Speaker upgrades for 2001...

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I took my truck to an installer to upgrade the rear speakers. While I was there I decided to put in new front 6x9's. When the installer took off the front door panel he showed me my speakers and explained they were "self amplified" and could not be changed out without the in dash system being replaced. He never got to the rears but assured me thay were the same self-amplified type. I simply wanted to put better units in the rear. Am I out of luck - unless I change out the entire system? Thanks!

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Mark Schlueter
2001, QC, 4x4, Sport package.

 

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I ran into the same thing with my truck and decided to go the whole route and replace the factory stuff with aftermarket. On the plus side, I found someone to buy my factory head unit for more than the replacement.

I have a Vega component set for the front doors and tweeter replacement (door speakers are 6X9 with midrange and tweeters built in, the kit includes replacement tweeters for the pillars). These speakers are rated at 200 watts.

The rear speakers are Panasonic 5" and are a direct replacement for the rear speakers.

Note, when installing your door and rear speakers, you have to rewire the speakers and, please cut out the plastic over the door holes and use duct tape to tie down whats left (can you say RATTLE).

I have two 10" dual voil coil VEGA sub woofers mounted into a box that nicely fits behind the middle seat and doesn't interfere with carrying passengers in the back seat.

The output from the head unit (both woofer and left and right output are fed into a Pioneer 600 watt amp that has input for both the subwoofer and the left/right channels.

My setup might be on the extreeme end of the scale however, I DO like my music clear, crisp and LOUD.

Hope this helps,

Charlie

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Y2K 3500, 4WD, Auto, 3. 54, Custom Brush Guard, Mopar nerf bars & rock guard, Camper package, Towing package, all options except leather, Mopar Rock Guards, Vent Shades, Solar Shade, RoseWood Dash, Air-Lift Air Bags, Hadley 'BULLY' air horns, Rancho RS9000s, Stainless Rocker Panels, KC DayLighters, Lance 1130 Camper

 

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Shleets,

Ok... now this is not entirely true at all. First of all, I have my factory speakers sitting in front of me. The answer is NO, they are not self amplified. Unless the little 1/2" by 1" adapter that feeds the positive and negative wire to the speaker is an amplifier, then they are incorrect. But I believe they are getting at this. These speakers are very low quality. So if you end up buying high end speakers 6x9's and either 5 1/4 or 6 1/2's for the rear, it is a very wise idea to buy and amplifier to push those speakers. High quality speakers need more power. With how low power the factory stereo is, at medium and high volumes, your speakers will be receiving high amounts of distortion, which in time can ruin them.

I totally changed out my stereo and am very happy. I have a Kenwood cd player along with MB Quart 6x9's in the door and eclipse 6 1/2's in the quad cab, along with a Kenwood 5 channel amp pushing these speakers. My amp is 40x4+120x1 (incase i want to put a small subwoofer in for bass).
No replacement speakers don't require hundreds of watts of power. A 35 - 50 watt per channel amp is sufficient to deliver loud and clean music. Hope this helps.

 

[Archive]

The rear speakers in my truck (97) are powered. This is common for the infiniti systems. If you change out the factory head with a better aftermarket unit remember to hook up the power antenna wire to the speaker power wire.
Things may be different in the newer trucks & systems. I think you need to find a more knowledgable installer. <em>JMO</em>

Cheers;
*JE*

 

[Archive]

Originally posted by Shleets:
I took my truck to an installer to upgrade the rear speakers. While I was there I decided to put in new front 6x9's. When the installer took off the front door panel he showed me my speakers and explained they were "self amplified" and could not be changed out without the in dash system being replaced. He never got to the rears but assured me thay were the same self-amplified type. I simply wanted to put better units in the rear. Am I out of luck - unless I change out the entire system? Thanks!

Sorry for the questions but am I correct in assuming that I cannot simply change out my rear speakers for better units without changing the entire system??


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Mark Schlueter
New Dodge and diesel owner. 2001, QC, 4x4, White sport package.

 

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Well, it sounds like there may be a couple of different types of speakers in our trucks. With my truck a 2k, yes you can trade out your rear speakers and not have to upgrade your whole system. But I do agree that you should go see a different installer and get a second opinion.

 

[Archive]

The speakers that come with anything but the bare bones system are amplified. There is a little black crescent on the back of the speaker that has the amplification circuit inside. If this is the case, you can't just plug in new speakers. They would only get a line level signal and you wouldn't hear anything. I think you would be better pleased by going with an aftermarket head unit and possibly an amp. The aftermarket piece will have more power to begin with, and the amp will make it sound even better.

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B I G O R A N G E AMBER-FIRE (BURNT ORANGE) / BRITE SILVER 2001(. 5), 2500, SLT, Q-CAB 4x4, SWB, AUTO, 3. 55, LSD, TOWING PACKAGE
ADD-ON'S: LINE-X, 1/4" STEEL LONGHORN HITCH COVER, WESTIN NERF BARS, YELLOW-TOP OPTIMAS

 

[Archive]

Originally posted by jwgary:
The speakers that come with anything but the bare bones system are amplified. There is a little black crescent on the back of the speaker that has the amplification circuit inside. If this is the case, you can't just plug in new speakers. They would only get a line level signal and you wouldn't hear anything. I think you would be better pleased by going with an aftermarket head unit and possibly an amp. The aftermarket piece will have more power to begin with, and the amp will make it sound even better.

That is the info I was looking for! Thanks tons. .



