8.4 (6) Speaker Upgrade (HELP)

[6.7_Snow_Flake]

Hey ram fam, looking for some help/ input. I have replaced all 6 speakers:
* Front Dash: 3.5'' JL Aduio C2-350x 2 ways speakers
* Front Doors: 6" JL Audio C2-600 component speakers
* Rear Doors: 5-1/4" JL Audio C2-525X 2 way speakers
* ANC by-pass

Truck sounds terrible not what I was expecting at all. I have always had problems with the Bluetooth/ AUX volume being way lower then the radio thought when I upgraded it would take care of the problem. Well NOPE! And it's sounds worse any help here? Thinking maybe need to amplify the 4 speakers is my last option. These new vehicles make it so hard to do anything to them know adays.

 

[RAM Stag]

Had that problem - couldn't hear the Nav Chick over the radio. Go into settings and you can set the nav volume louder.

 

[cobracnvt]

Try turning the "loudness" setting off and any other "features" of the radio to get a baseline. It helped my speaker swap to Infiniti speakers sound better. I didn't do the ANC bypass yet. My setup would benefit from an external AMP and sub, but it sounds good enough for now. It's a huge improvement over the stock speakers.

 

[Riddick]

You picked some nice speakers to upgrade from the stockers. What exactly sounds terrible, is it distorting or not loud enough? Generally speaking with higher end speakers they need to be pushed by an amplifier for best results. However, they should sound way better than the stock speakers even powered by the factory radio.

For your Bluetooth loudness issues do you have the volume turned up on your Bluetooth device? I know when I stream off my phone if the phone volume is turned down I have to really turn up the truck audio to compensate.

 

[Aketay]

Research a little deeper, you need resistance before the crossover. The factory head unit will reduce amp power if it doesn’t detect a load.

 

[Aketay]

These are made for installation before an amp or processor, but the principal is the same for crossover circuits.

 

[Sierra Nate]

Putting resistors in line won't work. You have 4 ohm speakers now. The volume will be lower with 4 ohm speakers. Now you need to match the output to match those fancy new speakers you got. It's going to need some amplification...not to increase the power, but rather to match the 4 ohm speaker. In order to place an amp into this system you'll also need a digital sound processor to take your speaker level outputs (the wires going to your speakers) and convert to a decamped flat signal (just the music)...then run the output of hat DSP to am amp to give it back the power it needs for your 4 ohm speakers. Those speakers can handle 60 wats RMS each...so a 240 watt, 4 channel amp would be sufficient to drive the doors. If you can find a 6 channel amp then you'd need maybe a 360 amp, 6 channel amp to drive everything. If you add a sub you could run another amp for that.

I went with a Rockford Fosgate DSR1 for the Digital sound proc lessor. I then run a Pioneer GM 4704 for my four door speakers (only because I had one laying around. I run a Pioneer GM 3704 to drive my dash speakers. And then I have a Alpine M500 running my sub. The DSR1 gives me complete control of crossovers, equalizer and trim levels to each of the speakers. I can do each speaker independently or I can tie pairs together (tie the two dash together and then tie to two front doors together...etc). But it gives me control to send the part of the music signal I want going to each speaker system. And I can control the volume level to each speaker so I can decide how loud I want the symbols that go to the tweets in the dash. I went with components all the way around (except the sub, obviously). I run all crossovers through the DSR1. You have crossovers in the speaker so this setup might not work as well for you. But there are a ton of digital sound processors out there that you could use. Some amps have DSPs built in. I'm giving my example of how I dealt with the issue you're dealing with here. But there's a lot of ways to skin that cat.

Good luck. Once you get it dialed in you're going to love those JL Audios. they really are great speakers.

 

[brv10]

I put 3 NVX dash speakers in my 22 Alpine, also added a Pioneer sub. I tried Polks in the front but where not as good. I have 4 Morels waiting for the doors.

 

[Kenny-D]

I actually have a 21 2500 Tradesman with the 8.4 and 6 speakers, but it has no ANC and obviously no amp. I can find NOTHING about systems with no ANC. I have ordered six new Infiniti speakers for it to at least start the process, fully knowing I'll probably want to install an amp at some point. There are a couple of dead end harnesses under the driver's seat, but not sure what they are even for. I guess I have extra room for the amp under the seat, so that's a bonus, but not sure that any of the speaker wires terminate under there. Does anyone have any experience with this setup at all? Are there advantages/disadvantages to not having the ANC in there to deal with? Appreciate any bits of info you can share.

 

[Sierra Nate]

Mines a 2019 2500 tradesman...same setup as yours. I was told by everyone I thought that knows these trucks that I needed the module for the ANC. I searched and searched but only found the dead end wires you found. So I returned the ANC module and installed my system without. It sounds great. The advantage is you don't have to spend good money to turn the ANC off. The bad news is you have to listen to road noise. Do you hear it now? I don't cuz my radio is always turned up and over shadows the road noise that the ANC would have eliminated. LOL

 

[brv10]

ANC is not a big deal either way, install the speakers and go, easier to add an Amp with the base system. Crutchfield should have a setup for you as far as wiring.

 

[Kenny-D]

Mines a 2019 2500 tradesman...same setup as yours. I was told by everyone I thought that knows these trucks that I needed the module for the ANC. I searched and searched but only found the dead end wires you found. So I returned the ANC module and installed my system without. It sounds great. The advantage is you don't have to spend good money to turn the ANC off. The bad news is you have to listen to road noise. Do you hear it now? I don't cuz my radio is always turned up and over shadows the road noise that the ANC would have eliminated. LOL

Haha - I actually don't notice it. These trucks ride so smoothly that I frankly wouldn't have any complaints anyway. And, like you said, I usually have music or conversation going and wouldn't hear the road enough to bug me. Thanks for the intel!