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Adding an Aftermarket Amp(s)

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Sting_NC_USA

Sting_NC_USA

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Hello ya'll...first time Jeep owner here. Purchased a 2021 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon..2.0L, Alpine Premium 8.4 system, Sky One-Touch and some other goodies. I too have read all 76 pages like many of you....actually a few sections multiple times lol. Much love to all the generous folks who've posted and shared information prior. I figured I'd do my part and post a bit for future help/guidance.
Now this is only for an aftermarket amp/subwoofer install. I may go for the full speaker upgrade in the future....one step at a time! I already had an amp/sub from the 2015 Tahoe we sold. Nothing special.....just a Memphis Srx1.250 and 12in Memphis sub in a ported box. I won't go into major detail as you can grab those tid-bits from others prior. Here are the high-lights:
1. I purchased this amp kit: TOPSTRONGGEAR 4 Gauge Amp Kit True 4 AWG Amplifier Installation Wiring Amp Kit Install Cables. As mentioned below 17ft is a bit short for the power run....
2 Ran my 17ft (20ft would have given me more wiggle room) of 4g through the removable plastic cover on the firewall driver side. I just drilled a hole barely big enough for the wire to fit through.
3. For my remote turn on for the amp. Instead of running a wire from the front 12v cigarette lighter plug on the front dash I tapped into the rear one. Now in stock form it's set to always be on. You can change this with the fuses in the power distribution center under the hood. You can make it only powered with accessory on or running. This made for a 3-5ft run instead of much more and easier to get to by far!
4. As for the LOC....I went with Kicker 46KISLOC2 K-Series. It's working great! I did ground it, but decided to not use it for the remote amp turn on.
5. As suggested by many others in prior posts I tapped into the audio cables at the base/back of the passenger seat. You can easily see the grouping of wires heading up when you pull off the little panel that you would pop off to remove the rear passenger door. As a reminder here are the wires you need to tap into:

45 Grey/Dark Blue RIGHT REAR SPEAKER (+) PREMIUM RADIO
49 Grey/Orange RIGHT REAR SPEAKER (-) PREMIUM RADIO

48 Dark Green/Dark Blue LEFT REAR SPEAKER (+) PREMIUM RADIO
52 Dark Green/Orange LEFT REAR SPEAKER (-) PREMIUM RADIO

I used the Scotchlok 905 RED Quick splice wire Connectors 22-18 AWG connectors to do the tap...worked great!.

6. I grounded my amp to the same place the rear cigarette lighter plug is grounded. I'll include a picture of that below.
7. I left the factory sub installed/running. They both seem to be "in-sync".....no issues that I can hear!.

Drive side back rear panel removed. You can see in the center my 4g grounding wire.
AmpGrounded2.jpg

A close up shot of the amp grounding wire.
AmpGrounded.jpg

The finished product. Don't laugh at the car seats (we'll one is temporary removed)!.....we have 2 toddlers. They enjoy music, but we obviously have to keep the gain/bass turned down. I also strapped the box down to hopefully keep it from turning into projectile in the event of a crash. You can't see it but I have some rubber offsets I made on the ends/edges of the woofer to keep the strap from coming in contact with it.
FinishedSubInstall.jpg
FYI, you really need to move that strap to a different location. The sub will hit it, which can seriously distort the bass and potentially damage the woofer.

You could add some hardware to the sides of the box that your strap would connect to.
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Sting_NC_USA

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Just wanted to know what amp bracket did you use and where did you get it from?
I'm pretty sure he used the JL Audio amp rack designed for the JL. It's a great option.
 

NathanSMSU

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FYI, you really need to move that strap to a different location. The sub will hit it, which can seriously distort the bass and potentially damage the woofer.

You could add some hardware to the sides of the box that your strap would connect to.
You can't see it from the pictures, but I have two rubber "stand offs" that are sitting on both edges of the sub where the strap passes over. I had the same setup in the Tahoe for 5 years and it worked fine. There is about 1/4inch clearance

But.....I had never thought about attaching some sort of "metal loop" hardware to both sides and using two straps....I like the idea! Thanks!
 

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I'm pretty sure he used the JL Audio amp rack designed for the JL. It's a great option.
Yea that’s what I thought. Thinking about just making a rack because $200 is a lot for that but a lot of stuff is overpriced for the JLs so no surprise.
 

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Looking for some input from others who have also installed the JL audio stealthbox. I have had mine for abput 6 months and am completely underwhelmed by it. I never feel like there is enough bass, and I’m not a basshead. I do generally drive with the top off and when the top is on its a soft top. I see tons of reviews saying the bass is incredible, so I am wondering am I the only one who thinks it really isn’t that good, or is it a problem with my setup? I am running it with the jl audio marine m700 and 4 c650 jl audio speakers for sound bar and knee panels, and jl audio tweeters on the dash. Any input is appreciated.
 