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Mark Schlueter
New Dodge and diesel owner. 2001, QC, 4x4, White sport package.

 

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Have to admit, I've never heard that one. But... been wrong millions of times before.

Many of the "high-end" factory systems. . (I use the term losely). . have external amplifiers. Therefore you cannot simply drop in one of those self contained amplified head units.

To make matters worse, the amplifiers cannot be replaced to work with some factory head units... Notice I said "some".

I have the 98. 5' infinity system, and do not recall this problem.

Guess I could look into the manual for a schematic of the radio and speaker to answer this question.

[This message has been edited by Deezal Man (edited 11-28-2000). ]

 

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Yes they are amplified. The rear speakers are connected to the front speakers which are amplified. In a normal set up the rears would run right to the deck but these are connected to the front speakers then they run up to the deck. I pulled out my whole system and got a new one. As I drive a good 1000 miles a week and i love music so its a good investment to me. I have spent close to 3k on my system. Eclipse cd player 3 10" solo barric woofers, Boston pro speakers, and 4 amps to power them all. Im running out of space to put amps. #ad
But im done with the system. I can turn up my system all the way up with not one bit of distortion, its crystal clear and its LOUD!!

Sky

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2001 QuadCab,SWB,Auto, 4X4,4" Flowmaster Exhaust, Bosch 275 Injectors... ... ...

 

[Archive]

So I guess I am confused. So it is only the infinity system that is amplified? I had the bare bones... cassette deck and plain speakers in my truck. That explains why my speakers were not amplified... right? That is why I was able to add my aftermarket 6x9s and 6 1/2s before I added my head unit and amp and the speakers worked just fine. . right? Just trying to make sure I understand correctly.

Thanks for the info.

[This message has been edited by K_Arts (edited 11-27-2000). ]

 

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Broke out the service manual last night... Remember, I have a 98. 5'-99' manual. But I'm willin to bet little or nothing has changed.

The manual states front amplification as "integral". Rear amplification is from the head unit. The fronts also contain the crossover network for the little tweets.

Have to admit, the schematics are done very poorly.

 

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Thanks Deezal Man.
I have a 2001. 5 manual on the way and will dbl check when it arrives. I hope you are right. I just want to upgrade the rears for a little better sound. Nothing radical... yet.

 

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I had a 99 with the Infinity system. The front speaker/amp combo definitely powers the rear speakers. I went to arbitration over this and learned more than I need to know about the system. The amps are on the speakers due to a lack of space for a separate amp elsewhere. Also, the rear speakers are SUPPOSED to sound muffled. This is to move more sound forward in the cab for that "concert experience" sound. (isn't that what the little joystick called a fader is for?) : )

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01 2500 SLT, LWB, 4x4, 3. 54 Axle, Rancho 9000's, K&N filter, otherwise stock

 

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SHLEETS, I just went to the shed and jecked the speakers out of my 2000. The rear speakers did not have the amp built on the speaker, but the front one did. There are several wires that come off of the front speakers, and onlt 2 wires on the rears. The installer at the local stereo store told me the newer rams are different in the wiring with the Infinity than are the older trucks (my 1996 was different wiring). If yu are just changing rear speakers, it should be pretty straight forward. If you want to change all 4, then it is more wiring connections to change in the doors. When they put my speakers in the front and rear, they also added an amp, but I wanted to stay with the factory head unit as I have the steering wheel controls, and it then looks stock to all the thieves, and they may not be as interested. The installer did have to put some type of diode or resister in the wire from the front speaker to the factory tweeter to limit the power from the amp so they would not FRY. Once the speakers were installed, the mids and highs were excellent, but the lows were lacking, so I went back and added the MTX sub box that is designed to fit under the rear seat of the quad cab with (2) 10" subs. Sound quality is awsome

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2000 QC SHORT BED 4X4, 24 VALVE W/ 275 HP INJECTORS, 3. 54 GEARS W/ POSI, AUTO, BLACK WITH EVERYTHING EXCEPT LEATHER,285/75R16 KELLY SAFARI AWR, RAIDER NOMAD CAB HIGH CAP,FACTORY RAZ STEREO W/ STEERING WHEEL CONTROLS, KENWOOD 848 AMP, KENWOOD EXCELON 6X9 IN DOORS AND KENWOOD EXCELON 6IN. ROUND DUAL-MAGS IN REAR DOORS, MTX FACTORY FIT BOX W/ 2-10"SUBS UNDER REAR SEAT

ORDERED: 2001 ARCTIC CAT ZR800 TWIN LE BLACK...

 

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Shleets,

If you want to upgrade the speakers I would do the front speakers first the rears dont make that big of a difference. Get a pair of 6x9's or 6. 5 componate speakers if you really want high quality. And dont get "paper" speakers.

Sky

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2001 QuadCab,SWB,Auto, 4X4,4" Flowmaster Exhaust, Bosch 275 Injectors... ... ...

 

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actually the amplifiers on the back of the speakers are just to ensure that the speakers get enough power to run them. Otherwise the deck from an Infinity-equipped truck wouldn't work in a different truck, which is wrong because I gave my stock radio to my father who doesn't have an Infinity system.

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'01 BLK QUAD-CAB, ETH, 6-SPEED, HX-40, DD BOOST MODULE, STAGE III INJECTORS, ATS MANIFOLD, 4" EXHAUST, BED LINER, CLARION PPD KICKER FOCAL STEREO