Are the Mopar kicker speaker up grades any good. I would like to put them in my 2013 ram 3500 9speaker alpine system.
Are the Mopar kicker speaker up grades any good. I would like to put them in my 2013 ram 3500 9speaker alpine system.
I'd opt for a better brand personally. Kicker makes decent speakers if you're looking for a minor improvement (i.e. put a set of Kicker Road Series 6.5s in the wife's Fiat 500 to replace the total trash factory doors....for $80 couldn't go wrong).
If you're looking for fidelity, no; and in comparison to the Alpine (which I was pleasantly happy with in my 4th gen) I don't think you will see an upgrade.
The factory Alpine system does not use top end Alpine speakers. It will be evident she you see them. The Mopar/Kicker upgrade is an improvement as far as the quality of the components and will sound better BUT at the expense of overall volume.
The main things you want to look for in a replacement is the speaker impedance and sensitivity rating. The factory Alpine speakers are 2ohm and the Kicker kits I've seen are 4ohm. This makes a huge difference in overall sound output. I recommend looking at replacement speakers that are either 2 or 3 ohm for direct replacements. Several manufacturers make them. I picked Infinity when doing my upgrade years ago and could not be happier.
Greg
2012 | RAM 2500 | CCSB | MM3 tuned by Double R Diesel
2016 | Heartland Pioneer | DS310
Greg
2019 | RAM 2500 | CCSB | 6.4 HEMI
I replaced the 3.5" corner dash speakers with JBL (Club series) series along with the rear doors - 6x9 JBL (Club series) 3 ways.
The front door speakers seem to be a different animal - they are a mid-range speaker (Mid bass & Bass only) no tweeter (highs) - I left them in.
From what I've read the 8.4 head does not send the Highs to the front doors. (Just Mids & Bass). So adding a set of 6x9 speakers with tweeters would be some what of a waste. Unless you add a crossover & possibly separate amp.
Plus the mounting depth of the front doors pretty shallow - I think 2 7/8 or 2 3\4 is it with out having to purchase 1\4" mounting adapters.
I also Replaced the cheap Alpine imitation sub with a shallow mount Pioneer!
Much Richer/Cleaner Soundstage!
I agree with Power247: Ohms & Sensitivity is very important.
(Try to buy speakers that are as close to the original as possible).
I didn't exactly follow that rule - but mine turned out really well!
I also didn't feel like adding resistors to each speaker to help correct the ohm issue.
I did find adjusting the front & rear fade helped a lot - I moved the fade about 3-4 clicks more towards the rear.
This kept the front 3.5 dash speakers from being so over powering.
I still don't know if I like the surround sound feature on.
Good Luck in your Quest!
I do believe the Infinity (reference series) speakers are the best route when getting close to the correct ohms. I don't know if that's the best series though - do some research & it will pay off.
I do believe Harmon Kardon creates both the Infinity & JBL series speakers so the quality is quite similar.
BST: Read here - we discussed it a lot awhile back!
https://www.ramforum.com/threads/alp...pgrade.118195/
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