2021 ram 1500 6 speaker upgrade

[Firearmjunky22]

Hello all, my 2021 ram 1500 bighorn has blown the driver door speaker. It was distorted for a bit then finally stopped working all together. I did some research on replacing the door speakers and the dash speakers. I believe I have settled on infinity replacements for all 6, not looking for any crazy improvement wise but just figured if I had to replace one I’d replace all 6 with something that might be better. I have factory ANC according to Crutchfield (small microphone in rear headliner) and would like to retain that and I’m having trouble finding the correct harness I need for the door speakers. Metra has 2 the 72-6514 and 72-6515. I believe I would need the 6515 for my 2021 but can’t find any specific statement for that. It seems as if 6514 is for 2019’s and maybe some 2020’s and then ram changed the speaker polarity? Worst case I could just repin if I bought the wrong harness but want to know for sure. Crutchfield is trying to sell me the 6514 but I don’t believe that’s the correct one to keep the ANC happy. Any help is appreciated

 

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My 2021 DT Bighorn Base 6 speaker uses 6514, was built Dec 2020. Infinity or JBL in rear sound good, both are about same or are(same company) just get ones in lowest ohm like 2.3. I have jbl 3 way GX series. Front, I had infinity 3.5s in for a week, wasn't liking them, in previous Ram with alpine I had, I loved them, not in this base audio Ram though, the highs are overwhelming to me. I have a week old set sitting in my garage. I ended up putting a kenwood component set in front that has 6x9 and 3.5s in set, both speakers have own crossover and 4ohm. Is better, but cost around $200 for set, fit is just like stock, zero mods needed. After you have seperate lower frequency in door and highs only in dash. If you think about it, a set of 3.5s is around $60 and a 6x9 would be around $90+ is not that much more and will last longer than the paper speaker in door. I bypassed anc also with $10 harness and honestly, I don't notice any difference in noise, truck is still really quiet. If you have ANC you will have 2 mics above driver head and passenger and i think 1 in rear. I tested jbl gx 3.5s in my old Ram and infinity 3.5s I could not tell difference. Be aware the stock 3.5 is 8ohm, if you just put that infinity 3.5 in with stock front door speakers, the ohms will be like 1.5 since front speakers run in parellel and can overheat amp(need to add around 4ohm resistors to balance them and bring ohms up) I seen others add a bass blocker to the 3.5s, i tried it and removed a lot of sound quality, the built in crossover is fine on the jbl and infinity 3.5s if your set on them , amp in radio, is stable to around 2ohm. If 4ohm 3.5 and 4ohm 6x9 in parellel = 2ohm, so the kenwoods work well. I disconnected my dsp amp while trying to figure out a radio static issue and have the anc bypass only plugged in. Today had the hiss, but went away after a bit, the jbl kenwood combo suprised me how good it sounded without any amp, even on rap the bass hit really good, simular to my 13 Ram with Alpine system.

 

[rotwiler]

I installed a kicker key 200.4, bass is really good, the 6x9 jbls and kenwood hit lows very well. I am still getting a odd sound, I tried putting a piece of paper over the 3.5s to direct the highs away from windshield and sounds better. I had the key amp on auto EQ and did not like the sound, bass was fine, but highs were too not sure how to explain, maybe sparkling sounding, hard to explain. Maybe the glass in this 21 Ram reflections adding to it, I dunno. On full volume in my 13 Ram with infinity 3.5 up front and alpine system, never had that sound. The key amp seems to hit clipping kind of fast, I am going to retry setup again with auto eq off. Might also be since I don't have a seperate sub, the bass is sucking up a lot of the power. I am going to try adding some type media like a air filter fabric between tweeter and cover to test. Other issue is I play YT music and some songs sound really good, crisp highs and deep lows, then next song, especially rock can sound crappy. Might be youtubes low quality, EMD music always sounds great. I even went as far as finding another 8.4 Hu from a low 19k miles 21 Ram for $185 off LKQ, works great, but still have odd sound at times. Was thinking could be the EQ software in the 21, has exact same firmware as my original 8.4hu. Maybe I need to buy a 3.5 without tweeter. I am picky about sound, like my bass and nice highs. Most rap sounds great, I am 58, but still listen to Panetra, Metallica, old 80s rock, some country and most Rap, except mumble rap. My last Ram i had a 1600watt amp and 2 12s along with all the speakers replaced running off stock as alpine amp.

