better speakers

look at skar audio

 

I have JBL's in the front and Kicker in the rear.

 

kickers are not a good speaker
they are cheap kid stuff
JBL...OK

what is the sensitivity of the JBLs ?

 

Perhaps you dont have the equalizer tuned right

 

They are JBL GTO629 Premium 6.5-Inch Co-Axial Speaker

 

what’s providing power to the speakers…do you have an amp, or just the head unit?

 

Just head unit. I just replaced factory radio and speakers. Sound nowhere near the same.

 

You need an amp, methinks.

 

Word

 

Wrong OHMs?

Just replacing my door speakers while still using my stock head unit sounded far better than the paper OEM junk. An amp shouldn't be required unless there's a serious mismatch or your head unit is just bad and now your new speakers make it sound worse because they are more accurate.

 

serious mismatch here.
The factory unit and the kenwood you installed makes about 22 watts RMS
The speakers you have need a lot more power to sound good .

Try getting some speakers that have a rms rating of about 25-30 watts
also look to see what the sensitivity is
anything above 92 decibels should sound good

 

https://www.caraudiolovers.com/best-6-5-speakers/

 

those JBLs should sound pretty good on what you have

 

Power output has nothing to do with sound quality until higher volume levels... where a heavier speaker motor structure would need more power to prevent distortion.
If your system sounds tinny... you may have wired speakers out of phase (polarity) which can cause the issue you're having. The other issue could be a poorly mounted speaker. or a speaker not mounted into a specific mount, where the front and rear waves are cancelling each other.

 

power output has everything to do with it. You cant run a 22 watt rms stereo to power 125 watt rms speakers
power output has to align with speaker capability
but I agree with the rest of what jones said

 

power output has everything to do with it. You cant run a 22 watt rms stereo to power 125 watt rms speakers

I will have to disagree, to a point.... since I've been doing installs longer than I wish to admit, you don't have to run a speaker to it's limits to have great sound. Albeit, you will maximize volume... what you lose with less power is actually control of the motor structure of the speaker. Speaker size is what really has to be realized here, yes you can't run a huge subwoofer with a tiny amp, but a speaker will work fine if under powered as long as not driven into distortion.
Here's one for ya... in my competition truck, I was running 500 watts RMS off some old school, long time not made, MTX thunder amps to a set of 5 1/4" components in my kick panels. Sooooo.... why didn't I blow them??? I'll tell ya why, because power output doesn't mean as much when you're running in the upper wavelengths and when cross-over properly.
Some of my resume.... Audiocontrol install school, MTX install school and as well as Rockford install school. I was a box designer and installer, that also worked the floor..... in the 90's when audio was huge.

 

power output has everything to do with it. You cant run a 22 watt rms stereo to power 125 watt rms speakers
power output has to align with speaker capability
but I agree with the rest of what jones said

I don't know if I believe that about the power output, jonesyfxr sounds more correct on this to me. Now a capable speaker that can use 125w RMS will certainly work better amped, but at low power draw it should still sound fine.

I am running this exact scenario right now, Polk Audio DB 6.5" coax speakers, rated for 120w on my factory head unit which can't be much more than 20-30w output and they sound good and I even have them mounted poorly. With proper mount and properly amped they will sound a lot better of course, but even as is they are a massive improvement over stock speakers.

 

I've often found that old wiring to the speakers in vehicles can also cause headaches sometimes. I tend to run new wiring when possible to the speakers, that way I know they are good and clean. I'd also check your speaker and stereo to make sure that the ohms match (they should, you encounter more of this in home audio, but I would still check). You can also borrow an amp and see if the amp has anything to do with it. I have a cheap old amp I keep for testing purposes, great for situations like this, because it's possible the aftermarket stereo has issues. Finally, make sure you have filters/crossovers to keep the sound within the range of that speaker (your stereo might have a crossover option built in).

 

I've never heard of a speaker that takes 125W RMS. That is a very high floor. I've heard of 25, 30, even 50. Now 125W peak I've heard of and that is pretty low for modern car stereo equipment given what some people put through them to allow me to vibrate at my steering wheel 3 cars over at a stop light. I have to agree with Jonesyfxr about the polarity. One speaker with the positive and negative switched around can ruin your sound. I have a 2020 LTZ with the best factory sound they could put in it at the time and it sounds amazing. Not touching it because there is no need to do anything to it. Loud, crisp, and clear. Plus, it has wireless android auto (courtesy of Carsifi) in it and that is the best thing ever.

 

My soon to be installed door 6x9s run 280w per

 

I know the wiring is correct. I have an audio wiring diagram for my truck.

 

Did your truck come with the Bose system?

 

No. Just the base model truck.

 

Wiring should be easy to eliminate as an issue. Pull the speaker, run new wire from back of stereo to speaker and see if it sounds clear. That will show if the wiring or the polarity has anything to do with the tinny sound. Also filters to the range of the speaker.