Kicker speaker amp and sub upgrade

Brocko103 · June 2, 2020

I upgraded my system last week and I’m happy overall with the upgrade over stock. I found that tweaking the 3 band eq on the head unit is necessary for best performance. The 5 band eq on the Kicker Flex Tune app is more for fine tuning, and I don’t think it has much if any effect on the subwoofer. Turning up the bass on the 3 band eq had a big effect on the sub’s performance. I had to flip switches on the amp to 1-5 up, 6 down since the settings from the factory suck bad.

It’s decent for the cost, but I know I have enough skills to run my own power wires and connect a wiring harness adapter to do a better job for less.

So anyways, I photographed the install in my 2019 double cab. Check out this link for the photo album. There’s descriptions under each picture. I’ll try to answer any questions you might have.

https://imgur.com/a/K86b8MT

Brocko103 · June 2, 2020

Link to Kicker’s installation manual and how to remove rear seat backs

Sjordan · June 2, 2020

I am on the fence on this one because of cost, but ease of just having everything. Non-bose here as well. I will add the kicker knob as well though to adjust bass on the fly. I have installed many systems in my day, but it seems like custom boxes for these trucks are so expensive this may be worth it to have it all delivered to my door.

Brocko103 · June 2, 2020

1 hour ago, Sjordan said:

I am on the fence on this one because of cost, but ease of just having everything. Non-bose here as well. I will add the kicker knob as well though to adjust bass on the fly. I have installed many systems in my day, but it seems like custom boxes for these trucks are so expensive this may be worth it to have it all delivered to my door.

I was very torn on buying this or building my system. I finally decided that my time was worth more than the cost of this kit. I have the power wire, sub, and amp from my last pickup, so I would have only needed to buy the loop back harness and a signal processor and an amp for the door speakers then build a sub box. I just didn't want to dedicate the time and energy into finding the components and putting it all together. Overall, I'm happy with the upgrade, but $1,000 can go a long ways into building a nicer system, especially if you already have some pieces like I do. Right now, I'm happy enough that I don't see an immediate need to replace the door speakers, but I might think about it in the future.

Sjordan · June 2, 2020

1 hour ago, Brocko103 said:

I was very torn on buying this or building my system. I finally decided that my time was worth more than the cost of this kit. I have the power wire, sub, and amp from my last pickup, so I would have only needed to buy the loop back harness and a signal processor and an amp for the door speakers then build a sub box. I just didn't want to dedicate the time and energy into finding the components and putting it all together. Overall, I'm happy with the upgrade, but $1,000 can go a long ways into building a nicer system, especially if you already have some pieces like I do. Right now, I'm happy enough that I don't see an immediate need to replace the door speakers, but I might think about it in the future.

Also good to know as I was worried I would want to swap speakers immediately after.

Elbow Joe · November 9, 2023

On 6/1/2020 at 11:33 PM, Brocko103 said:

I upgraded my system last week and I’m happy overall with the upgrade over stock. I found that tweaking the 3 band eq on the head unit is necessary for best performance. The 5 band eq on the Kicker Flex Tune app is more for fine tuning, and I don’t think it has much if any effect on the subwoofer. Turning up the bass on the 3 band eq had a big effect on the sub’s performance. I had to flip switches on the amp to 1-5 up, 6 down since the settings from the factory suck bad.

It’s decent for the cost, but I know I have enough skills to run my own power wires and connect a wiring harness adapter to do a better job for less.

So anyways, I photographed the install in my 2019 double cab. Check out this link for the photo album. There’s descriptions under each picture. I’ll try to answer any questions you might have.

https://imgur.com/a/K86b8MT

Thanks for this info and photos!! I can’t believe that GM puts such crappy sound systems in a $60K vehicle and that it costs north of $1K to “fix” it. I contacted Crutchfield initially, but I think the kicker solution might be better for me as it is matched to the truck.