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Without getting into the entire install, I would try to swap the sub speaker wires (positive and negative) to verify that you don't have some interference.
 
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Sting_NC_USA

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Looking for some input from others who have also installed the JL audio stealthbox. I have had mine for abput 6 months and am completely underwhelmed by it. I never feel like there is enough bass, and I’m not a basshead. I do generally drive with the top off and when the top is on its a soft top. I see tons of reviews saying the bass is incredible, so I am wondering am I the only one who thinks it really isn’t that good, or is it a problem with my setup? I am running it with the jl audio marine m700 and 4 c650 jl audio speakers for sound bar and knee panels, and jl audio tweeters on the dash. Any input is appreciated.
Hard to say, but make sure the signal going to your sub is crossed over to pass through only the sub frequencies. Occasionally folks accidentally send a full spectrum signal to the sub, which can cause it to choke.
 

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Hard to say, but make sure the signal going to your sub is crossed over to pass through only the sub frequencies. Occasionally folks accidentally send a full spectrum signal to the sub, which can cause it to choke.
so ended up going back to the shop that installed it because I kept having rattling in my sound bar, well turns out they had too much signal going to the mids in the sound bar and not enough to the sub. The”rattling”was the mids just getting too much juice and the lack of bass was my sub not getting enough. Sounds much better now but I am almost thinking it may need even more adjusting.
 

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Hard to say, but make sure the signal going to your sub is crossed over to pass through only the sub frequencies. Occasionally folks accidentally send a full spectrum signal to the sub, which can cause it to choke.
Also how would I adjust this myself? Is this something I would do with my amplifier? I’m not super educated with car audio, actually I don’t know much at all but I kind of want to play with it because I still feel like my highs are way too high and my lows dont hit as hard as they should be. Like if I turn my system all the way up its crystal clear but I want to hear more bass and from other reviews on the jl stealthbox it seems like it should be capable.
 

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Also how would I adjust this myself? Is this something I would do with my amplifier? I’m not super educated with car audio, actually I don’t know much at all but I kind of want to play with it because I still feel like my highs are way too high and my lows dont hit as hard as they should be. Like if I turn my system all the way up its crystal clear but I want to hear more bass and from other reviews on the jl stealthbox it seems like it should be capable.

Bobby, here's the manual for your amp:

Check page 19 first, then 6-9, then 14-15. 19 displays the crossover and filter options available for the Front/Rear/Sub channels. Pages 6-9 reviews what those controls do, and Pages 14-15 contain charts displaying the voltages needed to match the gain/output needed for your sub and a chart with frequency ranges.

Typically you match the amp settings to the optimal ranges of your speakers. Best guess is that they missed the calibration phase of your install, but it's great to hear it's sounding better.

Before you adjust anything, you might want to take a picture of where the settings are now. Then, try to adjust one or two options at a time until you're happy with the sound.

Have fun with it!
 

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Bobby, here's the manual for your amp:

Check page 19 first, then 6-9, then 14-15. 19 displays the crossover and filter options available for the Front/Rear/Sub channels. Pages 6-9 reviews what those controls do, and Pages 14-15 contain charts displaying the voltages needed to match the gain/output needed for your sub and a chart with frequency ranges.

Typically you match the amp settings to the optimal ranges of your speakers. Best guess is that they missed the calibration phase of your install, but it's great to hear it's sounding better.

Before you adjust anything, you might want to take a picture of where the settings are now. Then, try to adjust one or two options at a time until you're happy with the sound.

Have fun with it!
Thanks! I’m going to give it a try next weekend for sure, I guess worst case scenario I can just set it back to what it was before I messed with it. Appreciate your help!
 

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I've read this entire thread over the last few days. Tons of great info here, thanks everyone.

My question I don't recall if it was answered in the last 77 pages...

If one had the Alpine premium system, can they use the PAC harness to run amplified front components and an additional sub, while leaving the sound bar speakers and the factory sub live as well?

Phrased another way... use the RCA outputs for front and sub channel from the PAC harness, while leaving the sound bar and factory sub alone and active too?
 

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I've read this entire thread over the last few days. Tons of great info here, thanks everyone.

My question I don't recall if it was answered in the last 77 pages...

If one had the Alpine premium system, can they use the PAC harness to run amplified front components and an additional sub, while leaving the sound bar speakers and the factory sub live as well?

Phrased another way... use the RCA outputs for front and sub channel from the PAC harness, while leaving the sound bar and factory sub alone and active too?
Yes.
 
 



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