Speaker Upgrade Alpine R-S69C.2: Just Amazing in the audio difference...

[sajurcaju]

Ya, I am tempted, but I have these other brackets now. May as well give that a go first.

I'm talking about the wiring. With the Metra part it's plugin, no soldering or mods to the truck wiring. Just another way to do it.

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[richguy82]

I'm talking about the wiring. With the Metra part it's plugin, no soldering or mods to the truck wiring. Just another way to do it.

With the SoundsGood bracket, there is a hole that the wire is fed through otherwise the wire will interfere with screwing the bracket down. Even with the Metra adapter, you have to cut the wire and splice and/or solder. The kit comes with the proper plugin, but it’s a pigtail. I have spare terminals, I’ll probably just do it that way. I was surprised that I was scolded by those folks for even suggesting I wouldn’t soldering it. Those peeps are real purists.

 

[sajurcaju]

With the SoundsGood bracket, there is a hole that the wire is fed through otherwise the wire will interfere with screwing the bracket down. Even with the Metra adapter, you have to cut the wire and splice and/or solder. The kit comes with the proper plugin, but it’s a pigtail. I have spare terminals, I’ll probably just do it that way. I was surprised that I was scolded by those folks for even suggesting I wouldn’t soldering it. Those peeps are real purists.

I just did this a week ago, you don't need to solder.. The red end connects direct to the speaker terminals, with the correct polarity. About $10/pair.

 

[RLXXI]

Beware those Metra speaker wire adapters. I used them on my other truck and one of them developed an intermittent connection issue where the sound would cut in and out just hitting a bump in the road. Turns out it's crimped terminal end inside the connector shell had broken right where the terminal end made connection with the wire.

Drove me up a wall trying to figure out the issue. Also note, and this is from a professional tech of 40+ years, soldering is NOT the best way to make any connection, it can crack and break and those that have had to deal with a cold solder joint on a circuit board know what I'm talking about.

With the proper tools, crimping is by far the best way to fly. Just look at every single wire in your vehicles, you won't find ANY that are soldered on, ALL of them are crimped from the factory.

 

[richguy82]

I just did this a week ago, you don't need to solder.. The red end connects direct to the speaker terminals, with the correct polarity. About $10/pair.

I appreciate the advice. With the custom bracket, neither the plug nor the spade fit through the wire channel that’s drilled into the bracket so I’d need to cut that Metra wire and splice back. Would be just as easy to crimp new spades on the pigtail I have vs splice the wire on the Metra.

 

[sajurcaju]

Beware those Metra speaker wire adapters. I used them on my other truck and one of them developed an intermittent connection issue where the sound would cut in and out just hitting a bump in the road. Turns out it's crimped terminal end inside the connector shell had broken right where the terminal end made connection with the wire.

Drove me up a wall trying to figure out the issue. Also note, and this is from a professional tech of 40+ years, soldering is NOT the best way to make any connection, it can crack and break and those that have had to deal with a cold solder joint on a circuit board know what I'm talking about.

With the proper tools, crimping is by far the best way to fly. Just look at every single wire in your vehicles, you won't find ANY that are soldered on, ALL of them are crimped from the factory.

So don't solder due to things like cold solder joints and don't crimp due to the possible bad crimps.

I appreciate the advice. With the custom bracket, neither the plug nor the spade fit through the wire channel that’s drilled into the bracket so I’d need to cut that Metra wire and splice back. Would be just as easy to crimp new spades on the pigtail I have vs splice the wire on the Metra.

Not what I did last week. The bracket had a hole that was plenty large for the red connectors. Do as thou wilt.

 

[richguy82]

So don't solder due to things like cold solder joints and don't crimp due to the possible bad crimps.

Not what I did last week. The bracket had a hole that was plenty large for the red connectors. Do as thou wilt.

As a PSA for anyone who purchases brackets from SoundsGoodStereo, you’ll have to contend with running your harness through a tiny hole as shown in the attached pic.

