Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Posted to rec.audio.car
James
 
Posts: n/a
Default Audio for 1997 Jeep Wrangler ??



I just bought a 1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, MINT.



I want to upgrade the radio system. It has front grill speakers, plus
rollbar speakers. I would like to start by upgrading the speakers, and
then later put in an aftermarket radio deck. I might later spring for an
amp. I don't want a super-powered system, just something that sounds real
nice. I listen to jazz, new age, some country, and other types , but not
rap or hard rock. I also have a 2000 Grand Cherokee with the stock radio
and Infinity line speaker option and it sounds great !! I would like for
my 1997 Wrangler to sound at least as good, hopefully at least a bit
better.

Can I hear from some of you guys that have upgraded your Wrangler stereos,
and what you have and liked ??

From browsing at Crutchfield, it appears that the front dash speakers are 4
X 6,
and that the speakers in the sound bar are 5 1/4 . Both of these are
pretty small,
so I guess I will be limited a lot, but I just want a much better sound than
what came in this Jeep.


I will appreciate any ideas. Thanks !!!!!!!!


--James--



  #2   Report Post  
Posted to rec.audio.car
Brandon Buckner
 
Posts: n/a
Default Audio for 1997 Jeep Wrangler ??

Hello,

I'm kinda surprised you haven't gotten an answer yet, but I'll put in my
2 cents worth. Maybe my friend that has a 99 TJ will chime in also. I've
got a 2000 WJ.

In my experience the Head Unit should be upgraded before the stock
speakers, provided the stock speakers are not damaged already. Most
popular aftermarket speakers require much more power than the factory
speakers do, making it very difficult for the factory head unit to
adequately power them, and hence most people end up being unhappy with
the new setup thinking it should sound a lot better, but in fact sounds
worse. Many can't even be adequately powered by an aftermarket head unit
either and still sound like crap until they are externally powered by an
amplifer. Most aftermarket head units are much more powerful than the
stock head unit, providing much better amplification to the stock
speakers, and not distorting nearly as easily at higher volumes.

So far on my Jeep Grand Cherokee, I've got an Alpine DVD HU with a
6-channel amp powering all speakers, all still factory. It sounds
remarkable, and the bass from the factory 6x9s sound like subs in the
doors. My previous Tahoe was the same way, but the speakers were run off
the aftermarket head unit. You may find that you may not want to replace
them after getting better amplification to them. If you're planning on a
HU, I'd get it first, and then upgrade the speakers later if you still
want to. You'll be much happier between the two purchases as well.

My friend like I said has a 99 TJ, so nearly identical to your own. The
sound bar has some aftermarket Diamond speakers that sound damn good
with his aftermarket HU, but I forget what brand it is. He also just
modified the front dash to hold 5.25" rounds instead of the 4x6"
speakers. I haven't heard it yet to know if there's an improvement though.

Brandonb



James wrote:
I just bought a 1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, MINT.



I want to upgrade the radio system. It has front grill speakers, plus
rollbar speakers. I would like to start by upgrading the speakers, and
then later put in an aftermarket radio deck. I might later spring for an
amp. I don't want a super-powered system, just something that sounds real
nice. I listen to jazz, new age, some country, and other types , but not
rap or hard rock. I also have a 2000 Grand Cherokee with the stock radio
and Infinity line speaker option and it sounds great !! I would like for
my 1997 Wrangler to sound at least as good, hopefully at least a bit
better.

Can I hear from some of you guys that have upgraded your Wrangler stereos,
and what you have and liked ??

From browsing at Crutchfield, it appears that the front dash speakers are 4
X 6,
and that the speakers in the sound bar are 5 1/4 . Both of these are
pretty small,
so I guess I will be limited a lot, but I just want a much better sound than
what came in this Jeep.


I will appreciate any ideas. Thanks !!!!!!!!


--James--



  #3   Report Post  
Posted to rec.audio.car
Branden Nelsen
 
Posts: n/a
Default Audio for 1997 Jeep Wrangler ??

Yes Mr. B i will chime in

I have the 99' TJ that he was refering too.

I currently have a Panasonic CD HU in the dash, 5.25" Diamond Audio D351i in
the sound bar and Alpine SPS-1329S 5.25" that i just recently installed in
the dash to upgrade a set of Walmart 4x6 Kenwoods that came with it when it
was bought. I am not running an amp at this point its all off the 40wX4 HU,
i am looking to install an Amp for them in the future and think that it will
help alot.

Now about your install and my experiances.

Headunit:
This is the heart of the install so dont skimp on this. I would reccommend
that you get one that has a VERY good shock sensor. With the TJ short wheel
base and stiff suspention any little bump will cause your CD's to skip
(found this out with the first HU). I would suggest getting a nice Alpine
HU, in my experiance thier shock absorbtion is one of the best. If you are
not going to run CD's then this wont be an issue.

Soundbar:
Depending on your sound bar you *may* be able to modify it to fit 6.5"
components in them. Otherwise your looking at 5.25" stock. *most* of your
sound will be from the sound bar. The front speakers with thier location
unfortunatly lose alot of sound as they point at your knee's. Get a nice set
of speakers for your sound bar. I would highly reccommend the Diamond Audio
D351i's I have them in mine and they sound great! even unamped. They cost me
about $150/pair and i installed them myself. I would reccommend that if your
sound bar doesnt have it to stuff some polyfill in the bar before you put in
the new speakers, it made mine sound better. You can pick up a bag of it at
Walmart for a coupld dollars. There are some people that as the sound bar is
where you get most sound will install a second sound bar near the windshield
so you have 6 speakers surround.

