Calling all sound gurus... advice needed.

So I’m considering upgrading the stock speakers in my 03 xtra cab 1st gen. I already have an alpine head unit with Sirius XM and what not. I don’t know the exact model number off the top of my head. I would like to keep this simple and not get out of hand. I don’t want to open a big can of worms. All I’m really looking for is good all around sound quality (highs and lows) without the use of a subwoofer. Kind of what you would expect out of a reasonable modern car. I was thinking about doing one of those alpine plug and play amps like the

$290 alpine KTP-445u universal power pack

alpine KTP-445u and getting a decent set of components for the front and matching set of coaxials for the rear. Don’t really have a budget but don’t want to break the bank. Obviously getting speakers rated significantly higher than the amp I listed won’t do me much good. I’m also open to any tips... help me out. What are you guys running?

 

Save your money and dont buy speakers for the rear, you dont hear them because the seats block the sound. Also i doubt you have anyone sitting in the back listening to them. With that being said you can bridge the power pack and get a little more power to you component speakers up front. Also go with 6x9 speakers, the larger cone area will get you a bit more bass on the low end. Tweeters on an amp should provide plenty enough highs.

Kicker comp series, alpine, pioneer should get what you want and they are cost efficient brands. You just need to make sure the power of the speakers work with the power from the alpine power pack.

 

I put Memphis VIV 6.5 components up front and coaxials in the rear of my 2015 Access Cab with the JL Audio Stealthbox all powered by Memphis VIV 900.5 amp and the system absolutely smashed. I'd read plenty about avoiding spending money for the rear speakers and to place emphasis on the fronts (sound stage and all that) but that system was incredible. Smooth, clean, powerful sound that was great for any genre. I traded it all in for a 2016 Double Cab and am looking now to upgrade that stereo, as well. It really boils down to how much money you want to spend and what you want your system to do. I say pull the trigger on the whole thing!

 

So here you've set the bar basically where you are at already, replaced the HU. Then this:

Reasonable modern cars have subwoofers. Then it goes on with talking about amps and stuff.

Wait, you were all about not opening a big can of worms, now there's an amp, which needs power, a fuse, signal wiring, speaker wiring... all kinds of worms! Then the mother of all Debbie Downers, budget talk.

So this is kind of bi-polar, and it's difficult to suggest anything except toss in some decent aftermarkets and call it. Skip the amp, and forget about it sounding like a "decent modern car" because you'll need an amp and sub for that.

Now, what would I do? I'd be thinking about how much longer I think I'll be driving this 15 year old vehicle, and scale my audio upgrade based on that. If this thing is in hella good shape, and you have another 100K miles to go with it easy... alright, let's talk replacement speakers and a decent 50W(ish) per channel amp and some kind of modest subwoofer. If you are getting rid of the vehicle inside of a year, you're already done with the system.

 

The reason I said “plug and play” is because this particular type of amp is just a power pack that plugs in line with the existing wiring harness and doesn’t require any of the stuff you happened to mention. Look it up. It’s puts out 45w RMS per channel if I remember correctly.

 

If that's the case, at about 70% efficiency, it'll need around a 20A fuse on its own. You're going to overload the factory circuit. This amp needs a dedicated power wire to the battery.

 

Between the Kicker Key and the alpine power pack, I have installed at least 100 of these brick amps and used the radio circuit every time. Have yet to see it blow a fuse (and people are VERY quick to come tell us if something isn’t working before doing any troubleshooting on their own, even years later)

 

I agree with the sentiment of this message, but not upgrading the fuse to 20A. That particular amp comes with a 15A fuse so that's what I'd use. There's no way I'd leave it connected to my radio circuit in one of my own vehicles though, not because I think stuff will explode, that's just what I personally would be able to live with, a dedicated 12AWG power wire and a 15A fuse, to prevent warming up factory wiring and connectors. My Tacoma already has issues with burned connectors in the HVAC wiring and it's all still factory.

I stand by my statement regarding this upgrade and the expected remaining use for this truck and moving forward accordingly.

 

Oh, I wasn't suggesting upgrading the fuse. I just guessed what was in there based on the power rating. I used Ohms law to calculate current draw & factored for efficiency. Disregarding efficiency it should draw around 13.6A. So 15 may be more like it, but I figured maybe Alpine built in a little for mom & the kids.

 

Good stuff, but adding up to 15A to a factory radio circuit will overload it unless it's overbuilt for such things. It's probably using 18ga wire too. Do the math.

 

Yes and No. You may not hear them much but if you don't have rears at all it will definitely be noticeable, and sound hollow. Almost like your ears are plugged.

Buy front and rears, don't be cheap.

 

No rears for me thank you. It kills imaging without an appropriate DSP. I'd way prefer just a front stage anyday. And since speakers are the most important part of this, you can focus all your speaker budget on the front - and maybe bridge the amp to a set of components if it'll do that.