2008 Gen IV Total speaker Upgrade.

Bigwitz

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I have a 2008 Gen IV Viper that I am replacing all speakers. I will post all Speakers, locations and brands for each location. I would be interested to hear from others who have also done the same.
 

MoparMap

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I've pretty much done this on my gen 3 at this point. The tweeters in the dash are the biggest problem though as they are somewhat uniquely designed to have the mounting plate integrated with the speaker. It's very hard to find an aftermarket tweeter small enough to fit in the hole and still have it point at you.

That being said, I went for the "factory fit" approach as much as possible. By that I mean I picked stuff that would fit in the factory positions under factory covers, so it might not be the highest quality stuff I can find, but it certainly sounds better than the junk full aftermarket setup that was in my car when I bought it. The tweeters were Kicker KS150s or something like that. I think I still have the box downstairs somewhere. I modified them to cut the case off and mounted them using a ***** hole they had in the back and made a metal plate to ***** them to on either side. Now that I have a 3D printer I would probably look at doing something with it to make a better mounting setup. The door speakers are something like Kicker KSC650s (they are just the older model, don't recall the exact part number off the top of my head). The Viper is unique in that it doesn't use the typical 6.75" round speakers, it uses a 3 hole 6/6.5" design. Looking at the design I think you'd have to cut the little tabs off that are there for the 6.75" mounting, but mine didn't have that at the time. I waffled between cutting the tweeter connections on the door speakers and not. Theoretically you don't need them since the dash ones should be doing that work, and I wasn't sure how the small passive crossover on the speakers might mess with the other crossovers I had in the car. I used a Kicker 6.75 CompRT slim subwoofer in the factory box for the sub. My car didn't have a factory amp originally, so I had replaced it with an Alpine MRP-F300 that fit under the passenger seat in the same spot with a random set of crossovers that were in the car when I bought it. I fought and fought with this setup and tried tuning it a but of different ways, but never really got anything super great. It wasn't bad, but honestly, the factory system in the 03 my dad had for a while sounded more powerful to me, so I'm not sure why people give them so much grief other than maybe being a bit fragile. I also had an Alpine CDE-HT137BT head unit.

Since then I've swapped over to a factory RB1 head unit for the nav and managed to find a factory amp. I also never had the small speakers behind the seats, so I picked up a set of those. This is my current setup and I am really happy with it. I get more power and better clarity out of the whole thing. I think one of the big things is I'm fairly sure the factory amp has all the channel leveling and crossover already built into it. That really helps put the power where it needs to go, even if it's not huge power numbers. It's not nearly as customizable of a setup, but to me at least it sounds way better than anything I've had in the car before it and it all fits in factory locations and uses factory wiring. One thing that is interesting with the sub though is that the factory wiring diagram and the actual car do not agree. The diagram shows a two channel sub (like a dual voice coil maybe), but the wiring does not support that. There are two channels coming out of the factory amp to the sub connector, but the connector on the sub side only has one channel of wiring in it. I don't know if Dodge intended to have two speakers back there at one point and changed their mind late in the game or what, but I have two different connectors from two different sub boxes and both are the same setup. Just something to keep in mind if you intend to keep the factory amp. I am also planning to get a GROM aux input kit for the factory head unit at some point. This more or less gives you modern BT and aux input kind of functionality through the CD changer interface on the radio.

So all this said, I'm not sure what you're going for, so take everything with a grain of salt. I like to think of myself as someone who enjoys high quality audio, but I'm also not the type to spend thousands on a concert level system. I want good value for the money and I value quality over raw power. I also realize the Viper is just not an audio platform and has limited space to do anything. My cam and exhaust also make any audio work far less impactful. Sitting in the car in the garage it sounds great and has plenty of power, but the second I start the engine all the bass gets drowned out. I now at least have the clarity to hear songs on the highway and actually pick up the lyrics, but it's not like the Jag XKR I had where you're riding in a bubble and can really enjoy the good radio it had.
 
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Bigwitz

Bigwitz

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Thanks for the Reply. I actually found your Thread and enjoyed reading it right after I posted. I am doing several things to my car as well and just posting what "I am doing" and the dif choices "I am making" etc to give people options similar to yours. I will post pics as well.

