5 in the center this evening. Man, that was a pain in the ass! The one bolt is so close to the glas that I had to take my smallest 7mm socket and use tiny vice grips to spin it.
Worth the effort tho!

Sub and amp install booked for Monday :)

Anyone get better tweets in the headliner? I’d like some more surround sound up there.
What I see online on the various Ram forums, is people just put tweeters from like a component set in there and make a bracket to fit. Should be easy to try and probably can get a silk tweeter for cheap. I am going to try a set from my Kenwood component set. Not sure if a crossover should be used, I know they are crossed over from Amp, but there are 2.5 inch speakers in the headliner and a tweeter would probably be a inch or under, so may not be crossed over at right point. So may need to block some freq. The speakers in headliner look kind of cool, but I noticed they dont put out a lot of sound. Adding a more efficient tweeter would most likely balance out the sound really nice. How do you like the center speaker added. I still need to install the front door 6.5s, sounds so good now, hasn't been a priority. But for sure I need to finish up the sound deadener and foam, can hear it needs done.
 
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Ecofx86

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I mounted my tweeters in on top the center speaker grill. I had to remove my kicker 3.5 ks dash speaker. Way to bright on an amp.

20190511_133411.jpg
 
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Midnight Storm

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What I see online on the various Ram forums, is people just put tweeters from like a component set in there and make a bracket to fit. Should be easy to try and probably can get a silk tweeter for cheap. I am going to try a set from my Kenwood component set. Not sure if a crossover should be used, I know they are crossed over from Amp, but there are 2.5 inch speakers in the headliner and a tweeter would probably be a inch or under, so may not be crossed over at right point. So may need to block some freq. The speakers in headliner look kind of cool, but I noticed they dont put out a lot of sound. Adding a more efficient tweeter would most likely balance out the sound really nice. How do you like the center speaker added. I still need to install the front door 6.5s, sounds so good now, hasn't been a priority. But for sure I need to finish up the sound deadener and foam, can hear it needs done.
The center dash speaker makes another good improvement!

I’ll be patiently sainting for you to be the guinea Pig on the headliner tweeters! I also need to do more sound deadening.
Thanks for keeping this thread going. I’m diggin’ the improvements
 

autokraftgt

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What I see online on the various Ram forums, is people just put tweeters from like a component set in there and make a bracket to fit. Should be easy to try and probably can get a silk tweeter for cheap. I am going to try a set from my Kenwood component set. Not sure if a crossover should be used, I know they are crossed over from Amp, but there are 2.5 inch speakers in the headliner and a tweeter would probably be a inch or under, so may not be crossed over at right point. So may need to block some freq. The speakers in headliner look kind of cool, but I noticed they dont put out a lot of sound. Adding a more efficient tweeter would most likely balance out the sound really nice. How do you like the center speaker added. I still need to install the front door 6.5s, sounds so good now, hasn't been a priority. But for sure I need to finish up the sound deadener and foam, can hear it needs done.
A cross over is needed..most tweeters hate 3khz and lower. Doesn't take much to pop a tweeter
 

cnitty

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Yes I had to cut two tabs off the 300m set to fit.
But I like them so I'll just sell the 3022 set I used for a month.

The 300m is less sensitive, 3.5 ohm and basket is large so would need to modify mounting area. If not amplifying, the 3022 is better in my opinion. May have great highs, but wouldn't be as loud.
 

TomT

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Someone above mentioned 2.5", I've never looked at them myself. Just disconnected them when I did my major upgrade
 
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