 

[1791]

I installed a kicker key 200.4, bass is really good, the 6x9 jbls and kenwood hit lows very well. I am still getting a odd sound, I tried putting a piece of paper over the 3.5s to direct the highs away from windshield and sounds better. I had the key amp on auto EQ and did not like the sound, bass was fine, but highs were too not sure how to explain, maybe sparkling sounding, hard to explain. Maybe the glass in this 21 Ram reflections adding to it, I dunno. On full volume in my 13 Ram with infinity 3.5 up front and alpine system, never had that sound. The key amp seems to hit clipping kind of fast, I am going to retry setup again with auto eq off. Might also be since I don't have a seperate sub, the bass is sucking up a lot of the power. I am going to try adding some type media like a air filter fabric between tweeter and cover to test. Other issue is I play YT music and some songs sound really good, crisp highs and deep lows, then next song, especially rock can sound crappy. Might be youtubes low quality, EMD music always sounds great. I even went as far as finding another 8.4 Hu from a low 19k miles 21 Ram for $185 off LKQ, works great, but still have odd sound at times. Was thinking could be the EQ software in the 21, has exact same firmware as my original 8.4hu. Maybe I need to buy a 3.5 without tweeter. I am picky about sound, like my bass and nice highs. Most rap sounds great, I am 58, but still listen to Panetra, Metallica, old 80s rock, some country and most Rap, except mumble rap. My last Ram i had a 1600watt amp and 2 12s along with all the speakers replaced running off stock as alpine amp.

you got the kenwood 6x9 component's with the 3.5 2 way so did i.
i like them my EQ is set -4 bass flat on mid and most the time +1 but never higher than +3 on treble but if you think the tweets are to much
looks like you would have liked the set with the 2.5 widerange
KFC-XP6902C
you can make your set that set with these for 59 bucks free shipping they use the same crossovers
Kenwood eXcelon KFC-X2C Compact 2.75" Car Speakers
lastly when you crossover speakers the ohm load kinda don't matter i'll try to explain, on the kenwoods the 6x9 rolls off at around 850 htz on a 6db slope. so high's are cut off above 850 then the 2ways are crossed at 850 same 6db slope so the start dropping out below 850 the passive crossover actually causes the amp to only see's 4 ohms not 2 ohms because the speakers are not playing the same frequency's so it treats it like 1 speaker. if they were playing full range the amp would see 2 ohms if that makes any sense. that is also how a 3 way component set with a passive crossover can have 3 4 ohm speakers and still the amp only see's 4 ohms.
the factory alpine amp has crossovers set internally it's known as active crossovers that may be why it was different for you.
i'm 57 also and yeah i'm that guy that spent more on the stereo than the car in the 90's LOL i had a 1500 dollar car with a 4000 dollar stereo.
i have not used the key 200.4 i tried the key loc but ended up returning it. i went all out figuring it's my last "big" stereo.

 

[rotwiler]

I hear ya, I remember in 1983 my first car installing those swap meet amplified eq's, would blow one up every month. Then I went to punch 75 and godfather subs, had some swap meet urban audio amps, then punch 150, mtx etc.

 

[1791]

I hear ya, I remember in 1983 my first car installing those swap meet amplified eq's, would blow one up every month. Then I went to punch 75 and godfather subs, had some swap meet urban audio amps, then punch 150, mtx etc.

it was the golden age of made in America amp's. i still have 10 punch amps in the closet. i suppose it's time to let them go.

 

[rotwiler]

At first I thought maybe its my hearing is getting bad or something. But my grandkids who are 13 and 14 said they could hear it to, but only in certain songs. Was same odd static sound when I had the infinity 3.5s up front with the oem 6x9. A EDM music sounds fantastic all around, most Rap. Then I put something like Benson Boone Beautiful things on and sounds crackly, static type sound, not sure how to describe. Tried Triumph fight the good fight, same thing. Back to bass heavy music, sounds great. Country music sounds pretty good, then something like Teddy Swims sounds bad. Is frustrating after replacing radio, amp, all speakers. I might try the oem 3.5s, see if its the seperate tweeter causing a sound issue. I don't see how can be just my truck though. Others complained but usually turns out to be the anc causing issues. I had this issue before and after bypassing the anc. I tried reg mp3s, xm radio, flac, yt music, all same. I honestly think xm was the worst. I only had truck for few days before I replaced oem 3.5s, so I don't remember if I heard it then. I will also look at the right dash speaker, maybe it is reversed polarity mistake from factory. I have them wired to correct color, I tested left by touching speaker when mids hit and feel it rise correctly. I put a sticker on each speaker cover in center about 2 inch circle to redirect sound, does seem to help some. One odd thing, the 21 8.4 radio has different firmware unique to 2021, 2019-2020 is different. I looked at the new radio and has same firmware as my old 21 radio that I updated firmware with a usb.