Knee Speaker Upgrade

[mrjakecyrus]

Looking into upgrade my stock speakers. I purchased some JL Clubs for the 3.5" and 6"x9" roll bar. My question: How important is it to replace the knee speakers? Will doing that be a lot for better audio quality or will replacing the ones I purchased be enough?

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[20-Willys]

Looking into upgrade my stock speakers. I purchased some JL Clubs for the 3.5" and 6"x9" roll bar. My question: How important is it to replace the knee speakers? Will doing that be a lot for better audio quality or will replacing the ones I purchased be enough?

The lower pod speakers are part of the sound stage along with the dash. This is where most of the sound comes from. It's a bit of work but these enclosures can also be upgraded to house larger 6" speakers. I am planning on doing this myself.

http://www.metraonline.com/part/JP-1014

 

[OverEasyGoing]

I've been wondering this, too. Have installed the Terras (huge upgrade, very pleased) and the soundbar with JLJT Pods and Kickers (minimal upgrade, pretty disappointed) and now thinking about the knee speakers. Taking apart the entire dash seems so daunting (bonkers design idea) so I've been avoiding it and pretending the sound is great with the changes I've made. Curious to hear others take on this.

 

[mrjakecyrus]

I've been wondering this, too. Have installed the Terras (huge upgrade, very pleased) and the soundbar with JLJT Pods and Kickers (minimal upgrade, pretty disappointed) and now thinking about the knee speakers. Taking apart the entire dash seems so daunting (bonkers design idea) so I've been avoiding it and pretending the sound is great with the changes I've made. Curious to hear others take on this.

That’s exactly why I asked about the knee speakers. It just seems so excessive to take off basically the ENTIRE dash. I’m a little worried about doing it.

 

[jollycj]

I would try the dash and roll bar first and see if its good enough and consider adding a kicker 10 under seat sub next if you want a little more bass.

I upgraded my system in stages. Front Dash first, 6x9's in roll bar next, then knee speakers, and finally a sub. The Terra dash speakers and sub made the most difference. The knee speakers and 6x9 helped fill out the overall mid sound for sure. I used 6.5 focal woofers for the knee panel and JL 6x9's for the roll bar and helped with mids, very happy. It wasn't as much work as I thought it would be for the knee speakers, I'm pretty handy and have some experience with cars. I would do it again as felt the whole speaker system upgrade was worth it.

 

[PBosch]

Put in the twin JL Audio stealth subs in the back and you will never regret it. It's a world of difference, even with doors/top off.

 

[1Evil55]

Put in the twin JL Audio stealth subs in the back and you will never regret it. It's a world of difference, even with doors/top off.

I'd agree but that will do nothing to help with the knee speakers. In fact would probably drown them out with all the bass. I started with the dash, then the sound bar. Still wasn't happy so added a JL and amp to all the speakers other than the knee location. Still stock there and also contemplating adding them. It all sounds good but up front does feel like something missing. You get the sound from the dash but not a lot of the sound bar due to the seats blocking them. Adding the knees will give that mid range from a 6"+ speaker that I've lost in the sound bar blockage.

 

[Allis48]

I have replace all the speakers in my 21 JLU, I Did it in stages. First I did the dash tweeters which gave ma a noticeable improvement to the stock stereo, then I upgraded the roll bar to 2 6x9" Kickers, this was a really nice upgrade over the stock 4" and I kept it like this for a while and it was plenty loud compared to stock. I then went on to upgrade the rest of the system with a 12" T-style head unit from linkswell and their 400w 4 channel amp that T's into the stock harness and at that time I replaced the knee speakers with the new pod enclosures with 6.5" Kickers. I also added a 12" Kicker L7 sealed enclosure in the back. My takeaway from the whole process is if you don't mind the work to take apart the whole dash it is a nice upgrade, but if you just want a louder clearer sound you can get away with just the roll bar and dash tweeters with the stock radio. If I had to do it again I would have installed a full range 6.5" marine speaker in the knee location because they perform a little bit better with a much fuller sound, the knee speakers are at the mercy of their unfortunate location and it does effect the way the sound is projected into the vehicle. hope this give you a little better insight into your decision.

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