I just bought a new 08. I had a 05 I did not plan on this but because of recent prices bought the car. It is an 08 sport. It has the radio with Sirius in it. The sound is pretty good, much better than I expected. The bass is very nice. I have a pioneer radio in the old one, it is very nice and allows you to put the ipod directly into the unit and charge it. My fiance bought it for me and I hate to lose it. I also have pioneer 4 way speakers in the doors. I wonder what why the sound is so good in this car. Are the speakers in the sport really good, and not paper cones? Would it be worth it to take the radio out and put my pioneer in, as well as the speakers, or will they start to suck in time?

ALso, is it possible to take the 08 head unit and place it in the 05?

I wonder if the sound will get worse over time? I could just change the speaker and givethe radio to my fiance, so she can put it in her Mitsubishi. But I dont know about the quality of the speakers, and dont know if it is worth it. I dont want to do all this and find out that I should not of. My after market stuff sounds very nice indeed, but in the dakota, there was a lot of rattling, and with the stock stuff there is none.

Any information on the speakers in this car would kick ***! And any advice as to what you guys would do would be good. I wonder if the sound would be improved more with a aftermarket radio. I am sure it would, and I dont care about sirius, because I have a 80gig Ipod.

If the speakers are inferior I will definately replace them, also I have the full features, and I wonder if I can even take the doors off with the electronic windows and such.

Thanks for your help guys!!

 

Welcome to the sight. Hopefully some of these guys can help you out, I'm just a performance guy.

 

I have no idea what the stock ones are in the 08's, in my 05 they were just paper cones. I'm running Polk db650's for now, sound pretty good and didn't cost me much. I'm pretty sure the 08's have the same door panels the 05's do. Check out the Front speaker install DIY in the 3rd Gen Dakota FAQ subsection for removing the panels, wouldn't be too hard to just pull them off and take a peek at what's in there.

You didn't say what your 05 was, I'll assume Dakota. If so I don't see why you couldn't put the head unit from the 08 in the 05. The 08+ models are really the same truck as the 05-07's with a more potent 4.7 and a different nose/slightly revised dash.

 

I haven't see or heard the 08 but I would swap them out with the aftermarket setup, unless its a Bose system or another highend brand. check with the dealer to be sure.
if it's just a regular setup it will get worse over time if you like to listen to it louder. (by time I mean years)
I prefer the sound and added functions of after market setup

I've gone completly after market and wouldn't go back if I got a new truck, the change would be to much of a down grade for me.

but of course this is just my opinion. I sure there's a lot of guys on there that like the stock setup.

 

Welcome to DF snook!

 

Snook,
I would swap out the stock speakers for aftermarket ones. As for the 08 being able to fit in an 05? No, unless you cut the 05 bezel.

If I were you, I would giver your fiance the Pioneer headunit and change your speakers to aftermarket.

 

Thanks guys, hopefully more people will comment to further make up my mind!

 

Do you have tweeters up by the mirrors?

 

no, why?

 

If you are installing an aftermarket system, not having factory tweeters is a good thing. Now you have a nice flat surface to install tweeters onto or into. My '06 came with the Alpine Tweeters up in the doors. Those tweeters had two melted plastic rivets that held the housing on. I had to use a soldering iron tip to melt/cut the housing out. This left me with two 3/8ths" holes to fill. I went to AZ and found a set of 44-MAG air-stem caps and hot glued them in. I think I saw it done somewhere before...or it could just be de'ja'vu. It was cheap, easy, looks pretty good in the truck, and goes along with the Laramie theme. I'm planning on doing the whole stereo write-up as soon as I get the head unit, amp, and sub installed. For now, its the Polk DB separates up front and DB coax in the back. On a side note, if you already have the Alpine tweets, they are a quality 1" silk dome that you could leave installed...and just replace the door woof and add an x-over if installing. The door woofs are well made too. Molded nylon frame, rubber surround, and vented pole-piece. But they do have a thin, light weight paper cone. While this (and the vented pole) is good for making bass with lower power amps, it will flex and distort over time. I'll post more photos of the door speakers later. Another thing. If you're getting aftermarket speakers, make sure they have the "triangular ring adapter" for directly fitting a 6.5 into a 6 3/4" speaker hole.