These are the speakers and links to what I am installing a couple similar to yours.

Front Doors and Tweeters:

Audison APK 165​

The only way to describe these would be simply They are twice as powerful and 2 times better sound quality then others out there Hence the price dif. Audison and Focal are two of the best brands out now in my opinion. You will only have to slightly modify the fit in dash but there is plenty of room and space under the grill cover.

Rear Top 2.75" speakers replacing with:

Kicker KSC270 2.75" Mid/Tweeters​

These should be an exact or close to exact fit but a huge upgrade from the factory.

Rear Middle sub Using the same Kicker sub I believe you did. It is shallow mount and is the best fit in my opinion as well.

Kicker 6 3/4" CompRT 4 Ohm​

This is just a sub that is a direct fit and pretty self explanatory.

Right now there is an upgraded Alpine head unit that I will be replacing soon as well with bluetooth and will Update once the choice is made. Still have the factory amp that will remain as it is still very good and all that is needed. The last Add on will prob be Rockford Fosgate inclosed and pre amped slim angled 10" sub punch box.

Will post pics when all done as well.
 

MoparMap

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Cool! Looking forward to seeing how it works out for you. My car actually had a set of Focal tweeters in it when I bought it, but they were huge 1.5" or more units that were literally just laying in the dash under the grilles facing up. I may have to think about those rear deck speakers as well. I managed to find a set of factory ones still for sale from a dealer parts website and took those as the easy route for the time being. I agree they don't exactly seem like much for quality though. May try swapping them out later after seeing how it goes for you. Been debating the door setup ever since I got the factory amp going again. I'm inclined to use a component system to eliminate the tweeter in the door on the coax speakers I've got. I tried running them connected and disconnected and can't remember how I left them. I was wondering if a full cone speaker that didn't have the tweeter column in the middle might perform better for the midrange.

Were you planning to run the included crossovers on the Audisons or are you going to rely on the factory amp? I imagine it must have something built into it since it's already splitting a standard 4 channel input into a 6.1 variety setup to some degree.
 
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Bigwitz

Bigwitz

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Right now I am going to try to just run simple through the factory amp set up and see how it sounds. Also going to reconfigure the tweeters to face "up" and lay flat so they project off the windshield "like modern sound systems" instead of playing right into the dash for better sound. For sure The audison 6.5 will have a much better sound and REALLY good base and kick in the door.
 

MoparMap

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You're really tempting me with those speakers, lol. I wouldn't mind a little more low end out of mine to see if I could hear or feel it over my exhaust. I've looked at trying to buy component style midrange speakers that don't have the tweeters on them, but they pretty much always seem to sell them as a kit with tweeters and external crossovers. I don't need all the extra pieces and cost.
 

MoparMap

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The main problem I have is that I've got a convertible and the rear trunk is a completely separate compartment that's sealed off from the passenger compartment. I had a small JL Audio W series sub in the car when I bought it. They originally had it in a footwell box on the passenger side, but it took up too much space for anyone to ride comfortably. I tried building a box and putting it in the trunk, but it was so isolated from the cabin that you really didn't get anything out of it. That's one of the nice things about the coupes, you have some more options back there.
 
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Bigwitz

Bigwitz

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Getting ready for the final piece to my car which is redoing the Speakers and the Head deck. Will do a followup post in the next month or so on the final outcome and what I chose etc.
 

Kai SRT10

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I upgraded my stereo system back in the day. At the time (almost 20 years ago,) it was the latest and greatest. Still sounds good. Can only really tell that it's a nice system when the car isn't running, however. Too much noise othewise.

