Jeep Wrangler JL Stock Sound System

[Sting_NC_USA]

Installed the Rockford Fosgate PS8 yesterday and I am impressed with how much bass you can get out of this thing. Fit just about perfect under the driver side seat.

The audiophile gods out there, let me know if there is any issue with how I ended up wiring this...

Power - simple push through grommet on the passenger side. Then ran behind center dash to the driver side and along the center console to under the seat.
Ground - appeared to be a ground right by the seat for items in the glove box so I just put there. Again simple.
High Level input - I saw previous posts about drilling hole into soundbar for driver side but I think I found an easier way. I popped the passenger side dash speaker out and tapped there. Easy to run speaker wire down from the speaker hole if you take the dash glove box out. I then ran down the center console on the passenger side (to keep away from the power I ran on the other side) then just ran under the back cup holder and around to the driver seat. Since I ONLY had the right speaker wire I spliced into the Rockford harness and hooked up left/right (-) to my speaker negative and then the left/right(+) to the speaker positive. It worked! Signal for DC works too so I dont have to run the remote.

Reason that I ask if this is a correct way of doing it is that I have to have AMP gain at 0. Even if I have the radio bass set to -9 I still need to have the AMP gain at 0. I have the bass boost set to half way and the EQ set to halfway and the phase set to 180 and sounds good. I just find it strange that gain needs to be so low and figured that I would have it set half way as well.

Your thoughts and opinions are very welcomed!




*****Turns out I am an idiot. Just realized I had it set to Low Level input instead of High Level. All good now. Gain is set to about 1/4 and radio is set to -5. Bass boost about half and EQ about half to sound best IMO.

Glad you've got it working!

I think you may run into an issue where you'll only get bass feedback from your right channel's speaker. Sub-woofer amps take a right and left channel and blend them so that you get the full bass effect. Your setup will definitely work, but it could be limited, as some songs don't broadcast bass equally in each channel,.

I'd recommend feeding both the left and right channel into your PS8. You can pull those signals from the foot of your passenger side pillar. Both sets of twisted pair wires that feed your soundbar can be tapped at that point, then run to your sub. All you have to do to get to them is pop the floor panel on the side by the rear passenger door.

It's your call, but that's my .02!

Sponsored

 

[lillange]

Glad you've got it working!

I think you may run into an issue where you'll only get bass feedback from your right channel's speaker. Sub-woofer amps take a right and left channel and blend them so that you get the full bass effect. Your setup will definitely work, but it could be limited, as some songs don't broadcast bass equally in each channel,.

I'd recommend feeding both the left and right channel into your PS8. You can pull those signals from the foot of your passenger side pillar. Both sets of twisted pair wires that feed your soundbar can be tapped at that point, then run to your sub. All you have to do to get to them is pop the floor panel on the side by the rear passenger door.

It's your call, but that's my .02!

Yeah, one day when I find myself bored I may tap into the driver side soundbar speaker and run the left channel separate and see if I get any better bass response. Pretty darn good as-is for those curious. Overall simple install to add much need bass to your stock system. Dont hesitate. Buy one these 8" powered subs and never look back.

 

[pianomankd]

I'm nervous about changing out the 6.5'' speakers in the driver and passenger. Is it really that hard? Or is there a strong chance I'll damage something? I just wanted to swap them out with 6.5 Kickers....

 

[Sting_NC_USA]

I'm nervous about changing out the 6.5'' speakers in the driver and passenger. Is it really that hard? Or is there a strong chance I'll damage something? I just wanted to swap them out with 6.5 Kickers....

Please validate for yourself, but I don't think you have 6.5 inch speakers in your kick panels, or at least I haven't seen a JL model that does (Check Crutchfield's speaker recommendations). Your front speakers are most likely 4 inches in size. Going from 4's to 6.5's, while do-able, will require a significant amount of fabrication to the stock speaker enclosures. I installed 5.25's and it was fairly challenging. In my thread on adding an aftermarket amp, one of our fellow members, indicated JL Audio may be making replacement enclosures with better speakers.

The challenge with adding larger speaker's in the kick panels is that the stock speakers are "counter-sunk" into their enclosures. Said another way, the stock speakers slip inside of a recessed mounting ring on top of the ported speaker enclosure. When you go to cut a wider hole, you're actually cutting an area that sits above where the stock speaker mounts. And, it results in an uneven surface that won't provide a flush seal after you make the cut. You have to fabricate the cut enclosure's mounting surface to provide the new speaker a surface it will mount to. Then, you'll need to fill the remaining gaps (hot glue/silicone/etc) to seal it.

