Audiophile Upgrade Time

[CptVanGuard]

So I am a huge audiophile, and I am attempting to upgrade the stereo in my 87 MJ with bench seats. I would love to put a subwoofer in, but I’m not sure about a good way to fit it in. I’m about 6 ft. tall, so I have to have my seat all the way back. Anybody who has done something like this or knows about this have any ideas?

 

 

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[Pete M]

it's totally possible, you just need to find the right box.   I had a small wedge box with a high end 8" woofer in it for the longest time (can't remember what I was feeding it, but was a TON of rms amps).  I put it behind the passenger seat so it didn't liquefy my kidneys all the time   I've seen custom enclosures with 12"ers down to simple bass tubes in MJs.  it's such a tiny cab that you don't really need much box. 

 

 

[CptVanGuard]

it's totally possible, you just need to find the right box.   I had a small wedge box with a high end 8" woofer in it for the longest time (can't remember what I was feeding it, but was a TON of rms amps).  I put it behind the passenger seat so it didn't liquefy my kidneys all the time   I've seen custom enclosures with 12"ers down to simple bass tubes in MJs.  it's such a tiny cab that you don't really need much box. 
 
 

Awesome. I will definitely start seeing what I can do then. My biggest concern was not being able to fit a box in the cab very well, but since you guys have done it, I’ll give it a try.


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[Minuit]

The sub is probably the easiest part of all if you're going for a real system build, honestly. You'll have plenty of inspiration to draw from. Like Pete said, there are a number of commercially available boxes out there if you don't want to build your own, you'll just need to do some measuring to make sure they fit.

 

Other than a sub, how crazy are you planning on going? Are we talking "new speakers in stock locations" or "3-way active in custom fiberglass enclosures" here?

[CptVanGuard]

The sub is probably the easiest part of all if you're going for a real system build, honestly. You'll have plenty of inspiration to draw from. Like Pete said, there are a number of commercially available boxes out there if you don't want to build your own, you'll just need to do some measuring to make sure they fit.
 
Other than a sub, how crazy are you planning on going? Are we talking "new speakers in stock locations" or "3-way active in custom fiberglass enclosures" here?

Nothing like that, yet. For now, a new head unit, new speakers in stock locations, an amp, and a sub. Probably an 8 inch, if I can fit it behind the bench seat smoothly.


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[Jeep Driver]

3 hours ago, CptVanGuard said:

Nothing like that, yet. For now, a new head unit, new speakers in stock locations, an amp, and a sub. Probably an 8 inch, if I can fit it behind the bench seat smoothly.


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This is the one that I'm getting-

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-HCOKv45d0jP/p_13693330/JL-Audio-ACP108LG-W3v3.html?XVINQ=GLX&awkw=132253908505&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=69546578425&awdv=c&awug=9013407&gclid=CjwKCAjwwZrmBRA7EiwA4iMzBFyOt4YqIGpAGadSsQhbO1Dc_2NjxcD7qTMYSt54ftm3gyb77HuFdhoC5bgQAvD_BwE

 

These come with two different woofers, make sure you get the W3v3. 

 

 

When I see/read audiophile I think of PS Audio where a pair of speakers will set you back $100K

 

 

 

 

[CptVanGuard]

This is the one that I'm getting-

 
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-HCOKv45d0jP/p_13693330/JL-Audio-ACP108LG-W3v3.html?XVINQ=GLX&awkw=132253908505&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=69546578425&awdv=c&awug=9013407&gclid=CjwKCAjwwZrmBRA7EiwA4iMzBFyOt4YqIGpAGadSsQhbO1Dc_2NjxcD7qTMYSt54ftm3gyb77HuFdhoC5bgQAvD_BwE
 
These come with two different woofers, make sure you get the W3v3. 
 
 
When I see/read audiophile I think of PS Audio where a pair of speakers will set you back $100K
 
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I’m not quite that crazy. Yet.


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[Pete M]

I had incredible quality success with an expensivey 8" sub and components in the doors with the aim-able tweeters popped in right above the 5.25s.  everything was super amped (can't quite recall the rms numbers) and the sound was like you were in the hall with the orchestra.   originally I also had 6x9s in little boxes in the back corners but they added very little so I pulled them out. 

