Speaker Replacement Opinions

keyser_soze said:
They are not out of phase. The lows sound good, they are more accurate than the OEM just not a deep. I was on a car av forum and someone posted about how I needed to finish and seal up the mount to get the lows. Also I was listening with the door panel off. Just by putting the door panel back on made the lows a little better. Im going to finish up the mount today and I think that will bring the lows as deep as the OEM speakers
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Yes, you really can't judge the sound until it is all buttoned up. Any leakage of sound from the rear of the speaker will itself be out of phase with the front sound and will cancel the bass. And yes, the bass that you are hearing is likely of much higher quality than that from the floppy original speakers. Keep us posted.
 
DEERUNNER said:
Yes, you really can't judge the sound until it is all buttoned up. Any leakage of sound from the rear of the speaker will itself be out of phase with the front sound and will cancel the bass. And yes, the bass that you are hearing is likely of much higher quality than that from the floppy original speakers. Keep us posted.
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I have thursday and friday off so I should have everything finished then. Ill post another update.
 
*UPDATE*

Speaker update - Album on Imgur

Finished the mounts for the Kicker 6x9s. They sound much better, sealing up the mounts made the lows better.

I also installed the Sound Ordinance sub-woofer. I ran the power straight to the battery. I used the speaker level inputs. I didn't want to cut up the factory harness so I made a harness with these Harness adapter & Reverse harness adapter

These are the adapters I used for doors. Speaker adapters

Overall I'm happy. The kickers were cheap and sound better than the OEM speakers, the mids and highs are MUCH clearer. The sub is ok, its definitely not very loud or able to hit very low frequencies like a traditional 10" or 12" with a proper box and amp. It does fill in the low end that the non JBL system doesnt have. I didnt lose any cargo space and for $150 the price was right.

If I were to do it again I would have only changed the dash speakers and probably went with a sub like this Rockford Fosgate 10"
 
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Looks really good! Like your speaker mounts. The 6x9's I ordered from Crutchfield came with plastic ones that fit pretty well (3 out of 4 mounting points). Does the weather stripping help a lot? I did put down some fat mat sound proofer in the inside part of the doors.

Where did you install the Audio Control LOC? I ended up getting one of those as well.

Lastly, you said you'd go with the bigger kicker sub if had to do over. Where would you put it? I assume it's too big to fit under the seat and would have to go in the cargo area?

Thanks again for all the info and the write up...very helpful.
 
mdrudy said:
Does the weather stripping help a lot? I did put down some fat mat sound proofer in the inside part of the doors.

Where did you install the Audio Control LOC? I ended up getting one of those as well.

Lastly, you said you'd go with the bigger kicker sub if had to do over. Where would you put it? I assume it's too big to fit under the seat and would have to go in the cargo area?
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I used wood because it was $6 and I can make all the mounts for the entire truck. You can get mounts on amazon or other places but it really adds up if you are replacing all 8 speakers. The weather stripping compresses all the way if you use enough force so it works great to stop rattles and to seal the mounts. It was $1.93 at home depot.

I decided not to use a LOC. The sub I chose has line level inputs. Also the Entune headunits DO NOT remove bass as the volume is turned up, so the added features of the LC2i would have been useless.

I downloaded a bunch of test tones today. I'm going to adjust the sound of the sub and see if I can make it sound a little better. The Rockford sub I linked was only $180 and I know it would perform much better, the only drawback is I would have to mount it in the cargo area.
 
*UPDATE*

Ok so I did some adjustments to the Sound Ordinance sub and used a bunch of test tones to try to get it to sound better. No luck. It just cant move enough air.

I couldnt get the sub to go below 35hz, even then it was barely audible. The only way I could was to turn the gain really high and then I would get distortion at just normal volume. On top of that it was just too hollow and muddy. Not worth the $150, and I still have time to return it so that is what I will do...

On a side note my Kicker 6x9s go all the way down to 32hz and they put out some pretty decent bass.

So yesterday I was looking at new subwoofer options. I knew I would have to bite the bullet and mount it in the cargo space. I still wanted a small one that wouldn't take up too much space, and be easily removable.

