Upgrade the Head Unit or buy an Amplifier/Subwoofer ??
08-06-2013, 06:15 AM
#11
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Buy a line out converter, you can pick one up for about $20, it just taps into an existing speaker wire and now you have rca jacks to run to an amp. What I have always done (more a front stage guy) is get a decent but cheap 4 channel amp and run the front speakers off the amp and then bridge the sub to run off the other two channels. So now you can run the rear speakers off the head unit and the rest off of the 4 channel amp. Since you'd run the front speakers of the amp, you have extra wires that are no longer used. Run the LOC into those unused speakers and bam. It makes for a super simple, cheap yet effective sound system. By no means is it competition grade but who wants to drop $5000 on two front speakers, two amps and a sub, just to put into a Jeep that is going to get used? I don't, thats why I have a bimmer.
08-06-2013, 10:51 AM
#13
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Buy a line out converter, you can pick one up for about $20, it just taps into an existing speaker wire and now you have rca jacks to run to an amp. What I have always done (more a front stage guy) is get a decent but cheap 4 channel amp and run the front speakers off the amp and then bridge the sub to run off the other two channels. So now you can run the rear speakers off the head unit and the rest off of the 4 channel amp. Since you'd run the front speakers of the amp, you have extra wires that are no longer used. Run the LOC into those unused speakers and bam. It makes for a super simple, cheap yet effective sound system. By no means is it competition grade but who wants to drop $5000 on two front speakers, two amps and a sub, just to put into a Jeep that is going to get used? I don't, thats why I have a bimmer.
I just wanted to specify a quality name brand one so he doesnt have any problems with engine noise thats associated with lesser quality converters
08-06-2013, 11:02 AM
#14
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The sound quality of stock head units is garbage, the best upgrade I've ever done in any vehicle I've ever owned has been a decent aftermarket head unit.
I installed a double din kenwood in the JK using all stock speakers except the sub and it sounds A LOT better. Even before I installed the sub it still sounded better.
Stock head units just don't produce clean output, even changing speakers and adding an amp, you're just reproducing garbage.
I installed a double din kenwood in the JK using all stock speakers except the sub and it sounds A LOT better. Even before I installed the sub it still sounded better.
Stock head units just don't produce clean output, even changing speakers and adding an amp, you're just reproducing garbage.
08-07-2013, 08:59 PM
#15
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The sound quality of stock head units is garbage, the best upgrade I've ever done in any vehicle I've ever owned has been a decent aftermarket head unit.
I installed a double din kenwood in the JK using all stock speakers except the sub and it sounds A LOT better. Even before I installed the sub it still sounded better.
Stock head units just don't produce clean output, even changing speakers and adding an amp, you're just reproducing garbage.
I installed a double din kenwood in the JK using all stock speakers except the sub and it sounds A LOT better. Even before I installed the sub it still sounded better.
Stock head units just don't produce clean output, even changing speakers and adding an amp, you're just reproducing garbage.
I would just hate loosing the U-connect Connectivity package I paid for. I assume that would all be lost when swapping to an aftermarket HU correct ?
08-08-2013, 01:00 PM
#16
I sold my Uconnect unit for $130. Depending on your factory head unit, you can sell that too. I only had a 130, so I only got $90 for it.
08-08-2013, 02:49 PM
#17
Super Moderator
If you already changed the speakers, then start with the head unit.
Everyone is saying the stock head units sound like garbage. Well, the truth of the matter is that the head unit is really not garbage, the reason it now sounds like garbage is because you changed the speakers. What's really happening is that your stock head unit was designed to be paired with the stock speakers. The stock head units have EQ applied inside of them. Those EQ settings inside the radio were set based on the upon being connected to the factory speakers and adjusted based upon the response of the factory speakers.
So now you throw in new speakers, with different impedances, sensitivities, spectral responses, and different sound characteristics and now the EQ settings in the stock head unit no longer match the speakers. So guess why it sounds like garbage even if you add an amp to it? EQ settings are being applied to the wrong speakers with totally different sound characteristics.
Everyone is saying the stock head units sound like garbage. Well, the truth of the matter is that the head unit is really not garbage, the reason it now sounds like garbage is because you changed the speakers. What's really happening is that your stock head unit was designed to be paired with the stock speakers. The stock head units have EQ applied inside of them. Those EQ settings inside the radio were set based on the upon being connected to the factory speakers and adjusted based upon the response of the factory speakers.
So now you throw in new speakers, with different impedances, sensitivities, spectral responses, and different sound characteristics and now the EQ settings in the stock head unit no longer match the speakers. So guess why it sounds like garbage even if you add an amp to it? EQ settings are being applied to the wrong speakers with totally different sound characteristics.
08-08-2013, 04:03 PM
#18
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You will lose the Uconnect feature. But, many of the new head units have voice integration. Mine has Siri integration and steering wheel control integration so I retain all the same functionality.
I sold my Uconnect unit for $130. Depending on your factory head unit, you can sell that too. I only had a 130, so I only got $90 for it.
08-08-2013, 04:04 PM
#19
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You will lose the Uconnect feature. But, many of the new head units have voice integration. Mine has Siri integration and steering wheel control integration so I retain all the same functionality.
I sold my Uconnect unit for $130. Depending on your factory head unit, you can sell that too. I only had a 130, so I only got $90 for it.
08-08-2013, 04:12 PM
#20