so i have a non stock sound system, but its not quite how i expected it to sound i had the speakers in my monte carlo and they sounded really good, when i sold the car i took the speakers with and put them in my ram, in the front i have 250 watt 6x9 pioneers, and in the back i have 6 1/2 260 watt pioneers, the one thing i didnt take with the car is my reciever, which i think might be part of it, the one that came with my truck is a jvc and a cheaper one, im looking to replace that, and my speakers are also pretty old, so i wanted to know what you guys have in yours, or what you recomend, for the reciever i was looking for something not super expencive with the screen that pops out and its touch screen and all that jazz, one because i think thats a little to flashy/distracting while im driving, and 2 cuz i dont want every one touching it messing with it and messing it up, but i was thinking maybe a kenwood but idk just looking for some imput thanks in advance

 

Okay, I'm sure that you have seen the low down on what I have in my Ram, but I'll list it here as well.
H/U- Pioneer- MOSFET 50WX4
Front Door Speakers- 6X9 Infinity Kappa Perfects 300W Peak
Rear Wall speakers- Infinity Kappa 6 1/2" 300W Peak
Under the Seats- 2 Infinity Kappa Perfects 300W
Behind the seats- 2 10" Eclipse 500W woofers.
Door speaker/ Under seat AMP- 800W Eclipse 4 Channel
Woofer AMP- 1000W Class D Kenwood

80% of your stereo's sound is going to come from installation alone. Mainly, two things you need to look at. 1. Wires- DO NOT REUSE THE FACTORY WIRING!!!! This can make or break a stereo's sound quality. Take the extra couple of hours and run all new lower gauge wiring for your speakers. It really helps. 2. Mounting. There are two methods: Sound proof the hell out of your cabin, or build a stereo loud enough to over power the road noise. In our trucks' case, I prefer sheer power over matting. Just for the simple fact that these rams don't seal up all that great. It's also because when I have it cranked, I'm not in the cab.

Now, your H/U is really a minor component in terms of sound quality. Sure, they are the base equalizer, CD player, and soo much more, but IMO Find a Deck that you like, one that you find you can navigate on while driving down the road not looking at it. Personally, I avoid Kenwood Decks for that reason alone. They are way to complicated for the average person to operate just by touch alone.
I tend to stick with Pioneer/Premir. Now, I know they aren't the best out there, but I find their UI easy to get used to.

Honestly, I'm going to stop there until I get some better info from you.
Mainly, what's your budget, and what kind of music do you listen to?

 

well i listen to a little bit of everything mostly rock/ screamo stuff, but my girlfriend likes country, and alot of my friends listen to rap, i like all of it but obviously i want my sound system to work well to with what i like so yea ha. but i agree with you on the h/u i dont want anything too complicated but i want a nicer one. I just got 2 12'' 1200w kenwood subs so subs are taken care of, but im running an 800w pioneer amp, but im looking to get a bigger amp to, and i dont really have a budget, the plan is to do it step by step not get it all at once so yea

 

i have an alpine cd player 50 watt x 4 (maybe 45 or 55, can't remember), 2 12" jbl 200 watt subs under the back seat, an 810 watt power acoustik gothic series amp and stock door speakers.

mine sounds pretty good because i have my low on -5 the mid on -2 the high on +3 and the sub all the way up. also on the amp itself i have the high all the way down and the low all the way up with the bass boost on so you only hear bass from the subs.

you can go for a high end system like laramie and get great sound or if you're on a budget then you can do like me and just throw a good cd player, amp and subs in there then get your settings on the radio right.

i've seen where a lot of people don't have their settings right and their system will sound like crap because the lows and mids will drown out or muffle the highs. one mistake people make too is having the amps high frequency turned up and you get the muffled craptastic vocals coming through the subs.

another thing i've found is that the subs sound best in the quad cabs if they are pointing toward the floor. but thats if you have a sealed box, if you have a bandpass then you would want the base ports pointing down with the speakers facing forward. i'm not sure about ported boxes.

you should get a cd player that you can easily adjust the amps power with for the different styles of music you listen to, i believe most new cd players have that setting now a days. with country you definately want to cut the power back for the subs because it has a lot of bass in it and your truck will sound like its got salsa music pumping out of the subs from outside of the truck along with drowning out the vocals inside.

 

LOL Sheriff, I explained my build. I bought it one piece at a time. Hell, the 6 1/2" Kappas were a recent addition. I'm just a little obsessed. Ask Jason.

You need to look at the RMS Wattage ratings. What you are posting is the MAX Watt output. Great to compare with, but keep in mind that most components will never see that high of an output. You could probably bridge the amp/woofer connections and get by with it. I have a pic for that if you need help. If you have the manual from the AMP, read it and see if it tells you that you can or can't bridge it. Most amps should say right by the wire connections, but reading the book is the better way to do it.

I have always followed the following rule: 12" subs are high bass music- Rap and things of the like. 10" subs are for music that has moderate bass- Rock, sometimes country....

Obviously, I am going to tell you to look at either Pioneer or Eclipse decks. IMO they are the best H/Us out there for the price.

 

I just upgraded to a pioneer 510 which is very nice but a little pricey the 410 sounds great but is cheaper and has less tuning options so if your like me and demand great sound go with the 510 you'll be happier in the long run

 

i can bridge mine, it has it marked on the speaker hookups. and i know about the rms/peak deal, when you say the wattage of an amp you always say the peak power because thats how the manufacturers advertise them to begin with.
have you ever messed around with alpine head units? i really like my old one and the new one i replaced it with.

 

^ I was telling matt about that. Yes, I have dealt with Alpine head units. Not the newer ones, some of the older ones, you know, the ones that like 100+ buttons on the faceplate? The newer ones seem to be better, but I think Alpine is more of a name than anything else.

I know that Peak Watts is what Manufactures advertise, but that's not a good enough reason to talk peak W all the time. Your RMS output is more important.

 

so to rewire it what gauge do you think i should use maybe 12???

 

For you, I'd say either a 10 or 12. I think Factory was like 18 or 20, so anything under that is going to make a marked improvement.