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Kicker 6.5" 77kick10 upgrade - Meh.

11K views 48 replies 24 participants last post by  Mike-Mike 
#1 ·
Yes, I know this will be a minority opinion, but darn it I need to voice it.

After a year of waffling I finally decided to take the leap and upgrade my 2015 JKUR speakers to the 77kick10's. After all lots of people rave about the upgrade, so I figured it was a pretty safe change.

My 130 head and stock low-end speakers were sounding OK. With controls at 0 they sound thick and muddy. I routinely ran the system with bass 0, mid 0, treble +4. The highs were a bit prickly but overall the system was pretty well balanced. I could hear good levels of bass guitar. Kick drum was a bit thin but not objectionably so. Mids were tolerably clear. There never was that nice texture in the upper mids that I'd like (the edge on guitars & violins) but it wasn't terrible either.

I rarely turn the system up past 20 and when cruising down the highway I always roll the windows up to cut down on road noise. So I don't need a high power system to overcome road noise.

So, now with the Kickers in the system here's what I'm hearing.

The 77kick10s are producing more lows and less highs than the stock system. Given that the stock speakers were somewhat muddy this change is NOT an improvement. Hmmm.

I did a road test and tweaked the EQ while on the road. I ended up with a setting of bass -3, mid 0, treble +6. At that level the highs are still a bit prickly (probably due to the dash top OEM speakers). The mids are still lacking that nice upper edge to the guitars and strings. The lows are definitely stronger. Kick drum is stronger and, unfortunately, the kick can easily overshadow the bass guitar.

So overall, the sound has changed very little. Well, I do have more lows so I guess that is nice. Any desire for a sub is hereby gone. I'm disappointed that the upper mids did not get any clearer and the highs did not get any stronger.

In my case I'm not sure they were worth the $$. But I'm not going through the effort to pull 'em back out.

For now I'll just live with them and give myself some time to adjust for them.

My next step will be to replace the top dash speakers with something that gives solid clean sound in the upper mids and trebles. Maybe tweeters, maybe 3.5" full range with bass blockers.


I must admit I am totally baffled at the many, many rave reviews.
 
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#20 ·
I'm in the same boat. In the next 6 months I plan on upgrading to a Pioneer 3800 head unit and adding 77KICK25ab 3.5" speakers with bass blockers. Possibly even add an amp.

The 6.5" alone for me were a large step up from stock but it sounds like you are listening to a completely different style of music so that does have something to do with it I believe.

Keep us updated on what you end up doing!
 
#4 ·
The first thing I upgraded was my soundbar 6.5's for Polk audio dxi651's. To me, and everyone who sat in my jeep comments on how awesome it sounded.

I since upgraded my head unit to a pioneer and it sounds even more awesome with the Polk's.

I can't be sure but I'd guess speakers made by Kicker for Chrysler aren't going to be the same quality as their regular offerings. Maybe I'm wrong but I seem to remember reading someone saying something to that effect in another thread.
 
#7 ·
I'm by no means an audio expert but with those settings I'm surprised you have any bass at all unless listening to only certain rap music. -3 on bass and +6 on treble. I replaced all 4 with the 77kick10's and got a big improvement over stock. All my settings are in the + area ( not sure exactly where at the moment ) not 100% sure which head unit I have but it's not the 430. No nav screen on it.. Is there a 230 unit, if so that might be what I have..
 
#9 ·
Well, I am quite knowledgable in audio (speaker design) and live sound, actually. With setting of 0 / 0 / 0 the overall sound I'm getting is thick & dark. Perhaps zipping down the road topless it would be the right settings but with the windows up the lows overshadow the rest of the music.

When I listened to the Alpine system I noticed the subwoofer was substantially louder than the rest of the system. Again, highway topless it may have been great but at 40 mph with the windows up it would have been too much.

I'm beginning to think that the subwoofer craze of the 80's has changed the way people expect music to sound to the point that most today prefer this sub-heavy sound and that the smooth balance we tried to achieve in the 70's and early 80's has been swept aside. Back then if you noticed the sub it was considered too loud. Now it seems that if the room candles don't flicker when the kick drum is hit the sub isn't loud enough?

