New to me truck needs better than stock speakers

newbie308

So, I recently purchased a low mileage 2019 Nissan Frontier SV king cab pick-em-up truck. I got a great deal on it and I'm very happy with the purchase, but the stock sound system is God awful. I'm looking for suggestions for budget replacement speakers that will help improve the SQ a bit. I'm not looking to dump thousands into this. I just want to pull out and replace the OEM crap speakers with something that will sound more like music. I read some good reviews for JBL's car audio speakers, but I figured I should ask around before pulling the trigger on anything. Thanks for any help you can offer! I think the truck is equipped with 6x9's in the front doors and 6.5's in the rear.

VR3

Crutchfield has a great selection tool and they include any adapters and fittings with what you buy

rooftop59

Yea, I second Crutchfield. They also have great customer service. Call em up, tell them what you are looking for, and they will make solid suggestions. They also include detailed instructions for installation.

Emlyn

Crutchfield for the win!

newbie308

Thanks! I ordered some JBL coaxial three way speakers for the front and rear doors through Crutchfield. Fingers crossed! I hope they sound better than the OEM speakers.

newbie308

I just finished installing the new JBL 6x9 speakers in the front doors of my truck. I watched a lot of videos and read many posts on the Nissan forum from others who changed their speakers. They had me worried about the ability of the stock head unit to drive the 4 ohm speakers, since the stock speakers are 2 ohm, but it sounds fine to me. I don't need it to rattle the windows. I did order an Infinity 4 channel, 40 watt per channel amplifier with line inputs, but I am going to hold off on installing it. If I find that I need more volume after installing the rear speakers, then I will add the amp. The SQ is significantly better with just the door speakers, so I'm excited to hear what it sounds like with all 4.

VR3

I doubt you will need the amp

I don't doubt the need for pictures though! Take pics!

newbie308

OK, here are some pics.

treitz3

Mo' betaah!!!! Mo' betaah!!!!

Tom

billbillw

Look at you Mr. Motivated. I've had my "new truck" since May 2023...I bought a set of replacement speakers to upgrade...
They are still in the box along with some sound dampening material...Yes, I know. Pathetic.
One of these days...
Your upgrade should sound nice. Nothing says cheap more than those stock speakers with the 'whizzer' cones. The mids and highs should have much greater clarity.

VR3

Love the pics!

VR3

I don't normally dabble into car audio but back when I bought the prius the stock speakers were so horrendous I ordered new speakers the first day, very easy to install since they had grills on the dash. Maybe 30 minutes

Door speakers are a little trickier but if you find a YouTube video you can usually have a door skin off in 5 to 10 minutes as well

newbie308

The rear speakers arrived today. The installation was significantly more involved since the stock speakers are molded into the baskets.

newbie308

Amazing! There's actually some separation of instruments now. I was listening to Godsmack, Under your scars on my way to pick up dinner and although the sound stage was low and forward, at least there was one. The vocals were centered on the center console just in front of the shifter. I am very pleased with the end results. I realize that these speakers are not high end, but I think they are a perfect fit for this truck.

billbillw

I'm surprised that Crutchfield didn't include a pair of Metra adapters for the rear speakers. Last time I ordered from them, they were added to the cart with a $0 price along with the wire plug adapters (also from Metra).

newbie308

They did include the adapters. I was just commenting on the additional labor involved since the front speakers were a simple swap. I did need to run to Home Depot for the foam rubber gasket material. I used Moretite between the speakers and the plastic adapter baskets.

billbillw

Gotcha. For some reason, on the 1st read, I thought you had to cut apart the old speaker to get the spacer. I see it now.