Jeep Wrangler Forum banner

Installing Kicker's (Dash) FYI

10K views 51 replies 20 participants last post by  Lloydrage 
#1 ·
There has been much written on this subject and I read it all before starting to do mine today, here's an FYI that has been mentioned before but will try and save some folks some grief if they missed it...

1. Soundbar is a no brainer, do it first 'cos it'll help you warm up into the various body contortions required for all automotive projects :)

2. THERE IS NO NEED TO REMOVE THE DASH per the Mopar instructions and various videos/accounts you may have seen. I'll try and attach a picture to show why but basically you can easy flex the dash enough to work on the drivers side just as you do on the passenger side. The 'trick' is to use a right angle screwdriver e.g. a cute little ratchet handle you can shove a standard screwdriver bit (crosshead) into.

EPIPHANY... the ratchet that comes with the hardtop in 2015 is 100% perfect for this purpose!!!

I mention all of this because I was petrified of pulling the dash and marking it or breaking some vital clip... no need.

The pic is the drivers side, pax is much the same, pop the side panel and panel beneath the steering column with your fingers and/or that old blunt table knife you do all manner of DIY with, undo three screws and you're in...

It has been said before but I'll reinforce, Kickers (or similar) as a replacement for BASE audio are like night and day; a total no-brainer (I literally smiled when I turned them on). I also Dynamat'ed the enclosures as best I could to kill any resonance (all without removing dash. Took me a ~couple of hours to do all 4.

I would say the sound is 3x better than it was and I now have BASS! I'm actually going to add a Soundstream Stealth 5ch (well have an audio shop do it) to give the kickers a little more current to draw on but that is by no means a necessity. Fifth channel can await a sub if I ever bother.

Now... if you need to add an amp or monkey with wiring you probably have to pull the dash... but for a straight '77kick10' swap, absolutely no need.

Oh - 430N - Not changing it even though it was designed by a halfwit.

Be brave.

:awesome:
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#2 ·
yeah it was a pain.....

but the kickers aren't really worth the effort to install them - the stock system is 2ohm and the kickers are 4ohm so you 1/2 the power being driven to them. Better off with something like the Infinity 6032si

http://www.wranglerforum.com/f274/speaker-upgrade-infinity-6032si-904409.html

not bashing you - I did the same thing at first - thought the kickers were the way to go as well originally...
 
#3 ·
yeah it was a pain.....

but the kickers aren't really worth the effort to install them - the stock system is 2ohm and the kickers are 4ohm so you 1/2 the power being driven to them. Better off with something like the Infinity 6032si

http://www.wranglerforum.com/f274/speaker-upgrade-infinity-6032si-904409.html

not bashing you - I did the same thing at first - thought the kickers were the way to go as well originally...
Could be, hence my intention to drive them but I wanted a 100% plug and play and the improved efficiency of the Kickers seems to more than make up for the 4ohm. The ease of install is pretty much agnostic (and hopefully will help/encourage folks).
 
#4 ·
I've posted a couple times about this but I'm still trying to make sure I spend my money wisely. I have the base system in my 2015 JKU with the 130S radio (it has satellite and Bluetooth from the connectivity package.) Since I'm looking for a plug and play solution without adding an amp or replacing my head unit, would you recommend the mopar kicker upgrade? (77kick10, like you mentioned) I will eventually add a subwoofer once I have all the money saved up but the base system is terrible. (I just don't want to have the replace the kickers eventually too!)
Thanks!
 
#7 ·
So I can can no speak to 3 scenarios:

1. BASE AUDIO please don't start blathering on about how good Alpine is.
2. BASE AUDIO upgraded to 4x Kickers (77kick10) Plug+play, Dynamat
3. BASE AUDIO upgraded to 4x Kickers (77kick10) PLUS Class D Amp (Razor) with high level inputs e.g. NO LC6i, no Sub.

...

1. BAD, nasty compression, horribly voiced speakers, all mid - needs to die

2. GOOD, 300% better than base, full range, much more open sound, higher highs, actual BASS, no noticeable distortion, PLENTY loud enough for roof on and almost certainly loud enough for roof off for anyone older than 30. Best $140 you'll ever spend.

3. (A bit) BETTER, 450% better than base, LOUD. CLARITY. Gives a little more bass drive as you would expect and if you ever want to hold a beach party around your Jeep for a few hundred people you can. CERTAINLY enough power to damage yourself even with the roof off. On reflection I could have saved my money and been 99% happy with option 2. In fact I will end up taking the gain down on the power amp just to make it less fatiguing.

You can add a sub to 3. (I got the 5ch) but haven't yet and don't feel the need since I'm all about quality, not mismatched bass and the kickers have plenty if your source track supplies it.

Spend $140 DIY, don't spend $500(installed) unless you are a big fan of LOUD.

OR spend $750(installed) and add a sub to 3. if that suits your style.

Presumably 6032si's would achieve very much the same effect with a little more volume in scenario 2. For me ...it's not all about VOLUME it's about quality.
 
