slippy3002
Master Machinist
Speaker Write up
88-94 Trucks have 2-4x6 speakers up front and 2-4x6 speakers in the back. 95-98 Trucks have 6.5” in the doors and 2-4x6 in the rear. IMHO 4x6 speakers suck. There are plenty of people that agree with me on that. Now 6.5” speakers on the other hand rock. Now I don’t know the ins and outs of Stock stereo equipment as in ohms and power rating, so I am not gonna go there. They also have a very shallow mount depth in the dash.
88-94 Trucks:
There are a basically two things you can do here. One option is to just replace the 4x6 speakers with a fairly cheap set of speakers(Guilty, but sounds really good) and run no amp to them. Another option is to spend$$$ on OK speakers and run an amp kinda low and hope you don’t blow them out.
95-98 Trucks
This is where things get better. You can get some nice speakers for the doors. Now for the rear you have a few options. One you can just disconnect them and not use them. Two you can run cheap speakers with no amp. Three spend $$$ on OK speakers and run the amp low and hope not to blow them out. Four you can cut it out and run 6x9 speakers which will be a big improvement. Trucks with power windows have a stock location for mounting a tweeter in front of the window switches and have a component set from the factory. They will also fit a 6.75 in the door with no issues as long as you make baffles like you should anyway.
SUV's
SUV'S have 4x10's in the rear roof. but there are no high quality replacement. most just remove them. SUV'S also have a factory amp to power the added speakers.
Speakers:
Now that is all out of the way (and you know what you want to do) we can get to the good stuff. Again this is all going to be personal preference on how loud you want your system to be and how many you want to run. To me brand name is not super important as long as they got some credibility behind them. My first was Sony and I stuck with them. Speakers are gonna come in ratings based on wattage. You are usually gonna see on the box in big letters its advertised peak power. Peak power is what it can handle in short bursts. You want to find the RMS rating. This is the constant power that they are gonna dish out, the higher the number the louder they will be. Another thing to look for is Sensitivity. Sensitivity, aslo referred to as efficiency (measured as SPL -- sound pressure level), this specification is quoted in decibels (db). The higher the number, the more efficient the speaker is at turning amplifier power to sound, and the louder it plays. A speaker rated 3db more than another will require only half the power to produce the same output.
Another thing to look at is what type of speaker to run. I would say the average person goes with a standard 2,3, or 4-way speaker. A 2,3, or 4-way speaker is a woofer and a tweeter all in one. Another approach is to run a component style system. These are a bit more work. Since the tweeter and woofer are separate and you have to run a cross-over and find a spot to mount the tweeter.
Subwoofer
A subwoofer or sub is just a big component speaker. You have to first choose which type of boy you are going to run first. That choice is whether it is sealed or ported. Then you can choose the proper sub. Then you have single voice coil and dual voice coil subs. Crutchfield has a great write up to help you choose which type of coil you want to use. Subwoofers go buy the same power ratings a standard speaker, so remember to pay attention to RMS power and the Sensitivity rating. Another thing to look out for is its independence or ohms. The lower the independence the more power its gonna draw and how much thump you’re gonna get.
Amplifiers:
So choosing the right amplifier is gonna be based on the type of speakers you have. They come in many different channels depending on how many speakers you are gonna have. A good rule of them is to get a higher RMS rating per channel than the speakers you have or are purchasing. This way it leaves room for improvement if the speakers die or you just decide you want more power. You are also gonna want to look for an independence that is lower than what you speakers are rated so that way the amp doesn’t fail.
If you were to purchase speakers that were rated like this:
| Sensitivity | 91 dB at 1 watt |
| Frequency Response | 50 - 24k Hz |
| RMS Power Range (Watts) | 2-40 |
| Peak Power Handling (Watts) | 260 |
| Impedance (Ohms) | 4 |
Then you are gonna want to purchase an am p rated like this:
| RMS Power Output (Watts x Channels) | 70 x 4 @ 4ohms |
| Peak Power Output (Watts x Channels) | 175 x 4 |
| Power at 2 Ohms (Watts x Channels) | 80 x 4 |
| Bridged Power (Watts x Channels) | 160 x 2 |
| Minimum Impedance Bridged | 4 |
| Minimum Impedance Unbridged | 2 |
| Best Frequency Response | 10-100k Hz |
| THD at Rated RMS Power | 1% |
| Signal to Noise Ratio | 93 dB |
This way the amp is rated better than the speakers and you should have a much clearer sound with less of a draw on the system. This goes for subwoofers as well. Since space is limited in our trucks a 5- channel amplifier would be best IMO. The fifth channel is meant for a sub. This way you can have everything all in one regardless of the amount of speakers you hook up to the amp.
Well if there is anything I forgot to add just let me know and I will add it. If there is any other questions feel free to ask and myself or someone on here will be able to help you out.
Last edited:
