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CDT Audio Alpine Speaker Replacement

joshuaeb09

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Figured I'd make a post since I've really only seen folks using CDT Audio stuff in the 5th gen 1500's. So far I've had zero issues with ANC (I did have to re-pin my metro adapters to get the phase correct, always check against the speaker you pulled out). They did require some minor cutting, but all in all not too bad. I wasn't planning on posting any photos, but I took reference pics for myself as I was tinkering and figured eh why not. I already had 3.5" reference's in the dash in all 3 locations so I was looking to finish off the improved clarity by removing the muddiness in the mid bass as well as enhancing the bass response. Since I had some spiff money I figured why not try the Pioneer swap while I was at it, which while nothing mid blowing, is a bit cleaner than the factory sub IMO. While I was in there I went ahead and did some sound treatment, but I mostly focused on the door cards. I noticed that the 4th gen felt a lot more "premium" after I did the door cards there and that carries over here. Doing the speaker area helps to prevent rattling as well as to keep the sound going where it's wanted, doing the pocket backs makes them sound less plasticy when you have stuff in them, and putting the foam in the right spots does help with certain outside noises. All together the accuracy is much improved, bass response is far cleaner with a tad more extension, and my ANC still works great which was a goal of the components selected.


What I installed -
Front 6x9 - CDT Audio CL-69S (2 Ohm Model) - These really cleaned up the front door mids/bass. I'd say they were really close to the Kappas in my last Challenger, but you can tell it's a slim design as compared to those deep/fat Kappas. The cutting to clear that fat magnet wasn't too bad and it didn't bother me. I've done worse on other vehicles.
Rear 6x9 - CDT Audio HD-690SEX (2 Ohm Model) - These are very much identical to the mid-bass only option, but they have a 1" silk dome tweeter with a basic on-board cross over. They work really nice for rear fill and eliminated the annoyance of the stock driver trying and failing to play highs behind me. Same exact cutting required being basically the same main driver with a tweeter bolted on. The rear fill now isn't distracting at all to me as they blend well with the Infinity's.
Pioneer - TSA2000LD2 - Eh it's alot cleaner and it doesn't misbehave nearly as much when asked to extend low. It's not much if any louder, but with the output increase from the CDT 6x9's it blends nicely and does help fill out the lows. Certain tracks you can clearly tell you have an 8" and not a 10 or 12, but it does what it can cleanly without getting nearly as messy. I'd say the combo is about on par with many of the shallow/low power 10" subs I've heard or had in various vehicles over the years. To note I'm talking about those all in one amp, sub, box deals like those contained Rockford wedges, not something of higher quality in a custom box with more power. You can tell you have some decent bass, but it's not gonna blow your socks off by any means.

What I already had -
Dash Speakers (All 3) - Infinity REF-3032CFX - I've always liked these in the dash location of anything FCA with the Alpine. Some folks prefer the JBL tweeter, but it's largely the same speaker so if you prefer the JBL then by all means I'd suggest it too. If I ever do replace the alpine amp, I'll probably switch these out for something lower sensitivity that can handle some power.

Accessories -
Harnesses Metra 72-6514 - Repined to swap phase for all 4 door locations in keeping with factory phasing for ANC. As shipped pin configuration for the Subwoofer Replacement to match it's factory phasing.
CLD - NVX Stealth Black 90mil - Worked pretty well, Just as well as most Butyl products I've used. I didn't use a ton, but I did spread it around to help kill resonance. I wasn't doing anything crazy here so no real need for full coverage IMO (And I'm too lazy to take ram doors all the way apart these days lol). This Laramie also had alot more from the factory inside of the door than previous Ram's I've had so I didn't really feel I needed to add a ton.
CCF - Siless Liner 157mil - Not bad since pickings were slim on Amazon. Primary I use this stuff to isolate vibrations/rattles. CCF does a good job where you've got things in contact to prevent that transfer of motion and give a firm interface.
Foam - NVX SDAF - Adhesive kinda sucks, but it worked. I used this to fill any bigger gaps similar to how OE's used to use jute carpet padding. It can help kill echos inside of the door card so this was more of a comfort/make bluetooth conference calls better.
Front Silicone Ring/Gasket - I cut up a pair of NVX silicone baffles (They don't really work well with our trucks, but the gasket and front lip can be cut away and used). Only did the fronts since that's where I really cared about getting the mids out of the doors. They worked pretty well for this function, but I did have to roll them back as full unrolled they were too long and folded up pretty weird behind the door card. I also had a bunch of the foams that come with these from other projects so I used that backing foam on all 4 to try and help with dispersion of backwave. Not sure how much they're doing with the window track in the way, but eh it can't hurt.
Tesa Tape (Both Flavors) - I like exterior on wiring harnesses and interior to isolate connectors/clips. If you stick some anywhere you've got a christmas tree or removable clip it can be a good anti-rattle
1/16" Neoprene Weather Strip - I used this as a gasket material for the subwoofer as well as rear 6x9 installation.


