I have the infinity sound system in my 04 dakota 4-door.

So, just for my own self pity, if i turn the bass on my head-unit up and leave the volume at a relatively low level and isolate each speaker individually (right-front, left-rear, etc...) and each speaker gives me a really annoying rattling sound, that's a fair sign that they all need to be replaced correct?


In the case that all 4 speakers are blown (I believe the tweeters are okay), can anyone recommend me a good solution to getting decent sound back for cheap. I'm not a music freak, and don't even have an ipod (yes, I listen to the radio) but I would like to be able to listen without the rattle. I am looking for a cheap and easy to install fix.

Thank you in advance!

 

Sounds like the speakers may not be blown but the surrounds might have separated from the woofer cones, which causes the rattle at listenable volume levels. Your best bet is to replace the speakers, and there are a lot of choices out there. Personally, I really like the Kicker KS60, it is one of the best-sounding 6 1/2" speakers I have ever heard. I have 2 pairs of KS60's in my truck now and they sound great. www.sonicelectronix.com sells the KS60 for $75.00 with free shipping. I think they may also provide a free pair of speaker installation brackets too, or you can make your own mounting brackets out of 1/2" medium density fiberboard (mdf). I posted about my Kickers here:

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...with-pics.html

There are a lot of other speakers to pick from too. If you have the factory Infinity system, a lot of people have gotten really good sound with Infinity aftermarket replacement 6 1/2" speakers. You could check Crutchfield for prices and info on those, Sonic Electronix sells Infinity for good prices too.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money, you could stop by Walmart and audition some of the Pioneer and Sony speakers they sell, they may not be the top of the line, but they are OK and most of the time Walmart has good prices on what they sell.

The best way to pick a new speaker is to go to Walmart, Best Buy or some other electronics store and listen to the speakers there. Take a flash drive or CD with music you like and try out the different speakers and see how they sound to you. Chances are, if they sound good in the display board they will sound even better in your truck. That is what I did when I bought my Kickers, I tested them out at a Best Buy store first and bought from Crutchfield because they had the better price. Best Buy may even offer free or reduced installation if you want to let them do the installation, or you could buy from a good local independent car audio store and have them do the work.

The best way to look at it is, buy the speaker that sounds best to you that is within your budget. Plus you can read the reviews on different speakers at the SonicElectronix and Crutchfield web sites.

Jimmy

 

Thanks for the awesome information, that helps alot.

One more question, would replacing the speakers be as easy as just going to walmart and dropping 4 more speakers (of the correct size) into the truck? I was reading around and noticed people having problems dealing with ohm usage and the such. Is this something I need to take into account?

 

You don't need to worry about speaker impedance or ohm specifications. Most all full-range speakers will be 4 ohm, the only time you get anything different is with specialty speakers like separate tweeters, midranges and subwoofers. The factory Infinity sound system will do just fine with 4 ohm speakers and you can also leave the factory tweeters connected too.

It's not a hard job to replace the speakers, especially in a quad cab. You can even buy speaker wire harnesses that connect the new speaker to the factory speaker wiring, they take the guess work out of wiring in the new speakers. If you buy from Crutchfield they include the wire harnesses and plastic mounting plates for free.

Jimmy

 

If I were to just go to walmart and pick up 4 6.5'' speakers, how hard would they be to replace the blown out ones?

Once again, I really appreciate your help man and thanks for taking your time with me, I realize I don't know too much about the subject

 

It is not hard to install new speakers. For the front doors:

Remove the phillips screw up in the top area of the sail panel. That is the triangular shaped corner at the top right or left corner of the door panel.

Remove the 2 phillips screws from the very bottom edge of the door panel.

Remove the T-25 Torx screw from behind the door pull handle. It might be a T-20, I can't remember which one it is right now.

Use a small flat blade screwdriver and open the round cover inside the door latch handle cup. Remove the T-25/T-20 Torx screw from behind the cover.

