[danieu]

Hi Guys,
my name is Daniel, I live in Poland and recently bought 2018 300S 3.6 RWD.
I would like to softly improve audio by adding dynaudio tweeters in A pillars. Before disconecting I would like to ask You, is there any passive crossover in front channel connections? Or maybe front channels, both dash and door, are powered directly from active crossovered radio channels?
I do not wan't to use any additional amps, I would like to go only passive dash/tweeter crossover.
BR,
Daniel

 

[Largecrease]

The dash speakers only have mid and treble going to them from the amp. On my Gen1, I replaced the dash speakers with aftermarket 4 Ohm speakers and 4 Ohm tweeters in the A pillars, wired with the included capacitors, in parallel. They sounded exceptionally good for what they were. I'm planning on doing the same in my Gen2.

 

[danieu]

Ok, so passive crossover + tweeters mounting + adjusting and should be fine. I hope I will not have to use measuring equipment
Second thing is the bass. When I listen on stopped vehicle there is plenty of it, but when I drive all of the bass is gone. I never had such situation Is the only solution putting sub + amp in the trunk? There are four 6x9 speakers so this should be enough.

 

[danieu]

I've ended up with front speaker upgrade. I wanted to build pods for dynaudio tweeters but first I tried with small 20mm vifa/peerless d20nc tweeters. I've just cut holes in original a pillars. Fisrt smaller one to move aside the upholstery material, than drill plastic to 35mm (34mm tweeter+upholstery). Next I've shifted the upholstery to the other side and glued, so the hole looks good (not just drilled hole , and finally I've glued tweeters with maximum onaxis range I could. The pillars looks good and are not annoying me. The mids remain original. I've just cut original cloth cover from the top. I've compared them with dynaudio ones and with factory radio and crossover the difference is small. Also original ones are louder than dyns. With top octaves filtered original mids stoped annoying me anymore.
The crossover component values are air core 0,1mH for mid and 6,8 ohm 5W resistor (value should be changed for taste) and MKP 3,6uf capacitor for tweeter. All connected in phase. I tried 12dB/oct but ended up with 6dB/oct.
The result is the system stoped annoying me. Before this mod I tried to set mids -2 and highs -3 but I allways was annoyed by original mids nasty frequency peaks. Also the soundstage is higher located beacuse of tweeter mounted in a pillars.
Next I will take care of bass and maybe rear speakers which plays too high for my taste and this is disturbing to front system.
Hope this will help someone, BR

 

[Largecrease]

Can you post a pic of the tweeter install?
You should upgrade the dash speakers as well.

 

[danieu]

Ofcourse. Here are the pics. Total time for tweeter installation was about 2 hours + about an hour for soldering.

The last picture is made from the outside

 

[danieu]

I've also correct rear speakers with 6dB/oct filtering. I used also 0,1mH air cores, the same as on front. Now rears do not influence so much to the overall sound. My equaliser is set 0 for bass -2 for mids and -7 for tweets. Now I have to say I'm really very satisfied with this audio. There could be made some improvements in sounding front crossovers. But I don't want to spend so much time for this. You know work, family. I wan't to say the result is night and day to stock right now, so I think that I will only add extra sub with digital amp, and make door dampening and it should be enough for me.
Before I decided to stay with stock mids I listened to them for some time. I've played them even with my gm70 tube system These are typical 3 inch low ohm paper speakers with all the paper clarity and nasty frequency peaks. Nothing extraordinary to deal with. Ofcourse I've cut top dust cover from them. They do cover the sound as a blanket.
I simply do not think the original signal is good enough for investing serious money to speakers. In my opinion I think that
If You want to make it right You should take the digital signal directly from uconnect radio. I don't know which processor is inside but I would search for the spdif or i2s around it. Check if it's clear and then digital to analog conversion and amplification. I don't have good experience with connecting another speakers to this stock radio. Maybe some internal equalisation is present, I've just made primary measurements with umik1 and REW. Ofcourse this is only my opinion.
I haven't found any suggestions on such installation so after hearing the results I thought I will post it and maybe it will be helpfull for someone.