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joshuaeb09

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After doing some more critical listening/tweaking today I went ahead and ordered the Skar TX35's for the dash locations. Not sure what it is about this newer system, but at higher volumes with surround on the Infinity's have some quirks that I don't care for. Replacing everything else surround actually sounds better for most tracks with a bit better imaging than stock, but up on the dash I get some distortions coming through that I don't much care for. I wish I had held onto an old set of Kappa 32.9cf's I had had since they were amazing, but sadly you can't get them anymore. Hopefully the Skar's are more to my liking rounding out the setup.
 

joshuaeb09

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Got the TX35's in and I can say yea the missing piece. Those reference's just did not sound that great in this particular truck which is strange since that's usually my go to 3.5" dash speaker. I was expecting them to be a little muted being a 4ohm driver when the stocker garbage was 2ohm, but they worked out really nice and I'm looking forward to having them broken in. Pulled up some mid range and the glass fiber cone is a better tonal match to the CDT's.
 

joshuaeb09

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Welp I probably replaced the Infinity's for nothing other than the Skar's sounding a touch better. My distortions were 100% ANC gremlins with the higher output of the CDT's/Pioneer after having done some more driving around. I went about killing it today via AlfaOBD and I got 2 nice surprises - 1 No more odd distortions coming from the dash randomly and 2 my sub actually has some low end punch now. Sure it's still an 8", but now the factory amp is driving it a bit better. Much like alot of guys with the HK system I got back some frequencies that the ANC was either muting or just down right destroying.
 

kevan0317

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I found your thread through an exhaustive internet search in an attempt to fix the atrocious sound that my 2022 Ram 2500 makes with its Alpine system.

I ordered all the same bits from CDT. Left my blood all over the inside of the doors laying down pounds of sound deadening material. And upgraded the subwoofer to the Pioneer guy. Oh, and I also threw the factory Harman Kardon 3.5” speakers into the dash corners. Not a fan of those. Very bright/harsh. Not a good fit. Ordering the CDT wide band speakers tomorrow to replace them.

While it’s certainly vastly better sounding, it’s still missing something. Mid bass. Mid range. I can’t put my finger on it. Is this the ANC issue you ran into? My security bypass cable should be here before the weekend. I hope to get that turned off asap. Maybe that will solve the problem. If not, I’m going to look at adding foam speaker baffles.

Currently I’ve got crystal-clear high frequencies that are too bright, yet very hollow. And much louder bass that extends much deeper into the 30-20hz range. Everything in the truck rattles at volume levels above 20 now, including mirrors. Quite the difference! Sadly, no mid frequencies though. Perhaps it’s just the nature of the trash factory amp?

Thanks for tossing this info out on the internet. It was a huge help!

Oh, and all my speakers tested right at 2 ohm. I think I saw someone else out there saying their order actually ended up being closer to 4 ohm speakers and CDT said that was correct. Nope. Mine are right at 2 ohm.

Speakers ordered from: https://www.cdtaudio.com/
(I did not order their RAM kit as I wanted full range coaxial speakers for the rear.)

Ordered speaker gasket tape from Amazon.
Ordered KilMat from Amazon.
Ordered roller tool from Amazon.
Ordered tesa tape from Amazon.
Ordered closed cell foam to wrap wires, from Amazon.
You’ll want a body panel plastic fastener removal tool.
 

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joshuaeb09

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I found your thread through an exhaustive internet search in an attempt to fix the atrocious sound that my 2022 Ram 2500 makes with its Alpine system.

I ordered all the same bits from CDT. Left my blood all over the inside of the doors laying down pounds of sound deadening material. And upgraded the subwoofer to the Pioneer guy. Oh, and I also threw the factory Harman Kardon 3.5” speakers into the dash corners. Not a fan of those. Very bright/harsh. Not a good fit. Ordering the CDT wide band speakers tomorrow to replace them.

While it’s certainly vastly better sounding, it’s still missing something. Mid bass. Mid range. I can’t put my finger on it. Is this the ANC issue you ran into? My security bypass cable should be here before the weekend. I hope to get that turned off asap. Maybe that will solve the problem. If not, I’m going to look at adding foam speaker baffles.

