I ordered the Mopar speaker upgrade kit online for about $500 which consisted of 6 additional speakers. One "center dash speaker" two "upper door speakers" and three additional "subwoofers" for behind the seats. The TA comes with a 12 speaker system and this kit supposedly adds the missing 6 speakers.

Well, as it turns out that is not the case........

First, I went to install the included "Center Dash Speaker and Grill". Well, to my surprise, it is already installed in the car and working from the factory.

Next, i installed the "Upper Door Speakers and Grills". I knew that I needed these as the TA comes with block-off filler plates where these speakers get installed. I followed the included instructions and they installed perfectly. To my surprise, they worked immediately without any additional programming which the instructions said you need to have done at the dealer.

Now, on to the sub's behind the seats. I removed the carpet behind the drivers seat and found one sub installed from the factory. I removed the other block-off plate and installed the missing drivers side sub. Next, I removed the carpet behind the passenger side seat and to my surprise there was one sub installed from the factory. So I installed the one missing sub and closed things up. Turned on the radio and the 2 additional subs that I installed DID NOT WORK. I guess that I need the dealer to do the software mod to get these going.

So in conclusion, of the additional 6 speakers I purchased in the $500 kit, I only needed to use 4 of the speakers. But what really amazes me is that the viper is marketed as a "12" or "18" speaker system.

That is NOT the case.

The "18" speaker system actually only uses "13" physical speakers and the "12" speaker system actually uses "9" physical speakers.

The reason being is that the "center dash speaker", the 2 "upper door speakers" and the 2 "rear hatch speakers" and called "Unity Speakers" and are thus 2-way drivers and each single physical speaker actually counts as 2 speakers.

Check out the diagram below I was able to find on the Harman Kardon website.

Screen Shot 2014-11-17 at 10.28.12 AM.jpg

While I'm glad that I now have all the speakers that the Viper was designed to have, I feel a little misled in SRT's marketing of their audio systems.