Base System Speaker Upgrade

[Heimkehr]

Has anyone had problems overloading their head units from running all these speakers with no amp? The difference in ohms is not a problem?

Jerry says almost exactly what I was going to say:

I can turn mine up to the full volume of 38 with no distortion, but that's too loud. I normally run low 20's, but occasionally go up to the high 20's and never have any issues. For the factory speakers with a 4 ohm in parallel with an 8 ohm, the effective resistance is 2.67 ohm, so a close match to my 3 ohm Infinity speakers.

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[jhalla920]

Jerry says almost exactly what I was going to say:

Thanks for the replies. I put the infinity 307s’ in the dash. Going to do the 6.5 infinity reference in the soundbar. Base audio, no amp and no sub. Was hesitant to do the 6.5 swap in the soundbar without any good data on what kind of power the base head unit has.

 

[jhalla920]

I put infinity reference 307 in upper dash and 607 in the soundbar. Did you guys end up reversing the wires in the Metra connectors in the soundbar as well, or just the dash? I tried the Speaker Pop app on iPhone but it gives wildly inconsistent results.

 

[Heimkehr]

I put infinity reference 307 in upper dash and 607 in the soundbar. Did you guys end up reversing the wires in the Metra connectors in the soundbar as well, or just the dash?

Just the dash, in my case, where I did use Infinity Reference speakers in conjunction with the provided Metra connectors.

I used Mopar premium speakers in the soundbar, which were plug-and-play as delivered.

This depinning kit helped.

 

[Jebiruph]

I put infinity reference 307 in upper dash and 607 in the soundbar. Did you guys end up reversing the wires in the Metra connectors in the soundbar as well, or just the dash? I tried the Speaker Pop app on iPhone but it gives wildly inconsistent results.

After I used one of these to test the speaker polarity https://a.co/d/iVsKNRA , I found that all the factory speakers came wired with reverse polarity, so I used the Metra adapters wired as delivered to keep all the speakers in phase (all negative polarity)..

 

[Uhdinator]

I was looking at Kenwood KFC x3 vs Infinity 307 3.5" upgrade for sound bar and dash. One thing I noticed is the sensitivity rating of the Kenwoods is 83db (1w @ 1 meter)
the Infinity are 91 db. So you're gonna get more out of the Infinity's with less power. Im sure either one will sound better than the factory speakers. The Kenwoods only go as low as 800Hz and the Infinity go down to 85HZ.

I ordered Kicker KSC40's for the sound bar
88 db @ 1w, with LF down to 60hz
Infinity ref 307's for the top dash
91 db @ 1w. 85 hz LF.
Pretty sure it will be and improvement.

 

[Jebiruph]

I finally upgraded the knee speakers using Infinity Reference REF607CF speakers. I went with component speakers to avoid having to use a coax speaker and adding an additional tweeter in the knee position.

I surface mounted the tweeter to the dash grill. You can see the crossover in the glove box opening, I used velcro to attach it to the side of the speaker pod.

I did find that the Metra speaker pods need to be lined with sound deadening material. Once that's done, this upgrade sounds great and is the best sounding upgrade yet.

 

[ZEEP]

Will the factory wiring work with component speakers like the setup shown in this example photo?

 

[Jebiruph]

Will the factory wiring work with component speakers like the setup shown in this example photo?

Everything is wired through the dash speaker connection.

I cut and extended the Metra adapter wires, using the plug ends to connect to the factory harness and speaker ends connect to the tweeters. I used speaker wire I already had to connect the woofers to the crossover.

Here's a picture of the modified Metra adapter.

 

[ZEEP]

Everything is wired through the dash speaker connection.

I cut and extended the Metra adapter wires, using the plug ends to connect to the factory harness and speaker ends connect to the tweeters. I used speaker wire I already had to connect the woofers to the crossover.

Here's a picture of the modified Metra adapter.

Thank you very much.

And what about my diagram?
Is it the wrong way to connect component speakers using the factory parallel wiring?

 

[Jebiruph]

Thank you very much.

And what about my diagram?
Is it the wrong way to connect component speakers using the factory parallel wiring?

Yes, it is the wrong way. The component system is designed for both speakers to plug into the crossover. With the crossover placement next to the woofer, it's easier to use a plain speaker wire to connect the woofer to the crossover compared to using 2 adapters (factory and Metra) to connect the woofer to the factory harness.

Also, the Infinity rating of 3 ohms for the component system would not be valid with the woofer connected to the factory harness. My guess is it would be around 1.5 ohms (3 ohms in parallel with 3 ohms).

 

[ZEEP]

Yes, it is the wrong way. The component system is designed for both speakers to plug into the crossover. With the crossover placement next to the woofer, it's easier to use a plain speaker wire to connect the woofer to the crossover compared to using 2 adapters (factory and Metra) to connect the woofer to the factory harness.

Also, the Infinity rating of 3 ohms for the component system would not be valid with the woofer connected to the factory harness. My guess is it would be around 1.5 ohms (3 ohms in parallel with 3 ohms).

I think Component Speakers that use an In-Line Crossover are okay to use with the factory wiring, like Infinity Primus 603CF:

 

[Jebiruph]

I think Component Speakers that use an In-Line Crossover are okay to use with the factory wiring, like Infinity Primus 603CF:

That's the first component system I've seen that only has crossovers for the tweeters, that will work with the factory wiring as you diagramed.

You'll want to cover the inside of the 6.5" speakers pods with sound deadening material. I tried installing mine without doing that and it sounded terrible. Without the sound deadening, the sound goes through the pods into the dash, distorting the sound and causing lots of rattles.

 

[ZEEP]

That's the first component system I've seen that only has crossovers for the tweeters, that will work with the factory wiring as you diagramed.

You'll want to cover the inside of the 6.5" speakers pods with sound deadening material. I tried installing mine without doing that and it sounded terrible. Without the sound deadening, the sound goes through the pods into the dash, distorting the sound and causing lots of rattles.

There are too many different types of component speaker crossovers on Crutchfield.com

I think a separate crossover provides better sound quality, like yours.

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