Standard cab stereo upgrade advice

t76turbo · October 10, 2018

I am in the process of buying a 2016 Silverado 1500 LT standard cab short bed. It does have the 8 inch screen. I want to do some upgrades to the audio system and wanted to get some advice specific to the standard cab. I searched around and didnt see anything specific but have seen a pic I think in some thread about someone with a standard cab putting a sub in.

I would love to add a small sub and maybe upgrade the speakers. One day may add a aftermarket screen and amp. I listen to mostly rock/heavy metal just for a reference.

Any advice?

Nasty · October 10, 2018

2 minutes ago, t76turbo said:

I am in the process of buying a 2016 Silverado 1500 LT standard cab short bed. It does have the 8 inch screen. I want to do some upgrades to the audio system and wanted to get some advice specific to the standard cab. I searched around and didnt see anything specific but have seen a pic I think in some thread about someone with a standard cab putting a sub in.

I would love to add a small sub and maybe upgrade the speakers. One day may add a aftermarket screen and amp. I listen to mostly rock/heavy metal just for a reference.

Any advice?

I have the same truck. Im doing audio frog gs componentsran active. 2 sundown 6.5" subs. all ran off of an arc audio 5ch with mosconi 4to6 dsp

@Marv88 will be doing the install

SirenRed16 · October 10, 2018

Subbed. Looking for ideas for my regular cab.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

Nasty · October 10, 2018

23 minutes ago, SirenRed16 said:

Subbed. Looking for ideas for my regular cab.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

You can add one of those cheap andriid screens or an alpine which is way overpeiced. Muxh better to stick with oem screen and dsp

As for speakers. That depends on you. And budget

SirenRed16 · October 10, 2018

You can add one of those cheap andriid screens or an alpine which is way overpeiced. Muxh better to stick with oem screen and dsp

As for speakers. That depends on you. And budget

I was looking into some JL Audio C1. Don't know much about audio so any help is appreciated. I'm just looking for some good speakers that won't break the bank.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

Nasty · October 10, 2018

19 minutes ago, SirenRed16 said:

I was looking into some JL Audio C1. Don't know much about audio so any help is appreciated. I'm just looking for some good speakers that won't break the bank.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

Im not a fan of jl. And jl is usually expensive.

But if yoyou wanwant a good set of components. look into the lower series of morel audio like 2-300 bucks and are actuslly very nice

t76turbo · October 10, 2018

1 hour ago, Nasty said:

Im not a fan of jl. And jl is usually expensive.

But if yoyou wanwant a good set of components. look into the lower series of morel audio like 2-300 bucks and are actuslly very nice

I have looked at the morel speakers before. Never heard any but the reviews looked good.

In your experience, is what Crutchfield says will fit actually accurate? What speaker sizes are you running in yours Nasty??? I looked it up on crutchfield and IIRC it said there are 6 speaker locations in these trucks.

And you said components.... Where are you mounting the tweets? (or are they mounted with the woofer)

Nasty · October 10, 2018

6 minutes ago, t76turbo said:

I have looked at the morel speakers before. Never heard any but the reviews looked good.

In your experience, is what Crutchfield says will fit actually accurate? What speaker sizes are you running in yours Nasty??? I looked it up on crutchfield and IIRC it said there are 6 speaker locations in these trucks.

And you said components.... Where are you mounting the tweets? (or are they mounted with the woofer)

Im going to use a 6x9 to 6.5 adapter in the door. Mids in the door and tweeters in the dash. Stock locations

t76turbo · October 10, 2018

6 minutes ago, Nasty said:

Im going to use a 6x9 to 6.5 adapter in the door. Mids in the door and tweeters in the dash. Stock locations

Cool. Thanks! Would love to see the sub enclosures when you get them/it done.

Nasty · October 10, 2018

2 minutes ago, t76turbo said:

Cool. Thanks! Would love to see the sub enclosures when you get them/it done.

You wouldn't like the the way im doung the subs. It wont be loud at all. Im not building the truck to be loud

MattM2485 · October 10, 2018

I took a Kicker Soundstage setup and made my own box to fit it in the truck. Only problem is the box hinders the full opening of the center console lid and the jump seat can not be used. Could have made the box different to make work with the center console better but im ok with how it is now.

Marv88 · October 10, 2018

13 hours ago, Nasty said:

Im going to use a 6x9 to 6.5 adapter in the door. Mids in the door and tweeters in the dash. Stock locations

That might change after I get done with my experimenting

16 hours ago, t76turbo said:

I am in the process of buying a 2016 Silverado 1500 LT standard cab short bed. It does have the 8 inch screen. I want to do some upgrades to the audio system and wanted to get some advice specific to the standard cab. I searched around and didnt see anything specific but have seen a pic I think in some thread about someone with a standard cab putting a sub in.

I would love to add a small sub and maybe upgrade the speakers. One day may add a aftermarket screen and amp. I listen to mostly rock/heavy metal just for a reference.

Any advice?

I have been experimenting for quite a while with my 2016 regular cab audio system and am finally narrowing down what I am going to do. What you do depends on your objectives and how much modification you are willing to do as well as your budget and here are a few things I have learned that hopefully will help you in deciding what to do with yours..