Car Upgrade list HERE
 

Snakecollector

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Well here goes…. My first post on this site and first post ever about my vipers…. About a month ago I did an install on my 2008 snakeskin green convertible…. I’ve read many posts about how difficult if not impossible it is to install an upgraded system in a Gen 3/4 viper that yields an amazing result… I would agree that you simply can’t get enough impactful bass response from the 6.5” ported factory location and subs in the trunk of any variety is kind of a waste…. You lose your trunk for the most part and it shakes everything in the trunk but not so much in the listening area of the convertible versions….. so here is what I did and I feel…. Literally feel the bass response from this install is extraordinary…. Requires very little amplification and the overall musical experience is like you have 4 10’s in the trunk…. I had my technician fabricate out of 16 gauge steel the mounting plates and he put a bend on the edge to stiffen the metal even more….it makes a huge difference… then I mounted the bass shakers to the plates one for the back of the seat and one for the bottom….( so two shakers in each seat…. They are 4 ohms each wired in series in the seat creating an 8 ohm load per seat…. Then both seats wired in parallel creating a single 4 ohm load to be powered by a single mono channel amplifier….

For the front speakers I chose a nice easy fit drop right into the factory door location speaker…. Jl audio C2-600. They play clean and loudly and have plenty of reserve volume which is amazing while cruising top down…. These are coaxials with no external crossovers…. I have them crossed over at 80hz Hi pass filter 12db/octave….. this next step I was a little skeptical about but tried it and it had a fantastic result…. The factory dash tweeters are a soft dome approximately 3/4” and are criss cross angled in the cabin…. Their high presence in the dash creates a very nice upfront stage especially when mated with these jl audio coaxials…. Four tweeters up front definitely helps fill the air with music when the top is down….They have their own capacitors wired right after their plug at the dash…. It’s a little 6db/octave cap that filters the bass/mid frequencies I’m guessing at around 4k hz and higher….. these sound great when you wire them to the same output channels as their mating side door speaker…. So basically up front I have the JL’s in the doors and the factory dash tweeters being feed their power from the front channels of a JL audio 3 channel amp…. 75 watts X 2 up front
And 180 X 1 to the 4 bass shakers…. No rear speakers hooked up and I chose a Sony MEX N5300BT
The amp is a JL audio XDM 500/3

The shakers are low pass filtered at 120 hz….

The greatest thing about this install is that it doesn’t break the bank and the way that the music plays clear and clean and the presence of bass that literally shakes the seats is truly remarkable…..

I loved it so much that I did the same install in my 03 viper however this time I chose to try and do it without an amp in the trunk…. I know that sounds crazy but it actually sounds just as amazing with one draw back…. The 08 has just a bit more reserve power and the ability to play louder…. Which I knew it would but also wanted to give this option a try…. The install was a little quicker without having to pull the rear passenger wheel off and remove the fender liner to run the wires for the rca’s, speakers and amp turn on…. In both installs I removed the factory speaker wires for the door and tweeter wires from the factory molex that goes into the factory amp and removed the factory amp for the clearance of the passenger seat bottom bass shaker….

In the 03 viper I used a Sony DSX-GS80. They claim it’s 100 watts by 4 channels…. It’s not…. But it is certainly a clean 50 watts for the front speakers and the unit does have some pretty awesome music enhancers built in to make the experience worth the install…. The shakers are hooked up in stereo to the rear channels and this radio allows a 2 ohm stereo load so in this install I chose to wire the shakers in parallel in both seats creating a 2 ohm load per seat…. The great thing about this Sony unit is the features it has built in…. They allow you to low pass filter the rear channel output for subs ( I did 120hz 36db/octave )
The front channels have a hi pass filter at 80hz 24db/octave and for having no amp this install would easily fool anyone because it also plays very loud and clear and I think it isn’t a fair comparison to my 08 because the 08 is stock with cat back corsa mufflers…. The 03 has Belanger long tubes and hi flow cats with corsa mufflers…. And 3.55 rear gears making your rpm a bit higher at certain cruising speeds…. so it’s definitely a bit louder on the road….

I’m beyond pleased with the results and if anyone in the southeastern wisconsin area would like to hear either car I would be glad to share the experience….
 

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Bigwitz

Bigwitz

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Looks great a great job! I agree on the sound and bass. Your set up is very similar to the audi R-8. they have 6.5 and 8" shallow mount under the seat but only one. I will be doing a pioneer 9" floating single den. Audison vocal 6.5 components in the front with tweets. Will keep the 3.5" behind seats headrests and do a shallow mount new kicker 6.5 between the seats and redo/seal the box. Then will do rockford Fosgate 10" enclosed wedge to sit on top ledge since i have a coupe. Wrap looks good too.
 

