peaty94 Posted April 6, 2020 Author Share Posted April 6, 2020 Another day another fit! I decided to upgrade the front of the jeep with the Rugged Ridge XHD Skid Plate. Lovely piece of kit and the quality is great! Had a bit of trouble fitting it how I would of liked. It was really simple with only two brackets sliding above the sway bar then the skid plate attaching each side. However, the are that the old bumper attached to the chassis was getting in the way so had to end up shaving off a few mm each side. This way you avoid it looking sloped. I spray painted over where I cut to avoid rust setting in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member doodle Posted April 6, 2020 Platinum Member Share Posted April 6, 2020 This was posted on the " for sale" forum for the sub etc.. Oh lordy lord... You are going to be a bad influence- I can see this hurting... 8x ch- VXI? Whats the plan for the sub? Are you thinking a shallow one built into the floor space or one that will intrude into the cargo area? I do like the idea of their Stealboxes in the states for the JLU that sit up on the rear wheel well- just dont like how it sits up proud.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaty94 Posted April 7, 2020 Author Share Posted April 7, 2020 12 hours ago, doodle said: This was posted on the " for sale" forum for the sub etc.. Oh lordy lord... You are going to be a bad influence- I can see this hurting... 8x ch- VXI? Whats the plan for the sub? Are you thinking a shallow one built into the floor space or one that will intrude into the cargo area? I do like the idea of their Stealboxes in the states for the JLU that sit up on the rear wheel well- just dont like how it sits up proud.. It has already hurt, the only problem with JL Audio - the cost. However once its bought its amazing! At least they hold their value relatively well. I didn't go for the vxi as I didn't need the DSP or any of the other features; for double the price I just couldn't justify it. I went for 8 Channel XD800/8V2 plus a XD600/1V2 to power the JL 12W6V3. The 6.5 inch in the sound bar will be Focal PC165F and the ones in the bottom dash will be Foca EC165K Elite K2. The 3.5s will all be JL Audio C2 350's. Im preparing to run into problems with mounting so have plenty of gear at the ready - one thing I've learned about this Jeep is that nothing is simple! The sub is a sealed box so will give it the right look imo. A shallow sub is a waste of room/power/money imo as I had two of them in my A45 a few years back and lacked the power and a accuracy of a full length sub. Ill be running a 9mm MDF board across the rear so it all look OEM, with black carpet to finish off the look. I haven't 100% confirmed ill do this yet though. For some reason everything that is related to these jeeps over here are just ridiculous prices. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member doodle Posted April 7, 2020 Platinum Member Share Posted April 7, 2020 7 hours ago, peaty94 said: It has already hurt, the only problem with JL Audio - the cost. However once its bought its amazing! At least they hold their value relatively well. I understand about the cost- but for me its worth it as you've said- amazeballs... I didn't go for the vxi as I didn't need the DSP or any of the other features; for double the price I just couldn't justify it. Fair enough- i must admit that's been my thinking on most things nowadays- will i really use it- no..then go lower.. in my younger days i would have just done it... I went for 8 Channel XD800/8V2 plus a XD600/1V2 to power the JL 12W6V3. Mannnn. thats gonna have some punch to it- Im may have to come and have a listen... The 6.5 inch in the sound bar will be Focal PC165F and the ones in the bottom dash will be Foca EC165K Elite K2. The 3.5s will all be JL Audio C2 350's. Ive got the C3's 650 components that i was about to put into a) wakeboard speaker pods for the TJ then B) changed and was going to put them in the WJ- Which has now been sold so may think of re purposing again...So the C2 will fit in the spacing of the 3.5s? Im preparing to run into problems with mounting so have plenty of gear at the ready - one thing I've learned about this Jeep is that nothing is simple! isnt that the truth? The sub is a sealed box so will give it the right look imo. A shallow sub is a waste of room/power/money imo as I had two of them in my A45 a few years back and lacked the power and a accuracy of a full length sub. Ill be running a 9mm MDF board across the rear so it all look OEM, with black carpet to finish off the look. I haven't 100% confirmed ill do this yet though. For some reason everything that is related to these jeeps over here are just ridiculous prices.