Accidental audio improvement with dash speakers and Alpine system

[unknownsolo]

Now the driver and passenger have excellent, properly tuned audio, and my kids in the back seat get to enjoy good-quality audio, too

Just to give you an example, we have a model Y, and these have been known to have one of the best stock audio systems in the market. They sound great and are very well-balanced. When my wife gets in the Jeep she is impressed with the sound system and she thinks it may actually be better than her Model Y now.

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[Kcp100365]

The highs were way too harsh. The lows were non-existent. And when I say lows, I don't mean the sub, I mean low frequencies from the front sound stage. The whole front sound stage was completely missing. You could fade to the front, but that takes away from the overall listening experience and reduces the sub output. Adjusting from the 3-band OEM eq in the head unit was not possible, either. You adjust the treble and end up killing the mids, too. You adjust the bass, and it ends up adjusting the sub too, becoming way too boomy. It was not well balanced, and there was no way to adjust it properly.

I couldn't listen to my rock music. It was ear-piercing and flat, even at low volumes. Many people mistake proper eq for decibels and how loud your system is. It wasn't that. It was not properly tuned. Many people also argue that "It's a Jeep", fine, but that's not a reason not to have good quality audio despite the road noise. You can have good-quality audio in your Jeep if you know what you are doing.

I changed the sound bar from the JL 2-way to the kicker 3-way speakers. I needed more performance out of the soundbar now that I am sending it a full-range signal. It doesn't look as badass as when I had the JLs, but it sounds much better with the 3-way and full range.

Here are some pictures from when I did the install. One side is still the JL 2-way, and the other is the new 3-way.

Can i ask what the part # was on the PAC wiring adapter/harness? Can I PM you for more specific information? I went to 1 car audio shop and the cheapest 8 channel amp/esp was the Alpine starting at 800. another few hundred for wiring harnesses etc. I was at 2k before even talking about speakers. I want better audio, i don’t need the best.

 

[unknownsolo]

Can i ask what the part # was on the PAC wiring adapter/harness? Can I PM you for more specific information? I went to 1 car audio shop and the cheapest 8 channel amp/esp was the Alpine starting at 800. another few hundred for wiring harnesses etc. I was at 2k before even talking about speakers. I want better audio, i don’t need the best.

Apologies for the delay. I was on vacation.

I bought these PAC adapters (screenshots below) from Crutchfield, and the JBL DSP/amp brand new from eBay for $200.

I took everything to CarToys and had them install it for me. They charged me $160 for 1 hour. You can install it yourself, it's pretty easy, and everything is plug and play, but I didn't want to deal with it.

I highly recommend you start with this combo to EQ your audio better, then upgrade your speakers later. The benefit of going this route is you have full control over every channel and speaker in your Jeep, and you may be happy with just EQ'ing the system better.

CarToys will always try to upsell you no matter what you walk in with. After I upgraded my speakers to JL Audio, they still wanted to "upgrade" them to something different, even though I repeatedly told them I had already upgraded them. Then they go "Let's install a new sub box in the trunk" . No dude, just install the damn DSP/AMP I brought in! They don't hear you. To them, it's all about "How many subs do you have in the trunk?".

They also wanted to charge me $400 to "tune the system" - I told them I would tune it myself! It's not difficult. Use a good calibration mic, or even your iPhone to get an idea of what's going on, then tune it however sounds good. The RTA app I used is MobileTools from Audio Control. The software on the laptop is the JBL app that connects to the DSP/AMP: JBL DSP4086 8-channel car amp with digital signal processing | Crutchfield - YouTube

You can't see much from this screenshot, but based on my RTA reading, I had to lower the highs by A LOT to get a flat line. The highs are too harsh from the OEM EQ, and this setup is the only way to fix that properly.

 

[azjl#3]

I had a popping noise, I thought was coming from the front dash speakers, but as I found out, it's the knee speakers. The good news is the speakers I bought drive a much cleaner high and add even an extra mid-bass allowing me to keep the volume down while getting cleaner "in your face" sound.

These were used in the Alpine 9 speaker system with 8.4" touchscreen, but I am guessing most dash speakers are the same size.

I purchased the Infinity Reference REF-3032cfx 3-1/2" 2-way car speakers which I mention because all links die eventually, but at the time this was posted the link is:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R3032CM/Infinity-Reference-REF-3032cfx.html?omnews=15593

It required trimming a tiny amount off the very ends of the mounts (it looks like it would fit three possible applications).

Had I known how much better these improved the front sound, I would have done this anyway, so that worked out I've had two audio shops tell me speaker upgrades wouldn't do me any good. Now I'm questioning that.

???? Speakers are like 900% of an audio system. I can buy some really good speakers and drive them with an iPod, but a really good system sounds like crap with crap speakers.

 

[unknownsolo]

Good speakers with horribly tuned audio do not make a better system.

Generally speaking, better speakers will produce better audio. But upgrading the speakers alone will not automagically tune your system.

Good audio is subjective. If you were to do a quick RTA test on your speakers, no matter what you've "upgraded" them with, you will see it'll be all over the place without a proper tune.

 

[Nibis]

So the 3.5"s in the dash are mids and highs, and the 4" knee's are mid bass? How about the sound bar, same?

 

[GATORB8]

So the 3.5"s in the dash are mids and highs, and the 4" knee's are mid bass? How about the sound bar, same?

Yes, yes.

 

[Nibis]

Yes, yes.

Just to be clear, the 4 inch speakers are mid range, or mid bass? I'm trying to buy speakers that are all the same brand and series, so tonally they sound the same.

 

[GATORB8]

Just to be clear, the 4 inch speakers are mid range, or mid bass? I'm trying to buy speakers that are all the same brand and series, so tonally they sound the same.

Mid Bass.

 

[Nibis]

Mid Bass.

Thank you

 

[Nibis]

Thanks for starting this - RSK, nice job!!

One thing i thought i would add to the discussion is OHMS !! Both the 3.5 inch speakers (the dash and the sound bar) are 4 ohm speakers and both the 4 inch speakers (knee panel and sound bar) are 2 ohm. So replacing the 3.5's is easy because MOST aftermarket speakers are 4 ohm. Its the 4 inch ones that get tricky. If you replace a 2 ohm speaker with a 4 ohm speaker you create a couple problems. Will it work - yes but - if the speakers are the same or similar sensitivity then the 4 ohm speaker will be much softer (not by half but) much softer than the 2 ohm speaker. Also you create a much greater DRAW on the amp and can have over-heating problems and ultimately burn out the amp.

I Think what Jeep did here was run a 4 channel 3 ohm amp. 1 Channel for front driver corner = 1 tweeter-mid / 1 bass mid and so on.

Point being just replacing either of the 4 inch speakers with a 4 ohm aftermarket is a problem and will not sound right. Same thing with trying to replace the knee panel speaker or the sound bar speaker with a 6.5 or 6.75 speaker. You need to run them as components and you need to match impedence .

good luck...

Looks like the PowerBass OE-400 would be a good fit for the sound bar and the knee speakers.

 

[BillinCT]

Love the VPI turntable, fellow audiophile!

So what was the end audio result and verdict for your Wrangler? I have the Alpine system, and my buddy want to install the Morels in my Wrangler.

I also have a VPI Scout Master. What are you running for a cartridge? I am currently using a Dynavector XV-1S and I love it with my Whest Phono Stage and my M-120 Mono Blocks.

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