Audio recommendations

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  • 2-way drivers

  • New crossovers and drivers

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RawbDidIt

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Disclaimer: New to the forum, I apologize if these questions have already been answered. Your patience is appreciated.

I ran across a 97 K1500 ECSB (3 door) for a really good deal. It was a few states away, so I had my parents pick it up and they're storing it at their shop for a few weeks until I can get over there to pick it up. It has a Kenwood stereo in it currently, but stock speakers. That needs to change. Since I don't have the truck here right now, I mainly had a question about the front doors. To my knowledge these trucks have a component system in the front doors, so with how the drivers are placed would it be better to rip out the crossover and just go with a good set of 2-way speakers, or should I replace the tweeters and woofers separately? If I replace the components, is the crossover any good, or should I get a kit with new crossovers as well? Sound quality is more important than budget, within reason. I plan on replacing all speakers, adding an amp, replacing the head unit, and putting subs in, but I'll be doing all of this in stages (1. replace mids/tweets 2. replace head unit, install backup camera 3. subs and amps).

If you have recommendations for what fits in the truck (I'm ok with modifying so long as everything looks stock or at least clean after install) then I'm all ears, apparently the 4x6's I was looking at last night for the rear sold out, and Crutchfield only has some lower end speakers available in that size.
 

Eric1998

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I used Memphis M-Class 6.5's (MCX6) to replace the factory door speakers in my 98 3-door Chevy
Also used Memphis 1 inch component speakers (MCXS1)
Both fit perfectly in the factory locations and they sound great.
In my opinion they are great bang for the buck speakers.
Hope this information helps
 

michael hurd

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The stock tweeter has a capacitor soldered to it, that is it. The woofer is run full range, relying on inductance and mass roll off only.

With very slight modification the Alpine Type R 6.5 components will work, the crossover supplied will mount on the door skin behind the door panel, but make sure the panel fits before final mounting.

I don't recall exactly what was needed to fit the tweeter though, might have had to remove the swivel cup and use one of the brackets with it.

You can choose a 2 way 6.5" speaker instead of the components, this has both advantages and disadvantages.
 

michael hurd

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I don't feel that replacing the rear speakers is justified unless they are damaged. Save the money that you would put towards rear speakers and buy some sound abatement products, the door skins ( outer and inner ) can use them.

Under-seat subwoofer boxes are available for the rear seat area, but you are limited to what you can use in terms of depth and diameter of the motor on the subwoofer. They are for the most part, out of sight, out of mind.

Yes, you can plop a box on the backseat, that can injure you in a collision, or reduce your passenger capacity. It is also a magnet for thieves who look in the windows.

Amps: Not enough room to mount on the rear cab wall, unless they are very, very thin amplifiers. If you stick with a single subwoofer box under the driver's side of the rear seat, you can keep the factory tool tray with jack. If you remove that, you can mount amplifiers there, or with some work, you can mount under the front seats. ( limited in size, connection access )

I should clarify: you can mount amps on the rear cab wall, but the rear seat will not fold up properly, this may or may not make a difference to you. I prefer to have full use of a vehicle, so the rear seat must fold up in my case.
 

RawbDidIt

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Thanks Michael, so using the factory crossover is not an option, or at least not a good one? Good to know. Alpine's website doesn't list a Type R in that size, but the Type S is in my budget and available in that size. I'll probably look into that. From what I've heard, the rear drivers are either blown, or well on their way, and even if they weren't no way they would handle the power an amp would throw at them. Finding a set of 4x6's will be difficult, but I'm sure I can find something that will handle 80W RMS.

I was planning on running the amp under one of the front seats, and running a powered sub in the back under the seat on the drivers side. Rockford Fosgate makes a 12" powered sub box that should be able to fit down there. My daily driver has a full system in it, subs right in plain view since it's a hatchback. The simple solve was limo tint on the back, might do the same on the truck now that I'm used to how dark 5% is. Plus, I live in TX, if you don't have tint, you're cooking for 6 months out of the year.
 