Currently I’ve got crystal-clear high frequencies that are too bright, yet very hollow. And much louder bass that extends much deeper into the 30-20hz range. Everything in the truck rattles at volume levels above 20 now, including mirrors. Quite the difference! Sadly, no mid frequencies though. Perhaps it’s just the nature of the trash factory amp?

Thanks for tossing this info out on the internet. It was a huge help!

Oh, and all my speakers tested right at 2 ohm. I think I saw someone else out there saying their order actually ended up being closer to 4 ohm speakers and CDT said that was correct. Nope. Mine are right at 2 ohm.

Speakers ordered from: https://www.cdtaudio.com/
(I did not order their RAM kit as I wanted full range coaxial speakers for the rear.)

Ordered speaker gasket tape from Amazon.
Ordered KilMat from Amazon.
Ordered roller tool from Amazon.
Ordered tesa tape from Amazon.
Ordered closed cell foam to wrap wires, from Amazon.
You’ll want a body panel plastic fastener removal tool.

I did notice an improvement in the lower midbass/bass frequencies after killing my ANC and I installed my ANC bypass harness for good measure just to make sure the system is "fully off". I do agree that the factory processing from the Alpine system leaves a bit to be desired and I'm often playing with enabling/disabling surround depending on what I'm listening to which has been a bit annoying to say the least. What may be helping me are the NVX baffles I cut up to use as front fast rings along with some foam behind the front 6x9's. I'll be interested to see how you feel about the CDT Unity's running off of the factory amp as I had been tempted by them, but never ended up pulling the trigger after getting the Skar's in the dash (they were cheap and free with spiff amazon gift cards).

Longer term I imagine I'm going aftermarket in some fashion, but that will really depend on what ends up being available for these trucks as the aftermarket figures it out. If I can replace the uConnect5 with an Alpine Halo I'll go that route (uConnect5 just sucks IMO), but if things like the 360 camera's never get ironed out then I'll likely go with the DSR1 to replace the factory amp and get back some DSP functionality. I'm really starting to miss even the basic DSP in the ILX207 that was in my 4th gen with a basic 4 channel, front components, and my old 12's for the more accurate reproduction and expanded bass response (The Alpine DSP has a basic Epicenter like functionality that I'm really missing for older recordings/masters).
 
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kevan0317

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I decided to go ahead and install the fast rings today on all four doors. I suppose they helped the smallest little bit. I did the passenger side and then the driver side. This let me stop in the middle and compare between the two sides. I maybe heard the slightest boost in mid bass on the side with the fast rings. Resonance is also slightly more subdued. No major differences to speak of. I honestly thought about just leaving the drivers side without, but I went ahead and finished all the doors.

Worth it on a 5th gen Ram 2500? Nah, probably not. The speakers are very close to the door openings already and the window track is right behind the speaker to disrupt the wave. It didn’t shock me that no real changes were observed. Am I happy that I did it? Yes. I’m a perfectionist and this is the furthest I’ve ever gone with a car audio install. Why not try to eek out every last inch of clarity?

Note: the 6x9 fast rings are too large for the CDT drivers. I had to cut them down to get them to fit both depth wise and diameter wise. I cut about half the depth down and maybe an inch or two off the diameter.

The rear foam blocks that fit behind the window track needed about half an inch sliced off the depth. Not as much as I had thought. Opted to mount them horizontally since there’s an outer door brace right in the way.
 

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22BlackBigHorn

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So you guys replaced the door and dash speakers, and didn't have to bypass the ANC?

I am getting ready to install the Rockford Fosgate stuff I had in my 2017 Power Wagon. I've been waiting for it to cool off here in Arizona before I tackle this job.
I do however want to add a couple of amps. I may sell these two amps and get a 5 channel.. who knows.

I did the entire treatment too. Removed the door and the inner liner and fully sound deadened the entire inside of the door, the back of the door panel, and did fast rings. Also, did a seal around the entire edge of the door panel where it sits on the door.

I wasn't sure if for this truck I need an AmpPRO AP4-CH41 or an AudioControl LC2i PRO as some say this makes it 100% better for volume after 40%. No bass roll-off.
 

branz95

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So you guys replaced the door and dash speakers, and didn't have to bypass the ANC?

I am getting ready to install the Rockford Fosgate stuff I had in my 2017 Power Wagon. I've been waiting for it to cool off here in Arizona before I tackle this job.
I do however want to add a couple of amps. I may sell these two amps and get a 5 channel.. who knows.

I did the entire treatment too. Removed the door and the inner liner and fully sound deadened the entire inside of the door, the back of the door panel, and did fast rings. Also, did a seal around the entire edge of the door panel where it sits on the door.

I wasn't sure if for this truck I need an AmpPRO AP4-CH41 or an AudioControl LC2i PRO as some say this makes it 100% better for volume after 40%. No bass roll-off.