~Thats interesting to hear on the shallow ones- May have to rethink what i was going to do then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaty94 Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 So I eventually decided to bite the expensive bullet of changing all of the jeeps audio. For anyone new reading this, I have a Jeep JK 2015 fitted with the Premium 9 Channel Alpine system. This included 4 x 6.5" woofers and 4 x 3.5" Co-axials I believe. To compliment, they did a great job at integrating a marine grade subwoofer into the rear of the jeep. Over time depending on what the owners do with the boot space, they will take a lot of beating and probably a lot of water too. This leaves them full of little bits inside the grill and looking a bit worn; something I wasn't too happy seeing every time I opened my boot! I did initially want to create a false floor over this, or fill the gap as much as I can and replace it with a subwoofer or slimline sub. I ended up doing a lot of research and I have personally experienced slimline subs; they are good but have nothing on the premium full sized ones. The sub wasn't hard to remove, 4 bolts on the surrounding and unplug on the right trim near the window. I then did a lot of measurements to see what would be needed and then a lot more research on what to buy. It was never a case of simply switching out the speakers. All the Speakers connected through this amplifier to the right of the steering column, you wont be able to properly get to it unless you take out the front lower speaker first, I'm guessing this is to stop quick thefts. Knowing this I could either splice into the wires or get an adapter, or I could run the whole thing from the headunit, much more control over the EQ, more power, more opportunity. I know I wanted to run a lot of power to my audio so was considering changing batteries to deal with the load but didn't know that the Jeeps came with the optima yellowtops! For some reason I never checked what battery was underneath, even though I did attach multiple wires, multiple times. Before the build started I cleaned it up. Then it was just waiting for all the parts to come, this is what my shopping list was: Audiotec Fischer V Eight 10 Channel DSP JL Mono block XD600/1v2 2x Focal PC165F 6.5 2x Focal EC165K Elite K2 6.5 4x JL C2 350x 3.5 14AWG for amp to speaker 3x 5m RCA for stereo to amp 2X power Distribution block to distribute power to both amps from battery 1x 0AWG Power 1x 0AWG Ground 2x 4AWG power 2x 4AWG ground Remote Cable 2 x 60 Amp Fuse to go between bistro block and each amp 150 amp fuse to run straight from the battery. Battery terminal Attachment A lot of Cloth tape to make it look OEM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaty94 Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 I had two goals, make it sound amazing and make it look stock, aka not have wires and amps being seen everywhere! As I ordered a battery terminal connector (a 0AWG wire would look unsightly just bolted on the end) I needed to make room for it, as you may know the connectors go round the top and bottom so I sawed off the top bit and the connector sits flush. I ordered a big ANL fuse holder to hold the fuse. I didn't end up using this as I had a gold plated one which would potentially have a better connection and look a bit better, but the terminal looks great. I didn't know you could get fused battery terminal connectors so good to know for the future! These were the distro blocks I would be using, 1 0AWG in = 2 4AWG Out. I mounted them underneath the middle seat. The front has to run the 0AWG cable through the firewall which is under the dash. I used this area to bolt in my 0AWG Ground cable too. Whilst I was at it I sound deadened the floor. Cable tidy the cable to the thick cable that runs up near it, this way I wont rub on the steering column or get in the way of your pedals. I did the same with the passenger side, I found a leak in the plug so let it dry all day and made sure the plug was sealed correctly. I wanted to keep all the OEM plugs in place so ran them through, taped them up so they didn't rattle. Whilst I was waiting for the speakers, the adjustable gain control was put into the centre console. The cable was then drilled down through, under the passenger seat and then attached to the sub using the trim as cover for the cable, you wouldn't even know it was there! I would highly recommend lifting the seats up, makes it a lot easier to work in that area. All doors were sound proofed as much as we could, I could've easily put it all over the wires but it would be a nightmare to take off if anything went wrong so we took the extra time to make it look right and perform great. As I wouldn't be seeing the rear of the speaker surrounds I didn't mind using hot glue. I got some cheap rubber plugs which were meant for my rear window and used them on both of these surrounds and drilled a hole through it. Avoids sound leaking through the rear. The k2s are an amazing speaker, no distortion at any level and delivers that full range audio. I just used self tapping screws to secure it to the body. They then screw back in with three screws, 2 at the outer side and one on the inner side. Looks very empty on the passenger side! The sound bar was the easiest, take it down so you can easily run cables around it. Again, self tapping screws for both sets of speakers, the JL Audios do a great job at the highs. Not many 3.5s on the market! