Yes, but moreso, it's actually necessary so you can mount the radio. You'd need to buy this kit if you don't buy from Crutchfield.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1209965...t.html?tp=3121

Here is the radio...

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113BT75...D.html?tp=5684

 

I will add a different take on OP's question..I have this Pioneer DEH5600HD deck in my truck:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_130X560...600hd&skipvs=T

I absolutely love the sound of my Pioneer. It's on sale at Crutchfield now for $99.99 with free shipping and it is only $15.00 more for the installation kit and wire harness to connect the deck in to the factory radio wiring in the dash. I bought my Pioneer deck at Advance with an online discount code so it only cost me $71.00. I bought my dash kit at Autozone but the Crutchfield dash kit and wire harness fits perfectly, here is a picture of my Pioneer deck installed in my dash with the install kit:

P1010109-1.jpg

Shot from a different angle:

P1010110-1.jpg

The 5600HD has phenomenal sound quality and plenty of output power, just has a nice fat sound to it. It has a lot of good tone control adjustments, including a good 5 band equalizer instead of plain bass and treble controls, plus it has 3 different levels of loudness adjustment and 5 different levels of bass boost. It has a few built in eq curves and 2 custom curves you can set yourself. The 5600 is also very easy to operate while driving and I set the colors of the radio display and controls to exactly match my blue-green dash lights. I took the pics above before I set the light colors. Plus you can set the display and control lights separate from each other. In the daytime I set the display to white and buttons to green, at night I have it all green. It's a nice feature to be able to change it up like that and the deck remembers how I have it set so it's easy to change one to the other. The 5600 also has built-in high pass crossovers if needed. They are more efficient, also more adjustable and would eliminate the need for any capacitors or bass blockers.

There are a lot more features to the Pioneer deck but I don't want to preach. It's a good deck for a good price. I also put in 4 Pioneer TSG1644 6 1/2" speakers. I bought my speakers at Advance with a discount code too, and they sound very good for $30.00 per pair. I was stunned by how good the bass response is from just 4 full range 6 1/2's. The highs are bright and sharp too. The whole system has a nice fat sound to it.

If you buy speakers from Crutchfield they also send free plastic mounting plates. I don't like those at all. I made my own mounting plates out of 1/2" medium density fiberboard (MDF). MDF does not resonate or rattle and gives a much more solid mounting provision. You can buy a small sheet of MDF at Home Depot for less than $10.00 and very easily get all 4 mounting plates out of it. Here is what one of my door speakers looks like mounted in the door:

P1010084-1.jpg

Speaker with the door panel reinstalled:

074.jpg

Crutchfield also provided free help on the phone if you need help with the installation or have a problem with the deck and/or speakers later on. Crutchfield has great service, I can say they have always treated me right. You can get help here too if you need it..

I used Alpine decks for a long time, over 20 years. I don't care for what Alpine has done with their decks the last few years, they make you spend big bucks to get basic features that are found on much less expensive decks. I like my Pioneer both for the sound quality and how easy it is to operate while I am driving. It looks great too. I would say do not buy Boss. It is the same as Pyramid and is junk. Buy a good name brand deck and speakers and it should do fine. Kenwood is nice but IMHO Pioneer blows Kenwood out of the water on sound quality and output power.

Jimmy

 

SilverCC, thank you so much. That is extremely helpful! We recently got the truck and he's been away with it more than it's been home so I was having trouble visualizing what the setup actually looked like. That sounds very reasonable price wise as well.. as much as I want him to have something worthy, I am not feeling like money bags right now.

