Adding an Aftermarket Amp(s)

[JeeJeep]

Do you have a Fry's Electronics near you? They carry these resistors in stock and on their showroom floor. I can't recommend the other resistor as I have no experience with them.

I'm not using heat sinks and am only using large heat-shrink tubing/electrical tape. No heat issues with these that I've noticed (going on close to a year now).

I believe you'll be very pleased with your setup. It's highly recommended that you consider purchasing a small box (or two) of sound deadening material to line the stock enclosures. The jury is out on whether sealing the front enclosures vs. not sealing the ports makes a huge difference. They come ported, so I've removed the "ports" on mine and sealed the holes as best as I could. There's practically no way to seal the soundbar enclosures without building your own internal enclosure within the soundbar's speaker cavity. I've attempted to do so by lining and forming it with extra sound deadening material. As mentioned earlier, don't waste too much time/money on the soundbar.

I also recommend purchasing some foam rings (see your local audio store) to close the gap between the kick panel speakers and the kick panel speaker panel itself. This will help with sound/air leakage due to how the Jeep panels are configured.

Good luck with the install!

PS: Spotify is about the only streaming service I've found that will provide a higher quality sound stream. Make sure you have some high-quality music for your first twist of the volume knob! I highly recommend "You and your friend" - Dire Straits.

Thanks!

Will stop by Fry’s to grab some resistors/heat shrink tubing.. when I had the subs installed, the installers filled the sound bar with Polyfill and that got rid of that annoying sound bar/speaker rattle completely. Will get some of those foam rings too for the kick panels.

Thanks for the tip - will be sure to check it out Very excited to hear how it will sound - unfortunately my install appointment is about a month away so will have to wait :/

Another quick question - do you have experience with the FiX82 vs FiX86? One installer suggested getting the 82 and using the optical out to the amp to improve sound quality/tidy up wiring.. are there any drawbacks to using the FiX82 aside from losing the factory fader controls?

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[Sting_NC_USA]

Thanks!

Will stop by Fry’s to grab some resistors/heat shrink tubing.. when I had the subs installed, the installers filled the sound bar with Polyfill and that got rid of that annoying sound bar/speaker rattle completely. Will get some of those foam rings too for the kick panels.

Thanks for the tip - will be sure to check it out Very excited to hear how it will sound - unfortunately my install appointment is about a month away so will have to wait :/

Another quick question - do you have experience with the FiX82 vs FiX86? One installer suggested getting the 82 and using the optical out to the amp to improve sound quality/tidy up wiring.. are there any drawbacks to using the FiX82 aside from losing the factory fader controls?

The Fix82 only has a single set of RCA Outputs, so you'd lose the ability to use the head unit's fade controls (front/rear). That's the only known difference, at least how I understand it. If you search online for Fix86 prices, you should be able to find some good deals on new/used units. If you buy used, PLEASE ensure you update the firmware before you install it, otherwise the calibration process could be hindered.

A month out, huh? Wow!

 

[JeeJeep]

The Fix82 only has a single set of RCA Outputs, so you'd lose the ability to use the head unit's fade controls (front/rear). That's the only know difference, at least how I understand it. If you search online for Fix86 prices, you should be able to find some good deals on new/used units. If you buy used, PLEASE ensure you update the firmware before you install it, otherwise the calibration process could be hindered.

A month out, huh? Wow!

Cool! Thanks very much - will stick to the Fix86 since it’s been tried and tested, I don’t like surprises..

My installer is really good so he’s booked a month in advance.. but oh well, it’s well worth the wait

 

[JLsport2019]

New KICKER AMPS have DSP now.
"Key" series amplifiers. Fairly priced too.

