Audio Noob with Speaker Questions

[sanctified]

I had been thinking about replace my head unit for a bit and ended up buying a new unit today. While I was reading reviews of them online I read one that said they replaced some stock speakers as well which got me thinking about doing the same. This is what I ended up with.Pioneer AVH-P3400BHI managed to score it for $330.

I have been looking at these (Pioneer 6" x 8" 4Way Coaxial Speakers) but don't know enough about sound systems to know if they are a good choice for me.

I would like to run them without installing an amp if at all possible.I don't tend to rock out much and usually listen to npr while out and about but could see myself "dropping the bass" with some dubstep if I had something that sounded well on occasion. I don't have interest in buying a sub.

My questions:
1- With this head unit and speakers would I need an amp?
2- The speakers claim to be 4 way coaxial, is this better than 2/3 way speakers? Other than knowing they have 2 tweets and 2 woofs each I don't know what this means. (I don't think I want to install tweeters on the door panel separately as many others here have done.)
3- What is the best way to connect after market speaker to the head unit? I saw little connectors on amazon that bridge from the new speaker to the stock speaker wire, is this the best way to make that connection?
4- I am going to buy the steering wheel control adapter, do I need the parking brake bypass? I am not sure what functionality I gain by using this?

Thanks for the help, I am not a patient person and would like to get all of this done in the next few days, amazon shipping willing. I can get the speakers on amazon for a fair amount less than listed with bestbuy. I would be willing to spend about $80 a pair and am up for speaker suggestions as long as I wouldn't need to cut out the door to get them to fit.

[Fosterslaw77]

You don't need an amp, pioneer speakers are great 4 ways sound fine with that unit. No speaker jumpers just find out the color code for positive and negative wire in truck. They hook up accordingly don't waste time or money as its a pia with steering wheel bypass ur unit prob has a remote with it. The bypass is to allow you to play a DVD while driving and not just parked with ebrakes on. Just look on you tube and there are videos showing how to wire a relay to. Bypass it's easy and cheap and will prob have a video with your exact radio. Also look at crutchfield.com for speakers

[mazsecond]

I am planning on doing an audio build myself. I have done quite a bit of research on the topic and finally have all my parts picked out, just have to wait for some funding from my wallet

I have a Kenwood DNX5190 Head Unit. Currently I have stock door speakers and a 10" Kicker Sub Hooked powered by a 500w Kenwood Amp. It sounds good and the bass is awesome but I am REALLY lacking mid and Hi.

From what I have read it is better to go with a very high quality 2-way door speaker and separate tweeters than to mess with 4-way stuff. For my door speakers I choose the Alpine SPR-68 2-Way 6" x 8"s. I will have these front and rear with no amp to power them. The head unit is able to supply plenty of power for them and has a multitude of setting for tuning them. As for wiring all thats required is some splicing into the factory harness. If I were you I would save the factory connector (don't cut it off the truck) and the harness attached to the speaker cut it and leave a good pigtail to wire to the new speakers. Solder the speaker wire to the actual door speakers and then solder and heat shrink the connector to the aftermarket speaker. All of this can be done on a workbench and then when your ready to put them in the truck you don't have to mess around with any wiring, just plug in to the trucks harness in the door and screw them in

I will also be installing 8, yes I said 8! Tweeters. I decided to go with the Alpine SPS-110TW 1" Silk Component Tweeters. I will be putting them in the front doors 2 just above the window controls on driver and passenger side and 2 in the door panel itself just above and to the side of where the door speakers are. 2 above the rear speakers by the top of the seat belt bracket and 2 in the back near the floor at the bottom of the seat belt think. Everything is simply wired into the factory positive and negatives for the factory wiring to the head. This might sound like a lot of wiring, which it is, but it really isn't that bad. In the end I will have one kick *** system though! I will be doing a writeup with a lot of pictures on the whole build. I have to fix my cooling system first though so this will have to wait a few more weeks

I would buy everything on eBay as you can always find stuff a lot cheaper than anywhere else. Crutchfield is an excellent site for comparison and seeing what all is available. Good luck and if you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM.

-Mike

[mazsecond]

And one more thing, when looking at door speakers you want to look at RMS power. The higher the RMS the better quality sound you will get as you increase volume The Alpines had a very high RMS of 100watts. This is different than peak power which may be much higher.


Speakers:

Alpine SPR 68 2 Way 6" x 8" Car Speaker Pair 793276011084 | eBay

Tweeters:

Alpine SPS 110TW 1" Silk Component Tweeter New Pair of SPS110TW w Warranty | eBay

[repo956]

I put polk 6x8s in my truck and now I need more bass since its too crisp for my taste. They overpower my bass way too much, and I have 2 10s in my reg cab...

[mazsecond]

Originally Posted by repo956

I put polk 6x8s in my truck and now I need more bass since its too crisp for my taste. They overpower my bass way too much, and I have 2 10s in my reg cab...

Sounds to me like you need to tune them down a bit or tune up the bass. What kind of head unit do you have? My single 10" kicker puts out some basssss!

[repo956]

Alpine z1, have a 1200d db drive amp pushing 2 10JLw1s. Have the polks for front stage, no speakers in the back pods, 60hz cutoff for fronts. Probably just needs a good tune but work keeps me way too busy. Swapped to the polks from memphis audios. But I'm a dirty basshead and keep telling myself I need a blowthru box with 6 15s so its probably just me

[sanctified]

Mazsecond- It looks like you have put a ton of thought and research into your setup. It also looks like its going to be a PITA to get it all installed. I don't think that I want to go with that much effort. After chatting with crutchfield they recommended some polk dxi570's. I have some more work to do before I buy anything but I think that I will pass on the pioneers I had linked earlier.

[sanctified]

Originally Posted by mazsecond

Speakers:

Alpine SPR 68 2 Way 6" x 8" Car Speaker Pair 793276011084 | eBay

Do you need an amp for these speakers or would my new stereo do okay with them?

[mazsecond]

Originally Posted by sanctified

Mazsecond- It looks like you have put a ton of thought and research into your setup. It also looks like its going to be a PITA to get it all installed. I don't think that I want to go with that much effort. After chatting with crutchfield they recommended some polk dxi570's. I have some more work to do before I buy anything but I think that I will pass on the pioneers I had linked earlier.

Originally Posted by sanctified

Do you need an amp for these speakers or would my new stereo do okay with them?

The Polk's are not bad speakers but they are not great either. Since you do not want to run an amp (and I don't blame you because for all practical purposes its not necessary) I would go with a bit higher quality speaker like the Alpine's that I posted. Those Polks only have a 60watt RMS where the Alpine's have a 100watt RMS which will keep sound quality high as volume (noise) is increased. Plus the Alpines are just a better speaker all around. The Alpine's have a Multi-Layer Hybrid Fiber for the woofers where the Polk's are just rubber.

You will be fine running the Alpine's without an amp. Like I said I'm not even using an amp for my build, its just not needed with a good head unit.