Dash speakers:
As you said the dash comes with 4x6 speakers and from my experiance they
just dont do a whole lot of good. There are places online that sell upgrade
kits to convert them to 5.25" or you can do it your self with an afternoon
about about $6 in sheet tin or you can buy a kit from he
http://tinylink.com/?sVDO4VbO2s
.. I am going to be making a walk through of my dash upgrade but havent had
time to sit down and do it. If you want to see uncropped pictures to get an
idea of the conversion they are at this link he
http://showcase.netins.net/web/aioka/Speaker/Jeep/ ** Pictures are LARGE so
dialup beware.After the install i didnt notice much difference, so i added
some Polyfill behind each speaker (unfortunaly dont have a pic of that yet)
and notice a big differnce. Although my sound bar speakers are much more
noticable then the dash speakers still i did notice an upgrade from the
4x6's i had before. I think my main issue now is that the Diamond's are a
better quality then the Alpines and therefor over casting them. I will be
switching the Alpines for another set of the diamonds in the future.

There are other addons that you can get to help with your install and some
examples are he http://tinylink.com/?ghh211jAQl . However remember that
unlike a car and your Cherokee, the wrangler has alot to contend with for
outside noise (Tire, Engine, Road). So its going to take alot for your TJ to
sound "Better" then it would if the install was in your Cherokee. If you
have a Hardtop that helps alot, but if you ever you the softtop or have the
softtop down, you will lose alot of your noise level trying to downed
everything else out.

If you have any quesions please let me know, ill try to answer them.

-Branden


"Brandon Buckner" wrote in message
news:G31%f.921019$xm3.73189@attbi_s21...
Hello,

I'm kinda surprised you haven't gotten an answer yet, but I'll put in my 2
cents worth. Maybe my friend that has a 99 TJ will chime in also. I've got
a 2000 WJ.

In my experience the Head Unit should be upgraded before the stock
speakers, provided the stock speakers are not damaged already. Most
popular aftermarket speakers require much more power than the factory
speakers do, making it very difficult for the factory head unit to
adequately power them, and hence most people end up being unhappy with the
new setup thinking it should sound a lot better, but in fact sounds worse.
Many can't even be adequately powered by an aftermarket head unit either
and still sound like crap until they are externally powered by an
amplifer. Most aftermarket head units are much more powerful than the
stock head unit, providing much better amplification to the stock
speakers, and not distorting nearly as easily at higher volumes.

So far on my Jeep Grand Cherokee, I've got an Alpine DVD HU with a
6-channel amp powering all speakers, all still factory. It sounds
remarkable, and the bass from the factory 6x9s sound like subs in the
doors. My previous Tahoe was the same way, but the speakers were run off
the aftermarket head unit. You may find that you may not want to replace
them after getting better amplification to them. If you're planning on a
HU, I'd get it first, and then upgrade the speakers later if you still
want to. You'll be much happier between the two purchases as well.

My friend like I said has a 99 TJ, so nearly identical to your own. The
sound bar has some aftermarket Diamond speakers that sound damn good with
his aftermarket HU, but I forget what brand it is. He also just modified
the front dash to hold 5.25" rounds instead of the 4x6" speakers. I
haven't heard it yet to know if there's an improvement though.

Brandonb



James wrote:
I just bought a 1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, MINT.



I want to upgrade the radio system. It has front grill speakers, plus
rollbar speakers. I would like to start by upgrading the speakers, and
then later put in an aftermarket radio deck. I might later spring for
an
amp. I don't want a super-powered system, just something that sounds
real
nice. I listen to jazz, new age, some country, and other types , but
not
rap or hard rock. I also have a 2000 Grand Cherokee with the stock
radio
and Infinity line speaker option and it sounds great !! I would like
for
my 1997 Wrangler to sound at least as good, hopefully at least a bit
better.

Can I hear from some of you guys that have upgraded your Wrangler
stereos,
and what you have and liked ??

From browsing at Crutchfield, it appears that the front dash speakers
are 4
X 6,
and that the speakers in the sound bar are 5 1/4 . Both of these
are
pretty small,
so I guess I will be limited a lot, but I just want a much better sound
than
what came in this Jeep.


I will appreciate any ideas. Thanks !!!!!!!!


--James--



  #4   Report Post  
Posted to rec.audio.car
James
 
Posts: n/a
Default Audio for 1997 Jeep Wrangler ??

Brandon and Branden, many thanks for the very very informative replies
!!!!!

I am VERY interested in converting the front so that I can use 5 1/4
speakers up front.

I am sure that I will have followup questions, so be ready !!

Thanks again.


--james--


Reply
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
It's amazing what you can find when you look. Audio Opinions 76 December 3rd 05 07:33 AM
Artists cut out the record biz [email protected] Pro Audio 64 July 9th 04 10:02 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:52 AM.

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 AudioBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about Audio and hi-fi"