Speaker upgrade options

[cheapie408]

Just picked up a 2019 Silverado with no bose. I'd like to upgrade at least the front and rear speakers while retaining the stock head unit. I'd like to keep everything look as stock as possible. 

 

For good sound quality, I don't think the stock unit won't be sufficient, are there places behind the dash etc, to hid one of those really small 4 channel amps? 

 

If I have to add a sub, I supposed the only option is a small 8" under the seat? 

 

I'm only looking to improve SQ, not trying to win any DB competition. 

[RobT420]

Check out Crutchfield, they’re a pretty good source for info on what audio stuff will work in your vehicle. https://www.crutchfield.com/car/outfitmycar/mycar.aspx

[Patches2]

I can't comment on if there's space behind the dash, but there's plenty of room behind the rear seats and under the front seats. 

 

Subs can be as simple or as complex as you want it, with varying levels of appearing stock or not. Are you looking to stay under a certain budget?

[kodiakdenali]

If the amp is small enough and you have the center console there is room under there where you could mount some equipment.

[cwtech]

Before adding an amp, try replacing the speakers.

 

I bought a non-Bose 2021 truck and the distortion from the speakers was unbearable, even at low volumes.  ...I replaced the speakers with 3-way speakers from Crutchfield and they were the cure.  ...Great sound at any volume.  ....The original head puts out enough power to power the new speakers.

[Bikerjon]

2 hours ago, cwtech said:

Before adding an amp, try replacing the speakers.

 

I bought a non-Bose 2021 truck and the distortion from the speakers was unbearable, even at low volumes.  ...I replaced the speakers with 3-way speakers from Crutchfield and they were the cure.  ...Great sound at any volume.  ....The original head puts out enough power to power the new speakers.

What brand of speakers from Crutchfield did you get? Did you just do front and rear door speakers?

[Vincej138]

11 hours ago, Bikerjon said:

What brand of speakers from Crutchfield did you get? Did you just do front and rear door speakers?

 

I did something similar, I'm just lazy and have not installed them yet. Along with a list of other stuff sitting in the garage.

 

But this is what I grabbed

Dash - Pioneer TA-A709's

Front Door - Kenwood KFC-6966S

Rear Door - Kenwood KFC-1796PS

Then all the harnesses and mounts

[GETGONE]

I put MB Quart titanium tweeter 2 ways in front and rear doors and the Pioneer TA-A709's in the dash. HUGE improvement over the low muddled sound of the stock speakers. It brings the sound level up more to the dash level than down at the floor. At some point I'm looking to add an under seat sub hopefully under the center jump seat since my rear under seat is a storage bin I have full of tools and towing/recovery equipment.

[shudog]

On 2/28/2024 at 9:58 PM, GETGONE said:

I put MB Quart titanium tweeter 2 ways in front and rear doors and the Pioneer TA-A709's in the dash. HUGE improvement over the low muddled sound of the stock speakers. It brings the sound level up more to the dash level than down at the floor. At some point I'm looking to add an under seat sub hopefully under the center jump seat since my rear under seat is a storage bin I have full of tools and towing/recovery equipment.

thanks for update.  Did you order everything from Crutchfield?  any special tools required to do the job?  Any tips or tricks you found to make the install easier?  I'm ready to do this, and pretty handy with tools but pretty reluctant to pull apart my new $70k truck to make something that works marginally better

[RobT420]

5 hours ago, shudog said:

thanks for update.  Did you order everything from Crutchfield?  any special tools required to do the job?  Any tips or tricks you found to make the install easier?  I'm ready to do this, and pretty handy with tools but pretty reluctant to pull apart my new $70k truck to make something that works marginally better

I’d like to know too. Everything fit without cutting, and all behind the factory covers?

[GETGONE]

I ordered from eBay. I liked Crutchfield but they are expensive. The "free" mounts and adapters aren't really free when you price out the speakers elsewhere. They do give you instructions how to replace things. I ordered the adapters and mounts from eBay as well. The door panels are easy to remove on the pre-refresh trucks. I don't know what changed with the refresh interior to know how different it is to pull apart. Get yourself some plastic trim tools to help make taking apart things easier and not damage parts. The dash speakers drop in but the adapters used in the doors don't work in the dash. Someone had posted some other adapters that work for the dash plugs. I just pulled the pins from the adapters I had and pushed them into the factory plug and used electrical tape to hold them in place. You can find video instructions on how to replace the speakers on YouTube. I looked up what needed to be done there first before tearing into mine so I had an idea of what fasteners were where.

[Vincej138]

On 2/28/2024 at 9:27 AM, Vincej138 said:

 

I did something similar, I'm just lazy and have not installed them yet. Along with a list of other stuff sitting in the garage.

 

But this is what I grabbed

Dash - Pioneer TA-A709's

Front Door - Kenwood KFC-6966S

Rear Door - Kenwood KFC-1796PS

Then all the harnesses and mounts

 

Here is diff between stock and thr Kenwoods

 

I am very happy with the sounds and bass for not having an amp. Def worth the $200

 

[andrewb24]

I have the kicker 10" subwoofer with the amp that has a box made to fit under the backseat of these trucks that I purchased through chevrolet accessories on their website and I also added a Kicker key amp 200.4 to run the door speakers. I have a non bose stereo in my 2020 Silverado.  This setup sounds pretty durn good to me.

[Casey Burns]

2025 Silverado 1500 lt trail boss.  I can't honestly believe how pathetic the sound is in this truck for 64k MSRP (Hell no I paid under 50), but still.

 

Looking to just swap out the speakers as well and keep this simple.  Coming from laramie ram with a Harmon Kardon system is quite the reality check.

 

Harnesses, mounts, do I need anything else?  Foam, sound dampening, etc? 

Edited June 4, 2025 by Casey Burns

[taze]

4 hours ago, Casey Burns said:

2025 Silverado 1500 lt trail boss.  I can't honestly believe how pathetic the sound is in this truck for 64k MSRP (Hell no I paid under 50), but still.

 

Looking to just swap out the speakers as well and keep this simple.  Coming from laramie ram with a Harmon Kardon system is quite the reality check.

 

Harnesses, mounts, do I need anything else?  Foam, sound dampening, etc? 

As long as you have harnesses and mounts, you should be good to go. I did just do a stage 2 Resonix kit on the front doors and it definitely is an improvement, but a costly one. On top of $, it took me a long time. I did the second door in about half the time of the first. 

Don't forget to re-connect the inside handle door cable so it, you know, works. Not that I did anything like that, but I could understand how it might happen. To other people, not me....

Also, I removed the rubber insert around the door lock in the top of the door card to make it easier to seat the card. Then just insert the rubber back in around the lock and you're golden. The rubber insert is keyed so pay attention to that too.