2011 Dodge Ram Crew Cab Stereo Upgrade Suggestions

[CoaXiL]

Hey Folks,

Brand newbie here. I am currently in the process of upgrading my factory Alpine stereo for my truck. Next purchase is front and rear door speakers. Shortly after that I want to upgrade the factory Sub. In order to save some money on the Sub I would like to keep the Sub at 8" and use the factory housing. With the intentions of just adding some sound Matt or something to stop it from Rattling too much .... if possible.

I will be keeping the factory head unit, and most likely abandoning, the existing speakers in the dash. The plan is to have the local car audio installers run new wire to the front, rear doors and sub. Giving me the option down the road just to hook up the factory stereo when I sell the truck. They will also mount all speakers using MDF brackets/spacers.

So far I have purchased a Audison Bit One Processor, and a Alpine PDX5 amp, both are not currently installed.

The plan is to run new Front and rear door speakers off the 4 channels from the alpine, leaving the 5th channel for the Sub. I hope just to replace the door speakers first, and then upgrade the Sub when money allows.

Just looking for suggestions for the front and back door speakers at this time. I have been looking at Boston Acoustics SR60 6.5 for both the front and back, as they seem to be reasonably priced.

The other option was buying Focal Poly Glass 130R for the front, and then something cheaper for the rear doors?

My thoughts for the sub down the road was a 8" Focal 21V2

Any thoughts?

Cheers

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[duanebro 10+ year member]

You don't sound like a newbie. I think you have a good plan. I'd go with the better speakers up front. I Lots of people will say to use a certain brand. I don't. Use what sounds best to you. You might want to get the sub before new rear speakers. Just turn the rear speakers down a bit.

I would like to know more about the factory sub enclosure. You will need to match the sub with the enclosure. Buying a pricey sub might not work as well as a cheaper one in that box. Please try to figure out the volume of the box and is it sealed or ported.

 

[Joseph7195 10+ year member]

Welcome to the Forum! There's plenty of information available to you here. A quick search will reveal most answers for you pretty fast, but starting a new thread isn't a bad idea if you get stuck. There are many many options available to new Dodge Ram owners, almost too much! There will most likely be specialty wiring harnesses you will have to buy in order to bypass the factory subwoofer amp and vehicle theft deterrent system. Though without knowing your vin number and available options you have, it's impossible to help. But, I am a Dodge owner and I know almost everything about Dodge from this website.

Dodge Ram Forum - Ram Forums and Owners Club! - Dodge Truck Forum

Browse for info, and after you know all the little things about your truck, come back and start asking more specific questions, cause i will tell you, People here love audio and more than likely will help you out! Just remember to start a build log too, everybody loves pictures!!!!

 

[CoaXiL]

I'm definitely new, but getting a crash course in car audio. Originally thought I could just add an amp and increase the power to the speakers. Then realized I needed something to connect/interface with the factory deck to add the amp. So I started researching channel converters and suming devices. Overwhelmed with channels, voltage, Ohms, different brands, and conflicting information I have quickly realized that I know very little about car audio. With the intentions of making my existing stereo sound better, it has definitely turned into a bigger project then I originally anticipated.

I know very little about the existing sub. I do know the stock wannabe Alpine subwoofer is a dual two ohm voice coil unit 8" in diameter. The enclosure is 31" long and about 10" wide. It would appear the box is sealed, and from what i can tell has a maximum depth of 5" and tappers down to one inch From what have been told or read there is concern that sub will either not be able to "keep up" if I upgrade the rest of the speakers as the frequency response would probably not be low enough. Or with the 300W give or take going to the sub it wouldn't last long before failing. To save money I was hoping I could reinforce - or add dampening matt to help the plastic enclosure from vibrating to death.

As for the type of Sub, the only concern for me would be mounting depth. As I'm sure any sub would be an upgrade. Its the same for the speakers I'm shopping more by price and apparent value. Most of the speakers I have listened to all sound good in the store. Ranging from cheaper ones to high end. I can hear the difference in some of them, but they could sound way different once installed. So I'm trying to go mid range, and hope for the best...which i'm sure will be a upgrade from the factory ones.

Was going to add picture of sub , but it doesn't like the URL.. are FLickr links not allowed?

 

[Joseph7195 10+ year member]

Unfortunately for new members to the forum, your unable to make links in your posts until you reach a certain amount of posts, I think above 50. You may be able to upload pics to your caraudio.com profile here, instead of trying to link an outside photo sharing site.