Finally installed my speakers yesterday. I went with the faital PRO 3FE22 8 ohm units.
Disclaimer: The following is merely my experience and opinion regarding my speaker replacement. My personal tastes, desires, and budget may not be in line with yours. I take everything with a grain of salt and I hope you do too as everything that follows is almost completely subjective. YMMV.
They are considerably brighter than the OEM ones without being tinny. The clarity is much better too, although I'm sure that would be with just about anything aftermarket you drop in there.
I've been messing with the EQ settings to dial things in and I'm about 80% there and already happy with my decision. They have much more of a presence that the OEM ones and I've had to go back to the drawing board for sound settings. Even with only 3 settings in the EQ it doesn't take much to make a change in the overall sound in the cab so it will take some time to dial in. I'm trying to find a good overall setting to play all of my music. I'd figure out settings for each type I listen to but I don't have any EQ memory settings and my days of geeking out and making a settings chart are long behind me. I just want to play whatever floats my boat that day and have it sound good.
I kept the same balance (8 ohm speakers) with the door speakers as I am not interested in replacing my door speakers so wanted to keep things as stock-ish as possible. I was concerned that a 4 ohm speaker would further accentuate the imbalance forcing me to keep the treble setting low so I wouldn't lose the mid-bass in the front doors. That's pure conjecture on my part but a concern I had none-the-less.
My install went as most other have posted but ran into my own issues as is customary with just about anything I do. I am incredibly OCD about things (especially vehicles) so I had to make some adjustments to install things to my standards.
I will not post many pictures as the dash speakers have been discussed ad nauseam.
The grills are in there tight and I thought I was going to break the tabs when removing them. I didn't but I came close as the passenger's side seems to be wedged under the pillar trim a little more than the driver's side. I was able to work at it to get the grill out but the corner tab was not at a natural angle when it came out. It's still there but I can see the discoloration at the base of the tab (at the grill) where the plastic is weakened.
The stock speaker. It is indeed an 8 ohm speaker. I don't think there's a crossover built into the audio unit (like the amplified Alpine and HK) as there is a high pass filter (capacitor) attached to it:
View attachment 68028
The new speaker:
View attachment 68029
To select the mounts I was going to use I inspected the dash openings to determine which direction would have the best open area for the connection tabs on the faital PROs. I lined up the speakers so that the driver's side speaker tabs were facing inward (towards the center of the dash) and the passenger's side speaker tabs were facing forward (towards the hood). Luckily there's ample room in the pocket for the bass blockers and wiring but I wanted to make sure the tabs would be clear of interference when I installed the speakers (I said I was OCD).
Where most have only removed 1 of the unused mounts I removed both of the ones I did not use so that it was an even and flat fit. This also allowed the foam gasket (vibration insulation) to maximize contact. The two opposing mounts that I used on the speaker needed to be modified as they are a little shorter than the distance between the zip nuts. Others have tapped new holes in the plastic and not modified the mounts but I opted to use the OEM locations with the limited working space and my sausage fingers.
To do that I used my rotary tool and cutting wheel (some have used tin snips). I cut off the two mounts I wasn't going to use then opened up the two mounts I used. I cut the loop piece out of the end so that it was forked and ground down the raised lip for about 1/2 of the mount so that the screw would make full contact with the mount (did I mention I was OCD?).
I used the Metra 72-7902 connectors to make life easier...I thought. Turns out that they are wired backwards (out of phase). I'm not sure if they are all this way or if I'm in the minority but check your Metra connector to see how the wires line up. The white wire is (+) and the black wire is (-). The OEM connector has a different tracer for each speaker location but the main colors for all speaker connectors are violet (+) and yellow (-):
View attachment 68031
Doing a test fit (I lined up the connectors but did not press them into place) I found out that the Metra connectors are wired backwards (out of phase). I called Crutchfield and their recommendation was to cut the connectors off and put new ones on (larger connector on black wire and smaller connector on white wire). While this solves the issue you will have to remember that the colors are now opposite. Not acceptable for my OCD.
I had 3 options:
1. Not use the connector, clip the factory connector, put the spade connectors on the OEM wires, and connect the bass blockers/speakers.
2. Clip the connectors on the Metra wires and put new ones on.
3. Figure out how to swap the pins in the Metra connector.
There was only option that I deemed acceptable. I decided to figure out how to remove the pins and swap sides. As I discovered it is not as simple as it seems. I will spare the tedious experimentation and slew of expletives and skip to the process. On the back of the connector there is a little lock/flap that has two very small (and easily damaged) tabs and loops. I used a very small (electronic) flat blade screwdriver to pry those loops slightly out. Then I put a pick tool between the wires in the back of the plug and popped the tab up:
View attachment 68037
Then I used the pick tool in the pin side and gently pushed it along the pin on the 'top' of the pin (picture above shows the plug in the 'up' position). Applying a little pressure with the pick tool and gently pulling on the wire I was able to ease the pin out of the back of the connector with moderate effort. I'm not sure how it's held in there but it's not the traditional locking tab you see in many other types of plugs (like Molex connectors). Once you have both pins out swap sides (if you forget which side is which compare it to your truck connector so that the white wire lines up with the violet wire and the black wire lines up with the yellow wire). Make sure the pins are fully re-seated in the connector and close the locking tab and make sure it latches in the loops so it doesn't come open.
Next is the bass blockers. As others have said the spade tabs fit nicely into the Metra connectors. The plastic covers for the connectors should be touching (or very close) when they are fully seated. Like
DrDrew, I was not impressed with the connectors. Mine seemed to be done at different pressures. Two seemed to be just enough for the crimp and the others seemed like there was way too much pressure used (one of the insulators was cracked). I wasn't going to see them and they would not be subjected to weather buried in the dash so it was not worth trying to get replacements and wait longer to install my speakers (convenience overrode OCD in this rare case).
I connected the white and black wires to the speaker. I used some due diligence so that I did not break the tabs on the speaker. The red dot over the larger tab is the (+) tab. The white wire (with the bass blocker installed in-line) is the (+) wire and had the larger tab so it's fairly idiot-proof (bass blocker should be installed on the (+) wire). I plugged the Metra connector into the truck plug and fed the wires down into the dash pockets. Luckily the pockets have plenty of room as the Crutchfield bass blockers add 7" or so if wiring. I centered the speakers over the mounts, snugged down the screws, and fired up the audio. Once I confirmed that both speakers were working I popped the grills back in and put my tools away.
What I thought was going to be an hour ended up being about four to get it done. My efforts, as usual, are more the exception than the rule. Hope this helps anyone considering this.
Getting this done was a consolidation of a lot if information I collected from others. Thanks to the following who made this possible:
@YoAdrian (speaker specs),
@I Love Grits (base audio wiring diagram),
@Rambiss (for starting this thread for just the base audio system), and
@Sonnie (for recommending the faital PRO speakers).