1. Rockford Powered 10" I liked this one because it would fit in the back nicely and it is only $170 on amazon.

2. Rockford P3 10" truck box with Rockford 600x4 amp I would use the front channel to power the front speakers and bridge the rear to power the sub. Amazon prices, Sub $152, Amp $200

3. JL Audio Powered 10" This is a $450 sub, but I found someone selling a like new one on craigslist for $300.
 
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Well I met with the guy who was selling the JL sub on craigslist. I liked the sound and was impressed with the amount of bass from such a small enclosure. I paid $280.

Since it is a square box it takes up the most space (of the three I was looking at) but I'm positive the other two wouldn't have sounded this good. It cost more but its worth it because I'm happy with the sound.

I also decided to return all my Kicker speakers to amazon. I'm going to get the Kicker 6x9 components for the front and amp them with a Rockford 150x2 amp. I'm going to leave the rear OEM and run them off the head unit.

Kicker 6x9 Components $125 Amazon
Rockford 150x2 Amp $74 Amazon

This puts me at $490 total. A little over budget, but that how automotive projects always work. Should sound much better than my original plan as well.
 
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How did you position the JL sub? Any photos of how much space it actually consumes? Was looking at this same sub. Looks easy enough to remove if I ever need the cargo space.
 
fernie said:
How did you position the JL sub? Any photos of how much space it actually consumes? Was looking at this same sub. Looks easy enough to remove if I ever need the cargo space.
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As of right now its just laying in the back of the cargo area. I've been busy this week and I'm waiting on my amp before I finish my wiring. At 21" wide the box is fairly wide compared to a typical compact truck box, but it is still very shallow at only 6.5" deep.

This is how it sits now, very stable but it takes up some space.
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This is how I plan on mounting it, doesn't take up much space at all.
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I got this sub because I got a great deal on craigslist. It sounds great and it has a quick disconnects so it is very easy to remove. If you are really concerned about cargo space a compact truck box with the amp mounted under the seat would be your best option.

I will post an update next week when I get my speaker amp and sub fully set up.
 
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My setup

I posted this in the "what did you do today" thread but it seems appropriate here also.
 

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I just did Arc Audio 6x9s and a 10 inch sub in a custom enclosure on the right side rear panel. Sounds fantastic. Will take pics tomorrow
 
keyser_soze said:
This is how I plan on mounting it, doesn't take up much space at all.
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I will post an update next week when I get my speaker amp and sub fully set up.
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Don't face it into the seat. Face it to the back. You will get much better sound with the sound wave reflection off of the back hatch.
 
keyser_soze said:
Nice setup, I bet that sounds great.



It will be facing the rear, I just held it up to show how much space it takes up.
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Good to hear. I know people that would mount it that way to protect the woofer or thinking the back seat passengers need a massage. :pound:
 
Here is a brief update. I will post a complete update when Im finished.

Well I wanted to do a budget system but I think that is out the window. Going to be making some changes. Have an Audio Control DQ-61 and Morel crossovers on the way. I got a pair of Scan Speak D2010 tweeters and Im thinking about possibly changing out my sub as well.

Dynamat on the doors, Kicker 6x9 components
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Scan Speak tweters. They sound so much better than the Kicker tweeters. They barely fit. Harder to fit than my 3.5"s
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Messing with a JL Audio Cleansweet. I got it for $50. Not sure if I like it. I think Im just going to go with a quality LOC like the DQ61
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TheRealTopherG said:
How'd that JL Cleansweep work out for you? I am thinking of putting one in my rig.
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I didn't like it actually. A friend of mine had it so I figured I would try it out.

Basically it is an expensive line out converter that also flattens and smooths out the EQ curve. The problem with that is a flat EQ doesn't sound good, and I don't have anything to tune the EQ after the clean sweep.

The second problem is that I was only amping my front speakers so they were the only ones being EQd. Additionally the clean sweep uses its own volume knob, this is fine if you are using it for the whole system but again since I was only amping the front speakers it meant I would have to use two volume controls or just use the head unit which takes away some of the clarity of the clean sweep.

The clean sweep is a nice product but it just didn't work out in my situation. It is discontinued now, but for the money there are better options out there.

I'm almost done with my audio upgrades and I have made a huge improvement over the OEM stereo system. Once I get my JBL MS-8 installed I will update this thread
 
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