2003 Ram 2500, factory stereo, Infinity, am/fm casette and single cd player.

My front door speakers sound like crap. Bass makes it sound like the webbing is torn or dry rotted. I replaced them with new Polk db691 speakers that were recomended by Crutchfield. They sound exactly the same as the stock ones. The louder I crank it , the worse it gets. Sounds like something rattling but I checked all inside both doors while I was in there and nothing is loose.

Where do you go from here? Can the amp be bad causing this ? How about the main unit itself ?

I had the same thing happen to my wifes Durango recently. All four door speakers were bad so I replaced them and they sound great. But you could physically see the webbing had rotted and torn. My truck speakers didn't look bad at all.

I'm not a big stereo nut but I like it to sound good especially when it's loud.

 

Do you have the speakers wired straight to the radio or to an amp?

Usually when it is distorted like that it means either.
1. Your bass is turned too high.

2. Your playing it too loud for the speaker to handle.

3. If you have the speakers going to an amp, the amp my be pushing too much watts to the speakers.

 

If you have an aftermarket amp follow these steps:

1.) turn the gain on the amp all the way down
2) turn the volume on the headunit up until the music distorts through the speakers
3) turn the volume down slightly to where it isnt distorted
4) turn the gain on the amp up until the volume is where you want it.

This maximizes your signal:noise ratio and provides the least chance for distortion. If you dont have an aftermarket amp, get one. Sometimes running too little power sounds as bad as running too much power.

 

Everything is stock except for the new front door speakers.

 

100% positive your problem is not enough power. Find a cheap 2 channel amp that offers 75-100 watts RMS to each channel. It'll put you in the power band of those polks. Your bass is distorted because there isnt any power behind them.

 

Cool. Thanks. I really don't know squat about stereo systems so 2 questions.

Is there a factory amp in this truck ( if so ,where ? )

Would I replace the factory amp with a 2 channel amp or would it be added to the system as is ?

 

add a separate amp. Dont mess with the factory preamp.

 

There is a factory amp in the infinity system, not in the regular. I'm not positive on its location cause i didnt have the infinity system. You have 2 choices:

1) Keep infinity amp to power rear speakers, add 2 channel amp to power the fronts. If you go this route, you'll just need to chain the two amps together to get them both power

2) Ditch infinity amp and get a 4 channel amp to power all 4 speakers. Be careful in selecting an amp if you go this route. You'll wanna make sure it has adjustable gains for front and rear seperately. If you try shoving 70rms through the factory speakers you're gonna blow them in a heartbeat

3) Ditch infinity amp, add a 2 channel amp for the front speakers and power the other stuff off the head unit. This is kinda the cheap way out cause you're not gonna get quite as good sound out of the rears or low range because the ininity amp can put out more than the headunit.

If I were you, I would think about spendin another $50 and get an ok set of rears as well that can tolerate a little higher RMS. Then power all 4 off of a 4-channel amp.