MoparMap

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I've debated using shakers on my car as well. I actually bought a set to use for a motion platform I built for VR racing and have a spare laying around. Thought about throwing it under the seat just to see what I thought, but never have committed to it. My most recent upgrade was actually putting a lot of stuff back to stock. As crazy as it sounds I think it's the happiest I've been with my audio setup in a while. I basically have aftermarket speakers everywhere, but a factory RB1 nav radio and the factory amp. Compared to all the stuff I've played with before in the car it sounds the best yet, though one of the more recent updates that seemed to help a lot was lining more of the sub box and behind the grilles on the rear panel with some foam tape. I think the sub was just touching the plastic on the back panel, so it would start rattling at pretty low volume and sounding *****. Now I can actually turn it up. The biggest thing I wish the factory stuff had was more tuneability, but with my exhaust it's all pretty much a lost cause anyway. I can at least hear it on the highway now if I want to.
 
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Bigwitz

Bigwitz

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All very true. I would be able to hear a whole lot in 1st-2nd-3rd in the 4-6k rpm range anyway. Keeping all set up factory but newer I agree. On the tuneability part that all comes down to the head unit and then a good amp. Of course a very good sound tech that can dial it in for you would prob help too which is why I am not installing this one Ha.
 

Steve M

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The previous owner of my car installed aftermarket component speakers (Dynaudio Esotec 242) in the doors/dash, and a 10" sub (Image Dynamics ID10) in the hatch. It was a weird kludged together setup where the factory amp was still installed under the passenger seat, but completely bypassed, and the factory head unit was still in place. There were two mini-amps that were located under the driver's seat - one for the sub, and one for the door speakers. It didn't sound great, and I had no way of playing music through my iPod (my device of choice for many years) that sounded good.

I ended up ripping everything apart and installing a small 5-channel amp (Kenwood XR-5S) under the passenger seat and added a single-DIN head unit (Kenwood KIV-701) while I was in there that allowed me to plug in my iPod. That sufficed for many years, I but I did a horrible job on the install, and that always bothered me. When COVID hit, I took some time (like, a lot of time) to pull everything out and redo the entire install tip-to-tail.

What a mess.

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Ew.

Let's clean that up a bit:

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The original aftermarket component speaker install used inline filters (capacitors) to keep the tweeters in the dash happy, but I wanted to try the full-up Dynaudio cross-overs. I wasn't sure where to put them, so I just sat them behind the seats under the waterfall panel:

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They are held in place with industrial strength Velcro. Trust me...they ain't going anywhere.

I also took the time to pull all new wires - 14 gauge to the doors/dash, and 12 gauge to the hatch for the sub. As you can see in the pic above, I used PET expandable braided sleeving on all of the wires for a little added chaffing protection. Bonus: it also makes pulling the wires into the doors WAY easier than without.

A couple years later I finally took the plunge on a Double DIN head unit (full DIY here: https://www.viperclub.org/vca/threads/gen-3-4-double-din-head-unit-diy.678508/) along with a backup camera (you can see that in action here: https://youtu.be/aFX4Q_C3WHc).

And last winter, I made my own custom subwoofer box along with a new subwoofer (Hertz CS250) to replace the rather large box that originally came with my car.

Before:

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After:

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It's a utilitarian design (one that I've used in my daily driven truck for years behind my seats), but works quite well. The coating is DuraTex (Parts Express is just down the road from me) - it's water based, but dries to a nice, bed liner-ish waterproof finish that is also quite durable. You can throw stuff on top of it when necessary, and if the need arises, the speaker wires have a quick disconnect that lets you pull the whole thing out in a few seconds (and saves about 25 pounds).

I'm at the point of diminishing returns, so this is as good as it will ever get. It sounds pretty good, but the Viper's cabin just wasn't designed for an optimal listening experience. The best you can hope for is loud and clear, and this system does that admirably. The sub makes the biggest difference. That's a pretty easy thing to add to a coupe...not so much a vert though.

Note: I have quite a few pics of the subwoofer enclosure that I took while I was building it, but I'll spare you the details unless there's interest.

And now I'll see myself out.
 
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