 

[danieu]

 

[Largecrease]

Thanks for the pics! I had a similar set up, with an additional amp and sub in my Gen1 and I was more than happy with it. I'll soon be doing the same in my Gen2. The standard speakers are really bad....

 

[danieu]

How did You connect the amp? I ask because the main problem for me with the uconnect radio is the built in equalisation. When I play quiet, I mean under 20 (volume set) I could set highs level to +7 and it sounds nice and clear. But after 22 or 23 the built in loudness is getting annoying. I have to attenuate highs to minus few. This is not suble but rough. You turn up the music by 2 sets and have to change sound settings. Do You know maybe how to disable this? I haven't found this in any options. Maybe with alfaobd software or something?

 

[Largecrease]

I used the rear speakers to convert to line level output, which is the simplest / easiest way.
Also, if you have the basic amplifier in your car, you can swap it out with a higher powered Chrysler amp. I can't remember the part numbers, you'll have to do a search yourself. The amps are usually on sale on places like Fleabay.

 

[danieu]

Amplifier? Where should it be located? Under steering wheel column? I couldn't find one. Also in electric diagram for 6ch alpine sound system there is no amplifier.

 

[Largecrease]

Amplifier is to the side of the steering wheel column. Here's some info:

Beats by Dre system

Hi all. I have a 2011 300 Limited with the premium 6-speaker Alpine system. The "premium" part is a joke. I test drove a 2013 300S with the Beats audio system while waiting on mine to be serviced and fell in love with the sound. I want it in my car without having to trade for a new one. So, do...

www.300cforums.com

 

[danieu]

That is strange, I've searched for it and can't find nothing out there But it doesn't matter cause I do not want to change anything in amplification unless going full aftermarket. I've ordered monoblock for bass. And will check how my infinity kappa perfect 12 speaker sounds in this large trunk. I hope it will handle to fulfill factory system to maximum levels. For now it is mounted in small sealed enclosure so the output is not great.
Do You have any experience with 8 inch sub in rear deck? I do wonder is it even worth to try with any or to go straight to standalone enclosure in the trunk.

 

[TheKrell]

I live in Poland and recently bought 2018 300S 3.6 RWD.
I would like to softly improve audio by adding dynaudio tweeters in A pillars. Before disconecting I would like to ask You, is there any passive crossover in front channel connections? Or maybe front channels, both dash and door, are powered directly from active crossovered radio channels?

I attempted to add a factory amp to my base model 2012 with 6-speakers and couldn't. No amp up there, and in fact no wiring harness for it either. I found a wiring diagram for my car many many years ago, and at that time, there was no crossover in the radio IIRC. There was a high pass cap on the tweeters (which I replaced), and presumably a low pass on the woofers, but I don't know about that because I never replaced the front 6X9's. All actual factory wiring was straight through and thus had a full frequency range.

But after 22 or 23 the built in loudness is getting annoying. I have to attenuate highs to minus few.

The 3-band equalizer is inadequate. I never figured out how to improve that.

 

[danieu]

I've pulled out front 6x9's and there was no coils out there. Funny thing is, that when I switch in radio to only rear speakers I can hear front 6x9 in front doors are playing also. Not full volume but still noticable. Also when I connected subwoofer to rear speakers signal I'm not sure they play all the low bass. I think I will have to pull out uconnect radio and trace the signal from it to the speakers. If there are any passive components I will improve them.
Is it complicated to pull it out in 2018 version?

 

[TheKrell]

Darn good question, Daniel. I never did it on my 2020, but I did on my 2012 and it wasn't difficult at all. Starting in 2015, the radio is a one piece affair with integrated display. So the procedure will be considerably different. Also, back in 2012, the speaker leads were all full-range.

 

[danieu]

Today I've received usb soundblaster card for my laptop. I will make some measurements with all channels and check their frequency bandwidth. But I need some free time for this. For now I'm temporarily stuck with front brakes change from one piston/320mm version to two pistons/345mm