Plug and Play amp upgrade to basic system

[Varilux]

That is an interesting unit... I've seen gain adjustment screws on other units, but haven't seen a remote adjustment knob before. I got curious and started reading through the 200+ Q&As on Amazon (apparently we are not the only people a bit confused by the set up of this unit). Here's what I found...

1. I believe the reason for the power / ground / remote wires is to use this unit as a trigger for your amp. I believe some amps have a setting to make the amp turn on when it senses a signal from the head unit. Usually, a low signal feed doesn't provide this signal but I guess this unit makes it possible to trigger your amp with the RCA feeds. Since I'm guessing you already have your amp hooked up to be turned on via an existing remote wire, you shouldn't need this feature (therefore, you shouldn't have to hook up anything other than the speaker wires to the LOC). If you tie into the speaker wires only and the sub doesn't see a signal, then you could try hooking up the power, ground, remote wires to the amp- but I don't believe you'll need to do so.

2. You can use the LOC without the adjustment knob. However, one of the Q&As made a good point. The knob on this unit is a true adjustment of the signal coming into the sub. The knob that probably came with your sub is an adjustment of gain. Adjusting the signal coming into the sub should create less distortion than an adjustment of the gain. Therefore, it might be a good idea to hook up the knob. Play around with it, and- if there seems to be no difference between adjusting the signal and adjusting the gain- you can delete the knob in the future. I still believe you won't need to hook up the power, ground, and remote wire even if you use the knob.

Good luck with the install!

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[StaindReality]

Thank you for your input. Very much appreciated. Your thoughts assured me of which was I was leaning.

 

[TJJL19]

If I’m not using the remote wire from the loc. Do I have to connect it’s pos and neg to amp?

I used the main alpine wire harness and install a Kicker 10 inch powered sub under the drivers seat.
I had to run the blue turn on wire for the sub to the blue/white turn on wire for the apline sub,which I didn't use,I went with the Kicker

 

[TJJL19]

Varilux did you see that the link to the 77KICK25AB is showning that they are discontinued ?
I installed a pair in the front and a pair in the sound bar,loved the plug and play easy.
The metal tweeters, gave me a hard tin can sound, but the imagine was great.
I found the solution for my eas, I talked to a teck, he said move the switches to 1-up 2-down 3-up and 4-down.
In my former JK, I replaced my front tweeters with the Quadratec titanium tweeters, I had the same tin can sound.
The 77kick25ab sound great, with the adjustment.

 

[Varilux]

Varilux did you see that the link to the 77KICK25AB is showning that they are discontinued ?
I installed a pair in the front and a pair in the sound bar,loved the plug and play easy.
The metal tweeters, gave me a hard tin can sound, but the imagine was great.
I found the solution for my eas, I talked to a teck, he said move the switches to 1-up 2-down 3-up and 4-down.
In my former JK, I replaced my front tweeters with the Quadratec titanium tweeters, I had the same tin can sound.
The 77kick25ab sound great, with the adjustment.

It's a shame those speakers are discontinued, because for the price they're hard to beat (and as you mentioned, they drop right in and hook right up). I'll have to try that setting for the dip switches on my amp!

 

[sknyfats]

Anyone know where else those harnesses can be bought? I've been searching online and can't find anywhere. Pac shows "Not available from PAC Parts" for all of the PSS23WRA parts.
Like they don't carry them anymore. I would assume if they were out of stock or on back-order, I'd see a different message.
I did email Pac Parts and am waiting for a reply. Just curious if anyone had any other ideas....would really like to utilize those harnesses!

 

[sknyfats]

Got a reply from Pac Parts about the wire harnesses...not good news. What a bummer. Guess I have to do things the old fashioned way then - or spend more money for the Pac (not to be confused with Pac Parts) interface setup

"Alpine has shut down the sale of these parts. There isn’t any time frame of when or if these parts will be available again.

Some of our customers may have purchase these items to resell on Amazon or eBay"

 

[Varilux]

Well crap, I suppose they figured out people could piece together the Alpine upgrade package for hundreds less than their package price...

Someday I may install a Stinger Heigh10, and if I do I'll have a set of harnesses for sale- but it's going to take a while for that to happen (I want to see some installs to see how stable that set up is).

 

[sknyfats]

I’ve been scouring the net and can’t find these harnesses for sale anywhere, but, I did come across this site & harnesses. A bit pricey. But the T & Main were about $100 for both from PAC Parts anyway, right?

Not sure which I’d need yet. I’ve got the standard 7” head unit. I’ve replaced speakers already and am not doing a sub - yet - but will in the near future (powered 10’).

https://netaudio.com/store/product-category/jeep/2018-up-jeep-wrangler-jl-2-door/

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[TJJL19]

Anyone know where else those harnesses can be bought? I've been searching online and can't find anywhere. Pac shows "Not available from PAC Parts" for all of the PSS23WRA parts.
Like they don't carry them anymore. I would assume if they were out of stock or on back-order, I'd see a different message.
I did email Pac Parts and am waiting for a reply. Just curious if anyone had any other ideas....would really like to utilize those harnesses!

Before I ran across this forum, I was also searching for a solution, I could'nt find anything. This forum was the solution, directing us to pacparts. This goes along with the 77kick25ab being discontinued.

 

[sknyfats]

I wonder if this is worthwhile: https://catalog.pac-audio.com/catalog/amppro-amplifier-interfaces/ap4-ch41-r2

It’s pricey - but I think if I had this - I connect its harness to the back of the radio, the. Connect the radio harness to this harness, then connect the amp / subwoofer etc to the connections on the blue box, right? Shouldn’t need anything else?

 

[winchreadyAZ]

I wonder if this is worthwhile: https://catalog.pac-audio.com/catalog/amppro-amplifier-interfaces/ap4-ch41-r2

It’s pricey - but I think if I had this - I connect its harness to the back of the radio, the. Connect the radio harness to this harness, then connect the amp / subwoofer etc to the connections on the blue box, right? Shouldn’t need anything else?

Yep. That’s the one. Here’s a link to a very detailed and thorough discussion of how to do it.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/adding-an-aftermarket-amp-s.6568/

 

[TJJL19]

It's a shame those speakers are discontinued, because for the price they're hard to beat (and as you mentioned, they drop right in and hook right up). I'll have to try that setting for the dip switches on my amp!

I sent the 77KICK25AB back to kicker for replacement, I was getting a noise in the high end, thinking it was the tweeters. Kicker sent new speakers back without the cross over on them? I called Kicker to tell them they gave me the wrong speakers back, they told me that they are the 77KICK25AB.
I talked to the Rep and he said it was Mopar that put the crossover on the 77KICK25AB .
I tried other speakers, like the Alpine and JBL tweeters, with no luck in solving the tin sound.
I was told that, maybe the wires are crossed in the wire harness? what do you think?
I now have the 77KICK25AB without a cross over ?

 

[Wolfy]

When you say cross over, do you mean the bass blocker capacitor? I added those myself onto the 77Kicker25AB. They did not come with a cap. The stock speakers do have a small cap, and the kickers use the same connector with a jumper wire instead of a cap. It pretty easy to remove the jumper wire and solder in a bass blocker cap.

 

[Varilux]

I installed the Mopar Kicker speakers (77KICK25AB) straight out of the box (which had a Mopar logo on it) and have been really happy with their sound. I've been pretty impressed with the amount of mid-range (and even a little bass) these speakers put out given their relatively small size. I don't recall seeing a capacitor on the 77KICKAB speakers- but perhaps there was one there.

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