Once again, it can be done, and it's completely worth it if you're going to power your new speakers with an aftermarket amp. If you're not wanting to run your own amp, I'd have to strongly recommend you don't go through the effort of "up-sizing."

 

[pianomankd]

Please validate for yourself, but I don't think you have 6.5 inch speakers in your kick panels, or at least I haven't seen a JL model that does (Check Crutchfield's speaker recommendations). Your front speakers are most likely 4 inches in size. Going from 4's to 6.5's, while do-able, will require a significant amount of fabrication to the stock speaker enclosures. I installed 5.25's and it was fairly challenging. In my thread on adding an aftermarket amp, one of our fellow members, indicated JL Audio may be making replacement enclosures with better speakers.

The challenge with adding larger speaker's in the kick panels is that the stock speakers are "counter-sunk" into their enclosures. Said another way, the stock speakers slip inside of a recessed mounting ring on top of the ported speaker enclosure. When you go to cut a wider hole, you're actually cutting an area that sits above where the stock speaker mounts. And, it results in an uneven surface that won't provide a flush seal after you make the cut. You have to fabricate the cut enclosure's mounting surface to provide the new speaker a surface it will mount to. Then, you'll need to fill the remaining gaps (hot glue/silicone/etc) to seal it.

Once again, it can be done, and it's completely worth it if you're going to power your new speakers with an aftermarket amp. If you're not wanting to run your own amp, I'd have to strongly recommend you don't go through the effort of "up-sizing."

Thanks for the response. Totally my ignorance, I just assumed the speakers 6.5's. I had them in my '14 JKU before so just figured they were the same.

I'm not planning (right now) on getting an amp, so I'm just looking to upgrade the stock speakers with better speakers of the same size. I swapped out the 3''s on the dash and in the roll bar and the high end/treble is so much better, but really want to swap out the 4''s to get a cleaner low end at higher volumes as well. I guess I'll have to wait until JL Audio make flush sitting 4'' replacements.

Thanks!

 

[tnnjl]

Hello, has anyone figured out where the upgraded alpine amps located on the JL rubicon? Thanks.

 

[TrillestSon]

Hello again all! Just wanted to update that I got my amp installed and learned some more interesting things about the sound system if you go that route.... the oddessy continues. My sound was definitely clearer with aftermarket speakers but the peaks were sooo high and the midbass non-existent. There was huge distortion at high volume. For science I went out and got an audiocontrol LC7i. This is basically the best quality piece that will 'get the job done' before stepping up to a DSP like the JL fix ( at a mean $400 :-( and its also almost 2 inches tall, too tall for my mounting area). So I tried the LC7i alone, and with a parametric eq (eq was a terrible idea) and then as a control just a plain aux into the amp. Unfortunately even with a nice line out converter the stock head units tune is just egregious. The aux was so much clearer in every possible way and no insane metallic hissing from vocals -- so obviously the LC7i was not enough.

Most of us have pulled out or looked at the speakers in the sound bar and if you have listened to those you will notice that the tweeter is barely audible. To compensate for this there is a huge high level EQ spike and a deep valley in the midbass and nothing short of a digital signal processor or a new head unit will alleviate the issue unfortunately. With the added tweeters in the aftermarket two way kicker speakers the highs are so insanely high they hurt my ears at listening level for certain genres even with the treble all the way down. The eq in the uconnect its garbage. Also the OEM speakers are wired in parallel so you cannot just replace them with the aformentioned kickers from this thread without rewiring or getting an amp that can handle a 2 ohm load, but even if you do that then the smaller speakers end up sounding way louder (AHHHHH!!!!!) I have the audiocontrol DQ-61 coming and will update on how it goes!! Screw these new head units!!

 

[TrillestSon]

Hello, has anyone figured out where the upgraded alpine amps located on the JL rubicon? Thanks.

we believe it is near the steering column where the drivers knees are about

 

[Sting_NC_USA]

Glad you are making progress. The DSP will hopefully do the trick for you. That's actually why I chose the JL Fix as a DSP. It takes the factory EQ settings and balances them out to as flat of a signal as it can before the signal is amplified.