The stock head unit is a 130. The touch screen models are 430 and 730.

If you could, please describe the improvement you heard over stock speakers with your 77kick10's.
 
#10 ·
(I must have the same head unit as you then.) Has more bass at the same settings and sounds more crisp. My stock setup didn't seem to have any bass without turning the bass setting way up ( which I didn't do ). I wanted more bass without it distorting. Now it's not a heart thumping bass like my old mini truck with 4- 8'' subs right behind the seat but it did add some clean bass. With the top off or just opened up it's bout non existent riding down the road and just to hear the radio you have to turn it up to 20-22 range and still not hear anything well. No radio/system will sound as good in a vehicle opened up as one closed of course.. The jeep doesn't make for a good sound machine.. With the hardtop and windows closed might can get some good sounds... I was just trying to get alittle better bass/sound without spending much. My days of spending 1200-2000 on stereo stuff have passed. Not that I don't want to just got other things I'd rather spend it on first!!!
 
#11 ·
Thanks @n2mini. So you're hearing more bass (as I am) but you also have more crispness (i.e. more highs). Hmmm, I ended up with less highs.

And I agree that spending $$$ on car audit is silly. Spend the money at home where you have a much better audio environment. Achieving truly great sound in any car is tough. In a Jeep? Fugettaboutit!
 
#14 ·
Like most things, it comes down to the individual. I'm currently residing in an apartment so my surround sound isn't even hooked up. No point with neighbors potentially 10 feet below me.

My jeep, however? Yeah, I'll put a grand into its audio system. Probably more before I'm done. You have to take into account how much you're in your car. I'm in mine a bit so I spend a tad more on it.

And I think what I've done so far sounds awesome. Maybe next summer I'll replace my entry level JL 10's with their $499 a piece 10's or 12's but for now I'm all set.
 
#12 ·
i have 2015 with the 430

i put in 6.5 inch kickers in soundbar - didn't notice much difference

weeks later - put 6.5 and 2.5 inch kickers in dash - felt like the overall sound quality & volume improved. not night and day difference but better and made me happier.

i still then added amp and sub
 
#15 ·
Good thing you can upgrade the stereo. :)

As for the speakers, I felt like they made a difference, but if I had to do it all over again I would have just gutted the entire system and gone with aftermarket everything. If you replace the speakers, you'll realize you need an amp, and then you might as well use aftermarket speakers because the amp is going to use its own connectors anyway.

The good news is, in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal. You're in like, maybe $150 max? The worst part is the time spent installing speakers in the dash.
 
#16 ·
Morning after update:

We ran some errands today. I played music while my wife talked :). What I'm hearing as I listen more is that the 77kick10's are giving me quite a bit more bass but less mud. With the OEM speakers I ran the fader 75% front because if I dialed in the read things just got muddy. Now I'm running F/R 50/50 and no mud.

Part of my loss of highs may be due to the increased bass from these speakers.

When I roll down the windows, I immediately lose much of the bass so turning the bass control from -2 to +2 restores it. This would not have happened with the old speakers.

I'm thinking my next step will be to change the caps on the dash tweeters to get some mids happening up there. The current cap 2.2 uF gives a cross over freq of 9 Khz so the dash speakers aren't doing much. If I change the cap to 10 uF the xover freq will drop to about 2 Khz. Yes, I'm aware there is thread on this very thing elsewhere in this forum.
 
#19 ·
If you really want to make your highs and mids crisp and clear, replace the upper dash speakers with 3.5" coaxials. The downside to this would be that you are adding two more tweeters when you already have four from the 77kick10s - though this may not be a bad thing for your tastes.

I chose these - https://www.amazon.com/JL-Audio-TR350-CXi-3-1-2/dp/B00076FVMO

They were $55 at my local audio shop. They are very bright when you first put them in, but they are quite the upgrade from the stock tweeters. I have heard that the 77kick25ab work quite well too and have a little warmer sound.