RawbDidIt

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Thanks for your reply Eric. Memphis makes great speakers for the price. I'm looking for something with a little more output. I'm a bit spoiled with my current daily driver having room for 4 6x9's running at around 100W ea. Unless I find more information, I'll likely be going with Kicker KS series for the speakers, both front and rear, and the Kicker Comp RT for the sub. This will all depend on how much room there is under/behind the rear seat, and under the front seats.
 

michael hurd

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Thanks Michael, so using the factory crossover is not an option, or at least not a good one? Good to know. Alpine's website doesn't list a Type R in that size, but the Type S is in my budget and available in that size. I'll probably look into that. From what I've heard, the rear drivers are either blown, or well on their way, and even if they weren't no way they would handle the power an amp would throw at them. Finding a set of 4x6's will be difficult, but I'm sure I can find something that will handle 80W RMS.

I was planning on running the amp under one of the front seats, and running a powered sub in the back under the seat on the drivers side. Rockford Fosgate makes a 12" powered sub box that should be able to fit down there. My daily driver has a full system in it, subs right in plain view since it's a hatchback. The simple solve was limo tint on the back, might do the same on the truck now that I'm used to how dark 5% is. Plus, I live in TX, if you don't have tint, you're cooking for 6 months out of the year.

The factory tweeters and door speakers are run in parallel. There is no 'crossover' save for a single capacitor on the tweeter. The woofer relies on mass roll off and inductance roll off. It is run full range, there is nothing to 'reuse' or 'save'.

Around these parts, limo tint is an excuse for a thief to look with a flashlight through the tint to see what you have to hide. Tint is nice for sure.

Not sure if they are discontinued, but I pulled a few sets up on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SPR-60C-ALP...hash=item19cdf96480:m:m9qcROrx50rfnuwKDBryfYw
 
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I replaced the door speakers with JL components, mounted the tweeters high up on the doors close to the mirrors facing your ears. relocating the tweeter was the best thing I did in terms of sound quality. I did replace the rear speakers with a set of JL 2-way 3.5" speakers that come with a 4x6 adapter plate. This was good because at higher volume the rear speakers do not cause distortion. also have a pair or 10"JL W1 woofers under the rear seats.

Also keep your EQ flat on your audio device and on your stereo. This way you will hear the music the way the producers intended, unless you're like every other chump who loves to crank their bass.
 

RawbDidIt

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The factory tweeters and door speakers are run in parallel. There is no 'crossover' save for a single capacitor on the tweeter. The woofer relies on mass roll off and inductance roll off. It is run full range, there is nothing to 'reuse' or 'save'.

After hearing this from MH, I tried to edit the poll with no luck at all. Thanks for the tip, I'm leaning towards the component setup right now, so this will come in handy.

I replaced the door speakers with JL components, mounted the tweeters high up on the doors close to the mirrors facing your ears. relocating the tweeter was the best thing I did in terms of sound quality.

Would you mind sending me a pic of that? I'd like to do something similar if it looks clean.

also have a pair or 10"JL W1 woofers under the rear seats.

I hadn't even looked at JL, I didn't know they had low profile loaded boxes. I'll definitely be looking more extensively into this. Thanks for the heads up!

Also keep your EQ flat on your audio device and on your stereo. This way you will hear the music the way the producers intended, unless you're like every other chump who loves to crank their bass.

Not going to lie, I do love bass, but I also like hearing the rest of the track. I mess with EQ not to give me more bass (I'll mount a gain knob for the sub amp), but to make up for the differences between how my speakers are tuned and how the producer heard it on his setup. Keeping the EQ relatively flat is a good practice, but that doesn't mean that you're hearing it the same way he heard it.
 

jaywestfall

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I went with Polk speakers. The Two speaker component system in front 6.5", DB6502 and their coaxial 4x6 plate in the back DB462. I also have a Kenwood, but it puts out only 22 watts RMS, so it doesn't come any where near driving these speakers! Need to get a sub and an amp....later.
 
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