neocracka

Id like to know perfect, budget friendly specs for what to put in my jeep. Front door speakers, tailgate speakers, pillar speakers, kick panel subs, amps, all the tech goodies for high end and budget friendly. I'm nota sound system knowledge guy, so I want to know how to pick a amp to power all speakers, or multi amps to power all speakers.

NewKindOfClown

Budget friendly, get:
- Decent $50-60 pair of 6.5" round speakers for the front doors.
- Cheap 6.5" round speakers for the soundbar.
I power my speakers off the head unit without an external amplifier, and they're loud enough for me.
Most aftermarket head units put out about 20W of power per channel, so you want speakers that have RMS power (not peak power) rated around 20W.

If you want a sub, there are a lot of options. If you just want to get the bass out of the speakers to clean up the sound, they sell "powered subwoofers" which are amp+sub packages in one unit.

I prefer a traditional amplifier and sealed subwoofer (not ported or bandpass) since I like my bass. For a Cherokee, I think a 300W RMS amplifier (again, not peak power) pushing a 12" subwoofer rated for 300W RMS is an excellent combination. You would need an amp, sub, and wiring kit.

The most important thing before buying audio equipment is to understand what you're buying and feel comfortable with your purchase. It's very easy to mess up if you don't do your research first.

Crutchfield.com is an incredible resource, and I highly recommend them. They don't usually have the cheapest price, but they aren't far off the mark. They have a ton of information on their website, and their customer service people will help you with anything you need, from "I think I want a radio" all the way up to "I bought a head unit from someone else, and it's malfunctioning. Can you help me diagnose this?" They did help, by the way.

Here are a couple links to get you started:

Intro:
http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/lea....html?g=266150

Speakers:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-axkR8ZY.../speakers.html

Subwoofers:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6bnXN8l...ofers_faq.html

Take a few days to study this stuff before you start thinking about buying anything.

XJlimitedx99

Bing, bang, boom. He said it all. I also was going to mention crutchfield.com for all of the information and support you can handle.

Just with anything else, it all comes down to how much you want to spend.

As stated, most aftermarket head units put out about 20-25w RMS. You would want to get speakers that match the RMS power of your radio. 6.5" door speakers are designed to produce mid range sounds. Tweeters (the small speakers by your pillar or in the middle of the door speakers) are meant to produce the high range treble sounds. An aftermarket radio and speakers will be a good improvement over OEM, but there's always more to be desired.

Running an full speaker amp is a bit of a task because it requires rewiring all of the speakers. That's what you need to do to get screaming speakers though. I have an alpine headunit with a specialized alpine "power-pack" amp that plugs in behind the headunit. No extra wires, just a clip on each side. It boosts the headunit to about 45w RMS. I really like the idea of it and it definitely woke my speakers up, but my speakers are rated for 100w RMS so they're still not getting the power they want.

Onto the subwoofer section. It's a good idea to match your level of bass to the level of your speakers to keep everything balanced. I have one 12" sub rated for 500w RMS with a 500w RMS single channel amp in a ported box. I love the setup, although I would do a sealed box if I could do it again. Ported boxes require more air, so they're bigger. They sound much better on certain frequencies but sealed has a much broader range that it sounds good on.

As of now my setup is:
-Alpine 143BT headunit
-Alpine KTP-445U power pack speaker amp
-4 Alpine Type-R speakers
-Alpine 500w monoblock amp
-12" Alpine Type-R sub in ported box

Future plans:
Add two tweeters. Ditch the power pack amp for a real speaker amp to power my speakers and tweeters. Swap the ported box for a sealed. That should be like a raging concert inside my jeep

neocracka

Does the doors on a 96 Cherokee sport support 6.5 or do I have to modify to fit?

XJlimitedx99

Well I guess I'll hold your hand..

I went to crutchfield and looked up speakers that fit a 96 cherokee. They're all 5-1/4". So no, modifications will be required to support a 6.5" speaker.