Speaker - 77KICK25AB | Mopar

Don't forget the bass blockers on the 3.5" coaxials. I chose a 600hz and am quite happy with that frequency.
 
#21 ·
i have a 2016 JKU, with the 430N and base 8 speakers. I bought 4 of the 77KICK10s and only put in 2 in the soundbar. And I am surprised at your results. To me it is night and day, i went into this thinking there was no way they could be as good as the forum(s) say they are.

however with just 2 of the 4 replaced so far, it is easy to tell a difference. Put the fade in the rear, sounds pretty good. Fade up front, sounds muddy and distorts quickly.

What are you using to listen to music? the actual radio? Sirius?

i never listen to regular radio, i do listen to Sat, and it sounds like crap. Only put a cd in once to make sure it worked. I primarily listen to bluetooth or the songs i put on the HDD or the iPod i have connected.

there is a VAST difference in sound quality between sat radio and the other sources.

i generally do not go above 20 now, but before with the stocks, if I even got to 20 it would start to distort
 
#25 ·
hockeyman474;26283673... sounds like you are listening to a completely different style of music so that does have something to do with it I believe.[/QUOTE said:
What are you using to listen to music? the actual radio? Sirius?
Sirius? Seriously? (sorry, couldn't resist the bad pun). I totally hate Sirius. Sounds terrible. Too many digital artifacts. S/N and dynamic range are good and the lows sound fine but mids and high are ... terrible.

I'm listing exclusively to FM radio. Top 40 sorts of stuff.

I keep forgetting about CDs or tunes from my iPhone. I'll have to give that a try to see how big a difference there is.
 
#26 ·
CD is best to check sound with. Fm radio your at the mercy of signal strength, and your phone or ipod, etc your getting sound from a third party so to speak. Granted the next best thing is to do your testing with how you plan to use it most as your doing sounds like.. but each song will have different dynamics etc.. which makes it tough to compare your parts..
 
#27 ·
Understood. When I was in the studio working my band's CD, it was amazing to me just how different each song sounded. We didn't pay for mastering to deal with that but even with the same musicians, same recording engineer and same 2 guys doing the mix and producing the final product, the sound across the CD was not consistent.

Let alone between CDs from different bands!

.....

I just came back from a quick lunch time run. This time I compared FM to BT from the iPhone (not streaming). FM sounds a bit muddy in comparison (which has been the story since at least the 1970s). With FM I'm running bass -2, mid 0, treble +5. With the BT iPhone audit I'm running bass 0, mid 0, treble +4.

In the end I'm right back to where I started with my OP. The 77kick10 speakers did not increase or improve the upper mids / treble response in my Jeep. In fact I have less.
 
#31 ·
While the QT solution has the benefit of being a bolt-in, it is pretty expensive. You can buy a couple of tweeter for $30 or so and modify your stock speakers to turn them into mounting brackets.

For even less, you can change the crossover cap on the stock tweeters to increase their contribution. They may not be I plan to do such a mod tonight or tomorrow night. I'll rob the caps from the now-removed rear tweeters and add them to the front tweeters. Cost is free.
 
#32 ·
I know it is more expensive, however I don't know how to do any of that other stuff. I can't solder a bass blocker on, I can't dremmel a different tweeter to fit. Pretty sure if I cut the old speaker out of its bracket I would slice off a finger at some point.

When I replaced the soundbar with 77Kick10 speakers, I lost 2 of the 12 screws.

Also the Quadratec are already angled which is a plus.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
#33 ·
this probably depends on the kind of music you listen to, but the most helpful upgrade I found for my JKU's audio system was putting a subwoofer in the back and running an amp.

still running the stock headunit, and i'm more than satisfied with the sound system.
 
#34 ·
I did a bunch of testing this evening with the 130 radio. Results are in a different thread:

http://www.wranglerforum.com/f274/understanding-the-130-radio-sound-issues-1766785.html#post26296489

In addition I tried a stock tweater cap mod. I tool the 2.2 uF caps from the surplus rear tweaters and wired them in parallel with the caps on the front tweaters moving the crossover freq from 9 Khz down to about 4.5 Khz.