This is pretty cool: In the graphs below, the Blue, Red and Purple areas display what a typical "stock" system's EQ signal looks. The Orange line displays the post process result of the DSP process. This is the clean, flat signal the JL Fix feeds the amp(s). White this isn't my actual screen, mine looked very similar.

I can't tell you how clear and crisp my system sounds, even with using the stock head unit. I'd previously used the LC2i and it was great for the sub's channel. But, like you said, it doesn't managed the stock EQ issues for the main speakers. I know the JL Fix is expensive, but it really does an amazing job.

I know you will, but let us know how your DQ-61 works out.

 

[tnnjl]

we believe it is near the steering column where the drivers knees are about

hi Matt,

Would you be able to post a pic where the "drivers knees" location? I looked but couldn't find it. Thanks much.

 

[vilacr]

Any of you know if a LOC (audiocontrol lc2i) will help the single sided play of a powered sub woofer? Will it make the sub play from both channels instead of one? As of now I can only get my alpine pwe-s8 ,connected via the speakers wires from the panel behind the passenger seat, to play from only the right channel.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sting_NC_USA]

Any of you know if a LOC (audiocontrol lc2i) will help the single sided play of a powered sub woofer? Will it make the sub play from both channels instead of one? As of now I can only get my alpine pwe-s8 ,connected via the speakers wires from the panel behind the passenger seat, to play from only the right channel.

Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately it won't. I have one, and it doesn't have that function.

Here's a couple of options: (Assumes your Right Channel feed is working and powering your amp, and the Left Channel is not)

1. If you haven't done so already, plug the Right Channel's stock speaker wires currently going into your amp's input into the Left Channel's amp input that isn't working.
   • If it plays, you have a bad wire or a bad connection with the Left Channel.
   • If it doesn't play, there's something wrong with that side of the amp, possibly a fuse or a bad connection terminal.
   • If the above didn't work, while the Right Channel speaker wires are still plugged into the Left Channel's amp input, try inverting the wires so the positive speaker wire goes into the negative input and the negative speaker wire goes into the positive input of the Left Channel.
   • Return the wires to the original location when done.
2. Turn on the radio, ensuring the Left Rear speakers are playing. Pull your speaker cover for the Left Rear soundbar speakers, removing, but not unplugging, the mid-range speaker. Connect a set of new/unused speaker wire from the Amp's Left Rear input, then temporarily connect the other end of those wires to your dangling speaker. This is to test whether or not the signal is coming through at all. If that works, you can permanently tap and run that new wire down the pillar to your amp. I can't imagine why tapping the wires behind the backseat isn't working for both channels, but for piece of mind, this is an easy test.
3. If step two doesn't work, leave the radio on and leave your temporary speaker wires plugged into your amp, except now try unplugging the dangling speaker.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but this is just odd... Good luck!

 

[TrillestSon]

Hello all! Its been a minute because I've been on vacation Jeeping like no other and I'm happy to say the audiocontrol DQ-61 did the trick for me and I finally have really good sound! This piece is basically the LC7i with an EQ and sound delay built in. Those seem like some fancy extras but believe me, it made a night and day difference to the sound in my system. Just to recap i have tried several setups:
- replacing all speaker and adding self powered sup had huge distortion at higher volumes and there was not enough power to drive the new speakers properly
- added an audiocontrol LC7i line out converter and an amplifier. This helped a lot and eliminated the distortion. It also provided a channel for the self powered sub to plug into (i have a kicker hideaway). The issue I encountered here is that the factory tune is hiked up ridiculously in the high range. This made talk radio and station identifications literally unbearable to my ears because it was so metallic and high for vocals. This is because those factory tweeters are almost inaudible so I believe they just adjusted the EQ curve to compensate. This EQ curve is ass for an aftermarket system and your problems are literally just amplified by adding an amp.

So I bucked up and got the DQ-61. Its $300 and it pained my soul to buy it after purchasing a LC7i as well but it worked and did so amazingly. I dialed in the delay and tuned out the insanely high highs and I haven't touched the system in two weeks since the install because it just sounds great now. Any car I have ridden in since sounds terrible in comparison. I still have a lot of dialing in to do but I'm confident in seconding Sting_NC_USA by saying you are going to want a DSP for this car. The Wrangler stock system is just too integrated and too specific to just convert and amplify the stock system.