NewKindOfClown

I put 6.5s in the doors and soundbar of my '01, and all I had to do was drill new mounting holes for the screws. Factory speakers are all 5.25, but most 6.5s fit without issue

chipmaker

I'm gonna chime in too. One of the things to consider is if you want earth shaking bass and don't mind sacrificing the cargo aera to do it; or do you just want a good loud quality sounding system. If you want the boom get some quality 12's in a sealed box and a rms power matched amp. If you just want good quality sound look into smaller subs and cubby boxes, as stated before a sealed box is the best for all genres of music. I' m running an infinity 8" sub in a cubby box with 250 watts rms, 5.25 3-ways in the doors and roof that are only powered by my Kenwood head unit. Inside the Jeep it is loud and full sounding, but outside with the windows up it doesn't seem loud at all. I just bought a 4-channel amp that i have yet to install for my mids cause the bass is a little over powering compared to the mid range.
The best thing you can do is research like crazy and decide what you really want. You have to decide what you want to sacrifice cargo space, or bass.

VTJeep

I was really surprised by Clarion. My head unit, front speakers, sun and amp are all Clarion. The rear sparklers are Polk (again $100/pair) and are totally decent. Clarion runs a range of products and prices, but my subs were like $65/ea., the amp around $250 IIRC, and the front speakers $100/pair I'm running two 10's on 2ch. 180 RMS amp. in a sealed box I got mad cheap at a an electronics store going out of business sale.. And while the bass could be louder, there's never a point where it's overriding the speakers. As previously stated, it's nice to have a balance of sound. If I could I would probably run a passive radiator setup or one JL 13.5" and a lot more wattage but those are pricey set ups and the jeeps not my DD anymore... I used to run two Alpine S-Type 10's and those things were incredible. Used and abused when I got em, but just like our jeeps, that seemed to mean nothing more than they were broke in for me to run hard myself. Bridged em to <1ohm for a night to see what would happen. Wow it was loud.

neocracka

Should a person use regular speakers or marine speakers for the water issue, just for the front doors and tailgate maybe? Is there a big difference from 5 1/4 and 6.5? As far as sound quality? I understand the rms, but when you have 6 speakers not including subs, lets say there 75 watts rms each, so 450 watts total rms, what amp do you get, can a 1 channel power all that, or what do you need? 4 channel and 1 2 channel?

chipmaker

If your running 6 speakers, get a 4-channel and a 2-channel amp. That way you don't loose stereo sound and you can still control fade and balance. As far as 5 1/4 vs 6 1/2. The larger units will give you better bass reproduction. I wish I would have went with 6 1/2" in mine.

neocracka

And I was thinking I have a short somewhere in my truck, all of a sudden my #19 5amp fuse is blowing, that's the guage lights, and trans light. Someone said that's the headlamp switch might be corroded, because when it blows, which is after 5 mins, the guage lights power off, the radio powers off, when I have the lights on everything is off, when I turn the headlights off, the radio is the only thing to come back on, but just yesterday, the short protective system in my Kenwood unit came on saying protect on the screen for a hour drive home, it won't power on and play music at all and I took the radio out and the #19 fuse still blows, so I'm thinking the headlamp switch under the hood is corroded, and the wiring for head unit is wired wrong. Can a person who's never done a rewire do a full speaker rewire and do the wiring behind the head unit as well? How hard is it?

XJlimitedx99

It's not very difficult at all, but it will be time consuming. A radio was one of the first wiring projects I ever tackled. With some patients, research, and help from us I'm sure you could get through it no problem.

As far as your questions in the other post. I wouldn't get marine speakers unless you really plan on submerging yourself, it's just not worth the extra cash. And you'll need an amp that has a channel for every speaker you plan to run off it. You can run speakers in series off of one channel but it's easier just to get the right amp.

NewKindOfClown

Use a Metra wiring harness when you install the new head unit. It plugs into your stock harness so you don't have to hack up your electrical. It makes it a lot easier to replace the radio in the future, or you can put it back to stock if you want.

Turbo X_J

You'll never be really happy unless you:
1. Audition the speakers in person.
2. Buy from a reputable dealer that will let you exchange said speakers if they don't mesh with your environment.

btw, good does not equal loud. Power isn't everything I currently have 2 home systems, the smaller one on the main floor is 24 wpc. The larger downstairs is 60 wpc, either one is good to generate a noise complaint at moderate volume.

NewKindOfClown

Hearing speakers in a store won't help. The acoustics are completely different when they're installed.

Look buddy, if you want a stereo you can hear on the highway and jam to, go back to my first reply. If you want something crazy loud, or you want perfectly accurate sound reproduction, two things:
1) It isn't gonna be anywhere near cheap
2) Go to caraudio.com and ask for help

Not trying to be rude. Just trying to be realistic.