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emgeesea

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Yes, you should definitely tune the amp and radio to adjust for the new speakers. Usually everything is set up to handle the stock sound, so you should always adjust when you add anything,
I called Alpine tech support yesterday, and had emailed them over the weekend. Not surprisingly, I received 2 contradictory answers re: setting the gain. One tech said, yes, gain must be adjusted when installing new speakers. The other said, no. He explained that gain settings on an amp and subwoofer apply to the signal going to the head unit, and if you're not changing the head unit you do NOT change the gain settings when you replace speakers. He insisted that anything downstream of the head unit (e.g., speakers) is not affected by the gain settings.

Thanks Alpine. So who's right?
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I called Alpine tech support yesterday, and had emailed them over the weekend. Not surprisingly, I received 2 contradictory answers re: setting the gain. One tech said, yes, gain must be adjusted when installing new speakers. The other said, no. He explained that gain settings on an amp and subwoofer apply to the signal going to the head unit, and if you're not changing the head unit you do NOT change the gain settings when you replace speakers. He insisted that anything downstream of the head unit (e.g., speakers) is not affected by the gain settings.

Thanks Alpine. So who's right?
Are you using the factory radio or an aftermarket radio? Did you add an amplifier to the rear speakers or are they running off the factory amp?
 

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I had to take out the speaker casings from the knee speakers to enlarge the opening to fit the new 6.5s.
jeep-8-jpg.jpg
Nice job on the installation. If I could make a suggestion on the front knee speakers. When you install a speaker you want to isolate the front of the speaker from the back. The holes around the edge of the speaker will cause cancelations and It will affect the sound quality.
There’s a couple of things you can do to fix it. I’d cut the raised sections off the factory pod, to create a flat surface. Then make a new panel out of 1/2” or 3/4” mdf or high quality plywood. Seal the panel to the factory pod. The panel should cover the whole front including the port. Another, maybe easier, solution is to use a speaker pod, JP 1014, made by Metra.
The replacement pod for the knee speakers allows you to add a 6.5” speaker. With either option I’d also suggest adding dynamat to the outside of the pods.
 

emgeesea

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Are you using the factory radio or an aftermarket radio? Did you add an amplifier to the rear speakers or are they running off the factory amp?
Factory 7" radio, but added an Alpine KTP-445U 4-channel amp and 8" sub woofer. So, the rear and front speakers are being powered by the KTP.
 

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Factory 7" radio, but added an Alpine KTP-445U 4-channel amp and 8" sub woofer. So, the rear and front speakers are being powered by the KTP.
What did you use to get a signal from the factory radio to your amplifier?
 

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emgeesea

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What did you use to get a signal from the factory radio to your amplifier?
If you mean RCA or speaker level connections, I believe speaker, as the system I installed provided pre-wired harness, so plug 'n play. (Alpine PSS-23WRA).

The more I listen to it, the more I think the sound is fine, and may just need some slight tweaking of all of the gains (front, rear and sub).
 

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One question, why? It's a Wrangler not a Honda Civic.
 

Gaust

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If you mean RCA or speaker level connections, I believe speaker, as the system I installed provided pre-wired harness, so plug 'n play. (Alpine PSS-23WRA).

The more I listen to it, the more I think the sound is fine, and may just need some slight tweaking of all of the gains (front, rear and sub).
That’s a nice plug and play upgrade and easy to install. How does the 8” subwoofer sound? Since you swapped out the rear speakers for aftermarket I’d suggest you probably need to adjust the gains. The gains were set for factory speakers and the upper dash replacement speakers.
One thought I did have, you might ask Alpine about, is the amp you added driving all the speakers? Is it hooked up to the front and rear 3.5” speakers or the 3.5” and 4”? If it’s only hooked up to the 3.5” speakers I’d make sure your rear speakers are hooked up to those wires. The factory speakers split the full range of sound between the two speakers. The 4” handle the lower end and the 3.5” the upper range. When an amplifier is added using the factory radio the split signal needs an adapter to combine the signal, giving the new amp a full range input.
You might ask Alpine if the amplifier outputs a full range signal to the speakers? It has a high pass which is good, that cuts out the bass, the subwoofer will be playing to the other speakers. Making it sound better and able to play louder.
 

emgeesea

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That’s a nice plug and play upgrade and easy to install. How does the 8” subwoofer sound? Since you swapped out the rear speakers for aftermarket I’d suggest you probably need to adjust the gains. The gains were set for factory speakers and the upper dash replacement speakers.
One thought I did have, you might ask Alpine about, is the amp you added driving all the speakers? Is it hooked up to the front and rear 3.5” speakers or the 3.5” and 4”? If it’s only hooked up to the 3.5” speakers I’d make sure your rear speakers are hooked up to those wires. The factory speakers split the full range of sound between the two speakers. The 4” handle the lower end and the 3.5” the upper range. When an amplifier is added using the factory radio the split signal needs an adapter to combine the signal, giving the new amp a full range input.
You might ask Alpine if the amplifier outputs a full range signal to the speakers? It has a high pass which is good, that cuts out the bass, the subwoofer will be playing to the other speakers. Making it sound better and able to play louder.
The whole system is a BIG improvement of OEM. The 8" sub is plenty for me, particularly in my 2-door, with the smaller cabin. I do believe the KTP amp drives all of the speakers, as it has a 2 or 4 channel setting, and that is set to 4 channel. As far as combining signals, I merged the component wires on each side (L&R) at the sound bar, so that no signal would be lost. (I understand some say it would have been fine to use just one pair of the OEM wires, but I figured it would not hurt to use both the tweeter and 4" wires together.) So I think this solves the adapter issue you mention?

I think the way Jeep wired the OEM rear component speakers was to have one set of wires from the head unit and then split those wires at the sound bar (not a true crossover). The OEM tweeter had a capacitor welded to it, which another member on this post noted serves to block the bass signal, allowing the 4" speaker to handle those tones. So, in effect, replacing the component speakers with the coaxials, and using all of the speaker wires, should capture all signal, right?
 

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