Upgrade Alpine sub & speakers

[TomT]

I’m in Enterprise IT so I’m well acquainted with the “have you restarted it?” dance. LOL

The reset is not required but the Alpine amp can get weird if it senses no load on the speaker. Are the replacement speakers the same Ohm as the originals?

 

[djkorben]

I’m in Enterprise IT so I’m well acquainted with the “have you restarted it?” dance. LOL

The reset is not required but the Alpine amp can get weird if it senses no load on the speaker. Are the replacement speakers the same Ohm as the originals?

Yeah they're all 2.3 ohm JBL speakers, the ones everybody here is using, except for the tweeters I put in the headliner, which are 3 ohm. Should be okay as the resistance is getting higher not lower I'd imagine.

I took an ohmmeter to my old speakers to verify they were the same

 

[RigRat]

So after some time of gathering parts I am ready to upgrade my 2014 system. Just need the PAC unit you guys are talking about. Seems to be the best / only way to integrate with the truck. I have a new sub, 2 amps a 5 channel Hertz, and the Hertz H8 DSP and component speakers for the front with coaxial for the back. Going to hook up the PAC to the DSP with fiberoptic cable which I am trying to research a bit here.
Lots of good tip here I hope to use.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[djkorben]

I’m in Enterprise IT so I’m well acquainted with the “have you restarted it?” dance. LOL

The reset is not required but the Alpine amp can get weird if it senses no load on the speaker. Are the replacement speakers the same Ohm as the originals?

Well here goes nothing. I've disconnected the battery and now I wait to see if I can reset my crappy speakers.

How long you think before it resets? Is there a battery backup you think within the radio? I don't know if it needs 4 hours or 4 seconds and couldn't find anything on Google

 

[TomT]

I think 10-15 minutes is plenty.

 

[djkorben]

I think 10-15 minutes is plenty.

You are some type of genius. I would have never thought to "reboot my truck"

My stereo works again. It was such a bizarre sound. Like it was only mids coming out of my sub and only treble out of my mids. Very weird.

But, everything works again! I'll post some pics when all my stuff finally comes in and let you know how the amppro install goes.

Has anyone in here used the amppro to add an amp for the cab speakers and not just the sub?

 

[TomT]

My system starts with an AmpPRO to a DSP, four amps, three way fronts, rears, and sub.

 

[djkorben]

My system starts with an AmpPRO to a DSP, four amps, three way fronts, rears, and sub.

Did you lose any of the speaker functionality amping the cab speakers? I'd like to do that too but how do you get that centre channel connected to the system, or the rear ceiling speakers?

 

[TomT]

Ahhh, I misunderstood. I’ve swapped out everything except the head unit for much better stuff.

 

[djkorben]

That's basically what I am in the process of doing, I'm hoping to have it all setup at the end of next week

 

[TomT]

In that case, I just disconnected the roof speakers and am not running a center channel.

You will definitely want some type of DSP to control everything.

 

[djkorben]

Hey Tom, I was just reading another thread with a bunch of info in it that you were commenting in about DSPs and the Alpine system.

What would you recommend for a DSP if I'm keeping the Alpine Amp running the cab speakers for now? I'm assuming I'll need a 9 channel for all of them. Or is every DSP an amplifier as well?

I have a Wavtech BassFreq I'm putting in line with the subwoofers I'm putting in the back eventually with a JL HD amp

I plan to eventually amp the rest of the system but I really do like the rear ceiling speakers and the middle channel. I've never had a vehicle with them before but now I like the extra sound up front

 

[TomT]

Once you go with a DSP it will completely replace the factory amp/processor. You are only keeping the head unit at that point.

A lot depends on if you use separate components or coaxial type speakers.

I have no idea what a BassFreq does.

 

[TomT]

If you search this forum for my posts, I did one with a full explanation of what an active system is and what the DSP actually does. Definitely read up before starting to just buy stuff.

 

[autokraftgt]

Once you go with a DSP it will completely replace the factory amp/processor. You are only keeping the head unit at that point.

A lot depends on if you use separate components or coaxial type speakers.

I have no idea what a BassFreq does.

I just bought an Image DYnamics sq600.1 (not for my truck) and it has 'bass freq'....my understanding is it ties in with the bass boost knob...essentially controlling what freq the boost is applied to....bass boost used to be hard wired to a set freq...say...40-50hz was pretty standard and I hated it and never ran it...now if you can boost a freq of your choice, that could be advantageous depending on a bunch of things. Back in the day, boosting that upper bass freq of 40-50hz would ruin music most of the time (overwhelming bass guitar etc)
I could be wrong on this as I have only messed with it for a few minutes

 

[TomT]

Seems redundant if you have a decent DSP with adjustable EQ?

 

[djkorben]

Thanks for everybody's help in this forum, it's really opened up my eyes to what is possible to do with this truck.

Has anyone here used the Kenwood XR600-6DSP? A friend of mine has it and says it's pretty awesome. It's also on sale here for $466 Canadian

I was concerned about losing my centre and headliners but if TomT and his jealousy inducing setup isn't using them, 6 channels must be okay.

It comes with an idatalink maestro at that works kind of like an AmpPRO but bypasses the old Alpine amp entirely. It looks like a decent amp and DSP combo and has preouts to go to my HD750 for my subs

 

[TomT]

Unless I’m completely off, the iDatalink Maestro is used to interface a 3rd party head unit with the factory controls. It make things like steering wheel controls and on screen climate controls work with an aftermarket head unit. Completely different from the PAC Audio AmpPRO.

 

[djkorben]

That's what I thought too but there's a few idatalink modules I guess. There's the RR (radio replacement) that I think you're talking about, and then there's also the AR (amplifier replacement) that bypasses the amp entirely.

That Kenwood unit here is normally $1200 but because it's such a niche product I guess it's not selling well so they're blowing it out. The DSP portion looks pretty slick though. After you told me to read up on active systems I can't stop haha

Any thoughts?

https://www.kenwood.com/usa/car/excelon/xr600-6dsp/

https://maestro.idatalink.com/product/product/product_id/412

 

[TomT]

I stand corrected, hadn’t seen that iDatalink unit. That looks like it will make a nice system.