Originally Posted by Gamefreakgc

I just finished putting in an entirely new stereo system in my truck. Hopefully I can add to what others have already posted.

I went with two Kicker DS40 4" speakers in the dash and two Kicker KS69 6x9"s in the back speaker compartments on the side panels. I went with a Kenwood KDC-255U since it offered 50 watt peak with 20 watt RMS. I don't have a sub or and amp, and don't really plan on it due to the lack of space.

First off, your truck may have storage pockets on the sides (I'm not talking about under the jump seats) instead of speakers. Mine had puny 4" speakers that weren't even wired to the stereo. They sounded awful anyway so wasn't about to keep them.

You'll want to buy a new Receiver, the factory one SUCKS, even if you do have a CD player. It doesn't put out enough watts to power your speakers well. There's lots different receivers out there, basically buy one that has the features you want. You'll want at least 50 watt peak, with at least 18 watt RMS. More is better. I pickup up a 50 watt, 20 watt RMS Kenwood that has USB functionality (all my music on a flash drive, play anything I want!), an AUX imput for iPods, phones, etc and CD player. All that for $70.

The brand of your speaker will make as much a difference as the size! Go to Best Buy, Fry's, or somewhere that lets you hear the speakers first. You'll know which brands are the best, and which ones you can afford. Polk Audio, Kicker, and Infinity are solid top of the line brands. Avoid the cheapo stuff, you'll regret it. I've never heard Alpine speakers so I can't speak to it. From what I've read, they are middle-of-the-line speakers. Again, listen to the speakers before buying them. Once you find a model you like, go buy them off Ebay or Amazon for half the price. Also, don't buy ancient speakers (really old models), newer technology is best since they sound better.

For the front, your options are just replacing the 4" speakers with better sounding speakers, or modding the interior to fit larger ones. I went with Kicker because they sounded crisp and clear, simple upgrade. You MIGHT be able to fit 4x6", but they don't sound as good as most 4" anyway. If you want 5" or 6" in the front, you'll need to modify your dash or install them in the door or kicker panels like the others suggested. Once again, the BRAND is key here, don't go with the cheap ones. A quality 4" will sound better than a cheap 6".

For the rear, if you don't have the rear speakers already installed, you'll need to modify the enclosure to be able to mount them. If you do have speakers back there, you'll need to clean out all the components, leaving you an empty shell. Keep the pieces from the old speaker enclosure, you can re-use the screws and mounting brackets (and even the speaker clips if you have to).

Your options in the rear are to just install another pair of 4" in the back (only if you had speakers there already, once again not all trucks do), or modify to hold 6", 6.5" or 6x9" speakers. I highly recommend not keeping the rear speakers at 4", you will have absolutely no bass in the truck. If you do look to install 6" or larger speakers, it's going to be some work. You'll need to remove the entire rear seat (a hint, the top and bottom panels pull off, but you have to pull HARD!), the side panels behind the door, the seatbelts, among others. Once you get to the storage compartment/speakers you'll need to remove all components from inside so you have a clean enclosure. Most speakers nowaday are open-air or Infinity Baffle speakers, meaning the will sound ok without a wooden enclosure (speaker box) as long as you isolate the rear sounds (bass) from the front sounds (mid and treble). I did this by sound proofing the speaker enclosure with some dynomat materials, some expanding foam, mounting my 6x9"s on MDF board and sealing the edges with expanding foam again (see below).



As you can see, I reused the original mounting holes and bolts. Made it easier. However, the 1/2" would have killed the sound from the speakers. From there, I just painted the foam and speaker board a flat grey to match the interior and put it all back together. For the 6x9" I also had to cut further down the panel so they would fit.



I'm very happy with how they turned out (it looks better than in the pictures). The sound is a huge improvement over stock. The bass isn't anything spectacular though since there isn't a perfect, sound-proof enclosure to put them in (most newer cars mount them behind the rear seats over the trunk for better bass). If you want that, you'll need to buy pre-made enclosures and set them on top of your back seats, making your truck only able to hold 2 people instead of 4.

The last piece is wiring. This can take as long as mounting the speakers if you don't know what you are doing. The good news is that you don't have to do anything crazy, in fact installing an aftermarket stereo system is easier than the factory. The factory system uses about 18 different wires ( around 14 speaker wires?), the new ones take about 12, with only 8 speaker wires. You'll have a positive and negative for each speaker (4 sets of 2), power, ground, mute, and a couple others.

If you already have an aftermarket receiver in the truck then most of the work has already been done (wahoo!). I still recommend buying a newer one but it might be decent enough. The connector in the back will just plug in, you'll just have to connect your new speakers to the already existing wires (unless you didn't have rear speakers, then you'll have to run wires, not hard though). If you have the factory receiver then you'll have more work (boo...), since you'll need to wire the entire harness. The hard part is figuring out from the 3 or 4 different connectors which wires go to which component. The colors match... sort of. The easiest way to rewire is buy a cheapo wire cutter/stripper and some butt connectors that you can just crimp or twist on. Go one by one and match up the wires (the ones with black stripes are the negative). Your new receiver should come with a wire harness to start with so you'll be connecting each wire to the ones you just ran or existing factory wiring. You'll have several clips and wires that will be left over that are not hooked up, that's ok.

There you go... hope that helps ya. Overall, it cost me $190 for spekers and the receiver and about $50 for supplies/parts.