Do I want a new audio system? Switch speakers? Add a subwoofer?

Austin O.

Austin O.

TJ Enthusiast
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Oct 14, 2022
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644
Location
Charlotte, NC
In my tj, there is currently a non-stock audio system as follows:
- Rockford fosgate 4'' speakers in dash corners. Link
- Rockford fosgate 5.25'' speakers in roll bar. Link
- Kenwood headunit. Link
The previous owner put all of this in.

I have been happy with it, as I am not typically particularly picky about this sort of stuff, but there is definitely room for improvement. I want to be able to hear my music loud and clear while on the highway with only half doors on. At 55mph, it is just fine, but getting up towards 70-75mph on my way to work, I can't hear much. Additionally, driving in my dad's JKUR, I can tell there is a noticeable difference in sound quality of that vs my tj and it makes me want something better. I've got a few questions:

1. Looking through threads on audio on here, I see that a majority recommend Polk speakers. Is that going to make a noticeable improvement over what I have now? The speakers that I've currently got seem to have pretty good reviews.
2. If Polk is better, what exactly do I want?
3. How difficult is it to add in a subwoofer? What would I need? Definitely something I want to look into since I do like to hear a bit more bass in the music.
4. Amplifiers??? According to Crutchfield, my headunit has a built-in amp. Is that any good? Do I want something else?
5. On a budget of maybe $200-300 what are your recommendations? Whole new system? Just add a sub? Amp? What if I were able to kick in a bit more money in the future?

Am I missing anything? I know next to nothing about audio, looking for some help :) Thanks!
 
Using Crutchfield, I bought our system in stages.
I didn't go extreme, and I probably have $1500 into the whole thing.
I have a Kenwood double-din receiver, POLK dash, footwell, and pod speakers, extra tweeters on the dash, along with a small amp (under the steering column) and a 8" powered sub under the drivers' seat.
It sounds great with the top and doors on, and I can finally hear it with them off.
Adding to what you have is probably the best way to stretch your gains with a small budget.
 
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I always figured Polk was recomended because it was cost efficient. I doubt you will see much improvement over the Rockfords unless they are damaged. Bang for the buck, I bet a underseat sub will cause the best improvement - but our Jeeps are terrible accustic enviroments to start with. I am going to start with trying to cut down background noise first. But honestly, that is also because I would rather have clean sound at reasonable volume than ok sound at high volume.

I listen to audio books more than music...
 
Austin O. said:
5. On a budget of maybe $200-300 what are your recommendations?
Click to expand...
You need to power the speakers correctly to make them sound good
Head units do not do that well, buy an amplifier and rewire all speakers from amp
Regardless of what BS #s they claim, head units drop voltage as volume goes up

On rear of Kenwood is 6 RCA outs
front 2 outs
Rear 2 outs
Subwoofer 2 outs
These will be raw signal to the amplifiers
4 RCAs will feed an A/B class amp for mids and highs for coaxials
2 RCAs to the Sub

~ $120 for an inexpensive Rockville Phenom marine amp
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GCJ50JI/?tag=wranglerorg-20
$150 10" Rockville powered Subwoofer
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019Z3R582/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Then you need sets of RCA cables and a few Amp install kits
If you need help installing and PROPERLY setting gain,Just ask

I do agree ditch the 4" rinky dinks and put 5.25 up front
Then buy 6.5 for rear but that goes over your budget
 
Last edited:
CreepinDeth said:
You need to power the speakers correctly to make them sound good
Head units do not do that well, buy an amplifier and rewire all speakers from amp
Regardless of what BS #s they claim, they drop voltage as volume goes up

On rear of Kenwood is 6 RCA outs
front 2 outs
Rear 2 outs
Subwoofer 2 outs
These will be raw signal to the amplifiers
4 RCAs will feed an A/B class amp for mids and highs from coaxial
2 RCAs to the Sub

~ $120 for an inexpensive Rockville Phenom marine amp
[URL]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GCJ50JI/?tag=wranglerorg-20[/URL]

$150 10" Rockville powered Subwoofer
[URL]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019Z3R582/?tag=wranglerorg-20[/URL]

Then you need sets of RCA cables and a few Amp install kits
Click to expand...