 

Found these on sale. Alpine speakers, Pioneer deck? I know they don't have to be the same brand (not that useless when it comes to these things) but I have heard mixed things on whether or not you get better sound if the speakers and deck are the same brand.
http://www.visions.ca/Catalogue/Cate...4&sku=SXE1725S

 

You can mix brands of speakers and decks, it does not matter if they all match. It is best to stop in a Best Buy or other car audio/electronics store and audition speakers yourself before buying. You can read all the reviews online but if you order a speaker without hearing it first there is no way to know for sure if it sounds good to you. Take a flash drive or CD with music you like on it and listen to different speakers and get the ones you like best that fit your budget. Alpine has a good reputation for building nice speakers but again, they are more expensive than some other brands that sound just as good or better. I have never heard those E-type 6 1/2's myself but would guess they are probably OK. Kenwood makes a good cheap 6 1/2" too, it's a KFC G1620:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/6-1-2-2-way-car-speakers-with-polypropylene-cones-pair/4868445.p?id=1218558349623&skuId=4868445&st=catego ryid$pcmcat223000050007&cp=1&lp=7

I heard the G1620's at a Best Buy the other day, they sounded good in the display board. With speakers it is always best to audition as much as you can before you buy. Listen in the store and if you can get a better price online, buy online if the store won't do a price match. Best Buy will price match a few web sites, Crutchfield and Amazon are a couple but it has to be the exact same item and in the case of Amazon, Best Buy will only price match if the speaker is actually sold by Amazon, not one of their third party retailers.

You can get a Pioneer DEHX3500UI CD deck at Best Buy this week for $59.00. It's the same deck as my 5600 just without the HD Radio function. Maybe if you wanted to stop in a Best Buy or some other store and check it out, that's a good price.

There are other good brands and good prices out there too. I just happen to prefer Pioneer and I guess I always will unless/until Alpine gets down off their high horse and sells a good quality deck at a decent price. That is not to say Alpine is bad, their decks always sound great but I just think they can't get their priorities straight on features for the price. If you shop around, read the reviews and get online opinions here and other forums, you will probably find a good system for a good price. Check out www.sonicelectronix.com too, they are every bit as good as Crutchfield, have great prices too and may carry brands or models that Crutchfield does not.

Jimmy

 

A couple of other things - if the stock radio is not working, chances are the antenna is OK and the radio is bad. There is a junction for the antenna cable in the passenger's kick panel, maybe it has been pulled loose but more likely there is a problem with the factory radio. One way to test the antenna is if the AM radio works but the FM does not, the radio is the problem, not the antenna. Antennas don't typically fail on their own. Try a new radio first before replacing the antenna.

Also with the truck being an SLT it probably has the amplified Infinity system in it. If it has factory tweeters mounted up on the sail panels on each front door, it is definitely the amplified system. You can wire an aftermarket deck with the Infinity amp and it will sound good. In your case if you are on a budget, you could try just replacing the radio and using the stock speakers, they may still be in good enough shape to use for a while until you want to replace them. If you did go with a lower powered Alpine or Kenwood deck, it would still sound good interfaced with the factory amplifier. You might save some money that way if you find a deck you like that might not have as much output power as a Pioneer or maybe a JVC. Pioneer and JVC use MOSFET outputs and are generally pretty loud on their own.

Jimmy

 

Thank you again, SilverCC. Much appreciated!

 

and don't worry about changing the tweeters. They don't really wear out, and I don't know of any OE fit replacements. And getting to the door speakers is a cake. I did both of my fronts in the parking lot at college, I kid you not.

 

You can certainly get basic, good-sounding decks for under a hundred these days. The cost rises as you increase the feature set. In my case, I wanted bluetooth streaming and Android control. The radio came with a mic that I can mount on my steering for bluetooth phone calls. If you live in a state that prohibits phone use while driving, that becomes important. I don't, but I hate holding a phone while driving. Bluetooth streaming can be a hit and miss with sound quality. I heard that Kenwood does real well with that, sounding just as good as wired. Since I'm also installing a power-amp, I opted for 6 channel RCA outputs. Pioneer is a decent make and I've owned a few decks, but I would put the sound processing of Kenwood above them.... apples to apples. Again though, they make very reliable decks that don't break.

I got a pretty good deal on the Kenwood on black Friday. Also installed these speakers JBL speakers. Note that they are 2-ohm, vs 4-ohm. Lower resistance = increased incoming power to them.