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaty94 Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 All looking OEM! Double sound and heat insulation! This stuff is much better but you wouldn't be able to notice the difference I don't think. I had a lot spare, and since putting the vent in I had a lot of engine noise, this has helped eliminating it just a little. They were pretty much all fitted very quickly, a lot of the time was cleaning up the build. In the end I went for a 12W6 Enclosure which is an absolute beast, I've never heard anything like it! I had to borrow my missus laptop as I only have Macs and the software was windows. Fairly simple to use and switch out the inputs and outputs, highly recommended to make the built less stressful. The DSP handles all the RCAS and cleans the EQ. The result is that all the frequencies sound exactly like they should. You would pay a bit more for the experience but totally worth it. Whilst we were at it we took the rear wiper off and put some bungs in it. We plugged the rear wiper washer into the nut that you couldn't remove so it didn't spray everywhere by accident when I pressed it! All in all it was a headache, a lot of hours, a steep learning curve but along as you know your budget, how much time you have and research a lot than you can't go wrong. My biggest advice would be to take your time, the results will be worth it! Most likely the best sounding car I've been in, over the moon with the result! Im running out of projects to do on the jeep now! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Volant165 Posted April 20, 2020 Platinum Member Share Posted April 20, 2020 Amazing setup. Optima Yellow Top would have been aftermarket install by someone. I upgraded my sound system as I love pulling my doors off, slapping on external mirrors, and taking the top completely off. With your setup if you want to listen to the tunes while parked up, I HIGHLY suggest a two battery setup. Most of us would do that for intense juice use like winching but I ran my RedTop dry one evening playing tunes at a Jeep campfire. Call Alex at BUZZ special vehicles, he does great two battery setups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member doodle Posted April 20, 2020 Platinum Member Share Posted April 20, 2020 Wow- You really got on with it! Looks fantastic and i believe you when you say its awesome- Would definitely love to hear it someday. Think its defo the way to go... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member doodle Posted April 20, 2020 Platinum Member Share Posted April 20, 2020 With reference the dash ones- did you have to cut the dash anymore ir is that just the way they look under the Alpine grills? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member doodle Posted April 21, 2020 Platinum Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 Cannot work out how to edit the above post and add the questions there!.. - Did you run new speaker wire completely and tap into existing plugs or terminate new ones? - Why did you chose Focal speakers over continuing with JL Audio? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisby Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 On 20/04/2020 at 11:31, Volant165 said: Amazing setup. Optima Yellow Top would have been aftermarket install by someone. I upgraded my sound system as I love pulling my doors off, slapping on external mirrors, and taking the top completely off. With your setup if you want to listen to the tunes while parked up, I HIGHLY suggest a two battery setup. Most of us would do that for intense juice use like winching but I ran my RedTop dry one evening playing tunes at a Jeep campfire. Call Alex at BUZZ special vehicles, he does great two battery setups. Optima Yellow top D31a is factory fit on CRD's, Actually without a lot of work also the only battery that will fit in the tray as its designed to fit that battery only! CRD dual batteries is a diffcult one, No room for twin batteries under the bonnet. I'm just putting togther a 12v system for mine which will have 2 additonal optima D31a yellow tops and a CTEK split charge system. Both additional batteries will go under the rear seats laying on their side (Fine for the Optima's) I will have a box made up for them to keep it tidy. Will add an inverter under there also so I can charge Impact gun batteries etc Will be used to power fridge and camp lights alogn with an electric blankit for the roof tent for winter camps and to lighten the load on the starter battery when wiching. Only downfall will be not being able to fold the rear seat down, Which is not issue for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Volant165 Posted April 21, 2020 Platinum Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 Having never owned a diesel Jeep, I learn something new all the time! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaty94 Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 On 21/04/2020 at 07:32, doodle said: Cannot work out how to edit the above post and add the questions there!.. - Did you run new speaker wire completely and tap into existing plugs or terminate new ones? - Why did you chose Focal speakers over continuing with JL Audio? No cutting into the dash, I just bent the air vent tube so the speaker would fit, then screwed it down as much as I could. I adapted the speaker mounts they came with and ended up cutting them as they wouldn't fit. All speaker wire was completely new, I wanted to keep the original fittings so I literally just duct taped and cloth taped those and ran my new speaker wires to the amp. Good luck trying to find which wire was which when it gets the the OEM amp as there are hundreds! I chose focal because I just wanted to try them to be honest. JL Audio have been known to charge extortinate prices, for good reason. However these speakers imo were just a lot better in terms of the yellow cone look, the frequency response and there reputation`in the home AV department. If they sell £20k amps with speakers just as much and people buy them, they must be good! I thought if a drip of this technology made it into there car line then I'm winning. Im telling you I can't even switch it upto max because its that loud! It doesn't even distort which blows my mind! Just remember, the speakers and subs are only as good as the amp that drives them. However, JL Audio do make the best subwoofers on the car audio market imo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaty94 Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 On 20/04/2020 at 11:31, Volant165 said: Amazing setup. Optima Yellow Top would have been aftermarket install by someone. I upgraded my sound system as I love pulling my doors off, slapping on external mirrors, and taking the top completely off. With your setup if you want to listen to the tunes while parked up, I HIGHLY suggest a two battery setup. Most of us would do that for intense juice use like winching but I ran my RedTop dry one evening playing tunes at a Jeep campfire. Call Alex at BUZZ special vehicles, he does great two battery setups. Yes it must be the CRD's that are loaded up with the Yellow Tops like Chrispy said. Im going camping (lockdown willing) in July/August so ill see how long it lasts, but might add another before then if I get bored! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaty94 Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 On 22/04/2020 at 07:09, PDB said: Love this jeep. That colour is great and I like the styling to keep a modern military jeep look. Do you want to take it green laning see what it can do? Might scratch the wheels up a bit but small price to pay. Thanks! A lot of money has gone into it and even more of my time and patience. Ive figured out along the way that most things don't fit perfectly and invest in your tools! Doing it right the first time is what I live by now. Its pretty much getting to where I want it to be now though, maybe a Rough Country roof rack with the integrated LED's as I think they will suit the look. I would love to go green lining but yes a bit scared to do it as ive never done anything like it, I don't want my jeep to just be another mall runner so maybe ill take you up on it when this lockdown is over! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member doodle Posted April 23, 2020 Platinum Member Share Posted April 23, 2020 44 minutes ago, peaty94 said: No cutting into the dash, I just bent the air vent tube so the speaker would fit, then screwed it down as much as I could. I adapted the speaker mounts they came with and ended up cutting them as they wouldn't fit. All speaker wire was completely new, I wanted to keep the original fittings so I literally just duct taped and cloth taped those and ran my new speaker wires to the amp. Good luck trying to find which wire was which when it gets the the OEM amp as there are hundreds! I chose focal because I just wanted to try them to be honest. JL Audio have been known to charge extortinate prices, for good reason. However these speakers imo were just a lot better in terms of the yellow cone look, the frequency response and there reputation`in the home AV department. If they sell £20k amps with speakers just as much and people buy them, they must be good! I thought if a drip of this technology made it into there car line then I'm winning. Im telling you I can't even switch it upto max because its that loud! It doesn't even distort which blows my mind! Just remember, the speakers and subs are only as good as the amp that drives them. However, JL Audio do make the best subwoofers on the car audio market imo. Thanks for the time to reply. I'll admit I've had slimline focal components in pods behind my seats for years then I had to move the pods so there in the garage now. Was looking to run a set of JL C3 components In a set of wakeboard speaker cans of the rollbar in my TJ. Just need to sort out. Will defo be doing the stereo in the JK now... I've done the