'04 Jeep Liberty Speaker Upgrade

[hizzaah]

Have any of you upgrade speakers on the '02-'07 Jeep Liberty's? I want to upgrade my gf's speakers and add a sub for her birthday in February, but I'm not sure what direction to go. I know the deck was upgraded, but I was told the speakers weren't messed with. I need to pull the deck and check the wiring. I'm not convinced that it's wired correctly and I think they left off the dash tweeters when they wired it back up..

my understanding (not having looked yet) is that they have individual amps on the door speakers which are attached to the speakers and hooked up to the wiring harness. I'm not sure what the best way to either bypass them or upgrade the speakers would be..?

Im not well versed in car audio, so should I be looking at an amp? 2 channel or 4 channel? Which sub? How can I do a clean install? I would ideally like to keep it under $300 if possible, but I want to do it right.. Any suggestions? I have until February so hopefully I can find some deals

 

[ImcLoud]

If I were you, I would just buy the kicker upgrade, for most dodge vehicles you can buy the kicker speaker upgrade and they sound decent....
If you have a decent after market head unit then I wouldnt bother with an amplifier for the mids and highs, but for them sub you will either want an intergrated unit or a separate mono block amp and sub, this is where your budget is going to dictate what you can get...

Does her car have a factory 8" subwoofer? If not maybe look into getting a used one off ebay made for her truck and then adding it in... Ill do a quick search for you....

It looks like 77kick10 would be the mopar number for your door speakers.. http://www.ebay.com/itm/77KICK10-New-OEM-Mopar-Kicker-Front-or-Rear-6-5-2-way-Speakers-/181034973387?pt=Car_Audio_Video&hash=item2a268678cb&vxp=mtr

You can just buy any 5.6" speakers and they sell spacer plates incase your doors are too shallow to fit a speaker that needs more depth for magnet clearence.... Kind of up to you to do some measuring, if your system has dash tweeters I just unhook them, I find even with a decent pair of tweets in them its too much work to get them to sound rite, having the tweet that far from the drivers in the door makes them a distraction and sounds like sh i t no matter what you do, And I have trie running Quart tweets with separate xovers and balancers so I could turn them down with out turning the treble to the entire system down, and they all sucked... The problem is they are in front of your face and the door speakers are 3 ft away getting blocked by your leg and whatever else so you can't get them to work well together... But anyway, good luck, I tend to opt for the factory replacement, and Im sure you can web search for a better price and get all 4 doors for around $100...


As far as a sub, if you want to go with a separate unit, I would say
http://www.ebay.com/itm/JL-AUDIO-CS110-WXv2-BassWedge-10-SEALED-ENCLOSURE-w-10WXv2-4-CAR-SUB-WOOFER-/400370723103?pt=Car_Subwoofers_Enclosures&hash=item5d37f4691f

and efind a cheap amp, I like to keep everything matching so I would find a good deal on a jl audio a2150 amp and run it mono to the sub, but you budget is going to need a streching, figure $140 for sub, $80 for amp, and 100 for doors you are over $300 and need an amp install kit and what ever else...

 

[hizzaah]

Those Kickers look pretty good for door upgrades.. I'll keep those in mind. I've got to get her to give me the model number off her deck. Her dad put it in a while back so I'm not sure what it is.

Someone on another forum suggested a powered subwoofer to keep wiring down to a minimum. Something like the Infinity BassLink. Any thoughts on that?

 

[ImcLoud]

A powered sub is not really going to save you any wiring except maybe the speaker wires lol....
To wire a basslink you need remote power {just a line that gets energized with the key, some decks have this output built in, 16ga wire works well}, a power cable {10 gauge is a good for a 200w amp}, RCA signal cable {from decks output}, and a ground {10ga to the chassis or any stable metal part}... With separate amp and sub, you need all of that plus speaker cables to go from the amp to sub, so you really dont save any wiring to speak of, you can actually save wrieng with the separates because you can mount the amp under the dash or front seat, and then just run speaker cable to the rear where the sub will be....

But what happens is, if the internal amp goes you need an entire new unit, or vice versa with the sub, plus the basslink is not very impressive, I would rather not have a sub and keep my $170, lol... That JL 10" with a decent 250 watt amp will be clean, fast, low, and loud... Its good for any type of music.. I have one in my 39 ford and its a little monster for sure...

 

[hizzaah]

This sub worth anything?