I saw this 4channel version (50w x4)
It has a microphone to calibrate
"Sound Stage", "sound timing"...etc

 

[98021]

Hello everyone ! this is kinda my first post on JLWrangler Forums. I have a 2018 JLU and I decided to upgrade my stereo. after doing hours and days of research I finally purchased my aftermarket Amp, speakers, and subwoofer and installed them successfully. the process of installation and troubleshooting was definitely not as easy as I said it in one sentence. I have 4 channel FD class pioneer Amp, kicker speakers, Axxess DSP, and an under seat Kenwood powered subwoofer. in order to make all these work with the 7 inch stereo on my wrangler, I ordered a T harness from Metra Axxess (Part number: AX-DSP-ch5 ) because I did not want to cut and splice the original wiring at all. the metra T harness is a very good solution for installing aftermarket stereo but there is a downside to it! based on the stereo that comes with your car and the replacement speakers that you decide to put in your jeep the resistance load in the system will change. once this change in resistance happens, the 7 or 8-inch stereo will not be able to detect your speakers through the self-check that it runs when you turn on the ignition and that is when the fun of troubleshooting starts !!

I don't want to make this post very long because English is not my first language, also it takes many many sentences to explain what I went through to figure out the solution. I just wanted to write this here in case anyone else had the same problem.

When your stereo doesn't find all 4 speakers, usually it will randomly activate one channel just to give you some audio, it could be any of the speakers even though everything is connected properly. to fix this problem you need to check the resistance for each channel separately. in my case with a 7-inch stereo, 2.5 ohms was the number that let my stereo find all 4 speakers. so, before removing any speakers or doing any modifications to your audio system, first, measure the amount of resistance in the system so after you are done changing stuff you will be able to go to that number by installing resistors on each separate channel ( 4 resistors for 4 channels ). what makes the process of troubleshooting really hard is the fact that the Metra T harness comes with an 8 pin connector that contains a resistor loop ! this resistor loop puts 68ohms of resistance on every channel which is way far from the number that your stereo is looking for! the other tricky thing is that every time you add or remove resistors you have to make sure that you turn off the stereo completely so when it comes back on, it does its self-check and it sends the resistor load signal to find your speakers.

sorry if the post was confusing and long and sorry for my grammar mistakes. I solved this problem after spending about 6-7 hours of time and speaking to techs from Axxess Metra which they made me even more confused and gave me some wrong information. to conclude this essay that I wrote here, using the Axxess Metra T harness makes the whole process way easier comparing to tapping into original wires, but based on having a factory amplified system or non-amplified system and the aftermarket stuff that you are going to use, you have to make sure that the resistance of your speakers are still within the range after you are done with your setup. to bring the resistance back in the acceptable range, you have to use resistors for each of the 4 channels.

Special Thanks to Sting_NC_USA for giving lots of information in this thread!

 

[robmoz]

Hello everyone ! this is kinda my first post on JLWrangler Forums....

I'm glad you were able to solve the problem. I went through exactly the same issue ((my post: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/adding-an-aftermarket-amp-s.6568/page-11#post-635072)

What resistance did you end up using and at what power rating? I used two 47 ohm 5W resistors in parallel on each channel for an effective resistance of 24 ohms. I would be cautious about using too low a resistance value since you may end up dissipating a lot of power in those resistors which is bad for two reasons. The first is that they can get very hot and potentially cause a fire hazard. The second (which is obviously less important) is that your amp is now wasting power on heating resistors instead of making sound.

 

[Sting_NC_USA]

I'm glad you were able to solve the problem. I went through exactly the same issue ((my post: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/adding-an-aftermarket-amp-s.6568/page-11#post-635072)

What resistance did you end up using and at what power rating? I used two 47 ohm 5W resistors in parallel on each channel for an effective resistance of 24 ohms. I would be cautious about using too low a resistance value since you may end up dissipating a lot of power in those resistors which is bad for two reasons. The first is that they can get very hot and potentially cause a fire hazard. The second (which is obviously less important) is that your amp is now wasting power on heating resistors instead of making sound.

This exactly. The research had already been done regarding the resistors needed, and I can't recommend anything other than a 47 ohm 5W resistor per channel. This recommendation, once again, comes with a use at your own risk disclaimer, though it's what has been proven to work. I'm over a year on the same resistor setup with zero issues. Great post @robmoz

 

[Scott_S]

You could place the JL Fix above the steering column, and if you have a compact amp, it could be mounted in the frame behind the dash panel that is immediately below the steering wheel. I simply had too much equipment and needed more square feet.

I was looking behind the dash panel today. I have the base audio system, so there's no amp there now. I'm wondering what the dimensions of the factory amp are and where exactly it's mounted in that space. If anyone has the Alpine system and could measure the amp and take a couple photos of it, that might be helpful.