I’ll look at those, thanks. I should probably do some research and learn a bit more about amps…
 
@Austin O.

Your problem is $200-300 will only make a noticeable improvement if you add a powered sub. At that point the next upgrade would be scratching the powered sub and getting an amp to power your 4 speakers + a new sub in a box enclosure. I’ve run both of these setups and prefer an amp running 4 speakers + sub. The amp makes clean power. A head unit does not. That translates into crystal clear reproduction. It means you can turn it up with no distortion. I can turn mine to maximum volume and it’s still really clean. I don’t normally listen to it that way though! I only turn it up that high for testing. A setup like that would cost you about $400. That would include a $200 Soundstream Nano Picasso 640d and a $175 Kicker LT7 4ohm dual voice coil slimline sub and some wood to build a box.
 
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JBLs Stadium 6x9s in the rear fenders,


IMG-20230530-WA0001.jpeg

two MXT 12's subs in the trunk..

20220811_191726.jpg

two orion 6.5's mid range speakers in the roll bar with two orion tweeters
20230207_202450.jpg

two 5.25s polk audios in the dash
IMG-20230122-WA0016.jpeg

all the speakers are powered by a Soundstream Nano PN.1000 4 channels which is fixed under the rear seat and the subs are powered by another amp (cheap one, you could just get the soundstream nano PN.1000 1 channel) and you will have enough juice to power everything without compromising a lot of space in your jeep... it sounds amazing.. (oh.. I have an epicenter as well... for the bass improvement)

 
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Austin O. said:
In my tj, there is currently a non-stock audio system as follows:
- Rockford fosgate 4'' speakers in dash corners. Link
- Rockford fosgate 5.25'' speakers in roll bar. Link
- Kenwood headunit. Link
The previous owner put all of this in.

I have been happy with it, as I am not typically particularly picky about this sort of stuff, but there is definitely room for improvement. I want to be able to hear my music loud and clear while on the highway with only half doors on. At 55mph, it is just fine, but getting up towards 70-75mph on my way to work, I can't hear much. Additionally, driving in my dad's JKUR, I can tell there is a noticeable difference in sound quality of that vs my tj and it makes me want something better. I've got a few questions:

1. Looking through threads on audio on here, I see that a majority recommend Polk speakers. Is that going to make a noticeable improvement over what I have now? The speakers that I've currently got seem to have pretty good reviews.
2. If Polk is better, what exactly do I want?
3. How difficult is it to add in a subwoofer? What would I need? Definitely something I want to look into since I do like to hear a bit more bass in the music.
4. Amplifiers??? According to Crutchfield, my headunit has a built-in amp. Is that any good? Do I want something else?
5. On a budget of maybe $200-300 what are your recommendations? Whole new system? Just add a sub? Amp? What if I were able to kick in a bit more money in the future?

Am I missing anything? I know next to nothing about audio, looking for some help :) Thanks!
Click to expand...
Your Rockport speakers are the reason it isn't sounding good and both the 4" and 5.25" have the same specification problem, both have too low of a Sensitivity rating. 4" has an 85 dB Sensitivity rating which is way too low for the wattage power produced by the factory radio, Kenwood, Sony, etc. Almost as bad is the 5.25" with its 88 dB Sensitivity rating.

A speaker's Sensitivity rating is simply how much power it requires to produce a particular sound level. The lower the Sensitivity rating the more power it requires. For example, it would take literally twice as much power to play your Rockport 5.25" speakers with their 88 dB Sensitivity rating at the same volume as a pair of Kicker or Polk speakers do with their typical 91 dB Sensitivity rating. Your Kenwood simply can't put out enough power to make the Rockports sound good. Going with speakers from Polk or Kicker with their higher Sensitivity ratings would make a dramatic improvement. Theirs are all at least 90 dB and range up to 92 dB if I recall correctly. Where a factory, Kenwood, Sony, Pioneer, etc. head unit without an external aux amplifier is concerned, the higher the speaker's Sensitivity rating the better. You can find the Sensitivity rating in the speaker's specifications, it's normally pretty far down the list or buried on the second page of specifications.

