Last year I decided to update my sound system with a modern head unit and replace/upgrade the old and damaged speakers. I like to have a good listening experience on the road. I have no real need or desire to go all out and get premium quality components, since the truck is a big tin can and would take hours and hours and a couple money trees in full bloom to do. but just about any after market setup will be an upgrade.
While the single din stereo wasnt fun to do, it wasnt too terrible. Cutting the dash was a little tricky at times and i kept breaking cutting disks on my dremel, but eventually that was done.
The dash speakers were old and one was blown so they had to go. anything with a paper cone needs the boot, imo. 3.5" speakers arent super common but not hard to get a hold of. so some pioneers went in and there was no need to change speaker mounts or make any mods. sound pretty good to me, it isnt a nice component setup with the tweeters up top but for a $40 direct drop in, i am super happy.
Now we are getting to the heart of this thread: options for replacing the 4x10's. those speakers are just plain inefficient, and only sound ok at low volume. I had a set of used speakers that i got for free and replaced the originals, but they only lasted a year.
So what to do? that is a pretty weird hole in the back. a 6x9 would work, but you would need to make an adapter plate and cut the metal back or else it would stick out quite a bit.
A speaker shop told me that a 5.25" speaker can fit in there no problem and still use the factory grille. I will take a 5.25 all day long over a 4x10. so i ordered up a set of Polk speakers and got to work.
first thing I found is that an adapter plate will need to be made to cover the hole and give a good spot to secure the new speakers. and the factory speaker grille didnt completely hide the new speaker (about 1/8" stuck out top and bottom). I didnt want to cut any metal, and found no need to with these speakers.
I said screw the factory look, I just want this done now and here is what I did. you may like it or not, but it was simple and sounds amazing.
Since I had some 1/2" mdf lying around, I used it to make the speaker spacer. took a couple of quick measurements and got to cutting. cut out the hole for the speaker, painted it with truck bed liner and connected it up along with a set of speaker baffles. the foam baffles are nice since they control the air space. the speaker holes were just open so the speakers had way too much air and it added to the poor sound quality. some $7 speaker baffles fixed that problem right up.
Now with all this and putting in my old JL 10" sub from my highschool days, it sounds much better than I would have expected. When it starts warming up more i will start sound deadening and sound proofing the doors, dash, and other areas to cut down on external noise (such as a rattling diesel).
While the single din stereo wasnt fun to do, it wasnt too terrible. Cutting the dash was a little tricky at times and i kept breaking cutting disks on my dremel, but eventually that was done.
The dash speakers were old and one was blown so they had to go. anything with a paper cone needs the boot, imo. 3.5" speakers arent super common but not hard to get a hold of. so some pioneers went in and there was no need to change speaker mounts or make any mods. sound pretty good to me, it isnt a nice component setup with the tweeters up top but for a $40 direct drop in, i am super happy.
Now we are getting to the heart of this thread: options for replacing the 4x10's. those speakers are just plain inefficient, and only sound ok at low volume. I had a set of used speakers that i got for free and replaced the originals, but they only lasted a year.
So what to do? that is a pretty weird hole in the back. a 6x9 would work, but you would need to make an adapter plate and cut the metal back or else it would stick out quite a bit.
A speaker shop told me that a 5.25" speaker can fit in there no problem and still use the factory grille. I will take a 5.25 all day long over a 4x10. so i ordered up a set of Polk speakers and got to work.
first thing I found is that an adapter plate will need to be made to cover the hole and give a good spot to secure the new speakers. and the factory speaker grille didnt completely hide the new speaker (about 1/8" stuck out top and bottom). I didnt want to cut any metal, and found no need to with these speakers.
I said screw the factory look, I just want this done now and here is what I did. you may like it or not, but it was simple and sounds amazing.
Since I had some 1/2" mdf lying around, I used it to make the speaker spacer. took a couple of quick measurements and got to cutting. cut out the hole for the speaker, painted it with truck bed liner and connected it up along with a set of speaker baffles. the foam baffles are nice since they control the air space. the speaker holes were just open so the speakers had way too much air and it added to the poor sound quality. some $7 speaker baffles fixed that problem right up.
Now with all this and putting in my old JL 10" sub from my highschool days, it sounds much better than I would have expected. When it starts warming up more i will start sound deadening and sound proofing the doors, dash, and other areas to cut down on external noise (such as a rattling diesel).
