Tweeters would be helpful. I dialed back the gain on the rears so I could balance it out to hear the fronts a little better. Sound stage is ok, but tweeters would definitely help.
Stereo question
- Thread starter bobthetj03
- Start date
$19 bucks and maybe half hour in time splicing them into the front speaker wires, crossover is inline with the tweeter.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HWJTIBE/?tag=wranglerorg-20
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HWJTIBE/?tag=wranglerorg-20
I am an audiophile, and my Jeep is setup to fulfill that need (although no perfect audio can be acquired in a Jeep without thousands of dollars, given the acoustics and speaker placements a full custom setup would be needed - close to mine) to the best possible. To truly set your audio as best as possible you need to buy and RTA microphone, they sell them for iPhone and laptop setups and set all your crossovers, gains, and distance delay using software on the App Store for free or laptop software like I have. You place this microphone where your head is in thr vehicle and it listens though playing pink noise in thr speakers while recording the playback in the mic and presenting it into a graph, this graph shows you what frequency needs adjustment. I could go on for hours so ask away if you’re confused. Setting audio is similar to bumpstops, you need to find limits for frequency’s before distortions and stop them there just before it, like adding 1/2” of spacer to prevent the track bar from hitting your diff or tire in the fender. To properly “bumpstop” the system you need to connect the head unit to an occiliscope and while playing a sine wave see at what volume level the sine wave distorts (changes shape, becomes jagged, or flattens on top) this is your upper limit on the head unit for volume before distortion. Now you can do this without an occiliscope, it just won’t be as accurate. The other way is to have thr speakers hooked up and find the limit of distortion though the speakers (the downside to this is it might not be the true upper limit, kinda like shocks limiting uptravel when you could go higher and bumpstop less). But in most applications distortions though speakers is a wise choice if you’re not planning on changing them (like not planning to change shocks so you do need to limit the uptravel for that reason). Through the speaker distortion can be heard (crude method) while playing a sine wave of 50/60hz though the head unit and raising the volume until the tone changes and then backing it off a few clicks (seeing stuff hit on the suspension and lowering it slightly). There are other ways to “hear” distortion but the devices aren’t cheap and not really worth it unless this is your passion.
Skip this next part if you don’t have an aftermarket sub!
Okay, so now you know the volume limit of you headunit, don’t ever turn it up past that unless you want to damage the speakers. So now I’m gonna turn my headunit to the highest volume without distortion I just found and go set the sub, while playing a sine wave of 30hz or so I’m going to turn the gain up from its lowest setting until I hear a tone change in the sub, that’s my upper limit on gain on the sub and should never be increased if damage wants to be avoided. That’s the bumpstop of you subwoofer, and if you turn the volume all the way up to your limit we found earlier on the headunit you know you won’t blow the sub. Side note make sure your RMS wattage on thr amp and sub combo you’re running is as close as possible, with the rms rating on the amp being okay if slightly higher as you won’t damage it - just not the other way with a lower wattage amp as damage can occur.
Back to the equalizer and RTA graphs. ALWAYS adjust down on an equalizer. This prevents distortions being introduced from boosting a frequency that the limit was already set on and can fry the speaker. On the RTA graph you got from the $20 mic and free app on your phone you can see a bunch of bars that represent what frequencies are higher and which ones are lower at your ear location where the mic was.
You want your RTA to follow this general curve in order to have a good car sound, some like more bass, or more treble but this is a great baseline. Remember NEVER boosting to achieve this line on the headunit equalizer only reducing the high spots until this curve is achieved or close to it. Once you have that set on your headunit you can move on to setting speaker distances to your ears (if you’re headunit has a setting to adjust it known as time delay). Or you can just go with that and love your new sound system! I used to run 2000watts RMS dual 12” subwoofers in the rear of my TJ with a custom box built behind the seat by me, but have decided that I’d rather take more recovery tools and gear than have the ability to shake the teeth out of anyone’s head LOL! Ask away if you have questions I know this was long I just glanced over some parts to not bore the crap out of all y’all.