 

eventually I pulled the amps/sub and tried to replicate it in my dakota and it just wasn't the same.

 

 

[CptVanGuard]

I had incredible quality success with an expensivey 8" sub and components in the doors with the aim-able tweeters popped in right above the 5.25s.  everything was super amped (can't quite recall the rms numbers) and the sound was like you were in the hall with the orchestra.   originally I also had 6x9s in little boxes in the back corners but they added very little so I pulled them out. 
 
eventually I pulled the amps/sub and tried to replicate it in my dakota and it just wasn't the same.
 
 

Sweet. I was actually curious about the 6x9s. I still was wanting to install tweeters in the dash, but I didn’t know how the sound would be with just the door speakers, a sub, and the 6x9s. Should I just not worry about them then?


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[Pete M]

my sub was more than enough that I didn't notice their absence.  ymmv

[CptVanGuard]

my sub was more than enough that I didn't notice their absence.  ymmv

Alright. Thanks for the advice. I’ll start doing my measurements and seeing what’s out there.


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[WahooSteeler]

I have a 6.5" dual voice coil bazooka tube in my truck with a 70 watt amp at 2ohms...........plenty of thump. Behind bucket seats. 

[Knucklehead97]

This is what I have. I absolutely adore it. It's the PERFECT amount of bass for me, especially considering the amp comes with a bass knob. Turns up loud enough to drown out all the music and make noise for the people beside you to hear, but goes down low enough to just be complimentary of the other frequencies. I bought it as a package deal on Amazon. If I was to do it again, I would just buy the amp and sub/box separate because the wiring kit was garbage. The Amp isn't the best brand but I have had no issues in the 2 years I've had it. I also have kicker 5 1/4" speakers up front. Plan to replace them with 6.5"s eventually with separate tweeters. There's no reason to have speakers in the stock back location.

[Minuit]

Rear full-range speakers (just to be clear, I'm not talking about subs) are IMO worse than useless in an MJ. They'll throw off any imaging you have and sound like garbage in the process because they're going to at the very least have a seat between you and the speaker. I'm very iffy on "rear fill" in a car or SUV, but the MJ doesn't even have a rear to fill.

 

My advice is to bridge your amp (if possible) and forget about rear speakers, especially if you have a component set that likes to be fed some power.

 

When I had rear speakers in my MJ, the only thing they contributed was a NASTY ear-killing peak at 1250 Hz and another one at about 4kHz. As soon as I put components up front I disconnected the rear speakers and bridged my amp to the front. Much better.

[CptVanGuard]

On 4/30/2019 at 5:38 AM, Minuit said:

Rear full-range speakers (just to be clear, I'm not talking about subs) are IMO worse than useless in an MJ. They'll throw off any imaging you have and sound like garbage in the process because they're going to at the very least have a seat between you and the speaker. I'm very iffy on "rear fill" in a car or SUV, but the MJ doesn't even have a rear to fill.

 

My advice is to bridge your amp (if possible) and forget about rear speakers, especially if you have a component set that likes to be fed some power.

 

When I had rear speakers in my MJ, the only thing they contributed was a NASTY ear-killing peak at 1250 Hz and another one at about 4kHz. As soon as I put components up front I disconnected the rear speakers and bridged my amp to the front. Much better.

Alright then. I will leave them alone then and focus on making the other speakers better. Thanks.

[Jeep Driver]

1 hour ago, CptVanGuard said:

Alright then. I will leave them alone then and focus on making the other speakers better. Thanks.

It all depends on whether or not you working with what you have or creating a system. 

 

Not all amps can be bridged, that said, if you are starting from scratch why not match the amp and speakers to begin with?

 

Scan through my build thread, you'll see what I'm doing with my front speakers and rear, rears will be treated as mid-bass. 

Tweeters are in the sail panels, not the dash, not the door card. 

 

I had a moment of stupidity some time back, I cheaped out on the sub, thinking that I was going to use the 5 channel amp I already had. Existing amp and sub are by the wayside now. 

