If you have a Ram Quad Cab four-door pickup, in some ways you have less space available to mount components, especially if you plan to use the space under the rear seat for any sort of subwoofer enclosure. This means that a low-profile amplifier is essential. Consider Bazooka's RSA150.2HC ($500 MSRP), part of the company's P. Miller (Percy Miller, aka Master P) Signature Series of amplifiers and subwoofers. The RSA150.2HC is an amplifier that, within its low-profile chassis, fits two 150-watt channels capable of exceptional low-impedance performance, especially driving inefficient speakers and subwoofers.
If you look behind the circular grille in each front door, you may think that Dodge installed a traditional 6.5-inch-round speaker, but that, in fact, isn't the case. Behind the door trim panel you'll find an oval 6x9-inch speaker. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, except that the output of the speaker is playing into the back of the trim panel rather than exiting through a proper-sized opening. The result is some nasty panel vibrations at high volumes. If you're going to add a subwoofer, consider replacing the factory-style 6x9-inch with a 6.5-inch-round speaker. What you give up in piston area, you'll more than gain in reduced distortion from the larger cone radiating into the back of the door trim panel. A great choice would be Cerwin Vega's V-Mag 6502 6.5-inch ($200 MSRP), which combines Cerwin Vega's traditional high sensitivity and its ability to play loud without a lot of power, with extended frequency response at both ends of the sonic spectrum.
While the standard door-mounted positioning of the front speakers will suffice for most Ram owners, some will opt for a more audiophile approach. When it comes to the best possible imaging and staging, which requires moving the speakers an equal distance from the listener, kick panel-mounted speakers will be the best choice. By moving the speakers out of the doors, where much of their output is blocked by the driver and front-seat passenger, and by more closely equalizing the speaker-to-ear distance, sonic accuracy is improved dramatically
In the past, getting this level of improvement has required custom (and costly) kick panel enclosures. Now it can be accomplished for as little as $200 with Q-Logic's custom-molded replacement kick panels offered for the '02-'04 Rams. These panels, which can accommodate either an integrated 6.5-inch speaker or a two-way component set, angle up the drivers for the best possible imaging and staging
A great companion to the Q-Logic kick panels might be a set of 6.5-inch component separates from Lightning Audio, the company's Bolt B1.65C separates ($130 MSRP). Their reasonable price belies their high performance, and the included separate crossover is optimized to separate the signal to the 6.5-inch 'woofer and 1-inch tweeter
While few of us will be fortunate enough to own the ultimate Ram, the new-for-'04 SRT-10, we can get some bass ideas from its 10-inch Infinity subwoofer mounted between the front seats at the rear of the standard cab. While a similar setup is not yet available as a dealer-installed accessory, you can add a self-contained bass module, the Infinity BassLink ($350 MSRP in black, $400 MSRP in clear), which accomplishes the same objective. Combining a 10-inch subwoofer, a matched 10-inch passive radiator, a 200-watt Class-D amplifier, and a wired remote, the BassLink is small enough to fit behind the seats in a standard cab and under the seats on the four-door Quad Cab models.