If you have manual windows, you need this tool to remove the window crank handle retainer clips:

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...mString=search

Slide the tool in between the back side of the window crank handle and the front side of the round plastic trim ring behind it. Turn the handle until you feel the retainer clip kind of pop loose. Watch out for the clip when you remove the handle, they have a tendency to pop loose and fly off where you will never find it again. I have yet to find a parts store that sells the clips, and the even the Dodge dealer does not sell the clips as a separate item. You have to buy the whole handle to get just that little retainer clip.

Then lift straight up on the door panel to partially separate it from the door. The panel has right angle hooks molded to the back side that slide into rectangular openings in the metal door surface. Reach in behind the panel and unsnap the plastic retainer clips from the door lock slide and the door latch handle. Then disconnect the wiring connector for the factory tweeter. If you have electric windows and locks, you can unsnap the switch panel from the door panel and unplug the wiring connectors from the switches at this point.

Then just remove the 3 phillips screws from the speaker and disconnect its wire harness plug. The factory speaker is an oversized 6 1/2" speaker, most of the time it is referred to as a 6 3/4" speaker. Even so, with aftermarket speakers you need some sort of mounting plate for it because the factory speaker hole is much larger than a standard 6 1/2" or 6 3/4" speaker hole, and it will provide a more solid and reliable method to mount the speaker to the door. I like using 1/2" mdf for speaker mounting plates because it is a lot more solid and will not rattle or resonate. You can buy a 2 foot by 4 foot sheet of mdf at Home Depot, in the lumber/shelving department for less than ten bucks. Use one of the factory speakers as a template and cut out your own mounting plates with a jigsaw. Or you can use the plastic mounting plates that they sell at some electronics stores, or that Crutchfield and Sonic Electronix sends with their speakers. Some brands of speakers used to include the plastic plates in the box with the new speakers too, but I don't know whether they still do that. If you use mdf, spray paint the mounting plates black so none of it is visible if you look through the speaker grille. The paint also helps keep the plates from swelling due to moisture. Some guys have removed the factory speaker from its plastic mounting plate and just screwed the new speaker back to the factory mounting plate. The factory speaker is glued to the plate. I have never done it that way myself.

If you bought the speaker wire harness kits, just plug them in to the factory speaker wire connector and then plug the other ends in to the new speaker. It is a good idea to use a zip tie to secure the speaker wire to the speaker basket, so it will not come loose. Then screw the mounting plates to the door and then mount the speaker to the plate. Most all speaker manufacturers provide short lengths of speaker wire so you can make the connections to the factory wiring. If you did not get the speaker wire harness kits, here is the wiring color codes you should have in your truck:

Left Front + Light Green/Purple
Left Front - Light Green/Dark Green

Right Front + Light Blue/Purple
Right Front - Light Blue/Black

Left Rear + White/Red
Left Rear - White/Black

Right Rear +Tan/Purple
Right Rear - Tan/Black

You can also buy crimp-on spade connectors at the parts store to make the connections for the speaker wires. When you remove the factory speaker you will see the other 2 wires that branch off up to the tweeter, you should be able to leave the tweeter wiring intact and just make connections at the lower speaker location, and both the tweeter and the new speaker should work.

The rear doors are probably pretty much this same process, without the sail panels. I have never put speakers in the rear doors of a quad cab, but I can't imagine the process being very much different.

It's not a hard job to do. If you buy from Crutchfield they send instruction sheets on how to install the speakers, plus they have a very good technical help department you can call if you have a problem. I don't work for Crutchfield or anything but they have always treated me right.

Jimmy

 

Awesome man, this is exactly what I was looking for. I really appreciate the detailed instructions. I'll definitely look to crutchfield because it sounds like its worth it to just pony up and pay a little extra for the brackets/quality/support they will give over Walmart speakers.

I know on some other forums you have the ability to rate the people who respond to your posts, unfortunately no such option here either way +1 to you man you've been a real big help!

 

YW. I know it can be tough to tackle a job you may not have done before and I like to help out here when I can. Other guys here can also help if there is a problem with changing out your speakers. It really is not very hard to do. Post back if you need more help on it.

Jimmy