 

New sub will be as shown here, new amp will most definitely also be JL, I have not decided on 4 or 6 channel, sub is active. 

Active or passive crossovers.........that's my question to resolve but is some time off yet. 

 

What head unit? what amp? what speakers? crossovers? staging? wiring? sound control/vibration/deadening....what are you doing about that, the MJ is a F-ing rattle-trap?

 

 

[knever3]

If the picture works this is what I did a while back.  I found out that there is next to no cabin gain and a huge mid-bass hump that needs to be toned down via EQ.  My new route is going to be a large ported box for my shallow Alpine type R 12" and a small amp.  I plan on running active for my diamond audio components up front as well.  I am not happy with the staging of the tweeters being so low, but I don't want to put them in the A-pillars yet.  Because of these A-pillars being unique I don't want to screw them up.  If I get the itch someday maybe.  What I was going to use was Biketronics amps because they are crazy powerful for their size.  I have dynamat extreme all over the cab and doors, but I want to use black hole tiles in the doors at some point to absorb the back wave of the speaker.  Too many things to do with no time or funds to tinker with.  

 

 

[Jeep Driver]

7 hours ago, knever3 said:

I am not happy with the staging of the tweeters being so low, but I don't want to put them in the A-pillars yet.  Because of these A-pillars being unique I don't want to screw them up

What I do, as a matter of course........

 

The A-pillar trim is not unique, common to every MJ/XJ. Get a pair off an XJ to practice with or if you are successful just paint those black and use those, then save your existing for future replacement. .

 

 

 

 

[Minuit]

22 hours ago, knever3 said:

 a huge mid-bass hump that needs to be toned down via EQ.

I've noticed exactly the same thing on mine. 

 

@CptVanGuard - A stock MJ is an absolute tin can. Now that I'm putting my 89 back on the road, it's all coming back to me how noisy and unrefined these things can be. You're going to want to do a lot of deadening to make things livable, and I'm not just talking putting a few sheets of Dynamat on stuff. That'll help (and Dynamat is a quality product), but it won't bring the noise floor down enough for a true "audiophile" system. And then you'll no doubt have plenty of wind noise to worry about once you've done that. The doors on these are especially bad. They're twice as bad if you have power windows. It took a while, but I finally got my doors to stop rattling, but there's a lot of closed cell foam, MLV, and felt in my doors. The time and money spent on sound deadening makes just as much difference as the actual audio parts. The factory attempt at sound deadening consists of a square of vibration damper on each door and a piece of foam on the inside firewall. That leaves plenty of room for improvement.

 

I've made life a whole lot harder for myself by being a fussy purist and insisting on a stock look throughout my interior. That limits me to the less than great factory speaker positions and a stock-looking radio, albeit one with some secrets under the hood. If you're the kind of guy that chases every percent of improvement at all costs, you'll probably be doing some custom installation sooner or later.

 

Before you spend any money, do some reading on here and other car audio forums and come up with an idea of what you want out of your system. Making sure the sub and amps are going to fit in the truck is the big consideration. Make sure the parts you're picking work well together. For example, if you don't plan on running rear speakers (and my suggestion is to either forget about the rear speakers or use a DSP to control their frequency range) either buy a 2-channel amp or get one that can be bridged to 2 channels. 

 

For me, a component set of some type is a must-buy. The dash tweeter locations aren't very good, but having your left tweeter pointing at your shin is even worse. The best thing to do is build them into either the A-pillars or the sail panels. You may find that you want more flexibility than the passive crossover you got with the component set, so at some point you'll want to go active. That's where I am now. Pretty soon, I'm going to be building a custom "stock" radio with RCA outputs and going 2-way active up front, probably with a MiniDSP 2x4 HD. I'm 90% happy with the way my truck sounds now, but I know I can squeeze more out of it with some tuning. That being said, I'm always trying to squeeze every little bit of improvement I can, within the limits I'm willing to cross. You might do a headunit, amp, sub, and coaxial speakers in the doors and find that you're perfectly happy and don't want any more. That's for you to decide.

 

I don't know your level of car audio experience, so I apologize if I'm telling you things you already know.