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Plug and play amp for stock jk stereo?

33K views 51 replies 8 participants last post by  TheGreaT-Rex 
#1 ·
I just bought a 2015 JKU w a basic stereo. Window sticker says 130 model. It has am/fm cd and xm. Seeing as I am hard of hearing and sometimes hate wearing my hearing aides I would like the stereo to be louder. I do not want a new head unit. Is there a Jeep amp I could buy as a take out from someone upgrading that would plug into my existing system?
 
#4 ·
I have the 130 AM/FM/CD/MP3 unit. Isn't there a 103 w/ Alpine option that would have an amp?
 
#12 ·
Recommendations for an amp?
 
#18 ·
There is nothing necessarily "wrong" with it, you are just essentially paying $400 for a 46w per channel amp just because it is "plug and play" when you can get better quality and more power for much less. And don't feel like you need to stick with the kicker speakers just because they are also "plug and play." Pretty much any speaker can be made to fit with an adapter harness and speaker bracket. I would listen to a few different speakers in person and see what sounds best to you.
 
#20 ·
I have asked here countless times how to wire an after market amp into our system. What colors/wires, etc. That is the part I don't want to mess with. There is a box available that goes between the HU and factory harness that provides RCA outs for an amp - but doesn't help with then wiring to the speakers:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057P8ANM...lid=2QT0RK0LJGN7U&coliid=I1T7LXPVL94LY6&psc=1
It's not that difficult to do. BUT, if you aren't familiar with wiring an amp to your system, you should let a professional do it. If you can't even wire one to your system, I seriously doubt that you can tune it properly. It is extremely important for sound and safe operation of your system that it be tuned properly.
 
#29 ·
#35 ·
#36 ·
Ordered the PAC AOEM-CHR3 off e-bay Purchased this amp: Alpine KTP-445U Alpine Power Pack 180W Class D Bridgeable Multichannel Amplifier with HighPass Filter Black KTP-445U - Best Buy Will be ordering: 2 - 77KICK25ab speakers and 2 - 77KICK10 speakers tomorrow from JustForJeeps.com I hope I can get pics of install and post the whole thing. I tend to forget the pics. :)
Curious why you would order a pair of 6 1/2" coax speakers and a pair of 3 1/3" speakers. Your 2015 has two pairs of 6 1/2 component speakers with separate woofer and tweeter. This doesn't even fit properly.
 
#39 ·
If I wire them using the factory wires (1 per channel)... front left, front right, back left, back right... will it work OK? I'm new to wiring an amp and would rather not run new wires if I can help it.
Also, the amp is able to handle 2 or 4 ohm and has 4 channels.
 
#40 ·
The alpine should be stable at 2 ohm, so you should be able to plug them right in using the factory connectors. The alpine is meant to be run off of the factory wire harness but I recommend running a dedicated power and ground wire, you will get a bit better performance out of it. Going with a single set of actual components is still the better option but if you are looking for an easy drop in solution what you have should work fine. You may need to add some bass blockers as Mattk said if you hear the small speaker distorting.
 
#41 ·
So looking at the PAC AOEM-CHR3 you may need to modify the harness if you want to retain the factory wiring to the speakers. Looking further into it it seems it is meant to add an amp with no modification but then assumes you will run new wires from the amp to the speakers. You may need to cut the wires on the pac harness to feed the wires from the amp, similary to how I made my harness. Here is the wiring for that btw, yours should look similar but the pac is between the head unit and the amp.
 

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#43 ·
The PAC harness came to day and I'm a bit confused.
ALL of the wires from the Jeep harness run thru the PAC female end and to the male end (that plugs into the HU) including the speaker wires. However, the speaker wires also split and go to the PAC box plug. The other end of the PAC box has the RCA input plugs to run to the amp.
I'm tired and my brain hurts, but for the life of me I'm not sure what I cut to get from the amp output to the factory speakers.
Can you help?

Also, you would not happen to have pin numbers for the speaker wires? The PAC harness does not match factory wire colors. I was hoing to build this harness prior to opening the dash as I'm still waiting on the speakers.
 
#49 ·
#50 ·
I wanted to chime in here for anyone else trying to do this. I bought the two pairs of the 77KICK10 on Amazon. The same KTP445U and a 71-6522 and two 70-6522. Entire package was about $260 delivered. No need for a Pac in my opinion and you don't have to figure out where to put it either. Its pretty small behind the radio.

The reason I went this route is the entire thing is 100% reversible. No cut wires and you keep all the functions on the wheel (I have the connectivity group). The sound is awesome, about 10 times better than the crap factory speakers being run on no power. I am not very good at this stuff so if I can do it just about anyone can.

I saw J21 first post this method so I wanted to give him props for it (unless he stole it from someone else). The part that took the longest was making the new harness and connecting all the wires. Wasn't hard, just took a while. I will see if I can post a picture of it.

This is an interim solution for me until I can get a bigger alpine amp and type R's. That would have run me $700 or so, this is a huge step up and was easy to do.

gunmetalgolfer
2014 JKU Sport (130 Radio)
 
#52 ·
With that connection set up do you still retain all working speakers and complete radio function ie steering controls uconnect features and the equalizer? Because I am thinking about doing that with my 2015.
 
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