factory stereo speakers

[JRS]

time to replace the factory speakers in my '97. none of the stereo places can give me an idea how deep the factory speakers are. I hate to pull the door panel, etc. just to measure the depth of the speakers. anyone have any idea? I have the basic four speaker system and stereo. Passed on the Infinity system.....

 

[benhall]

JRS,



Go to www.crutchfield.com and they have all the specs for our Rams.



Ben

 

[Chipstien]

You can fit just about anything in the factory locations. The doors use 6x9's but if you don't mind woodworking than get some 1/4 inch plywood and cut out and adapter that will bolt in place of the 6x9's and cut a hole for 6. 5's. Remember that a round speaker will always give you the best sound quality because of less cone flex. I even took tin snips to the back doors so I could put in 6. 5's. The factory speakers in the rear are 5. 25's. Good luck. I can get the exact measurements of the front and back speaker if you want them... . let me know, they're sitting in my garage.

 

[JCyrbok]

depth of the speaker

I'm having a hard time finding speakers that will fit in the front due to the depth of the speakers. any thoughts. I have power windows.



Thanks

J-

 

[Chipstien]

If you go with 6x9's than you will need a slimline speaker. They are out there.

 

[nwinters]

I second making an adapter for a 6. 5 in a 6x9. Wish someone made them... I made mine out of 1/4" ABS on a bandsaw. This should space them far enough out that you shouldn't need to worry about the depth of the speaker.

I put 5. 25 in the rear and had to make an adapter (1/4") to get them to fit, the speakers I had were too deep.



Nate

 

[JCyrbok]

adapter

I was on Chrutchfields Web site last night and they said that they have adapters for different size speakers. Dont know the price. If you enter all of your truck info they will tell you what speakers they stock to fit.



J-

 

[Chipstien]

Originally posted by nwinters

I second making an adapter for a 6. 5 in a 6x9. Wish someone made them... I made mine out of 1/4" ABS on a bandsaw. This should space them far enough out that you shouldn't need to worry about the depth of the speaker.

I put 5. 25 in the rear and had to make an adapter (1/4") to get them to fit, the speakers I had were too deep.



Nate

How deep were the speakers. I fit 6. 5 in the door and had plenty of room to spare. (Rear BTW)

 

[nwinters]

I don't have 4 doors, the rear speaker areas in mine are shallower I guess. I have MB Quart separates all around, 6. 5 in front, 5. 25 in back.

Nate

 

[Chipstien]

Originally posted by nwinters

I don't have 4 doors, the rear speaker areas in mine are shallower I guess. I have MB Quart separates all around, 6. 5 in front, 5. 25 in back.

Nate

Nice choice in separates. That's what I run but as I have mentioned I opened the rears so I have 6. 5 all the way around. Love em.

 

[nwinters]

I would have gone with 6. 5s all around, but I already had the 5. 25s. Have had them for about 8 years now and still kicking. I got the 6. 5s from eBay, same model line to match the rears.

218. 03CX Front 6-1/2 separates

215. 03CX Rear 5-1/4 separates

Its all sounding great, don't need to do any more bombing there.





Nate

 

[Blakers]

If you go with 6. 5" speakers all around, is it better to use 2-way or 3-way? Is there much difference?



Thanks,



Blake

 

[krs]

Crutchfield makes things pretty easy. For our trucks they list only one speaker as an EZ fit into the front doors and that is the Alpine SPS-6939S, a 6"x9" of a depth that clears everything in the door.



They have 25 models of 5 1/4" speaker that will fit in the rear door/panel in quad or club cabs and one of those is another Alpine, model SPS-1329S. This is of the same design as the 6"x9" in the front. Matched sets are nice.



In our '97 I used these. I wanted a simple upgrade of sound and used a pioneer head, a rockford sub in the r/h rear panel and the Alpines. It's a nice cheap good sounding system.



I changed out the speakers first and want to say that those made a substantial improvement in the sound of the stock radio all by themselves. The radio was the cheapy with only a tape head. When I tried the speakers with that radio I almost stopped right there because it sounded very good - much better than the stock speakers do.



I went on and added the pioneer, the sub, and a 12 disk changer, but for someone who just wants to improve their stock radio/stereo sound those alpine speakers at less than $200. for all would be a good way to go.



(by the way - crutchfield had said that some drilling would be required to mount the Alpines in the back. I just used two stock mounting holes instead of four and drilled nothing)



I have the infinity system in our '01 and it's OK, but I've been thinking that maybe a set of those Alpines would help it out of it's muddy sound too.



I don't spend much for sounds in these trucks. There's always music playing anyway, unless the key is off.

 

[T-Bone]

kshine,

When you changed out only the speakers, did you have to do anything special with the rear speakers? I keep hearing that there is an amp on the front speakers that runs the back speakers. Were the new rear speakers plug-n-play?

T-Bone

 

[JCyrbok]

speakers

I replaced mine with 6 1/2 '' Pioneer 3 ways from Crutchfields. I put them in both the front and rear ( that were at a good price). Crutchfields included mounting plates/adapters for the front doors for free. They are aprox 1/4'' plastic plates that u mount the speaker too and then the plate to the stock location. There is plenty of depth in the door and did not have to cut the door panel at all to fit the tweeter protrusion. Crutchfields also included free wiring harnesses too for all the speakers, no cutting and splicing wires.



I did the whole install front and rear in about 1 1/2 hours.



A few things to remember. U will need a heavy duty door panel fork, and about 35 new door panel clips. 13 for each front and i think 8 for each back ( if you have a QC). U have to replace the clips ( yellow christmas tree type) as they are torn up when u remove them. I tried aftermarket "univeral" clips from MUrrays and they sucked. I got the DC ones from the Stealer. They are expensive, 1. 50 a piece for a small piece of plastic. But no problems with them. I figure if you do it, do it right.



Hope this helps, the Pioneers sound great too.



J-

 

[krs]

T-bone,



No, there wasn't anything unusual to do other than use the free installation kit supplied by crutchfield which only consisted of short feed wires to take the DC speaker connectors onto the new speakers. A convenience only, really, as I could have changed the connectors from the truck easily enough.



JCyrbok is right about the christmas tree panel connectors - one or two invariably tear or break. Our stealer had them priced at $2. 75 per which I think is outragious thievery so I used some from the local hardware store bins that are $. 50 apiece. A little harder to install but they hold the panels down securely

 

[Blakers]

Anyone using the Alpine SPR-694A 6x9 speakers? I just listened to them at Circuit City and they sound much better than the Alpine SPS-6939S. The only problem is they are 3 1/4" deep. Will they fit? The SPS-6939S's are 2 13/16".



Thanks,



Blake

 

[Steve M]

I had to bring this one back to life as I found the same at Circuit City. I like the 2-way Alpines better than the 3-way by far. Much cleaner sound. I want to replace my stock speakers in my '03. I didn't get the Infinity this time around like I did in my last three trucks. Man what a difference in sound. Every time we take our Durango with Infinity I'm reminded how muffled my speakers sound in my truck. Did you get the 2-way Alpines and if you did, how did they work out?