Installation Tips and procedures for Audio

[dodgerep]

Hi guys,

I know alot of you are looking at audio upgrades, and many more of you have infinity systems in your trucks. I have noticed that several people seemed confused as to the infinity amplifier and its exact location or role. SO I thought this may help.



The 04. 5 Infinity amp is located behnd the passengers side left dash vent. To reach this amplifier, you must remove the glove box, cup holder and then the Dash plackard that goes from the passengers door (below the airbag) all the way to the steering column. You must also remove the center dash plate that is held in place by one screw tht is locate behind the trash bag hook by the glove box.



All infinity systems to have an amplifier. The amp is Silver or Aluminum in coler and is in an aluminum bracket that is a paint to remove, so make sure you have some 90 degree angles wratchet tools.



If you add an aftermarket amplifier (at least one with any decent power) you will have to disable the infinity amp. There are some good and bad things to this. If you disable it, most amplifiers are going to offer you 4 or 5 channels. With a 5 channel amp. you will have to run the dash board tweeters in series with the front door 6X9's. You can do this by adding another electronic crossoever or for about 4 bucks, you can get a set of passive crossovers that will block out any bass to your dash tweeters, while sitll allowing your door speakers to play in full range. :--)



This is about a 5 - 7 hour job to install an amplifier, and run the necessary cables and solder the wires and re install the dash. :-{}



I have had many hours looking for the right amp and speaker configuration for the quad cab, and have come up with a very tight and cost effective :-laf solution.



IF anyone is interested in Oo. the installation and the entire process as well as cost, I will be posting the information on www.dodgerep.com

Oo.

 

[Spooled-up]

dodgerep,

I went to your link and couldn't find the article or post you were referring to.



I just installed a Kenwood KDC-X979 which is Kenwood's top of the line "audio only" receiver. I've not been impressed with the sound. Does this have something to do with the Infinity amp? The receiver has it's own built in amp and I believe 5v pre-outs for a real amp. I'd like more info on your setup.



-Dave

 

[dodgerep]

Well Dave,

I have heard this from alot of guys. The situation is this. The Infinity amp is a piece of junk in the real world of audio. What I would do if I were you is not easy, but will make you smile for days when you are done.



The factory head unit wiring harness, which you have probably already bought a patch for, leads to the Infinity amp in hte dash. There is not loop patch for the amp, what I am trying to say is, the wires go in to the amp from the radio, and out to the speakers in the same wire loom. So what you have to do to bypass the infinity amp is to unplug that harness, and then attach wires from the input side of the harness to the output side of the harness... This will effectively eliminate the infinity amp. Now just using your Kenwood head unit, you will notice a better level of audio, but you will not get much volume from it.

Now it is time to add an amp. if you go to my web site. www.dodgerep.com and look at the product page, I am going into more detail and will be adding some photos of the install tomorrow by noon.

 

[Carlsummers]

Dave, I'm no expert at installations, but, I do know sound. In the '03 I had the RAZ... I replaced head unit, the door speakers with Infinity Reference speakers... . added an amp and subs... . one huge difference ( I already had the subs, so the cost was around $800. 00 ). I did not go with a high end head unit... got a panasonic. I was so pleased with it that last week I had the system pulled from my '03 and installed in my new '05..... Even though the Infinity systems are an expensive option, the speakers really are not any good. If you want high end, go Eclipse.....

 

[Spooled-up]

Carl,

I've also heard that the speakers weren't that great. Is it a good idea to stay with the same manufacturer as the head unit when buying speakers or is a speaker a speaker?



dodgerep,

The Kenwood head unit has a 40w per channel amp in it now. Do you think my stock speakers would still not be that loud? I eventually want to do this right and add an amp and new speakers with some quality wire, but as a temporary fix, I could bypass the amp altogether as you suggested. I'll take a look at your pics later today, but if I were to remove the stock amp, is there enough room in there to put an aftermarket amp? It would be a very well hidden place for one. I'm guessing the stock amp is nothing like an aftermarket and is probably small in comparison.



Thanks for the help guys.

 

[BHolm]

Buy speakers that sound good to you, there is no point in trying to match the brand. Many of the better speaker manufacturers don't offer head units anyway.



You head unit may be 40w per channel but that is most likely 40 watts peak not 40 watts RMS which is how amps are rated. The difference is usually about a factor of 2. Most head uint amp sections will be badly overworked trying to run all those speakers. Add the heat from an in dash CD and you will end up with a less than perfect solution. The aftermarket amp is the way to go.

 

[dodgerep]

More Audio Help

It is not necessary to stay with the same manufacturer, and all speakers are not equal. The Rockford Fosgates I used were a very good speaker for the price, Best buy had them on sale and if you bought four, or two sets, you saved an additional 10%. all together the door speakers were 189. 00, I compared them to several different speakers, and with the exception of the Boston Acoustic Z Series, (and a few hundred more) I thought the peak reference points on the Rockford fosgates were ideal. My sound is clear, undistorted and more than loud enough, I can park in a store parking lot, and here the truck as I walk inside... Very clearly I may add.



