New guy here.

[jnew]

What up fella's. I just acquired a 14 Dodge Ram. I've already upgraded from the stock speakers to 6x9 JBL component types which are rated for 90W RMS. Already a vast improvement to say the least so I'm on my way. The head unit is a stock touch screen RA2 type that is pretty nice but I'm thinking about upgrading to the RA4 which has an 8.4" screen with nav. Neither of these units have line level RCA outputs to feed amp/s. Nor does it have any dedicated sub. Only the 4 channels for front and rear. I'm having many thoughts on how I may achieve the 4 speakers with quality sub lows. So my concerns are these:

1) When I turn the system up as is, I realize some distortion. Not too horrid but some. EQ is kept flat to help this issue. So if I use a line out adapter or converter, would I just be feeding that same distorted signal through the converter and on to the amps? Or does the converter somehow increase headroom and clean it up? In other words, the same amp that is collapsing and clipping, will still be the signal source for the input of the amp/s. Help me understand this.

2) As mentioned, I want some quality subs added. Currently without any dedicated sub, how can I extract that deep rich bottom for a 2x12 arrangement. My guess would be crossover. Is there such a device that can take 4 speaker levels in and work some magic to get my frequencies out via line level RCA's to a 4 ch amp for the speakers and a bridged 2 ch amp for the subs?

Sorry for the long winded post but I'm new to this game. Any info would help.

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[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

What up fella's. I just acquired a 14 Dodge Ram. I've already upgraded from the stock speakers to 6x9 JBL component types which are rated for 90W RMS. Already a vast improvement to say the least so I'm on my way. The head unit is a stock touch screen RA2 type that is pretty nice but I'm thinking about upgrading to the RA4 which has an 8.4" screen with nav. Neither of these units have line level RCA outputs to feed amp/s. Nor does it have any dedicated sub. Only the 4 channels for front and rear. I'm having many thoughts on how I may achieve the 4 speakers with quality sub lows. So my concerns are these:1) When I turn the system up as is, I realize some distortion. Not too horrid but some. EQ is kept flat to help this issue. So if I use a line out adapter or converter, would I just be feeding that same distorted signal through the converter and on to the amps? Or does the converter somehow increase headroom and clean it up? In other words, the same amp that is collapsing and clipping, will still be the signal source for the input of the amp/s. Help me understand this.

2) As mentioned, I want some quality subs added. Currently without any dedicated sub, how can I extract that deep rich bottom for a 2x12 arrangement. My guess would be crossover. Is there such a device that can take 4 speaker levels in and work some magic to get my frequencies out via line level RCA's to a 4 ch amp for the speakers and a bridged 2 ch amp for the subs?

Sorry for the long winded post but I'm new to this game. Any info would help.

whats up!!? welcome and all that.. dude I just replaced my factory hu today and let me give u some advise GET A NEW HU!!!!! omg I just got small one didn't care about having large screen but I've just spent 2 hours looking at all the setting anyway.. it has hp xover for each speaker even factory tweeter so my speakers now sound amazing kenwood x301 $119 has 24 bit da convertor so great sound) and

as far as amp goes got rid of loc and got 5 volt preamps wow sounds like I added 200rms to sub.. I used to sell stereos at shop yrs ago and these new one woulda cost $2900 15yrs ago no joke, xover, time alignment ,car size, seat postion,, u can even make lights dim at certain time of the day and pick from 50 different display colors too.. but trust me get rid of the loc and u will have hp over on speakers whole different world!!, I turned sub off set hp over overs to 100hz, just the speakers sound great.. get hu then adding amp and subs is easy..

 

[jnew]

I'm happy you have found something that is working for you. And I get where you are coming from for sure but I really like all the functionalities of the 8.4", touch screen, bluetooth, nav, XM Radio etc. And it integrates seamlessly with the vehicles logic, controls, camera, etc. I'm not completely against replacing the HU but I want to take good measures in exploring just how well we can make it work. Seems that it would be easy to replace the HU and fix the sound issue but then I might be looking at a bigger mess on the other side of the equation with integrating it to the vehicles functions.

 

[giltyler]

My 2012 Ram had the generic double din cd unit that I replaced with a Alpine Nav DVD sounds great but my Son has thr 2014 ram with the 8.4 like yours and that thing does everything and is much larger than mine.

Get a nice line out converter like Audio Control and you can do up your amps right

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00G9FNZ70/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new