Sub

I can get it from my cousin new for $30. He bought it an never installed it in his Duster. Then I just have to find an enclosure, figure out where/how to mount it and pick an amp then decide where to put that as well as figure out the wire routes. He's got a 4-channel amp, but it's a piece and I'm just gonna run the speakers off the head unit anyway.

 

[ImcLoud]

This sub worth anything?

Sub

I can get it from my cousin new for $30. He bought it an never installed it in his Duster. Then I just have to find an enclosure, figure out where/how to mount it and pick an amp then decide where to put that as well as figure out the wire routes. He's got a 4-channel amp, but it's a piece and I'm just gonna run the speakers off the head unit anyway.

I have no experience with thta sub, seems like a lot of work, the jl is $140 and just plug it in, thats a boat sub...

 

[hizzaah]

It shouldn't be any different.. Mount that sub in an enclosure, hook it to the amp, hook the amp to power/ground and the head unit.

I'll check out the amp you listed though

 

[Bryceo]

I've done a lot of stereo installs with subs I'm running a 15" option audio in my car amped of course but for your missues a 10" alpine or pioneer sub will work grate you can also get active subs witch give a much cleaner look to the boot I believe fusion audio make an active sub fusion is a good bit of gear if your just after bass for your self and not entering comps and going on Friday night car events

 

[hizzaah]

Just after decent bass.. I got her to send me the model number of her head unit..

Dual XHD7714

Is this enough for those Kickers above? Would it be worth upgrading the unit instead of adding a sub right away?

 

[Bryceo]

Just after decent bass.. I got her to send me the model number of her head unit..

Dual XHD7714

Is this enough for those Kickers above? Would it be worth upgrading the unit instead of adding a sub right away?

Perfect for the kickers above, I'll crunch the numbers tomorrow and get back to you on a correct sub and amo package that you will get ever penny you've spent in quality bass back

 

[hizzaah]

Might be dealing with the upgraded sound package.. Her dad told her that when he upgraded the head unit, the front speakers sounded like junk. They were amped and he pulled them out and replaced them with something cheap from Walmart..

Guess of it is ill try the kickers with and see without amps and what happens. I wonder if he still has those front speakers..

I appreciate the help guys!

 

[hizzaah]

Speakers were delivered today. I couldn't resist so I installed one to compare in between classes. First impression is not good.. They have half the bass as the original ones and they begin distorting above 3/4 volume. They are a bit clearer at lower volumes, but they'r probably 15% quiter overall.

 

[Grador]

If I'm reading something you said earlier correctly, there are tweeters in the front doors, correct? If there are did you make sure to disconnect them?

 

[hizzaah]

There are tweeters in the dashboard which are wired in with the front speakers somewhere in the harness.

The one I tested I put in a rear speaker location.

 

[Grador]

It is very likely disconnecting them will solve your current problems. The tweeters are likely hooked up in parallel with the fronts.

 

[ImcLoud]

I have to agree with G, I can't see how the kicker upgrade would degrade sound quality without something being amiss... I would get them all installed and figure out how the tweeters are wired in to the system. It is no longer the factory head set correct? so you should have more power with an aftermarket unit, which should open the kickers up quite a bit..

 

[hizzaah]

From what I've gathered at the jeep forum, the stock from speakers had a crossover on them which routed sound to the tweeters in the dash. Without that hooked up it doesn't appear that tweeters are in use.

 

[Bryceo]

Sorry for the late replie I done the numbers a 10" subwoofer under 200 watts will be fine for an amp I suggest a mono block

 

[deedubb]

All I did was replace the front tweeters with a pair of MB Quarts that I had lying around. Didn't change anything else and it made a world of difference. The stock tweeters are pure junk. Add a sub and it would be a very quick and inexpensive improvement.

 

[hizzaah]

Alright, I've got the 4 channel amp, the four Kicker speakers (installed, they sound clearer now that they're all installed, but as discussed they need more juice), the Polk sub, and a mtx 502 Thunder amp for the sub.

What I still need:
- 2 (preferred) or 4 gauge power cable
- speaker wire (50 ft to be safe)
- 4 channel RCA cable
- crimp on connectors (at least 8x speaker connectors, 8x tube crimps, ringed ends, etc)
- power distribution block
- 3 in line fuses and holders (100 amp, 60 amp, 30 amp)
- 12" sub box

Think my fuse sizes are correct? MTX uses 2x 30amp fuses and the Diesel uses 1x 30 amp (I think).

Not sure if I'm going to hook the sub up before our spring break road trip (to Cali in two weeks) or not.

Do any of you guys have any of this laying around that I could buy off you? If not, any suggestions on where to get some of this stuff cheap?