quick question,

If I wanted to just up grade stock speakers are there any complications in using the "Plug and Play method."? Not real stereo savy so trying to upgrade without too much difficulty. 356Magnum, Your system looks amazing, can only imagine how it sounds. Thanks to all in advance.

Marshall

 

Hey man. I think you should be good to go on the plug and play. Here is some posts between me and 356 Magnum a while back about stereo installs. Might be something in there. It has been a while since I have read it.

https://dodgeforum.com/m_245154/tm.htm

 

When I did mine, I didnt use any speaker harness adapters. What I did was disassemble the plugs at the speakers and used the wires that came with the speakers. This way I could return the system to stock if I had to. If using the headunit to power the speakers, the stock wire size is good. For added protection I put in "bass blockers" inline on the + lead of the speaker leads. 300hz on the dash and 100hz on the doors, good protection for about $20. I had to run speaker wires to the dash because there wasnt any on the base 4 speaker system. Kinda of a pain to run the wires through the dash. Check with your local stereo shop and see if they have the speaker harness adapters, this will make it truly Plug & Play. Crutchfield has them for $10. Speaker harness

One thing also is let the stereo shop install the speakers. It is a pretty straight forward procedure, but taking door panels off is a lil tricky. This way if some plastic gets broken or bent, the shop will be responsible for it. If it is a kewl shop they will let you watch so you can learn also. Also the install is warrantied. Nothing stinks worse than having to do the job over because something was forgotten or wires came loose.

 

Thanks to the both of you! Will start looking for a reputable stereo shop around here. I know there are many brands of speakers and it is really personal preferrence, but any you would say definately stay away form? What do you think/or heard about the "memphis" speakers? Thanks again!

Marshall

 

There is a "fast and furious" shop here that I get my vinyl stickers from. He sells nothing but Memphis and his displays sound good. When I got the Magnum I got back into the stereo stuff again. I went with my old fav Alpine. Like you said, it's a matter of personal choice. Back in the day I did an S-10 with Alpine amps, MB Quart non subs and Kicker subs, but again that was 10 years ago. I had a friend wanted the same in his but could bot afford the $3000 i put into it. We did the Walmart/KMart brands ie audiovox and jensen. After we were done, we both were pretty amazed. Granted it didnt get the clean loud volume that I could, but for a average listener/driver, it was more than enough.

Many factors are need to be taken into consideration when designing a system.

What are you looking for? You are not going to get great bass with the any type of speakers that fit in the stock locations.

Style of music? I listen to what ever floats my boat at the moment, classic rock, new rock, 50's, R&B, county etc etc. So I added the subs for bass. If you lisen to mostly country or rock, the stock style speakers are fine. My dad is 64 years old, when he came to visit, he rolled his eyes and shook his head when he saw the stereo hahah. Then we went for a drive and put on some of his music and he had a sh*t-eating grin on his face. hahaha

Going to show it? I could have hidden the amps so that absolutly invisible. I went with the plexi for show. When I start showing the system to someone for the first time, I have the carpeting covering the amps. I usually get a "NICE" just showing the subs. Then when I pull off the carpet, I get a "WOW" with the amps. Just remember that cooling may be a factor.

Need of usable space? I thought about putting the box in the rear on top of the storage cover, but I was worried about it moving and the looks were just "eh". Now if you look at Grinner's he as a nice fibreglass sub enclosure. Plus if I wanted to haul something that I have to lay the seats down for, I would have to remove the box. What I do is when I need to haul long items, I just place a board over the speakers and zero out the bass. I just did a trip to Ga and did exactly that. I had the behind the back seat area filled to the roof! There are also a few of guys that have the speakers in the side pockets. Those are $$ fiberglass enclosures. I think one guy paid $400 a side. That's what about paid for all the electronics.

Whats is you budget? Getting back to the main intent of the post. You def get what you pay for. One thing to watch out for is the gimmick power ratings. A speakers labled as "1000watt capable" and costs $20, you know that is bunk. Forget about "Peak" power, always go with "RMS" or "continous" power rating. Now you can mess up by having speakers that are too high rated for the power that you are using. For example: speakers that are capable of, lets say 1000watts rms, then trying to power it with a 100w amp. Believe it or not you would do more damage than if you had a 1500w amp. The problem comes from when the amp is at its high level, it starts to clip(distort) and this destroys speakers. Had you even hear someone going by and it sound like crap from distortion, that system wont last a long time. They are probably trying to get low bass from a lil speaker. Plus the high power speakers require hefty power before they will even start to sound. Soo if you are using the headunit to power speakers, like i am, 2 important things need to be done to make the system almost bullet proof 1) never turn it all the way up, my rule for me is never past 3/4 2)Put in some "bass blockers", this will keep most the bass away from small speakers. Granted you will loose some bass in a ssytem with stock locations, but it better than have to replace them.