The Infinity amp is very small, and no decent amp would fit in there. You can place an amp under the drivers seat, but I would save a little and buy a better amp rather than settling. I paid 548 for my Memphis Baby Belle, and the amp fits great, looks great and provides 5 Channels with remote sub control and a 3 year warranty. All very cool.



I am having the plexi Glass installed today for my subwoofer, so I may not get the pics up until tonight.

 

[Carlsummers]

As the above posts state, there is no advantage to matchining. You should listen to a lot of speakers, and settle on what sounds good to you. Back in 1985, my first set were Boston Acoustics... since then, my hearing and my likes have changed. There is no possible way you can pick out components by brand name and put together an optimal system. My system currently sounds really good, but, it is not the "best" I have ever had... to illustrate the speaker question, my door speakers are Infinity Reference, and my subs are a pair of 6" JL in a custom box. Unfortunately, the more you pay, the better it will probably sound (if you go to a reputable installer, that knows what they are doing... . stay away from chain store audio departments).

 

[Wayne_C]

I have done a lot of audio installs, and I have an Eclipse deck (best brand for head units IMO). I then have a 4 chanel amp that I use for my door speakers which I have 6. 5" all around, and the dash speakers that are I replaced with 2. 5" speakers. The 6. 5"s in the font are component speaker (has the tweater seperate from the speaker). I made a peice out of wood so I could fit them in the 6x9 spot. I also have a 2 chanel amp that powers the two 10" subs under my rear seat. If money is not a factor and you want the best of the best, then for speakers I would go with 6. 5" Focal compents all around and for amps I think that JL is the leader in amps as of now, but you couldn't go wrong with Eclipse either. If you want a lot of bass I would go with some JL subs. Since I listen to country music and little rock then my sony subs fit me. If you don't want to spend the money on Focal you could go with some Eclipse of JL audio. If you get a new head unit and you have the wheel remote you will lose it unless you get a transmitter for it, but you have to make sure that your new head unit has a remote and you can install the sensor on the overhead display or the better place would me on the light in the back. This set up will give you very clear music, but it comes with a cost. I am not up to date with the cost on things now but I would say that with the eclipse head unit, focal speakers JL amps and JL subs it would be pushing $3000, then about 3-4 hours of install(depending if you have done this stuff before) I used to install things for free for my friends, except for the beer that they supplied me with durring the install :-laf . I didn't know if any of you wanted this kind of info but I thought I would put it out there just incase.

 

[MMathewson]

How does one disable the Infinity amp to put in an aftermarket receiver? I basically need to bypass it and it would be great if I can obtain the Infinity amp connectors and make a loopthrough so I don't have to cut/splice wires. On my 2004. 5, I only have the front left and front right speaker wires coming from the radio. After those wires get to the amp, the amp outputs the LF, LR, RF, RR and dash outputs.

 

[Wayne_C]

How does one disable the Infinity amp to put in an aftermarket receiver? I basically need to bypass it and it would be great if I can obtain the Infinity amp connectors and make a loopthrough so I don't have to cut/splice wires. On my 2004. 5, I only have the front left and front right speaker wires coming from the radio. After those wires get to the amp, the amp outputs the LF, LR, RF, RR and dash outputs.

I think you may be thinking of a wiring harness that plugs into the factory wires then you have to splice the wires that the aftermarket receiver came with. This will allow you to unplug and put back the original equipment easy. Any place like Best Buy or Circuit City should have it. Cost maybe $10-15

 

[MMathewson]

No, I'm not talking about the wiring harness that you can get from the radio harness to the original harness. On the 2004. 5 Dodge with Infinity amp system, the OEM radio harness goes to the amplifier underneath the glove box and plugs into the amp. On the other side of the amp is another connector that goes out to the speakers. I'm looking for a connector that is the same as that on the Infinity amp.

Thanks

 

[RTillery]

I am also very interested in bypassing the amp. Has anyone used a Hi-Lo setup like from www.installer.com? Is there a harness that will plug into both sides of the amp wiring to go around it or is it strickly a cut and solder application?



I am looking at replacing my nonworking 6cd Infinity head unit with a Pioneer Deh-P8MP and using an XM tuner and adapter. Has anyone used the Pac SWI-X to keep the steering wheel controls? Help!!!! Thanks.

 

[Colonel102]

Why is everyone worried about the stock infinity amp? Just wire the truck around it. First you don't have to worry about all of the dash work, and second you can get better sound out of aftermarket speakers if you use the wire you want to that is heavier gauge than the stock stuff. I rewired the entire truck and put an amp under the drivers seat. Here's some pics. You can see more in my readers rigs page. Hope this helps.

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The pics w/ the wires is where I grabed the speaker leads before going into each door since I could not go through the rubber boot between the truck frame and the door frame.