 

[RLXXI]

So don't solder due to things like cold solder joints and don't crimp due to the possible bad crimps.

You buy the right tool for the job and you won't have a bad crimp, there is ALWAYS the possibility of a cold solder joint, more often than not.

I have 3 crimpers that handle everything I need for automotive repair, there is NEVER a bad crimp.

 

[Brent@ANParts]

Did you add that soundproofing material? Haven't seen an Amazon branded one before. How do you like it? Been meaning to tackle one of those jobs myself soon.

 

[Storx]

How long did this take you to do?

About 2 hours, i was taking my time.

 

[Storx]

Congrats on fixing that FUBAR that you took over, @Storx . In regards to your sound comparison between the two brands: did you fix the Kickers (adapters to fill the hole, etc.) before doing all this with the Alpines?

I actually tried to fix the kicker speakers first. I bought the adapters to convert the 6x9 to 6.5 and mounted them properly. I was still unhappy with them so i bought the door plates as recommended and installed sound deadening material on door, granted they did clean up the bass to a more responsive hit, but the overall improvement was EH... i felt like it only benefits you if you like your music with heavy bass. I am more into instrumental and country music, so i felt like they gave me little improvement. It was after all of this i was still unhappy and pulled the trigger on the new alpine speakers and it was a massive improvement. I think the biggest improvement was the tweeter removal from the door. I felt like the tweeter on the kicker 2way was very muddled sounding and killed the clarity of music, especially when turned up. So going to component cleaned up the clarity a ton and the alpines just add so much mid range to the songs that the music feels more complete.

Oddly enough, afterwards i connected the kicker speakers to a neighbors boat system and the clarity of the speaker was night and day. I am not sure why the tweeter on the kicker was so muddled in the door of the truck.

 

[Storx]

How much of that Amazon sound deadening material did you have to get? May use that instead of the SoundSkins custom one.

used 3 sheets on each door. The $60 bundle was enough to do all 4 doors with some extra.

 

[Storx]

I have a whole set of Alpine R’s front and rear ready to install and bought the mounting brackets from SoundsGoodStereo. I spoke with them online and they told me to solder everything (I’ve not done this before but willing to figure it out) instead of crimping spades. All of the stuff has been sitting in my garage since April. I am hoping to install in a few months when the temps finally drop. Every day seems to be setting a new heat record. Looking forward to hearing the upgrade!

I used the ford adapters from the OEM harness to the speakers. The alpine tweeter was the hardest part of it all really due to the lack of extra wire you have in the A-Pillars to work with. I know many would disagree with my route, but i tried to use crimps and idk if the crimps i bought for "audio" were to large or not, but i just couldn't get a good connection with how little the wire was. I had tiny twist caps for like house wiring that i pulled off an old broken portable a/c unit i had taken apart. They worked perfectly on the wires, then i dripped some liquid electrical tape into the caps once they had a good solid connection. Then finished it all off with the fiber electrical loom tape.

 

[Storx]

Did you add that soundproofing material? Haven't seen an Amazon branded one before. How do you like it? Been meaning to tackle one of those jobs myself soon.

I liked it, was very cheap and highly recommended online in the audio forums. Its not as thick as the expensive stuff, but honestly our doors are so tightly that some areas i had to remove the sound deadening material due to it preventing the door to full snap back properly, thus why there are a few bare paint spots not covered.

 

[Storx]

With the SoundsGood bracket, there is a hole that the wire is fed through otherwise the wire will interfere with screwing the bracket down. Even with the Metra adapter, you have to cut the wire and splice and/or solder. The kit comes with the proper plugin, but it’s a pigtail. I have spare terminals, I’ll probably just do it that way. I was surprised that I was scolded by those folks for even suggesting I wouldn’t soldering it. Those peeps are real purists.

On the metra adapters, the rear's didn't have the hole, so i just drilled one into the plastic adapter and fed the wires through and put some hot glue in the hole to plug it.

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