Sound system questions

willbr@comcast. · 05-21-2008, 11:15 PM

My "03 Wrangler has the stock AM-FM CD player and 2 speaker pods on the roll bar. I have been looking at some of the 6 speaker sound bars on ebay to put in for better sound with the top off. Will the stock radio support a six speaker bar?
Also, I picked up a cheap 300 watt amplifier. My question is, will the amplifier help the sound pods sound, or do I need to upgrade the speakers, and were is a good place to mount the amplifier? I was thinking maybe under the hood or on the passenger side, not under the dash, but up on the bulkhead, close to under the dash. Theft questions arise with it there though.
Any audiophiles out there with ideas? I'd like to do the installation myself to save my very tight budget. Thanks! Bill

TJCeeJay · 05-22-2008, 05:05 AM

Answer A. Yes it will support the 6 speaker bar, just wont be as loud as what you have now. Clearer, but not as loud.

Answer B. Hooking the amp up to the pods you have now is a good way of getting shot.

By metal fragments shooting out of your speakers at an extremely high velocity, that is.

Answer C. I assume you have a factory center console without the factory sub? If so, you can put the amp inside the console, below the junk tray. You may have to modify the bottom of the junk tray to fit it back into the console with the amp in there. But that's easy enough. Also helps with theft thing. Can't see it. Can't steal it.

P.S. In mine I have the 8" factory sub inside the center console. If that fits, your amp should fit.

**SirGCal** · 05-22-2008, 05:16 AM

Well, yes it could handle the POS 6-speaker bar but more importantly; why the hell would you want to put one in? You have the dual pods which is one of the better configurations we had for our TJs. You can get a LOT better sound upgrading those properly than that 6-speaker junk could ever dream of handling.

Hooking up an amp is NOT going to get you hurt in any way (Unless you really screw it up and burn down the rig). I have no clue what the previous poster was thinking... Though your stock speakers won't handle an additional load and you'd have to replace the speakers, still I can't say 'yes or no' to if the amp is even usable for it cause you did not give any specs. (model numbers are the most useful most of the time). And unless you like buying amps, never mount them under the hood. They will NOT last.

What I would recommend is swapping the dash speakers out with a proper 5.25" speaker and a matching 5.25" or 6.5" speaker in the sound pods. All properly amped. This will result in the most amount of sound in a very stealth installation. For subs, you can do console, in-seat or behind-seat if you're interested. See my website for more specifics in in-seat ideas and the rest of the install.

TJCeeJay · 05-22-2008, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirGCal

Hooking up an amp is NOT going to get you hurt in any way (Unless you really screw it up and burn down the rig). I have no clue what the previous poster was thinking...

I had a Kicker explode in the back of an old Chevette I had back in the day. I figured that a 1000 watt amp could power a 600 watt sub, as long as I didn't go nuts with the volume. Wrong! It blew the core of the magnet through the window of the hatch. A two inch diameter, 3 inch long hunk of metal travelling fast enough to punch a hole through safety glass would HURT. I would think anyways. Now, the magnets and cores in the pods are about one tenth the size of my Kickers'. But I bet they'd still hurt. Of course, there is maybe a one in a million chance of this happening, but it has happened. If I still had the pictures, I'd post them for all to be impressed.

Red_Dawg · 05-22-2008, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirGCal

What I would recommend is swapping the dash speakers out with a proper 5.25" speaker and a matching 5.25" or 6.5" speaker in the sound pods. All properly amped. This will result in the most amount of sound in a very stealth installation. For subs, you can do console, in-seat or behind-seat if you're interested. See my website for more specifics in in-seat ideas and the rest of the install.

SirGCal, in this setup, where is a good place to put an amp for the 4 speakers?

banks741938 · 05-22-2008, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red_Dawg

SirGCal, in this setup, where is a good place to put an amp for the 4 speakers?

im doing the exact thing you are doing dawg just got to wait for the amp to get here and the wiring kit. im going with an amp for the fill and the another mono amp for the sub. (sub is phase two of the project

) im gonna mount the fill amp under the drivers seat and the mono probally under the pass. seat or in the console where the facotry set up was. hope this helps

Red_Dawg · 05-22-2008, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banks741938

im doing the exact thing you are doing dawg just got to wait for the amp to get here and the wiring kit. im going with an amp for the fill and the another mono amp for the sub. (sub is phase two of the project

) im gonna mount the fill amp under the drivers seat and the mono probally under the pass. seat or in the console where the facotry set up was. hope this helps

My Sport does not have the sub and amp set up in the console. I am thinking about putting my amp under the center console under the dash so I would not have run alot of extra wires or cables.

