Speaker Replacement

[Timburrr]

I need to replace the speakers in my truck (99 quad cab) and just finished reading the material available on here.  I don't know much about car audio, but I've done a bit of reading tonight and I am looking for some help on ordering new speakers.  My truck must have (or at some point) had the infinity system.  It has an aftermarket Kenwood CD deck and from when I put my mirrors on, I could see that the speakers on the back had that crescent shaped amplifier, which I understand is evidence of the infinity system.

 

Are there any specific speakers that fit nicely and aren't super expensive?  My understanding is 6x9s in the front and 5 1/4s in the back.  Should I keep the infinity amp or bypass it?  I read that the rear speakers are powered and wired to the amp but who knows whats actually connected to what right now.  I know my front and rear drivers side speakers aren't working.  I've read some people have done 6 1/2's in the front because they said you can get better value (sound quality to price) than in 6x9s but had to make a custom mount for them (I think I'd rather go simpler)  I also read somewhere through google that people had ended up with 6x9s that were too deep and interfered with the window operation.  Any guidance would be much appreciated.

 

While we're on the audio topic, I would like to one day get a deck with blue-tooth so I can put music on my phone and play that, and also do handsfree talking.  I'm wondering if our trucks are too loud for the handsfree talking to work well?  I know when I have used my headphones or speaker phones people thought I was calling them from a tractor.

 

Thanks!

[SilverMoose]

5 hours ago, Timburrr said:

 I'm wondering if our trucks are too loud for the handsfree talking to work well?

 

I use Bluetooth quite often with the phone and no issues.  I do have the mic on top of dash right in front of me.

 

L8tr

D

[Hawkez]

I recently changed out the speakers and deck in my truck.  My truck had the infinity speakers.  It will take a little bit wiring at the speaks so that everything works but it is easy and simple to do.  I used 6X9"s  for the front and 5.25" for the rear.  I am happy with it, but I am not much of a sound guy.  I use blue tooth for my calls, not issues. 

 

When  you remove the factory amp that is secured to the speaker you will have to do some wiring to get everything to work.  When I initially replaced my speakers and didn't wire in my tweeters so I had to fix that.  Not a big deal, but it would have been better had I fixed it right the first time.  Also, after I put everything back in I did a poor job securing the wiring so it was in the way of the window and wouldn't allow the window to fully come down.  I had to re-remove the door panel to tire the wire loom out of the way and it now works just fine. 

 

Here is a link of the write up that I did.

 

[SilverMoose]

You can keep the factory amps too.  I'm pretty sure there were some posts about it but may have been a long time ago.  

 

L8tr

D

[dripley]

Looking at replacing my radio. Should I ditch the amps on the speakers? Dont know squat about this but would like to know what I need to buy.

[KATOOM]

I've tossed the idea around about replacing the factory deck with a single din unit.  But I have the Infinity stereo and I just can muster up the excitement about digging into another wiring project.  Plus the factory system sounds pretty good since I added a small sub.  My biggest grip is no aux port and no bluetooth.

[SilverMoose]

A new stereo was the first thing (well second after a ddrp) I put in the truck when I bought it. The adapters you can get to connect to factory wiring makes the job easy.  A new head unit with the Infinity amps sound pretty good but the speakers could be better.  When I get new speakers, I will still use the amps and then I'm sure it will sound much better.

 

L8tr

D

[KATOOM]

Did you have the stereo controls on the steering wheel too?  I've heard there's adapters for those as well.  Gotta be honest that I doubt the function of all these adapters and connectors.  Finding out that something didnt work right would make me unhappy.....

[SilverMoose]

6 hours ago, KATOOM said:

Did you have the stereo controls on the steering wheel too?  I've heard there's adapters for those as well.  Gotta be honest that I doubt the function of all these adapters and connectors.  Finding out that something didnt work right would make me unhappy.....

I do have the steering wheel controls but did not spend the extra $80 bucks for adapter for it. I've never had steering wheel controls so I can't say if I miss it or not.

 

L8tr

D

[Hawkez]

16 hours ago, dripley said:

Looking at replacing my radio. Should I ditch the amps on the speakers? Dont know squat about this but would like to know what I need to buy.

I would recommend ditching the amp.  The sound in my truck sounds great for what I want out of it.  Making the wiring work is very simple.  I had two speakers that were blown so I had to upgrade the speakers, I have no regrets.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Hawkez

[Timburrr]

Thanks to everyone for the input.  I'm probably going to ditch the amps and keep it simple since it has an aftermarket deck that are designed to power speakers half decent on their own.  I'll just buy whatever cheaper to mid range 6x9 and 5.25" speakers I can get my hands on and throw them in one day.

 

I definitely plan on putting in a newer deck in the future with bluetooth.  Here in BC first time offence for using phone while driving is $543! Penalty for subsequent offences goes up from there and if you get two or more tickets in a three year period you get a risk premium added to your insurance.  I use my headset the odd time to talk to the wife while I'm driving to work and bluetooth would be a lot easier.

 

Thanks again!

[Mopar1973Man]

I'm going to be in line to replace my 10 year old Kenwood MP3 stereo some day. I was smart long ago and bought a single DIN dash plate and then the plugs for the wiring so all you got to do is basically plug in your new stereo and bolt it down. Takes a lot of work out of the figure. As for steering wheel controls, we had a guy on here attempting to use an adapter for his new stereo and it didn't work. I've got a AUX port in the face and that works out fine for now since I've got my cellphone jacked in and can play MP3 from the phone, make phone calls through the stereo, even while I'm out in the truck I can watch movies on my cellphone and enjoy the rich (stock speakers) sound system. Much better than cellphone speaker.

[Towrigdually]

Just put in a pioneer deck and new kickers in my quad cab last month. One of the better replacements I've done. But like others have said, bypassing the amps are the way to go. There's a good amount of YouTube videos on it, stupid easy to accomplish. I think I did all my stuff in about 2 hrs from start to finish, even gave me a chance to clean in inside of the doors out!

[Timburrr]

Thanks everyone for the help.  Haven't decided which deck to buy but I will do some reading and get on it.  It will be nice to have all my speakers working and have the bluetooth phone connection.