Main thing I noticed was the lack of top end so I started out by replacing the dash midrange speakers with a good pair of aftermarket mini midrange speakers. Vocals/midrange were better but still lack of top end and no way to adjust level between dash mid/door 6x9 so they didn't blend well.

Next I tried a set of tweeters in the stock dash location with passive crossovers and actually hooked up the factory 6x9 to low pass on the crossover. Surprisingly the factory 6x9 played fairly well up to the 3500hz crossover point and it sounded much better than with the factory mid. IMO many people who are just not happy with the lack

of top end would be happy with this simple upgrade or going to a good set of 6x9 "components" fir better bottom end as well. If you need it louder a small amp would be in order and if you need better/more bass a sub would be the ticket for sure (in that case you could save a few bucks and go to a 6.5" component set)

Unfortunately I am a bit more picky so I need more. Tweeters firing off the windshield in the stock location didn't have the best response so I took some double sided tape and experimented with them in the sail panels, on top of the dash and on the a-pillar at different angles. Sail panels are the least obtrusive and sounded a bit better than stock location but not worth the effort for the small improvement IMO. On top of dash and a-pillar had better response but of course now they are more obtrusive and many may not like that.

Back to my being picky. My goals are to get a very good soundstage and imaging with smooth response and extended low end. I have the Alpine 10" Restyle kit installed now so I have some processing available and after getting everything dialed in as best I could with it's limited capabilities I can get a solid center image as well as wide stage but I had a compressed stage on the far left with a hole in my soundstage right in front of me. My guess at this time is that the left door mid way off axis location is the issue or due to limited tuning capability I am unable to get the response the same on both sides so more experimenting is in the works.

As soon as I have time I'll be adding an external processor (was planning to do that anyway) to see if I can get the response the same in both sides with just a 2 way component set. If that doesn't fix my stage issue I will be going to a 3 way set with 2 3/4" mid in the factory location, tweeter most likely on the a pillar and 6.5" or 6x9 midbass in the door.

I realize this is probably more than most are willing to do but I am confident I can reach my objective in this small non ideal truck environment. All that being said, based in my actual exoerience/experimenting and not "theory" or what someone's girl friends fathers friends uncle'a son said he did in his truck the following is my conclusion...

If you are just not happy with the lack of top end you may be happy just replacing the mids with tweeters in the stock location and adding crossovers.

If you need that a bit louder a small amp would be recommended.

If you dont don't like the midrange and/or bass from the factory 6x9's but don't want to add a sub then I would go with a "good" set of 6x9 components.

Need that louder? Once again a small amp is in order.

Need better/louder/lower bass? A sub and amp will be needed and you could save a few bucks by going to a 6.5" component set.

Need more tuning capabilities to dial it in to your taste? There are many simple to use processors on the market these days designed to easily integrate with the factory headunit or you could add an aftermarket headunit with a small processor in it. (be aware that with the exception of the Alpine Restyle I am using adding an aftermarket headunit requires cutting inside your dash)

You wanna get the best clarity/sound stage/imaging possible for one seat? Gonna have to do what I do...experiment, experiment, experiment as "I cannot hear what you can hear and you cannot hear what I can hear so our results may differ" ?

I wont go into rear speakers right now as @Nasty will give me grief but if you'd like my opinion on that subject just let me know.

Feel free to hit me up on Instagram @mrmarvsplace or give me a call if you need any help, would like to see/hear about my final system conclusions or like an additional opinion on something else!

t76turbo · October 10, 2018

Lots and lots of great info. Thank you!

qwank · October 11, 2018

I'm a fan of everything Nasty hates

JL Audio dual 8'' microsub, JL Audio VX600i amp. and three way Alpine speakers ran active up front. I don't use rear speakers ever.

And don't forget the dampening and sound deadener and all that stuff

Marv88 · October 11, 2018

Someone asked my opinion on rear speakers today so I figured I'd post it here as well.

Many have heard/said "the band is in front of you on the stage so you don't need rear speakers to recreate that image" and I felt that way as well until I heard a car set up properly with "rear fill" ("rear speakers" and "rear fill" done "properly" are 2 different things).

If the listener likes to be immersed in sound from all around (most people I build systems for prefer this type of sound) and/or want to have more sound for rear passengers then I just install a set of full range coaxial speakers in the rear and call it a day.

Of course we don't have rear passengers in regular cabs but if you are into creating a nice center imaging soundstage and want to expand that already solid soundstage with a sense of "space/ambiance" beyond the physical boundaries of your cabin it is possible with rear fill (the above "rear speakers" installation will just draw your ears to the rear as well as screw up your imaging)

The keys are you need to provide the rear speakers with a bandpassed (I use about 100hz to 7000hz per the guru who taught me), attenuated, Left minus Right signal (removes all common left and right information that solidifies your center image) and have the ability to delay that signal from the front stage signal by a good 20+ or so milliseconds.

The drag is there are only a handful of pretty expensive processors on the market that have L-R signal available and I believe even many that already know of this are not willing to do it due to the additional cost/time for a seemingly small or not important to them benefit.