**SirGCal** · 05-22-2008, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJCeeJay

I had a Kicker explode in the back of an old Chevette I had back in the day. I figured that a 1000 watt amp could power a 600 watt sub, as long as I didn't go nuts with the volume. Wrong! It blew the core of the magnet through the window of the hatch. A two inch diameter, 3 inch long hunk of metal travelling fast enough to punch a hole through safety glass would HURT. I would think anyways. Now, the magnets and cores in the pods are about one tenth the size of my Kickers'. But I bet they'd still hurt. Of course, there is maybe a one in a million chance of this happening, but it has happened. If I still had the pictures, I'd post them for all to be impressed.

I've blown speakers with 10kW more power than they were designed for an never seen anything like you're describing. But for the voice coil to actually 'fly' out as a projectile.. You had to do something seriously wrong as well as there being a seriously faulty part. You'd have to pop both surrounds completely, both spiders, the dust cap, rip out both coil ends, and do so perfectly strait (once the ends of the coil are removed, you're stuck on potential energy as the amp source is removed) with enough force to eject the speaker...

Honestly, I don't believe a small Kicker sub was capable of that. I don't think I could even cut a sub up to make it happen perfectly... And even if it did, it wouldn't have enough projectile force. Even using 40kW on one of the old SPL projects we did, the worst catastrophic failure was instant fires, fanned by the other subs, which grew very very fast... Fire extinguishers in SPL rigs were priceless. But never a single projectile. I've seen voice coil cores fracture and explode (internally), magnets crumble, spiders snap, dust caps pop off, etc. but never one turning into a gun. If it did happen to you, I would have run out and bought the biggest lottery card in history cause you just hit it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red_Dawg

SirGCal, in this setup, where is a good place to put an amp for the 4 speakers?

Anywhere you can. Under a seat, under the dash, in the center console, trunk area, etc. Anywhere that it gets plenty of air and is somewhat protected from the elements.

willbr@comcast. · 05-22-2008, 11:29 PM

Thanks everyone. It seems like a simple speaker upgrade is an easy way to go. My amp is a little (7"Wx2 1/2"Hx9.5"L) 300 watt-er. With upgraded speakers, will I need the amp, and do you need a sub with the amp?
I'm really looking for a better sound quality for my Bruce boots

, with the top off. I'm not looking to create one of those loud thumping machines that vibrates every car around it at the stop light

Thanks again, as I am a total neophyte when it comes to setting up car audio.

**bman9089** · 05-23-2008, 12:51 AM

give us model #s so we can help you out. the output of the amplifier power depends on how it is wired up.

and i don't know whether or not you are reffering to max power (which i will assume

) or if you are reffering to rms power. max power doesn't mean a thing.

willbr@comcast. · 05-23-2008, 01:07 AM

This is from the box:

HIGH-PERFORMANCE 300-WATT AMPLIFIER

300-Watt peak power (150 Watts x 2 channels)

Thermal overload and short circuit protection

High- and low-level inputs for easy hookup to any radio

Adjustable sensitivity low-level RCA inputs.

Remote on/off with car stereo. 7-1/8"W x 2-3/4"H x 9-1/2"L. 4-Ohm impedance.

Frequency response: 10-40,000 Hz.

**bman9089** · 05-23-2008, 01:37 AM

2 channel will mean you will lose fader controls (front to rear). This can also suck when you get sound tracks where sounds move from one speaker to another. ideally, you'd want a 4 channel amp. That 2 channel amp is also really powerful. Most high end speakers run off of 90 watts rms or less. i don't know any speakers that would properly match up with 150 watts rms. that's a better amp for subs than speakers.

**SirGCal** · 05-23-2008, 07:46 AM

odds are that amp is still somewhere between 40-75W RMS. There should be a small model number on the side/front or back of it. What is it?

willbr@comcast. · 05-23-2008, 10:16 AM

SirG.Cal, I'm at work, I'll post the unit number this evening. The pictures from your installation were especially helpful for the dash and sound bar speaker installation, THANKS!.
Not wanting to get in over my head, nor lose fader control, I think I'm going to stick to just the speaker upgrade, as the amp (new in box) was only $38 off ebay, so I can probably sell it for what I paid.
Another neophyte question: 2way, 3way or 4way speakers? Which are best for this job? I have a Kenwood/Bose outlet not too far from here, but sadly, the guys that work there don't even know their own shoe size.
Thanks-Bill
BTW-know anyone looking for an amp?

**SirGCal** · 05-23-2008, 10:45 AM

Again, it's a personal choice/preference. Personally I stick with 2-ways. More than that tend to be too shrill or bright for me.