I'm looking to install the following, and had a few questions.
2014 JKU with the stock 130 head unit, have uconnect/bluetooth/satellite:
I installed Polk DB651s in the sound bar, and am planning on putting DB6501 components in the dash locations. As far as the amp install, I want to avoid cutting into factory wires as much as possible. Take a look at the diagram I uploaded - would this be feasible? My plan would be to find a salvage stereo connector from a JK, then wire up the amp to that, with an aftermarket JK stereo adapter that you'd use with an aftermarket head unit. I would only send the speaker inputs to the amp, and keep the other wires going straight through to the factory connector on my Jeep. This would allow me to remove the amp and easily and hopefully avoid any potential warranty issues regarding the electrical system.
Would this work, or does the speaker signal go through canbus/anything else between the head unit and the speakers? Again, I only have the base radio, not the Alpine so there is no amplifier right now.
Yes, this is true, if you have an aftermarket radio with RCA outs. Otherwise, you would need an LOC from your stock radio, unless your amp accepts line level inputs.
Are the stock speaker wires safe at 50W to the sound bar and 100W to the dash speakers? If not I'd almost rather rewire it myself and save $175.
Thoughts?
There is much more to installing, and tuning an audio system than just installing the speakers. And, I can't get into it all. The page would be too long.
As for the speakers, the speaker wires are fine. The problem is the fact that you have 50watt speakers and 100watt speakers. That is not balanced at all. This is what I don't like about the Polk DB521. Sure, they might be the best low power speakers for the cost, but when you combine them with 100watt speakers, you still have to base your system on the 50watt speakers. I know a lot of people will defend the DB521 and come up with strange solutions, but I prefer to do it right, and get 100watt speakers all around, or 50watt speakers all around. Of course, for the power and top off situations, the more powerful 100watt speakers are best.
And for all you people who love the Polk DB521's, don't shoot the messenger.
I agree that the 521's aren't that great for amped situations, but he's not talking about those. Having the 100 watt components up front and the 50 watt coax in the sound bar would actually help to bring the sound stage more forward, like at a concert. And yes the stock wire will be fine for that.
I do believe he is talking about adding an amp. And just because he has 100watt front speakers, doesn't mean that more power is going to those speakers. The power from the amp goes equally to both channels. The main draw back is that the sound bar speakers will limit the balanced power capable for the system. The system power could only be 50watts, but the front could handle 100watts. So, in that type of system, you couldn't take advantage of the 100watt speakers, without risk to blowing the 50watt rear speakers.
In that type of system, you should only use a 50x4 amp. So, you can't take advantage of the more powerful 100watt speakers.
Thanks for the responses. My question is more about whether a harness exists out there that would plug into the rear of the factory head unit so that I don't have to splice into the factory harness (a la wiring diagram). I've seen "Turbo Wires" but they are only made for models up to the TJ.
I'm stuck with the speakers at this point but I got a fantastic deal on them and they're supposed to be good. I'm not too concerned about the front/rear split because the Jeep comes gimped from the factory anyway.
Also- that amp I listed and plan on adding to the system has speaker level inputs.
Thanks for the responses. My question is more about whether a harness exists out there that would plug into the rear of the factory head unit so that I don't have to splice into the factory harness (a la wiring diagram). I've seen "Turbo Wires" but they are only made for models up to the TJ. I'm stuck with the speakers at this point but I got a fantastic deal on them and they're supposed to be good. I'm not too concerned about the front/rear split because the Jeep comes gimped from the factory anyway. Also- that amp I listed and plan on adding to the system has speaker level inputs.
Well you'll have to splice into the speaker wires somewhere for the input to the amp. But if you're keeping the factory head unit you shouldn't need any kind of harness, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to do.
I have a 2013 JKU with the Stock 130 head unit. I have a small clarion amp pushing the four Kicker speakers that I swapped my factory speakers for. I have an Infinity Basslink sound powered amp in the back. I did not cut any wires as I made a harness to hook up everything. Everything is plug and play. I also made it where I could unplug the sound powered amp if the doors are off or the top.
If you want to know the specifics I can write it up and post it. Unit sounds decent but I would use different speakers if I had it to do again instead of the Kickers.
I have a 2013 JKU with the Stock 130 head unit. I have a small clarion amp pushing the four Kicker speakers that I swapped my factory speakers for. I have an Infinity Basslink sound powered amp in the back. I did not cut any wires as I made a harness to hook up everything. Everything is plug and play. I also made it where I could unplug the sound powered amp if the doors are off or the top. If you want to know the specifics I can write it up and post it. Unit sounds decent but I would use different speakers if I had it to do again instead of the Kickers.
That is exactly what I'm looking to do! Did you use a 3rd party harness to connect to the head unit or make one? I'm considering looking for junked JKs around here to snip one off of.
I'm looking to install the following, and had a few questions.
2014 JKU with the stock 130 head unit, have uconnect/bluetooth/satellite:
I installed Polk DB651s in the sound bar, and am planning on putting DB6501 components in the dash locations. As far as the amp install, I want to avoid cutting into factory wires as much as possible. Take a look at the diagram I uploaded - would this be feasible? My plan would be to find a salvage stereo connector from a JK, then wire up the amp to that, with an aftermarket JK stereo adapter that you'd use with an aftermarket head unit. I would only send the speaker inputs to the amp, and keep the other wires going straight through to the factory connector on my Jeep. This would allow me to remove the amp and easily and hopefully avoid any potential warranty issues regarding the electrical system.
Would this work, or does the speaker signal go through canbus/anything else between the head unit and the speakers? Again, I only have the base radio, not the Alpine so there is no amplifier right now.
You can do it either way. The best way is probably to wire the speakers directly to the amp, and connect the RCA's between the amp and the radio.
This way you avoid the resistance/heat created between the different size speaker wires and butt connectors going to the amp.
And then, plug an aftermarket harness into your stock harness to avoid cutting any stock wires. In the above scenario, you would just cut your aftermarket speaker wires slightly and don't strip them, because you don't need them if you wire the speakers directly to the amp. You don't need to, nor want to, damage or cut your stock wires.
Going to have to cut the wire that goes into the speaker box, then use that plug and wire to connect to the crossover. The harness that attached to the speaker box is different than the speaker connector to the speaker.
There is a rubber plug in the back of the speaker box that the wire goes through, once this is removed I'll need to feed new speaker wires that came with my Polks through, and wire to crossover. Right now I have the woofers installed without the crossover and with the stock tweeters - large improvement.
I used weatherstrip tape from Home Depot to seal the speaker around the housing and adapter because I was getting an annoying rattle from it.
Not what I wanted to hear. Is the rubber plug soft enough to maybe pop a hole in it to feed a speaker wire through? I'm trying not to cut any of the factory wires if I can help it.
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