I just bought a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 SS/T. The stereo has this terrible squeal from only the passenger door 6X9. It goes away after a second or two, then comes back intermitantly.

I have put the stock head unit back in for now (Thinking it may have been the cheapie aftermarket unit that was in there, asz it also had a defective display, so I hoped the sound was the stereo, not the speaker.

I removed the door panel, and it looks like aftermarket speakers (not sure) but there is a little device attached, that goes into the stock harness.

The device is connected to the stock harness, then wiretied to the speaker housing (Why I assume it is an aftermarket speaker)


My question is what the heck is this device, is it needed, and if not, how can I splice the speaker directly? I may keep the stock stereo, I may buy an aftermarket one, but eiter way, I have a squeal in the speaker. And as I said, they look like nice speakers.

 

its the factory "infinity" amp that was originally attached to the stock speaker. it amps the door speaker and maybe the rears (not sure). i think (not sure) it was a cheap way to beef up the underpowered factory head.

it also has some funky wiring in the harness to carry 12v to the amp.

its sort of common to keep them and re-use them.

IMO the best solution is to install a decent powered aftermarket head unit (40 watts or more), (and maybe an amp) and just run new speaker wires and ditch that mysterious crap.

 

I believe Laramie has stated that these speakers are crappy, and the device you are looking at is the factory amp. By what I have read, you are probably better off getting new speakers and wiring them independent from the original wiring. That's what our official stereo expert Laramie would recommend.

 

I had basically planned on a new system, but thought it was worth a try. Thanks for the replies!