Apologizes if this issue is mentioned elsewhere ( I was unable to find it).

I have two 2000 WJ's ( a Larado and a Limited) that I recently purchased, from different sellers. I bought the Larado first and assumed the speakers were just bad, so I replaced them all around. I get some sound from the front door speakers, but only the bass freq. At first I assumed that it might be a wiring issue as the previous owner had a sub wired in before I bought it. Well I just bought another 2000 WJ that is fully stock, and it has the same issue. So now I am wondering if this is a known issue with the stock stereo or amp?

 

Hi,

You must have the Infinity Gold system (check under the rear bench seat on both sides for a black metal box... that's your amplifier, and you should also have 'Infinity Gold' emblems on the front door speaker grilles). In the Infinity system, the front door speakers are woofers, which means that the amplifier only sends bass frequencies to the front door speakers (the higher frequencies in the front, on the Infinity Gold system, are handled exclusively by the small "tweeter" speakers in the upper corners of the dashboard). The only way around this is to bypass the factory amplifier by running new speaker wire from the radio to your front door speakers, OR you can opt for a component speaker system that includes separate woofers and tweeters, and mount the woofers in the doors, and the tweeters up in the dash... those types of speakers have crossovers built into them, or wired into them, that send high frequencies to the tweeters in the dash, and bass frequencies to the woofers in the front doors.

With the standard system (NO amplifier under the rear seats), the front door speakers are just regular speakers that receive all frequencies, as the amplifier chip on the circuit board of the radio (factory or aftermarket) controls which signals are sent to them. Hope this helps a bit.

-Vince

 

Well that makes sense. Both have the Infinity Gold system. I think its odd that they would set it up that way, oh well. Sounds like it's after market stereo's for both and yanking the factory amp.

Thanks

 

Yeah they figure that the upper dash speakers will handle all of the higher frequencies, and want to give the effect of having "Subwoofers" in the front doors for better bass response. Replacing the head unit won't change anything, as it's the amp that controls which frequencies are sent to which speakers, but it will for sure give you better features (if you have steering wheel controls, you'll need an adapter, or else they'll become inoperable once you install your new radio, and if you have the factory 10-disc CD changer mounted in the right side of the rear cargo area, there's no way to retain that). Your best bet is to get a set of aftermarket component speakers (separate woofers and tweeters with a crossover network to send the appropriate frequencies to the appropriate speakers). You'd mount the component tweeters up in the dash and cut off the factory harnesses in the dash, splicing the factory speaker wire to the aftermarket tweeters, and you'll also have to find a way to secure the tweeters in the dash. The woofers would go in the front doors, and connect via a set of factory adapter harnesses that plug into the factory speaker wiring harnesses, and then the two wire terminals go to the speaker terminals on the new speakers. The factory front door speaker size is 6X9", and the front dash tweeter size is about 2.75" (2X 3/4"). The front door speakers will be a VERY tight fit due to the limited amount of clearance available between the glass window and the back of the factory speaker magnets, so you'll most likely want to go with 6X 1/2" (6.5") or 6X 3/4" (6.75") component speakers, and use a 6X9" adapter plate for the front door woofers. Crutchfield will give you the speaker wiring adapters and adapter plates for free when you buy speakers from them, as well as installation instructions and free lifetime tech support... I buy all of my audio equipment from them.

BTW, if you're NOT replacing the factory amp, and NOT using RCA cables to connect an aftermarket amp to the back of the aftermarket radio, you'll need to connect the amp turn-on wires together in the two harnesses, or else you'll get no sound output from the radio, as the factory amp won't be getting the analog signal it needs to turn on when you turn on the radio. In 1999-2001 models, you'll also need to cut off the metal spade connected to the black ground wire that's connected to the metal chassis of the factory radio (disconnect your battery BEFORE doing so), and then connect that wire to the ground connection (also usually black, but may vary) on the wiring harness of your aftermarket radio. Finally, leave the illumination wire disconnected and capped or taped off in the wiring harness, as there's no illumination control for the aftermarket radio's screen dimmer. I used Posi-Products Car Stereo Connectors in order to secure my connections in my WJ, as they provide a better connection than standard electrical tape or solder.

-Vince

 

I guess I took the easy-lazy route when I simply replaced the stock tweeters up on the dash for <$100.00 and about an hour of my labor. It sounded wicked pissah all over again! :-)

 

This puts me in mind of my POS 97 ZJ. It had the Infinity Gold system and the PO had "rewired" it by just cutting all the wires to the amplifier and rat's nesting them together with wire nuts and tape! I'm not an audio guy or someone who really cared about pure sound reproduction, so as long as my front door speakers broadcasted my classic rock while I was alone in the jeep, I really didn't care. On the other hand, I worked with a guy who had a Chevy Impala SS who's base cracked his rear spoiler! The curious part is he totaled that car because the brakes failed from lack of maintenance!