Jeep Wrangler JL Stock Sound System

[Jebiruph]

I did not. Would you recommend doing so on all 4? I just can't get my little brain around how that would help much with the high frequency dominating the sound signature already? Maybe I am not thinking through it correctly??

Thank you,
Greg

You are replacing 8 ohm speakers with 3 ohm speakers, so the new speakers will receive more power, play a larger role in the reproduction of sound, which is good because they sound better. But that also applies to low frequencies, which the new speakers may not handle well. The capacitors will block the low frequencies from the new speakers, the low frequencies will be mostly handled by the old speakers. So due to the combination of resistance and capacitors, the new speakers focus on highs and old speakers focus on lows. The old speakers aren't great, but they do acceptable with the lows. I think it sounds great, except it still needs a sub for more base.

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[Greg Cobble]

Thank you very much for the comments and explanation.
I believe the last sentence is probably the most important. I will pick up a little Alpine powered sub this week and toss it in this weekend.
I will report back.
I appreciate your help!!!

 

[Houston Hammer]

I ended up not putting the alpine system in my JLU to save some money, but is it something I am really going to regret?
I heard the new JL stock audio was a big improvement to the JK's and was wondering if anyone went the same route, or has heard the stock system and could give me some feedback.

If I had to do it all over again I would definitely have gone with the alpine system in my JLU. The stock audio is horrible and is now something I am going to have to ultimately upgrade.

 

[toresen]

Hi all,
Has anyone polyfil'd their knee/kick panel speakers?
I did it in my TJ and felt it made a positive impact, but these were easily accessible.

It looks like a ton of effort to get to them in the JL. Is this considered time well spent?
Thanks

 

[Jebiruph]

Thank you very much for the comments and explanation.
I believe the last sentence is probably the most important. I will pick up a little Alpine powered sub this week and toss it in this weekend.
I will report back.
I appreciate your help!!!

Just to add some additional info on mine, I can turn the speakers up to the mid twenties with no distortion. Loud enough to feel the acoustic vibrations from the speakers, like you expect from a sub woofer. I did add some bass and take away some treble at the head unit. So if you're not getting similar results from yours, that might make the case to install the capacitors. I did purchase a 8" Alpine sub several months ago, just never got around to installing it.

 

[UNC]

Yes, that was my first choice. But there were issues. Under the front seats sort of works but it sticks out into the rear passenger foot well to the point it was uncomfortable for a rear passenger. They couldn't move their feet without the sub being in the way.

Then I tried under the rear seat. There is plenty of room and the sub fits well under the passenger rear seat. The problem there is that you cannot lay the rear seat flat. I like to do that to create more cargo space for trips to home depot and the like. So that didn't work either.

I finally decided that the place the factory put the sub in the Alpine upgrade was the most convenient spot. So I made a bracket and mounted it there. I don't think it will be a problem with a dog in the back. The sub casing is pretty tough. Mine is already scratched up a bit from moving it all around the jeep.

One thing to consider is that storage space under the cargo area floor. It fits in there really well. You would just need to create some kind of custom mount and insulate the hell out of it because it will rattle badly against that plastic. If mounting it where I have it didn't work out, this was going to be my next choice.

Do you by any chance have instructions on which wires to splice in? Did you run the wire to the battery as well or did you tap in the power in the other wires?

 

[smithrd65]

The stock Alpine system is great.

 

[ATXMTB]

Do you by any chance have instructions on which wires to splice in? Did you run the wire to the battery as well or did you tap in the power in the other wires?

Someone in this forum has a good write up that decodes the speaker wire colors. Sorry I don’t remember exactly where that post is at. Yes I ran the power cable all the way to the battery. If you put it in the same location as I did it may be easier to run the power to the rear cigarette lighter outlet. I have seen a few people on here did that instead.

 

[Greg Cobble]

It took me a while to post again but I got around to throwing a Kicker Hideaway in under the front passenger seat of my 2 door JL. Fit perfectly and seat is fully functional. It made a HUGE difference. I would rate as follows with 10 being excellent:
1. Stock non-Alpine = 2
2. Stock Alpine = 7
3. Non Alpine with 4 Infiniti = 3.5
4. Non Alpine with 4 Infiniti and Kicker Sub = 6

I am probably done. After putting in the Infiniti and Sub it was still very tedious to get the stock equalizer set where I thought it was decent. After about 2 days I got things where they are now...pretty decent for less than $500.
Of course YMMV

 

[speedyspence23]

You would choose the JBL bass pro over the kicker hideaway or alpine pwe-s8?

