1st Post. I've gleaned a lot great information lurking this forum so I thought I'd return the favor and post what I've learned upgrading my speakers. I hope this will help someone. I'm still running the stock head-unit but the upgrade in fidelity is nothing short of amazing.

My Truck:
2010 Ram 2500 SLT Crew Cab - Short Bed - 4x4 6.7L Cummins

Stereo is the "nothing special" standard 6-speaker / Head-unit is the basic 130 model with Sirius. No Alpine anywhere.

About the stock six-speaker system:
All 4 doors use a 6x9 4-ohm 15W coaxial with paper cones. The two dash speakers are 3.5 inch 8-ohm 15W paper. The dash speakers also have a 2.2 uf cap wired in series. This will start rolling off freq below 9kHz at -6db's per octave for the dash speakers.
The dash speakers are wired in parallel with the front door 6x9's. The nominal impedance presented to the head-unit will be 2.7 ohms for the front-door/dash combo and 4 ohms for the rear channels.

I wanted the Polk db's installed in this truck based on fantastic success in a previously owned 3rd gen Ram 1500 Quad cab. Unfortunately Polk claims that nothing in the DB line of speakers fits the 4th gen RAM except the dash db351's. Based on some great earlier posts here, I decided to try and make the db691's fit with some minor mods and a shoehorn. I hope to upgrade the head-unit and add an amp down the road a bit, but now this will more than suffice.

I had to make some minor cuts on the front door speaker openings as detailed in this fine post:

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/4th-gen...xperience.html

No cutting was required for the rear doors, and the dash db351's dropped right in without issue.

I used the included Polk bottom mount spacer ring on the backside of the 6x9 speakers to get the proper clearance. There is a very slight tweeter bulge on the doors. It is difficult to see and I'm very OK with it. I think the use of smaller spacers instead of the Polk spacer ring could eliminate it entirely....but really, it's very very minor. I had to take about ten pictures before I could make the bulge visible in the photo's below....nuff said, you be the judge.

About the Polk's:
db691: 4-ohm -100/300 watt 35hz-22khz 3-way
db351: 4-ohm -35/105 watt 90hz-22khz 2-way.
The db351's come with an optional 200uf bass blocking cap. (I installed the cap) This will start rolling off freq below 200Hz at -6db's per octave for the dash speakers. The nominal impedance presented to the head-unit will be 2 ohms for the front-door/dash combo and 4 ohms for the rear channels. (I'm hoping that the 200uf caps will help stabilize the 2 ohm load, if not I might be upgrading the head-unit sooner than I'd like, but so far so good).

Some pics:

The tools I used...not shown - dremmel and soldering iron


Some 6x9 comparisons






The modified front door. A single horizontal spoke of fiberglass needs to be removed.


Ready to mount, note the spacer ring is behind the speaker.





There IS a slight bulge, but it's hard to see:






Now the stock 3.5 inch dash speakers







The 2.2 uf cap is wired in series on the stock dash speaker


The hole for the 3.5 inch dash speaker.


The Polk db351 installed:




Finished.


Again, the improvement in fidelity is well worth the efforts. Even with the stock head-unit, these speakers rock hard....full and balanced are the words that come to mind...and a nice punch too.

 

I did the exact same upgrade to my RES radio, with the front 4 speakers, and am also very happy with the results. I'll be replacing the rear doors with DB691's soon. ( I did not install the bass blocker in the 3.5's on the dash.)

 

Nice setup, judging by the pics its much easier to get at then the 3rd gen rams!

IMO I would still upgrade that head unit! Get one with a manual EQ setup and those speakers will sound even better!

Subs an option later?

 

I have an idea of installing the 6 channel JL audio amp later, but for now, I want to keep the factory head unit, which has uConnect and EVIC integration. I don't really crank what I listen to, and it's mostly acoustic music, but a sub may be in my future after the amp.

 

When you upgrade your head unit you are going to have to buy an "adapter" to fit the aftermarket one anyways. Sorry I don't know what you call them. Everything is now integrated with the deck, including the vin, so im sure there is an adapter that will let you still use EVIC with your aftermarket. As far as uconnect goes, if you go kenwood you get parrot. They are THE BEST for hands free systems, I had a dnx6900 or something like that with integrated parrot system. This system worked like a charm, when I talked on it people could hardly tell I was in my truck. Compatibility is amazing with this system too.

All im trying to stay is don't stray too far from aftermarket over a few things. The broad spectrum your getting is much more useful!

 

Nice job and write up. When I was kid everything had to be at max volume. Then I learned that good sound is more in the quality than in the volume. I have been in vehicles with 2000 watts that sounded worse than my stock Ram setup. Nowadays it really is about how "clean" the sound is for me.
Bass is second, Volume third.
Enjoy the new sound.....good music makes the miles go by a lot faster on a long trip.

 

Amen !

 

X2, which is why I stated to go with something with a manual EQ, GREAT SOUND can come from this if set up properly!