Looking at the mopar parts site, it looks like this is the factory amp:
https://www.moparpart.com/oem-parts/mopar-amplifier-68223347ac

It concerns me that the site says that the same amp is also a part for the JK -- so either that amp is unchanged in the JL, or there's a mistake and the new one isn't listed. From the photos, the amp is mounted to a metal plate which mounts somewhere behind that dash panel. I was hoping the mounting plate was a separate part I could order -- then all I'd need to do would be to find a way to mount a compact aftermarket amp to that same panel. Unfortunately, it looks like that's not available under its own part number -- it's considered part of the amp.

Looking behind the panel in my Jeep, it looks like I should be able to fit any amp that's about 6"x9" or smaller. I'm thinking that I'll want to mount a compact 4 channel amp under the steering column here, as well as a simlarly-sized compact sub amp somewhere else -- possibly under/around the glove compartment, although poking around there today, it's going to be harder to find space for a similarly-sized amp on that side.

 

[JLsport2019]

Scott_S
The 7" factory (non alpine) radio has a amp. It is built into the radio. That is the hard part.

A Fix-86 or a JL Audio VXi amps (DSP) can flat line that factory EQ.

 

[Scott_S]

Scott_S
The 7" factory (non alpine) radio has a amp. It is built into the radio. That is the hard part.

A Fix-86 or a JL Audio VXi amps (DSP) can flat line that factory EQ.

I realize that the non-Alpine amp is internal. I was asking about the Alpine amp's size and mounting location since I was hoping that a compact aftermarket amp might be able to mount in the same place. Even better would be the ability to obtain the Alpine amp's mounting bracket and modify it to accept the aftermarket one, but I don't think that can be purchased separately.

 

[Sting_NC_USA]

I realize that the non-Alpine amp is internal. I was asking about the Alpine amp's size and mounting location since I was hoping that a compact aftermarket amp might be able to mount in the same place. Even better would be the ability to obtain the Alpine amp's mounting bracket and modify it to accept the aftermarket one, but I don't think that can be purchased separately.

@Scott_S, there's a pic of the Alpine amp on my original post back at page one. It's very small, and about the same size as two decks of cards sitting side by side. I've seen a few compact amps that could possibly squeeze in there, though I really don't think you'll fit normal sized amp in there. Whatever you do, just make sure it's VERY secure and won't contact any moving parts.

 

[Scott_S]

@Scott_S, there's a pic of the Alpine amp on my original post back at page one. It's very small, and about the same size as two decks of cards sitting side by side. I've seen a few compact amps that could possibly squeeze in there, though I really don't think you'll fit normal sized amp in there. Whatever you do, just make sure it's VERY secure and won't contact any moving parts.

I saw the photos that you labeled as the "premium amp location" -- but if I'm looking at the right ones, I saw the connecter but not the amp. In any case, I think the moparpart.com link that I posted above actually links to the JK premium amp, rather than the JL one. This is the *other* Amp that the mopar site says applies to the 2018 Wrangler. Looking at the drawings, it's clear that the mopar site is showing me both JL and JK parts, but the one linked to above is on the same page of drawings with the JK head unit, and the one linked below in this post comes from a set of drawings that clearly shows the 3 JL UConnect touchscreen units.

https://www.moparpart.com/oem-parts/mopar-amplifier-68259558ad

It looks like the JL amp is smaller than the JK one. The JK amp looked like it was similar in size to some of the compact amps I've seen, but this one looks smaller than that.

In any case, it looks like I should be able to fit an amp that's around 6x9" or smaller in the area right behind the removable trim panel under the steering column, as long as I was able to attach something to mount it to. So this would work for a compact 4-channel amp, but I'd still need to find a place for a similarly-sized subwoofer amp -- possibly somewhere behind or around the glove compartment, although there doesn't seem to be as much accessible space over there. It would be easier to just put the amp(s) under the seats, but I'm trying to avoid that, in part to make sure they stay dry, and in part to keep them hidden from view when the doors are off.