Depends on how you want your system to sound. If you're going for sound quality the Amp pro is the way to go between those 2 options. The harnesses included has the ANC bypass. If you just want it loud and want to save some money the LC2 will work. You can buy the Amp pro ANC bypass harnesses if you feel the ANC is affecting your low end output. If you want your system both louder and quality sound the Amp pro is the way to go. There are DSP features in it and you can tune a lot of things. I'm not sure if it does time alignment as I didn't go that route. I started off with a generic LOC to add subs under the seat and the ANC was wreaking havoc and the output was dismal. I tried running the stock sub (alpine system) along with the new subs and the ANC was less noticeable but the low end roll off was still an issue. I stepped up to an LC7 as I had plans to replace all speakers and that was a huge improvement when I paired it with the ANC Bypass harness from Amp Pro. The Audio Control accubass works perfectly and does as advertised. After replacing the door speakers and adding an amp for them I was unhappy with the sound. Even after summing the channels on the LC7 I personally wanted more tuning so I went with a stand alone DSP. The difference is pretty substantial now. I can go loud and obnoxious or I can tune it down and enjoy musical quality. If I was to do it again I would probably go with the stand alone DSP, lc2, and the ANC Bypass harness just because I'd save money on the LC7 and I can tune from the driver's seat where I mounted the DSP. If I didn't care for being able to tune from the seat without opening an app on my phone I would go with the Amp pro ch4 and hide it behind the head unit. I can't speak to all the functions the Amp Pro has because I didn't go that route but I did visit a local high end shop that showed me the program on his laptop and I was impressed with the features. The shop owner did say that my 2020 with the alpine system needed the AMP4 revision 2 though so do your research.

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22BlackBigHorn

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Thank you! So it looks like the AMP Pro(V2) is pretty much what I need.

They really do make it simple. I want to run my door and dash speakers off the AMP. So running a speed wire from the AMP back to the Amp Pro wiring harness behind the head unit should accomplish this.

I would really like to get into the DSP with time alignment and all that. I'd love to go full Audio Control. But my budget for that is not there just yet.
 

joshuaeb09

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Yea the Amp pro is going to be the better option between those two, but I'm going to hold out for the DSR1 to get some DSP functionality. I did end up disabling my ANC to get back some frequencies, but just doing the speaker swap I could leave it functional and it did work/didn't have issues. That said adding aftermarket subs in no way would I leave ANC functional (bad times there). If I was going to do an Amp Pro I'd probably include an epicenter just to get some bass expansion/restoration if you don't plan on doing a full DSP.
 

wildh24

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I found your thread through an exhaustive internet search in an attempt to fix the atrocious sound that my 2022 Ram 2500 makes with its Alpine system.

I ordered all the same bits from CDT. Left my blood all over the inside of the doors laying down pounds of sound deadening material. And upgraded the subwoofer to the Pioneer guy. Oh, and I also threw the factory Harman Kardon 3.5” speakers into the dash corners. Not a fan of those. Very bright/harsh. Not a good fit. Ordering the CDT wide band speakers tomorrow to replace them.

While it’s certainly vastly better sounding, it’s still missing something. Mid bass. Mid range. I can’t put my finger on it. Is this the ANC issue you ran into? My security bypass cable should be here before the weekend. I hope to get that turned off asap. Maybe that will solve the problem. If not, I’m going to look at adding foam speaker baffles.

Currently I’ve got crystal-clear high frequencies that are too bright, yet very hollow. And much louder bass that extends much deeper into the 30-20hz range. Everything in the truck rattles at volume levels above 20 now, including mirrors. Quite the difference! Sadly, no mid frequencies though. Perhaps it’s just the nature of the trash factory amp?

Thanks for tossing this info out on the internet. It was a huge help!

Oh, and all my speakers tested right at 2 ohm. I think I saw someone else out there saying their order actually ended up being closer to 4 ohm speakers and CDT said that was correct. Nope. Mine are right at 2 ohm.

Speakers ordered from: https://www.cdtaudio.com/
(I did not order their RAM kit as I wanted full range coaxial speakers for the rear.)

Ordered speaker gasket tape from Amazon.
Ordered KilMat from Amazon.
Ordered roller tool from Amazon.
Ordered tesa tape from Amazon.
Ordered closed cell foam to wrap wires, from Amazon.
You’ll want a body panel plastic fastener removal tool.

How'd the full range work out for you on the dash?

I'm really wanting to try CDTs on the dash and saw they had 4" coaxials available with silk tweeter. Just curious if you ended up liking them or lost any significant volume, etc
 

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