Or buy a powerful aux amplifier for your Kenwood with no less than around 60 RMS watts per channel.
 
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Thanks to all who have replied so far… I’m hoping this will kinda combine @JMT , @Jerry Bransford , and @LONGJP2 ’s ideas. After looking at it a bit more, here’s what I was thinking - tell me what y’all think.

Move current 5.25 Rockford roll bar speakers to dash. Buy polk 6.5 speakers for roll bar. Add some tweeters to dash, and then put in a cheaper 8” powered sub under my seat. What I’m looking at specifically:

Sub - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079PRCP9W/?tag=wranglerorg-20
6.5” speakers - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EXOTD56/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Tweeters - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HQRAMTS/?tag=wranglerorg-20

That comes in at about $200. Then, can I add in a smaller, cheaper amp (around $150) just for all the speakers, leaving the powered sub alone? Or does it not work like that? If that’s okay, what amps am I looking at? I know that goes a bit over the budget I stated, but that’s alright. Once again, thanks for all the help. Please let me know if what I just said just won’t work at all 🤣. I don’t have a great idea of what I’m doing, but trying to figure it out…
 
Jerry Bransford said:
Your Rockport speakers are the reason it isn't sounding good and both the 4" and 5.25" have the same specification problem, both have too low of a Sensitivity rating. 4" has an 85 dB Sensitivity rating which is way too low for the wattage power produced by the factory radio, Kenwood, Sony, etc. Almost as bad is the 5.25" with its 88 dB Sensitivity rating.

A speaker's Sensitivity rating is simply how much power it requires to produce a particular sound level. The lower the Sensitivity rating the more power it requires. For example, it would take literally twice as much power to play your Rockport 5.25" speakers with their 88 dB Sensitivity rating at the same volume as a pair of Kicker or Polk speakers do with their typical 91 dB Sensitivity rating. Your Kenwood simply can't put out enough power to make the Rockports sound good. Going with speakers from Polk or Kicker with their higher Sensitivity ratings would make a dramatic improvement. Theirs are all at least 90 dB and range up to 92 dB if I recall correctly. Where a factory, Kenwood, Sony, Pioneer, etc. head unit without an external aux amplifier is concerned, the higher the speaker's Sensitivity rating the better. You can find the Sensitivity rating in the speaker's specifications, it's normally pretty far down the list or buried on the second page of specifications.

Or buy a powerful aux amplifier for your Kenwood with no less than around 60 RMS watts per channel.
Click to expand...

I just reread this again and realized what a big difference new polk speakers would make in this case in terms of volume. Now I’m tempted to go with an 8” powered sub and then replace all 4 speakers with Polk. I have a feeling that adding tweeters up by the dash would also make a big difference, can I splice those in somehow without an amp and just using the 4 channel output that my Kenwood HU has? This would all keep the price in my budget, with a theoretically large improvement. I could always add in an amp later if I’m not happy with this.
 
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Don Bulee said:
JBLs Stadium 6x9s in the rear fenders,


View attachment 436561

two MXT 12's subs in the trunk..

View attachment 436562

two orion 6.5's mid range speakers in the roll bar with two orion tweeters
View attachment 436565

two 5.25s polk audios in the dash
View attachment 436563

all the speakers are powered by a Soundstream Nano PN.1000 4 channels which is fixed under the rear seat and the subs are powered by another amp (cheap one, you could just get the soundstream nano PN.1000 1 channel)
Click to expand...

Soundstream IS a cheap amp. Down on the list with BOSS.
 
TheBoogieman said:
Soundstream IS a cheap amp. Down on the list with BOSS.
Click to expand...

yes they are cheap.. but they have a small print and good power... I have one in my Harley and been there for years.. I got a pioneer for my TJ and it was damaged in 3 weeks.... get another soundstream to replace the pioneer and has been great since... they may be cheap.. they may be incorrectly rated... but they are good and can last a lot of time.. again.. I've had one on my harley without any issues.... I wouldn't put them in the same category as BOSS, they may be a little bit off the rating they claim, but nothing compared to boss... they claim 100 watts RMS and will deliver only 60...... Soundstream would claim 100 watts RMS and may deliver 92 or so.....
 
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