kicker route for subs and as much as I loved them JL now, for me, are the go to. Nothing comes close. I might even have to go for the w7. Check out the JL audio Jeep JL they did in the States. C7 components and 2x 8" subs in the soundbar. One thing I've never ran a DSP. Apart from on my home systems- might be time to invest and see how it goes.... Defo come.out for some green lanes. Or when the lockdown is over if the club get Slindon setup again come there. Good safe fun on a private site. Always People there to help out if stuck etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 Amazing set-up and I can only imagine the amount of effort that went into it. I have the same issue on aftermarket head unit to stock amp - fade into the rear doesn't really work and the sound isn't what I want. Just a Question on what you use as your source - I use an Astell & Kern MP3 player with FLAC files, either Bluetooth or wired, an iPod classic which is permanently in the glovebox and TIDAL from my phone. I've listened to focal Hi-Fi speakers and they have great clarity; with the sub it should sound fantastic ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaty94 Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 On 23/04/2020 at 22:52, doodle said: Thanks for the time to reply. I'll admit I've had slimline focal components in pods behind my seats for years then I had to move the pods so there in the garage now. Was looking to run a set of JL C3 components In a set of wakeboard speaker cans of the rollbar in my TJ. Just need to sort out. Will defo be doing the stereo in the JK now... I've done the kicker route for subs and as much as I loved them JL now, for me, are the go to. Nothing comes close. I might even have to go for the w7. Check out the JL audio Jeep JL they did in the States. C7 components and 2x 8" subs in the soundbar. One thing I've never ran a DSP. Apart from on my home systems- might be time to invest and see how it goes.... Defo come.out for some green lanes. Or when the lockdown is over if the club get Slindon setup again come there. Good safe fun on a private site. Always People there to help out if stuck etc Doesn't surprise me, ive seen a few people put a lot of money into sound systems! People do the same With their home AV setups so I don't blame them... The DSP was a game changer to be fair. It cleans all of the audio from the headunit trout the RCAS and then outputs on normal 14gauge ware to the speakers then another RCA to the sub. It basically means (if I understand correctly) that the DSP understands and has control over all the frequencies. What I love about this DSP is tat you can easily modify what channel does what and which speaker does what through computer software which makes it 1000x more user friendly, ill highly recommend this AMP/DSP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaty94 Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 On 15/05/2020 at 09:26, Matt said: Amazing set-up and I can only imagine the amount of effort that went into it. I have the same issue on aftermarket head unit to stock amp - fade into the rear doesn't really work and the sound isn't what I want. Just a Question on what you use as your source - I use an Astell & Kern MP3 player with FLAC files, either Bluetooth or wired, an iPod classic which is permanently in the glovebox and TIDAL from my phone. I've listened to focal Hi-Fi speakers and they have great clarity; with the sub it should sound fantastic ! Thanks! Yeh after nearly a year owning it I just wanted something that would make me smile with how good it was, problem is to get this most of the time you need to put. bit of money and time into it. My source atm is either lighting cable to CarPlay or wireless CarPlay. I think I'm going to upgrade to the DSP Bluetooth module as the bitrate would be a lot better but then you lose the easy CarPlay UI. Obviously the better the source the better the sound quality in general but I really think the DSP does a great job cleaning it up. Everything these days is streamed or on subscription so unless I subscribe to Tidal with their lossless high bit rate plans I don't think ill upgrade. On your last point, 100% I wanted something that was renowned for clarity and crisp. With the JL Audio sub, its a match made in heaven. Anyone got £20k so I can buy a pair of Focal speakers in my living room? Mad prices but I guess you get what you pay for. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 On 27/05/2020 at 16:49, peaty94 said: On your last point, 100% I wanted something that was renowned for clarity and crisp. With the JL Audio sub, its a match made in heaven. Anyone got £20k so I can buy a pair of Focal speakers in my living room? Mad prices but I guess you get what you pay for. Hi-Fi and now multi-room streaming is another level obsession = £. Its all relative and incremental benefit on what you pay for; a lot of which is based upon personal taste! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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