Self-control? I fall under this catagory. I told myself when I got the car I was just going to put in a MP3/WMA CD changer and call it quits! RIGGGHHTTTT! I felt the bug again. $1100, 8 speakers, 2 amps later, I thought I was done. Well the headunit I have has and Auxillary input. On the trip to GA, I brought along the portable DVD player and hooked it up. Now I have the video bug. I like to get the new DVD playing headunit and 3 DVD screens. This is gonna run alteast $1000 for the equipment and more fab time. Or i can go with the builtin screen headunit and a roof mounted 10" monitor for about $2000 and the install would be a breeze. The reason everything is $$, is because I am stuck on Alpine. I can go with "store" brands (sony, kenwood, pioneer, which are good names), but for some reason I am keeping everything Alpine. I am deciding if it is worth the "wow" factor for video. DOT considers any DVD system that is viewable by the driver illegal. Plus I dont do many road trips and the DVD would be mostly for show. And the g/f and her kids dont ride for any lenght of time to even watch a complete movie. Plus the fights of "I wanna watch the movie" or the decision of which move to watch are worth it hahahahaha.

Well this has turned into a novel and I apollize, but just going to warn you, the stereo bug is infectious. Esp if you see or hear a system or the DVD bug if you see a car like Grinner's. I have already started some tiffs between guys at work and their wives after they have seen and heard my system haa.

 

356magnum-great info, thanks for all of it. Reminded me of a lot to consider. Had a full blown system (full blown for that day in age) about 15 years ago in a dodge dakota sport. Loved the system! But 15 years in stereo technology is an eternity. Should be PCSing in about a year so do not want to get to crazy money wise right now but would definately like to upgrade the stock speakers for now, look at doing more extensive stuff after the move, probably not to yours and Grinner's level but more none the less. Again thanks for the info, helps out tremendously. Speaking RMS ratings, what kind of numbers should i look for if I am just using stock head unit with no amp t push the speakers. My Mag has the six speaker system. Again thanks!

Marshall

 

not to take away from 356, but i am more than pleased with my 4 stock speakers, i changed out the head unit for mid range jvc, and added a high end ppi sub in an "easily" removable box, powered by a hifonics amp.

 

TX Kewl, Im military too and well aware of the pains of PSCing. I havent heard a 6 speaker system yet. You would have to talk to someone that has replaced the 6 speaker system. If the ones in the stock are 2 ways, I dont think that you will be gaining much. But again I havent heard anything to compare. I gonna have to bow out on that one and let someone with the experience handle that. Found out that the BA system is 276 watts. Don't know is that is RMS or peak(I would assume for the saleing point game). 276/6=46. As for RMS I would go with 30-50rms for dash and 50-100rms for the doors and rears. This way if you decide to step it up, the speakers will be good. I just wish I would have saved a lil more and gotten a 4 channel(doors and rears). Eventually I will be getting another T220(50X50) for the doors. Come up with a plan then make sure its what you want. Plus you get better deals if you drop $1000 vs $100 at a stereo shop. Luckily the guys I went through started giving me deals after spending about $500. I got the wiring stuff for free and discounts on the dash and rear speakers.

undropped No worries, I was going to stay with the 4 speakers too. Then one day I got a wild hair and took some cheapo 3.5 and jurry-rigged up a small amp and did a test install. It was amazing how much of a difference the dash made. I was so impressed that I ran just dash and doors, leaving the rears unhooked. I knew the rears were going to have to run off of an amp. Needed to wait the month to get the $$ for the Alpine speakers and amp for the rears.

Just went to a SPL show to see what it would push, 129.5db avg using termpro(offical system of DB race). I was hoping just to make 120db. Not bad for a selfbuilt jigsaw system with a .75f3 per speaker box when optimum is 1.0f3 is recommended.

 

cool, never dragged my sub, but can say that i one ten can hang with any system i have heard, of course having an engineered cabinet quality hdf box helps alot.

it is a "deathbox" design, that is adjutable to the speaker, and as you mentioned above RMS matching is very very important, my amp is capable of putting out almost 1000w rms bridged, but my sub is rated closer to 450, so i run it single channel, i know its a waste, but i got the amp for such a good price i couldn't refuse

 

I thought I had read somewhere about problems using anything other than the stock Stero. Obviuosly many of you have replaced the factory stero. I have hesitated to install my old cars Alpine deck granted it is a few 4+ years old but was a very nice deck anyway. It has always put out good sound and I could notice the difference in sound between it and the Magnums even with stock speakers in my old Saab. Which is why I want to swap it in.

I would like to hear any advise anyone has on this or what to avoid. I plan to have the same shop who did the original install / removal set this up. Also i have seen an insert to cover the hole and **** opennings but can't find one anymore. do i need to locate this or should reputable shop be able to locate this?

Thanks