#8 ·
Just an update on option 3. I found the amp and tweaked the settings, gain back to 75% (much less fatiguing). Also found that the install muppets had switched on the high-pass filter (trying to sell me a sub I didn't need). With the HPF OFF the Kickers are throwing out more bass than rock music needs and I ended up cutting in the EQ to take out some of the boom (a headliner will also help here). NOW I am uber-happy with the Razor/Kicker setup for a low cost significant upgrade to base.
 
#9 ·
EPIPHANY... the ratchet that comes with the hardtop in 2015 is 100% perfect for this purpose!!!

I had browsed and browsed, figured I would do this, spent way too long yesterday fumbling and just saw this.......oh well.

I agree they do sound so much better than the stock, no other changes on my end, I poly filled the sound bar, but I am extremely happy with the set up now. I'm not an audiofile so I probably won't make any other changes.

I do recommend for those looking for a simple DIY upgrade.
 
#10 ·
My two pair of Kickers showed up yesterday. I wasted no time getting at them last night. I started at 9pm and had the rears done and tested by 9:30. Moved on to the fronts and they are tight to get at. Especially the pass. side top speaker fastening screw.......PITA......but the tool kit for the 2015 worked well (plus the use of a Philips angle screw driver helped on occasion). For the stock 430RBZ this is a big improvement. I actually have bass that no longer "pops" . Thank you for everyones insight on this upgrade.
 
#11 ·
Just spent more time listening to the system. I'm in love all over again. It really is a huge improvement. There is depth to the sound that was totally lacking before. edit. I checked the impedance on my stock speakers and they were 4 ohm (actually 3.8) so my 430 system matched well with the Kickers (3.7)
 
#14 ·
I did the 4x speakers and Dynamat myself (the original purpose of my thread/photo) and had an audio shop do the Razor - that's the $500 but most of that is labor and harness, amp itself if ~$150'ish. I didn't want to get into cutting/splicing either...
 
#13 ·
I also installed the Kickers in my sound bar and in the dash. They sound fantastic! The stock speakers would distort horribly but these never do. I can really crank up the stereo with these and they always sound fantastic. They were well worth the money.
 
#16 ·
I also Dynamat'ed the enclosures as best I could to kill any resonance (all without removing dash. Took me a ~couple of hours to do all 4.
How did you get the dynamat into the lower dash area. Can you get the box the speaker mounts into out w/o removing the dash?
Did you dynamat the sound bar areas?
 
#28 ·
For the dash I just cut a sensible size piece and eased it in to the dash sideways then pushed in back into the enclosure good and hard... did a dummy run before I took the adhesive backing off.. Works well enough, you're basically trying to change the resonant frequencies of the cabinet not waterproof it, so the job doesn't need to be perfection; just get it in there and well adhered over a decent surface area. Couple of smaller offcuts to plug any obvious gaps...

Yes I did the sound bar... same way - a little easier!
 
#18 · (Edited)
Lotusman -- your write-up and your opinions just about perfectly coincide with mine, except I stopped at Option 2 and am completely satisfied and happy with the sound from the 77Kick10s. And for $140??? You betcha!

And I also figured out the ratcheting right-angle screwdriver part last spring when I did this. The only thing I would amend is this -- Philips (crosshead) screws are tough to work from this angle when you can't see and the dash is trying to crush your hands while you hold it at bay under tension. So putting it back together I subbed out hex-head sheet-metal screws for the Phillips head and just used a ratcheting box-end wrench to run them in. Much better clearance, as the tool doesn't stick out the depth of the phillips bit. Made life a whole lot easier putting it back together.
 
#19 ·
I've been reading through some of the posts and had a question since I'm also ready to upgrade my sound system. I believe my 15 Sport has 6 speakers. What sizes of kickers would I need to order if I wanted to replace them all?
 
#20 ·
I think if you remove the speaker covers from the sound bar speakers you will find two under there (one 6.5" and one 3.5" under each cover).
In all you have four 6.5" and four 3.5".
You would need 4 x 77KICK10 and 4 x 77KICK25
 
#21 ·
When you're trying to get your arms in the dash just wear a sweater heheh. The (padded) long sleeves will help you not get your arms scratched up :)

I had no problems at all with holding the dash panel back though! The hard part for me was getting the speaker boxes back into their right place (especially the driver side one). lol.
 
#25 ·
#26 ·
Yes....in a little canvas type cloth holder for in the glove box.
 
#34 ·
Originally I was sure i was going to upgrade my base 130 stereo with the 77Kick10 speakers. Then I read somewhere else all going on about they have 4 ohm and stock is 2 ohm so they lose bass and volume, etc. Not sure now, hmph.
 
#35 ·
Your base system has 4 ohm speakers. The higher end systems have 2 ohm.
 
#38 ·
So I was skeptical of those who said the Kickers sound "night and day" different from the stock speakers. I have the stock 130S and non-premium audio. I just installed the soundbar Kickers this morning and they are a LOT better than the stockers. I don't know how much louder they are but there is a lot more bass and they just sound better. I also added some polyfill so that may have helped, too. I'm going to attempt to do the dash speakers today as well. I'll do a better write up with photos in my build thread later on. I even have an audio comparison that I recorded with my phone. Not sure if you'll be able to hear a difference through a cell phone microphone though.
 
#42 ·
Are you talking about the 6 1/2 inch or the 3 1/2 inch ?
 
#52 ·
Subd
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top