Modular Connector for Roll Bar Speakers?

[emgeesea]

I'm replacing the component speakers in the roll bar of my 2020 JL with 6.5" Alpine R coaxials using the adapter bracket from SSV Works. My question is: does anybody make a simple connector that connects the flat male connectors on the Alpine speakers to the factory modular plug that connects to the 4" speaker of the OEM component system? (Like the Metra stuff that Crutchfield sells. Except they don't seem to have this one.)

I love the Alpines, but shame on them for not providing the female connectors to match their speakers. You have to hunt for these, and I don't even know the sizes! Has somebody figured this out?

Thanks,

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[Jebiruph]

I'm replacing the component speakers in the roll bar of my 2020 JL with 6.5" Alpine R coaxials using the adapter bracket from SSV Works. My question is: does anybody make a simple connector that connects the flat male connectors on the Alpine speakers to the factory modular plug that connects to the 4" speaker of the OEM component system? (Like the Metra stuff that Crutchfield sells. Except they don't seem to have this one.)

I love the Alpines, but shame on them for not providing the female connectors to match their speakers. You have to hunt for these, and I don't even know the sizes! Has somebody figured this out?

Thanks,

Metra 72-6514 fit, but they reverse the polarity. I show the problem and the fix here https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/metra-speaker-harness-polarity.49506/#post-1098394 . It looks like Crutchfield has them, a least I was able to put them in my cart. You can order them on Amazon too.

 

[emgeesea]

Metra 72-6514 fit, but they reverse the polarity. I show the problem and the fix here https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/metra-speaker-harness-polarity.49506/#post-1098394 . It looks like Crutchfield has them, a least I was able to put them in my cart. You can order them on Amazon too.

Thanks for the response. I looked at your post; do you know whether the same wire color coding is used in the roll bar speakers? I.e., yellow for negative, purple for positive? I'll probably just splice if I can figure out the polarity.

 

[debandi]

Keep us posted on this. I may do the same with mine.

Thanks!

 

[emgeesea]

Keep us posted on this. I may do the same with mine.

Thanks!

I decided to splice, so I soldered some speaker wire to the Alpine speaker terminals and used posi connectors to connect to the factory wires in the roll bar. I also joined the two sets of factory wires at each speaker (since the factory system uses components there are 4 wires). I probably could have just capped the factory tweeter wires and used only the one set of wires that went to the factory 4" speaker, but I thought it couldn't hurt to have both sets of wires sending signal to the new coaxials. (I wonder if this is a correct assumption. Any audiophiles out there?)

It seems like the factory white wire in the roll bar is positive and the grey is negative. I tried it each way, and when reversed I'd get a popping noise at high volume. With white-positive, grey-negative that noise does not happen, so I'm assuming I got it right.

On to the next speaker. I'll post some final thoughts once all done.

 

[debandi]

Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

[emgeesea]

Looking forward to your thoughts.

So all done today, after another 3 hours. It shouldn't have taken that long, but I busted a screw and spent hours and multiple trips to the hardware store trying to get it out. No luck, so I used epoxy on that spot. Seems to be ok. Frustrating though.

Some tips:

- Use a hot knife instead of a Dremel tool. It literally took me 1/10 the time on the second hole versus having used a Dremel rotary wheel on the fist. And much cleaner cuts as well. Plus, you can control the cutting much better. I used a cheap ($30) soldering iron that has a blade tip. Well worth picking one up if you're going to buy some tools for this project, as I also used it to solder wire pigtails to the Alpines, since they did not come with the required female connectors and I did not want to wait for delivery of a Metra harness from Crutchfield next week.

- it turned out that the white factory wire is the positive lead, and the grey is the negative. (At least on my 2020 JL.)

- I put a small (5"x4") piece of sound dampening material in the roller behind each speaker. Not sure whether this matters, but I had it on hand! I did not stuff the center of the roll bar. Not sure this is necessary, and can easily be added later.

I'm happy with the job, other than breaking a screw. (So, be careful not to strip or over torque. The attaching screws don't require much torque. I used the lowest setting on a cordless driver.)

Now the important part: does it make a difference. I think so. I've only listened to it for a short ride to the hardware store, and I guess I expected a "wow" factor having spent $300 and 2 days labor. I don't know if I've got that yet. I'll post again after some more time with it. It may be that the Alpine subwoofer, amp and dash tweeters I had already installed, which gives a MASSIVE improvement over stock, got me most of the way and there's little more for me to gain by replacing the other speakers. I'm definitely not going to bother with the knee panel speakers, especially since they require quite a bit of dash disassembly. And when you roll the fader to the front only, they sound pretty good anyway with the upgraded dash tweeters and amp.