If i were to do it all over again I would just bite the bullet and get this piece: https://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/power-amplifiers/d-4800/ Its $700 but it is a very nice 4 channel amp and dsp (equalizer, timing, bass level controls) and it will easily fit under the passenger seat or drivers seat. It will nicely hide away so that you can still fold all of your seats and move them and everyone can still have leg room. It will also handle a 4 X 2 ohm load which means you can replace both the 3.5 and 2 inch speakers and tweeters and it will not overheat. Most 4 channel amplifiers will not do this! Each channel is wired in parallel in the Jeep so if you add two 4 ohm speakers (like the kickers in this thread for both the tweeter and main driver) you are presenting a 2 ohm load to your amp. If you have a Rubicon/Sahara with crappy audio IDK why this would not be at the top of your mods list as for me, it was the one thing missing on this car.

I am currently using the stock tweeters just in the front to move the sound stage slightly forward. When I had the tweeters and mains replaced in the front I did not like the sound at all. The dash is not meant to handle full range, full volume speakers. To me when the bass hit it sounded like someone was banging a drum up front because of how hollow the dash is. I don't believe you can polyfill your way out of this because of the air con and some other hot bits in the dash and its just an awkward space.

So, in closing, what did I do to make this system sound awesome (keep in mind this is not a Benz but i have listened to the alpine system and its right around there, definitely louder, less distorted, and much more configurable):

- replaced all 3.5 inch speakers with aforementioned kickers in this thread. I needed to screw in new holes to do this but they fit relatively flush and do not rattle
- removed rear tweeters. New speakers are plenty loud and are two way so they have a much higher quality tweeter built in
- left in the front tweeters as you need some sound up there to make the sound image appear in front of you
- spliced factory harness and nine wired in an audiocontrol DQ-61 and my 4 channel amp. If you can spring for it, get the audiocontrol d-4800, its the only all in one piece that will do the job
- added kicker powered sub to trunk storage compartment, used channel 3 output from DQ-61 (the sub channel) sound deadened heat shield under car to prevent rattle from sub
- set gains to approximate operating level, then dialed back input and output volume on the DQ-61 to eliminate as much static noise as possible.
- set gains to match max undistorted level of the radio with max undistorted level of the amplifier. This part is testy as the phone calls and car assistant audio are piped in at a constant level which can quickly become too high!! For example, the radio defaults to level 14 for a phone call and this was insanely loud compared to bluetooth audio or the radio. IDK how this will or can be solved but the goal here is really to make phone calls, radio, and bluetooth / aux respond at similar volumes. The factory system does not do this and amplifying the signal with make this volume difference very very perceptible
- set the sound delay on the DQ-61 according to the manual. The big one here is to get your sub in the proper position. If your sub is in the trunk this will allow you to make it sound like its right under you.
- PROFIT :D

 

[TrillestSon]

Any of you know if a LOC (audiocontrol lc2i) will help the single sided play of a powered sub woofer? Will it make the sub play from both channels instead of one? As of now I can only get my alpine pwe-s8 ,connected via the speakers wires from the panel behind the passenger seat, to play from only the right channel.

Thanks in advance.

Check out my post above this one for more details but I believe that this piece WILL fix the one sided output of your sub, however, you will need to get both left and right speaker level inputs into the LC2i and then you will need to set your powered sub for low level input and use the bass or main output as its signal source. I am essentially doing this with the DQ-61 but I am also using an amp for the remaining 4 speakers which you may want to consider doing off the bat. As I mentioned in my above post, if you are using aftermarket speakers for the 4 main channels you will probably want to get a DSP rather than a LOC because it will allow you to change the EQ of the system.

If you are just adding a powered sub and are not touching the factory speakers -- You would be much much more economical and imo better off getting two 47 ohm 5 watt ceramic resistors and connecting them between the + and - of the channels feeding the powers sub, right in front of the powered sup. This will keep the system from going into protect mode for either channel which will allow you to connect the left and right channels and have the sub respond for both. It also saves you $100+ for a piece you may want to replace if you decide to replace the factory drivers.

hi Matt,

Would you be able to post a pic where the "drivers knees" location? I looked but couldn't find it. Thanks much.

Hey, I did not get the Alpine so I cannot provide a pic but I have heard its around there under the steering wheel.

 

[pianomankd]

I'm anxiously awaiting for plug and play replacements for the 4 inch sound bar speakers and knee speakers. the 3.5 kicker tweeters are a great improvement on the dash and in the soudbar, but the 4''s are just sitting there.....sucking....waiting to be swapped haha!

Sponsored