ToTaLlYcOnFuSeD

Ok, so I went to Crutchfield to check the price of the adapter. It's $129 (big difference from a year ago when I paid $65 for the same product at Crutchfield). My suggestion is to spend the cash if you want to do it right. Search the forum. You will find several posts of electrical fires (various reasons). It's worth the $$$$ to do it right and not have the headaches or worries of a possible problem.

Phishjeep

Cutchfield usually gives it to you for half price for receivers over $150 or so. That said, I just bought it for $75 on amazon.

jjohn581

Nice clean install on the Kenwood. Was that faceplate adapter from Crutchfield? Did you also do a speaker upgrade and amp upgrade? I am trying to decide how much I want to do at this time. I always have had shops do the equipment choosing and installs but think I am going to do this one myself. Originally I was only going to get some higher end speakers and an amp to fit in the factory location to drive them right and get some bass. This is a non-inifinty 07 2 dr X and the sound system is pretty lame. Since storage is so tight I was not sure about the sub and wanted to hear the new speakers first. When I saw the Mopar Kicker plug and play speakers I almost pulled the trigger on them but then I found this forum. I read what some of the members have done and it looked like I could get a much better setup. My budget is fairly open on this. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

ToTaLlYcOnFuSeD

Yes, the mount kit came from Crutchfield as well. I ordered everything at one time. I did do other upgrades. I have the Kenwood HU, I upgraded the factory speakers in the soundbar to Boston Accoustic 5.25" (2way), installed a Kenwood amp, and one single JL audio 10" sub.

I started to do the whole customized route since it was in the jeep (on the sub), but decided why spend the time and energy after all it is a jeep. If someone wants it, they'll get it and I'd be less pissed (marginally) if it were a typical sub box and not something I had spent hours making or $$$ having made.

I love the system now. The amp is bridged and low pass filtered to run the single sub (BTW the JL audio W1v2 serious kicks some major a$$). The HU is the only thing pushing the aftermarket speakers in the sound bar (50w). So, basically the sub is strictly for bass and low end and the soundbar speakers, factory dash speakers, and factory tweeters do the rest. It is crystal clear and has often made folks get up and get out! This is in an 08 non-infinity 2 dr.

Depending on your budget, you can get really crazy or really simple. This setup ran me in the neighborhood of $700 total and that was with me doing the install (old pass time - installs).

Here's a pic of the sub and amp after I originally installed it. I have added the insta-trunk since and put a few extra "bolts" in place.

jjohn581

Thanks for all the info because this looks exactly like what I want to do to start. I am trying to make a list of what I need to do this.
1) Pacifa Audio Harness (cr2-chy4) This will allow to plug new HU into existing harness;
2) Receiver of my choice Your Kenwood MP4380 had 22w rms and 50 peak so I will need a minimum of that to drive the dash speakers, tweeter and soundbar. Is there anything I need to look for on the receiver since it also would be required to drive the front tweeters?
3)Sub woofer You used a JL 10w1v2. I am assuming this was a 4 ohm and from the pic you just bought a standard truck wedge box. I will probably use the saame set up based on your experience and the Crutchfield reviews.

jjohn581

Ooops hit enter before I was finished.
4) Sub amp - I am not sure what to get here. The JL 10w1v2-4 has a 50-300 w rms range so I would need a mono subwoofer amp toward the upper end of that range at 4 ohms? I didn't see any JL amps in Crutchfied online that looked like the pic of yours.
5) Soundbar speakers - You used a 5.25" Boston Acoustics 2way at 50w so I guess something like a SC55 would be good.
6) Speaker and power wire (for the amp) and any misc "bolts".
If this "clones' your system pretty well let me know and I'll narrow down my reciever to get this ordered.

Thanks.

JAM85

jjohn581, I did my own sound system on my x unlimited. I was a little nervous to start cutting in to my 3 month old jeep but I wanted to do it myself so I could save some cash and say that I did it myself. I went to best buy first and picked up a good deal on 4 kenwood 6.5 speakers, kenwood head unit, and an amp wiring kit. I wish I went to crutchfield first because they would of given me adaptors for the speakers so I wouldn't of had to splice in to the factory wires and spend the time figuring out which wires are + or - . They would of also given me the dash kit for free and the pac wiring harness for half off. Only if I bought my head unit and speakers from them. It turned out it would of been a much better deal, but I am still happy. I bought the metra XSVI-6522 wiring harness off ebay for 45 bucks and I am glad I did, just had to connect all the wires, it was simple. I pulled my kicker L7 and 400.1 amp out of my wagoneer and put in the new jeep. Im pretty stoked on how it sounds. 100 times better than factory. I had an after market hu in my wagoneer and it hit hard but now with this new hu it hits waaaay harder. I never thought one sub could sound so good. I will eventually replace the tweets but for now I am going to leave it like it is. I installed the amp under the passenger seat so I could maximize room in the back. I would think you guys with 2 doors would like to do the same. Hit me up with any questions you might have.

jjohn581

Jam85 - Thanks for the words of encouragement and the info on your system. I have only changed my mind 1/2 dozen times on how to do this system based on the comments in these forums. I think I found the general consensus that the stock non-infiniti system is pretty "lame" and due to limitations with the HU you can only do so much to improve it. I now am committed to getting an Alpine PDX-5 amp, new spkrs and sub. I chose the PDX-5 based on good reviews and it can be mounted under the dash. I also will order the speakers and head unit from Crutchfield to take advantage of the discount on the harness, faceplate adapter and speaker adapters and also access to their technical support. I am leaning towrd polk speakers but have not decided yet. The amp I found is quite a bit cheaper to buy from other online sources than Crutchfield. I was thinking of the JL 10" sub speaker but I just found a great buy on a Pioneer TS-SW2501s4. I was a little hesitant on the dash component speakers but it looks like it should not be too difficult to get the new tweeters into the existing towers. Thanks again for your reply and I will get this stuff ordered this weekend to start the project next weekend.