If anyone wants to know how to fit 2 massive and heavy 12” subs behind your rear seat let me know, I’ll send pics!
Also, if you set up your sub and headunit and there not enough bass - then you need more sub watts and your no gonna squeeze it out from the smaller sub your have unless you set your volume limit lower and increase the gain on your sub (bad bad bad choice). If your setup have too much bass at your normal listening level with your max gain set then you have 2 choices. You can turn down the gain on the amp (kinda dumb since you’re getting less out of a system that can do more) or the better way which is adjust the subwoofer level in your Kenwood headunit, it’s super easy to get to in the audio menu and can be turned down to -50 from 0 I believe so you can completely eliminate the sub or just tune it down for your preference/music type. I’ll put some pics up of me doing it right now
Skip this next part if you don’t have an aftermarket sub!
Okay, so now you know the volume limit of you headunit, don’t ever turn it up past that unless you want to damage the speakers. So now I’m gonna turn my headunit to the highest volume without distortion I just found and go set the sub, while playing a sine wave of 30hz or so I’m going to turn the gain up from its lowest setting until I hear a tone change in the sub, that’s my upper limit on gain on the sub and should never be increased if damage wants to be avoided. That’s the bumpstop of you subwoofer, and if you turn the volume all the way up to your limit we found earlier on the headunit you know you won’t blow the sub. Side note make sure your RMS wattage on thr amp and sub combo you’re running is as close as possible, with the rms rating on the amp being okay if slightly higher as you won’t damage it - just not the other way with a lower wattage amp as damage can occur.
Back to the equalizer and RTA graphs. ALWAYS adjust down on an equalizer. This prevents distortions being introduced from boosting a frequency that the limit was already set on and can fry the speaker. On the RTA graph you got from the $20 mic and free app on your phone you can see a bunch of bars that represent what frequencies are higher and which ones are lower at your ear location where the mic was.
You want your RTA to follow this general curve in order to have a good car sound, some like more bass, or more treble but this is a great baseline. Remember NEVER boosting to achieve this line on the headunit equalizer only reducing the high spots until this curve is achieved or close to it. Once you have that set on your headunit you can move on to setting speaker distances to your ears (if you’re headunit has a setting to adjust it known as time delay). Or you can just go with that and love your new sound system! I used to run 2000watts RMS dual 12” subwoofers in the rear of my TJ with a custom box built behind the seat by me, but have decided that I’d rather take more recovery tools and gear than have the ability to shake the teeth out of anyone’s head LOL! Ask away if you have questions I know this was long I just glanced over some parts to not bore the crap out of all y’all.
If anyone wants to know how to fit 2 massive and heavy 12” subs behind your rear seat let me know, I’ll send pics!
Also, if you set up your sub and headunit and there not enough bass - then you need more sub watts and your no gonna squeeze it out from the smaller sub your have unless you set your volume limit lower and increase the gain on your sub (bad bad bad choice). If your setup have too much bass at your normal listening level with your max gain set then you have 2 choices. You can turn down the gain on the amp (kinda dumb since you’re getting less out of a system that can do more) or the better way which is adjust the subwoofer level in your Kenwood headunit, it’s super easy to get to in the audio menu and can be turned down to -50 from 0 I believe so you can completely eliminate the sub or just tune it down for your preference/music type. I’ll put some pics up of me doing it right now
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Can we please stop talking about this now? I keep going to crutchfield and sonicelectronix and woofersetc but i have more important things to do with my jeep. I mostly listen to am sports radio now anyway (FM doesn't work). I don't need to build a new system, even if it is cheaper than it used to be. Fiberglass is a PITA, there's nowhere to put a big sub and i need a lift.
I listen to AM music sometimes, good way to stay grounded. Besides the noise floor on my Jeep is high enough on the freeway at 88db that hearing loss due to long term exposure is guaranteed. Adding music on top of that isn't on my short or long term list. Not to rain on anybodies parade but aging is fun, you can learn the easy way or the hard way.
Edward Turner
TJ Enthusiast
Yep, I wear ear plugs on the highway to keep tinnitus at bay. Sometimes it even works.
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