The result was that the front tweaters were indeed louder and carried more of the upper midrange. The good side was that acoustic guitars and other such instruments came through much clearer. The down side is that it unleashed a rather nasty peak in the 2 Khz region (I'm estimating) that made most voices a bit harsh & irritation. Sometimes it wasn't bad, other times it wasn't good. After taking a drive down the road and listening to the modified tweets, I pulled the extra cap off and returned them to their original configuration.

The moral of the story is: Don't waste your time trying to improve the stock tweeters in the 2015 JK.
 
#35 ·
I posted before that I too had replaced my speakers with these and I was less than impressed with the results. My radio is still just the stock 130 w/Sirius, so I know that's my limiting factor. One day down the road I'll upgrade the head unit but for now I can live with what Ive got. My Jeep isn't a daily driver, so its not a huge priority.
 
#36 ·
My audio setup:

Joying android headunit (they now have a jeep specific model)
Rockford Fosgate 4 channel amp
4 kicker midrange speakers
4 kicker tweeters
Polyfilled enclosures
Sound ordnance powered sub

I've gotten nothing but compliments on the sound. It sounds amazing even with the top down.

LtJesse





Joying Universal Android head unit

https://www.carjoying.com/android-5...-mirror-link-airplay-with-gps-navigation.html

Rockford Fosgate PBR300X4 Punch BRT 300-Watt Ultra Compact 4-Channel Amplifier https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004T163SY/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_EyuAxb23RHNCS

*JEEP WRANGLER JK KICKER SPEAKER UPGRADE https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SUO5QS/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_RzuAxbKR9AAHJ

*2013 Dodge Dart Kicker Speaker Upgrade 77KICK25AB https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008I2UYPI/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_PMuAxbZHBW446

*Sound Ordnance B-8PTD Powered 8" Subwoofer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IF9IIWK/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_zOuAxbM9JBB0G
 
#40 ·
I just returned from a week long trip in the JKUR. We really got a chance to try out the new 77kick10 speakers with the stock 130 head unit.

Overall I think it sounds fair. Bass is mostly kick drum. The actual bass guitar (which is a lower midrange instrument) tends to get overshadowed by that strong low kick drum. There are also some notes on the bass that come through very strong while others all but disappear. With the windows up and AC on, I'm running the bass at somewhere between 0 and -6 depending on the source.

Midrange fullness is a bit lacking and there is some midrange or upper mid harshness that is hard to describe. Big band horn sections sound harsh & brassy rather than full. Vocals are much the same but surprisingly acoustic guitars do not come across all that clear. The culprit here is clearly the OEM dash speakers. They are peaky and harsh while lacking a true clean top end. I'm thinking a 3.5" 2-way would go a long way toward cleaning things up. Unfortunately the limited EQ options in the 130 prevent me from making any tweaks to improve things.

Bluetooth sounds better than the USB cable and both are substantially better than FM.

I remain unimpressed when it comes to the value the 77kick10 speakers have brought to the sound. They didn't hurt it at all, mind you, but I'm just not seeing the significant improvement given the $130 cost. No, I'm not going to take them out. After all it was only $130. Not worth the effort to remove them.
 
#41 ·
Isn't that exactly the point? IMO it's a vast improvement over stock but probably not nearly as good as other options. When getting the Kickers we save on cost and install since they are plug and play. Next step for me is the head unit to give the 6.5"s more power. I'll probably add 77KICK25ab to all 4 spots and bass blockers while I'm at it too.
 
#44 ·
I did this mod with a 430 head unit - stuffed the poly in the enclosures and mine sounds awesome - did it about a month ago - took about 30 minutes and I am very pleased with the outcome - def have more bass - i listen to most all types of music - if its not dance/funk/hip hop type stuff i go bass +2/3 mid -1/2 and treble at flat/+1... for the funky stuff I drop the bass to flat (+/-0)
 
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