Good luck if you decide to move forward. It's a fun project, in any event.

 

[Jebiruph]

I decided to splice, so I soldered some speaker wire to the Alpine speaker terminals and used posi connectors to connect to the factory wires in the roll bar. I also joined the two sets of factory wires at each speaker (since the factory system uses components there are 4 wires). I probably could have just capped the factory tweeter wires and used only the one set of wires that went to the factory 4" speaker, but I thought it couldn't hurt to have both sets of wires sending signal to the new coaxials. (I wonder if this is a correct assumption. Any audiophiles out there?)

It seems like the factory white wire in the roll bar is positive and the grey is negative. I tried it each way, and when reversed I'd get a popping noise at high volume. With white-positive, grey-negative that noise does not happen, so I'm assuming I got it right.

On to the next speaker. I'll post some final thoughts once all done.

Glad you got it figured out and I agree with white positive and grey negative. As far as using both sets of wires, it's not necessary, but it won't hurt. It's not a true component system, there's just a base blocking capacitor on the tweeter.

 

[emgeesea]

Glad you got it figured out and I agree with white positive and grey negative. As far as using both sets of wires, it's not necessary, but it won't hurt. It's not a true component system, there's just a base blocking capacitor on the tweeter.

Thanks for the confirmation re: using both sets of wires. I thought I might have compromised the sound because, frankly, I'm a bit underwhelmed with the result. I expected a BIG lift going to the Alpine Rs, but I can't say that's the case. They are better, but I'm not sure they're $300 and 2 days of labor better! Any thoughts?

 

[debandi]

I suspect they need an additional amp to get that wow factor your looking for. Those speakers need power. I'm not an expert, just thinking out loud.

 

[Jebiruph]

Glad you got it figured out and I agree with white positive and grey negative. As far as using both sets of wires, it's not necessary, but it won't hurt. It's not a true component system, there's just a base blocking capacitor on the tweeter.

To clarify about using both wires, from what I see on the base system there isn't anything that separates any frequencies to a specific wire, both wires have the same signal. That being said, since they are small wires, two will handle the power better than one.

 

[emgeesea]

To clarify about using both wires, from what I see on the base system there isn't anything that separates any frequencies to a specific wire, both wires have the same signal. That being said, since they are small wires, two will handle the power better than one.

Thanks for the follow up.

 

[emgeesea]

So all done today, after another 3 hours. It shouldn't have taken that long, but I busted a screw and spent hours and multiple trips to the hardware store trying to get it out. No luck, so I used epoxy on that spot. Seems to be ok. Frustrating though.

Some tips:

- Use a hot knife instead of a Dremel tool. It literally took me 1/10 the time on the second hole versus having used a Dremel rotary wheel on the fist. And much cleaner cuts as well. Plus, you can control the cutting much better. I used a cheap ($30) soldering iron that has a blade tip. Well worth picking one up if you're going to buy some tools for this project, as I also used it to solder wire pigtails to the Alpines, since they did not come with the required female connectors and I did not want to wait for delivery of a Metra harness from Crutchfield next week.

- it turned out that the white factory wire is the positive lead, and the grey is the negative. (At least on my 2020 JL.)

- I put a small (5"x4") piece of sound dampening material in the roller behind each speaker. Not sure whether this matters, but I had it on hand! I did not stuff the center of the roll bar. Not sure this is necessary, and can easily be added later.

I'm happy with the job, other than breaking a screw. (So, be careful not to strip or over torque. The attaching screws don't require much torque. I used the lowest setting on a cordless driver.)

Now the important part: does it make a difference. I think so. I've only listened to it for a short ride to the hardware store, and I guess I expected a "wow" factor having spent $300 and 2 days labor. I don't know if I've got that yet. I'll post again after some more time with it. It may be that the Alpine subwoofer, amp and dash tweeters I had already installed, which gives a MASSIVE improvement over stock, got me most of the way and there's little more for me to gain by replacing the other speakers. I'm definitely not going to bother with the knee panel speakers, especially since they require quite a bit of dash disassembly. And when you roll the fader to the front only, they sound pretty good anyway with the upgraded dash tweeters and amp.

Good luck if you decide to move forward. It's a fun project, in any event.

Some pics of the finished work...

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