I just put the Kicker Hideaway in mine under the passenger side rear seat and I gotta tell ya guys......it sounds AMAZING! I'm not a young kid but it definitely fills in that low end sound that was missing. Just enough bass and it comes with a switch that allows you to turn it up, down or even off that mounts right beside the console on the shifter. VERY happy with my $400 spent.

 

[speedyspence23]

Has anyone replaced the head unit with anything OTHER than a Uconnect yet? If so what did you go with, how do you like it and how major of surgery was it? This stock 5 inch touch screen is killing me and it has to go. I had a deal worked out to purchase the 7 inch with Apple CarPlay for a great deal but that deal fell (long story, lost in the mail etc..) so now I've got the bug and still have the 5 inch crapper lol HELP!

 

[vilacr]

I just put the Kicker Hideaway in mine under the passenger side rear seat and I gotta tell ya guys......it sounds AMAZING! I'm not a young kid but it definitely fills in that low end sound that was missing. Just enough bass and it comes with a switch that allows you to turn it up, down or even off that mounts right beside the console on the shifter. VERY happy with my $400 spent.

I purchased the alpine....it sounds great. Glad you like the kicker. I had one in my f150.

 

[Varilux]

$240 has gotten my base system (7" screen) to where I want it to be...

I swapped out all four of the 3.5" speakers for the 77KICK25AB speakers (about $110 total), and then put a powered sub (SoundOrdinance 8") under the passenger seat. Took a few days to get the sub and EQ set up just right, but sounds perfect now. The sub makes it possible to turn the bass down on the smaller speakers, which allows the system to put out plenty of volume with no distortion. There's not as much room under the passenger seat as you might think, due to the contours of the floor. Although the sub is completely under the seat, I had to remove the rear passenger rubber floor mat (doesn't really matter, not likely to have anyone sitting back there very often).

I've read posts indicating replacement of the 3.5" speakers up in the bar didn't make much difference. I installed the dash speakers first, then the ones in the speaker bar a few days later, and could tell a noticeable improvement each time (I have a 2 door, so perhaps the smaller space makes the difference).

Before reading this thread, I was regretting having the base system. Having done a few of the simple recommended upgrades, I'm happy to have the $1,000 savings to put into other types of upgrades. Feels like the system will be loud enough with the top off, but if not I'll just add a small amp.

Too bad FCA doesn't have a vehicle that has upgraded 4" speakers that could be dropped in the speaker bar... ;^)

 

[jwoelfle]

$240 has gotten my base system (7" screen) to where I want it to be...

I swapped out all four of the 3.5" speakers for the 77KICK25AB speakers (about $110 total), and then put a powered sub (SoundOrdinance 8") under the passenger seat. Took a few days to get the sub and EQ set up just right, but sounds perfect now. The sub makes it possible to turn the bass down on the smaller speakers, which allows the system to put out plenty of volume with no distortion. There's not as much room under the passenger seat as you might think, due to the contours of the floor. Although the sub is completely under the seat, I had to remove the rear passenger rubber floor mat (doesn't really matter, not likely to have anyone sitting back there very often).

I've read posts indicating replacement of the 3.5" speakers up in the bar didn't make much difference. I installed the dash speakers first, then the ones in the speaker bar a few days later, and could tell a noticeable improvement each time (I have a 2 door, so perhaps the smaller space makes the difference).

Before reading this thread, I was regretting having the base system. Having done a few of the simple recommended upgrades, I'm happy to have the $1,000 savings to put into other types of upgrades. Feels like the system will be loud enough with the top off, but if not I'll just add a small amp.

Too bad FCA doesn't have a vehicle that has upgraded 4" speakers that could be dropped in the speaker bar... ;^)

Can you post a pic of the Sound Ordinance mounted? I am considering the same approach.

 

[Varilux]

Will do. "Mounted" is using the term loosely... I haven't secured the unit to the floor yet, because it doesn't have much room to move. I cut away the vent that goes under the seat (because I don't often have back seat passengers anyway) and stuffed it with polyfill. Then I made the wire feeds long enough so I could pull the sub out from under the seat if necessary. The little knob that sticks up on the rear floor that normally secures the rear floor mat serves very nicely as a stop to keep the sub in place.

Once I get home from work, I'll try to snap some pics. I'm pretty impressed by how much the sub is filling in the lower end.

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