 

[Sting_NC_USA]

I saw the photos that you labeled as the "premium amp location" -- but if I'm looking at the right ones, I saw the connecter but not the amp. In any case, I think the moparpart.com link that I posted above actually links to the JK premium amp, rather than the JL one. This is the *other* Amp that the mopar site says applies to the 2018 Wrangler. Looking at the drawings, it's clear that the mopar site is showing me both JL and JK parts, but the one linked to above is on the same page of drawings with the JK head unit, and the one linked below in this post comes from a set of drawings that clearly shows the 3 JL UConnect touchscreen units.

https://www.moparpart.com/oem-parts/mopar-amplifier-68259558ad

It looks like the JL amp is smaller than the JK one. The JK amp looked like it was similar in size to some of the compact amps I've seen, but this one looks smaller than that.

In any case, it looks like I should be able to fit an amp that's around 6x9" or smaller in the area right behind the removable trim panel under the steering column, as long as I was able to attach something to mount it to. So this would work for a compact 4-channel amp, but I'd still need to find a place for a similarly-sized subwoofer amp -- possibly somewhere behind or around the glove compartment, although there doesn't seem to be as much accessible space over there. It would be easier to just put the amp(s) under the seats, but I'm trying to avoid that, in part to make sure they stay dry, and in part to keep them hidden from view when the doors are off.

Understood. Have you seen the JL Audio Amp Racks? They're a bit pricey, though I think they'd solve your issue if you're not able to work out the amp locations up front. Keep us posted!

 

[Scott_S]

Understood. Have you seen the JL Audio Amp Racks? They're a bit pricey, though I think they'd solve your issue if you're not able to work out the amp locations up front. Keep us posted!

I have looked at those. That was going to be my backup plan if I could't get the amps behind the dash. Even with those racks, there are some size constraints though -- but it would be much more flexible than the under dash options. The installation instructions for the amp rack doesn't give exact dimensions, but based on the pre-drilled holes and the JL amp models that they fit, I have a pretty good idea of what would fit there. I'm looking for somewhere between 100 and 125 watts for four channels (active setup with the TWK-88 for a set of Morel Hybrids -- most likely 402 or 502), and 600 watts total for subwoofers (2 Stealthboxes, preferably as 2 300W channels rather than 1 600W to give me the flexibility with the TWK-88 to set them up either in stereo or mono). Among the JL amps, the HD600/4 (or the MHD marine version) would be the best match, but I think it's a bit too wide. It looks like the max size that I'd be able to mount on that rack (drilling new holes) would be around 12" long and 7.1" wide. The HD600 is an inch too wide. In a 6 channel amp, the Arc Audio X2 1200.6 would be perfect, with 150W x4@4 ohms, and 300W x2@2 ohms in channels 5-6, but that one is 13 inches wide, so I wouldn't be able to bolt it directly onto the amp rack. A pair of X2 600.4, one under each seat would work with plenty of space to spare, as they're only 9"x6.2" each -- one powering the Morels, and the other bridged into 2 channels for the subwoofers. In fact, the motorcycle version of that amp -- the Moto 600.4 -- is one of the ones I'm considering for under the dash. It's got similar specs but is only 8"x5" -- my hope is that I can fit one under the steering column and one somewhere around the glove compartment.

So the under-dash mounting concerns are:
1) finding a place to fit (and finding small enough amps)
2) FM interference from class D amps, especially for an amp mounted around the glove compartment, near the radio antenna. From comments online, it sounds like the Arc Audio amps aren't so bad about that but that the JL HD amps in particular are known to cause more interference -- but those won't fit under the dash anyway.

The under-seat concerns:
1) Water/moisture -- getting a marine model might help a bit here.
2) Theft -- especially when the doors are off
3) The under-seat air vent is not a problem in the summer when it's cool air being blown over the amp, but in the winter when the heater is churning out hot air down there, having that vent right in front of the amp seems like a bad idea.

 

[skyroast]

Wow, this is quite a thread. I read through a lot, but not all.

I have a 2018+ 2-door with the 7" non-Alpine head unit. I was thinking Alpine PDX-9V, FiX-86, sub-knob, upgraded 4"s and dash tweeters. Not sure where to put the Alpine. Will it fit under the front seat? Any sub-suggestions?

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